We will be remodeling our turn of the century house in the not too distant future. This project will include ceramic tiles in the bathroom counters and walls. I’d really like the opportunity to make colored “craftsman-style” tiles which I would then have installed. I imagine signing up at the local high school/adult ed ceramics program would put me on the right path.
Any suggestions?
Replies
A good start with the adult ed course. Gives you access to a kiln. You may have a hard time mixing your tiles with commercial tiles if you had that in mind. Clay shrinks when fired. Somewhere around 10%, depending on a lot of things. Somewhat difficult to predict exactly without some serious process control, so your tiles will not be the same size or as uniform as commercial products. Buy enough clay of the same batch to do all your tiles. Make some patterns to roll the clay into a standard size, then decorate as you like. Commercial tile has a shallow pattern on the back. Easier to lay rather than a flat back. Look at some commercial tile and copy the pattern. Home made tiles are not likely to be as water resistant as commerial tile. More porous. More like Mexican saltillo. I wouldn't plan on using them in a really wet place like a shower. Porcelain is better for that and its harder to fire. Lots of options for clay and glazes and techniques. Get some books and ask your instructor. Its a pleasant hobby.
I had a customer who made tiles for her kitchen backsplash. They turned out very well. What she did was use tiles which were not glazed, but were already made. She painted them with glaze and then had them fired. I'm not sure where she found the unglazed white tiles, but I would think that would be easier than actually making the tiles yourself, unless that is what you really want to do.
Yes, I do that very same type of remodel and have had several custom made for me. Here is what I did:
1. Design the Tile. If you have the budget, hire a designer, or in my case, the architect hired one with the design. The arts and crafts types are either around 4x4 square or a "subway" tile variety, 2x6 or 3x6. I went to the library and found designs I liked and photocopied them, and re-produced them on quarter inch graph paper. Bear in mind for every color, there will be a separate silk screen, and and separate design, right? Some of the best designs my customers liked were borders from old wall paper designs from the turn of the century. Photocopy and scan them into Adobe Photoshop and have some fun with the pixels. If you use a silk screen method (described below) you can get very very detailed and colorfull designs which will be absolutely identical in the manufacturing process.
2. Pick the Bisque. You can have the bisque custom made or buy it un-glazed from most tile stores, including DalTile. Bear in mind that this tile will have to be fired about 3-4 times and may crack. We ran tests in over a half dozen bisques with repeated firings before we selected a custom bisque that I had made for the job(s).
3. Produce the silk screen mask. The way this works, you cover the tile with film and using a mask (a cardboard or sheet metal design of the design), you expose the film to light. The light excites the film polymers and they polermerize, or become hardened and "tough" and resistant to chemicals. You develop the film off, but the polymerized film stays on the tile. The naked bisque is then ready for glazing.
4. Apply the Glaze. This is easy and fun. No other explanation here.
5. Fire the Tile. Depending on the bisque and the glaze, you pick a temperature which is compatible.
6. Repeat Steps 3-5 again for each color.
I guess you could hand glaze the pattern, but there will be variations which might be noticeable. I like to use silk screen methods because you just can't go wrong and can get very detailed multi-colored patterns in custom tile all perfect and all the same.
Expect between 15-20 percent waste. This will involve dropping the tile, the bisque cracking or just poor performance. Hopefully if you did step 2 right, you will know what kind of waste you are looking at. It makes no ecomonic sense to save a couple bucks on a cheap bisque only to have 50% of them crack in multiple firings that are required for custom fired tile.
If you want to sub out the design process, bisque manufacture and silk screen process, let me know, I've got some vendors out here in California that can help you. Expect to pay upwards to $25 per tile, so this is reserved for fire place surrounds and bathroom borders. In any event, having a whole kitchen or bath with that kind of design would be way to busy.
Good Luck.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
That method is a little less "crafty" and less fun, but will give a more consistent product. Bisque fired unglazed tiles are available in most standard sizes for 50 cents to a buck each. For large volumes, you can screen glazes onto paper just like you were printing it. Apply the paper to the tile and fire. That's often how production is done. You can also do paper or plastic stencils.
For amateur work, the cost of the clay for a tile is something like 10 cents. You can easily get custom-made rubber stamps for a couple bucks that will give consistent pattern elements. Bisque fire the tiles with the stamped patterns, then apply glazes and fire again. Silkscreen is often another adult-education course. Take the pottery course and the screen course and do some pretty interesting stuff. For a first-time effort, I'd expect the loss to be more like 90% so make lots of extra tiles. Use the rest for pot holders.
If you are in Detroit there is a great series of classes that Historic Pewabic Pottery puts on. Amazing history and amazing products from one of the oldest continually operating craft tile houses in the US.
http://www.pewabic.com
Here is a list of a number of other A&C related tile and pottery companies.
http://www.alchemiestudio.com/"
http://www.annsacks.com/index.html"
http://www.paynecreations.com/"
http://www.historic-tiles.com/"
http://www.tiledecorative.com/"
http://www.designsintile.com/lines.html"
doorpottery.com/"
http://www.tiledecorative.com/"
ephraimpottery.com/"
http://www.ephraimpottery.com/"
http://www.handcrafttile.com/"
handcrafttile.com/"
justartpottery.com/"
http://www.justartpottery.com/"
http://www.katrichstudios.com/katrichdef.htm"
http://www.missiontilewest.com/"
mptw.go.to/"
motawi.com/"
http://www.motawi.com/"
newartpottery.com/"
http://www.pewabic.com/"
plumsteadpottery.com/"
http://www.prattandlarson.com/"
http://www.roycroftpotters.com/"
http://www.rtkstudios.com/"
http://www.tilerestorationcenter.com/"
http://www.tiles.org/"
kruegerpottery.com/"
wanderingfirepottery.com/"
Maybe these will give you some ideas.
But I like the idea of doing something personal.
Also there are a several store front operations in this area that are setup to do handpainted pottery. They are mostly markted for kids, but I think that they will get in "big kids" also.