Ceramic tile

“ With coarse clay, a fine surface can be imparted with a flexible broad palette knife.
For raised outline tiles a frame 11⁄4” deep is required. This allows a plaster bat 5⁄8” thick to be placed at the bottom. The best way, perhaps, is to oil the frame and cast the bat in it, removing it when set and sandpapering the upper surface flat and true. The design for the tile drawn the exact size on paper is now traced on this surface. It is far better to sketch it directly onto the slab, but this demands some proficiency if the surface is to be preserved. ”

“ It is not suitable for modeling or for any treatment but those of glaze and color. The plastic tile, on the other hand, may be treated by plastic methods and the surface offers a texture which appeals strongly to the artist.
For the successful production of tile a special body is necessary. Ordinary pottery clay is too close in grain and straight tile cannot be made from it. Small square pieces, however, such as tesseræ, can be made from any clay. ”

“ It will be found that the later color is added to the first coating the less it will sink into the background. Any design can be worked out accordingly either in relief or flat. A little experimenting will solve many questions, and reveal greater possibilities. To complete the tile it is placed in shallow water until it hardens, then let dry for several days after which it may be given a toning wash, or gasoline wash, and a wax rub. ”

“ Caen stone or its clever representation in cement serves well for the more formal type of mantel and facing
Tile, the last of the four materials, gives more latitude in design than any of the others, sometimes too much latitude we feel. If understandingly used, nothing could be more appropriate and attractive, but tile has been used so carelessly that somehow we have a feeling that the tiled fireplace is for show rather than for use. In any case, there is no question whatever regarding the unfitness of the glazed tiles which have made horrors of thousands of pseudo fireplace openings. ”

“ The velvety quiet of these floors imparts a tranquillity to the kitchen, contagious to mistress and to maid.
It is needless to say much for the tile as you know its beauties. It may be cold to the feet, non-resistant and tiring to the back and slippery when wet, but this is overcome by mats of matting, cork or linoleum. Tile is made in every design and color to fit any desire or design. All corners and joints at the base of walls can be curved. It makes a unit of the whole room in design and intention as no other thing does. It can be cleaned out with a small hose. ”

“ In medieval times lead or copper [7] in large sheets was used for the chief churches and palaces of Europe; but in more ordinary work clay tiles of very simple form were employed. One variety, still very common in Italy, is shown in C, fig. 3. In this form of so-called “pan-tile” each tile has a double curve, forming a legula and imbrex both in one. Stone tiles were also very common throughout the middle ages. Another kind of roofing tile, largely used in pre-Norman times, and for some centuries later for certain purposes, was made of thin pieces of split wood, generally oak ”

“ During the 17th and 18tb centuries the old painted and decorated pavement tiles seemed to have been entirely replaced by the common buff or red terra-cotta "quarries" so largely used in farmhouse kitchens, dairies, &c, and it is to the painted tiles for walls and fireplaces that we have to look for the progress of the art.
The modern revival of tile-making in Europe dates from about 1830, when Samuel Wright, a potter of Shelton, near Stoke-upon-Trent, was granted a patent for the manufacture of tiles by mechanical means. ”

“ When taking the tile out of the water do not let the fingers come in contact with the surface to be colored. Let the tile stand a few minutes to drain, before applying the color. Then a thin layer of neat cement mixed with water is applied. Next place a spoonful of the color upon the surface of the tile, slightly shaking the tile while level, then pour off the surplus color as it overflows the edges. If bubbles occur the surface should be recoated for the bubbles will break in the drying, producing a defect. ”

“ A tile such as this, eight inches square, is rather large for some purposes; it is, however, most effective as a decoration, and may do practical service in holding a flower-pot or vase of flowers—protecting a table or wooden mantel from moisture.
Fireplace tiles are, of course, considerably smaller, and those for use on a table are lighter as well. They are made by the same process, only using a smaller frame and rolling the clay thinner. ”

“ Such a tile secures a pattern adaptable to tile walks, or any surface which is subjected to wear, in that the design is not only a thin surface layer, but a thick portion of color that will not disappear with the wearing of the surface layer.
A SIMPLE METHOD OF MAKING TILE MOLDS is to cut a design from a thick piece of cardboard or sections of a design, and glue these in proper position to carry out a design arrangement. These pieces should be cut with tapering sides so as to permit of proper “draught” or releasing conditions when the plaster cast is made for mold purposes. ”

“ In plainer dwellings they were covered with a mixture of fragments of stone and mortar, or with pavement of brick, stone, or common tiles. But in great mansions the floor was one of the special points for display. It was either formed of white, black, or colored marbles, arranged in a check pattern, or it was a specimen of elaborate inlaid work. The tesselated pavements, of which so many remains exist, display two varieties. The first, or plainer kind, is formed of tiles moulded into various forms of animals, flowers, or such devices, each tile being a perfect figure in itself. ”

“ This will result in a tile with the design in relief. Within these relief lines cement with color added to it may be placed and the tiles placed in a tray of water with the water coming half-way up the side of the tile. The tile will be hard enough to remove in five days.
SIMPLE ROUND PAPER WEIGHTS and tiles that are not square can be made by the same method. A little ingenuity in arranging the retaining cardboard strips around the plaster or wax model will solve the producing of irregular forms. ”

“ The design should be simply planned. A confusing overcrossing tangle of lines is to be avoided. A few geometrical forms rightly related will be most pleasing. Keep the design at least one-half inch within the edge of the space. Then oil a piece of glass as directed, place over a card that has the tile dimensions squared off on it as a guide for placing the casting bars on the glass. Clay or wax should always be used to hold the casting bars in place. Into this now pour plaster-of-Paris, pouring into the center, letting it flow to the outer edge. ”

“ Tiles have been found about a foot long, stoutly made, with dovetails on the back, and holes through them edgeways in order to tie them back to the wall with copper wire. They are glazed all over with hard [109] blue-green glaze. The front is ribbed in imitation of reedwork, and they probably were copied from reed mats used to line the walls. Part of a tile has large hieroglyphs inlaid in colour, showing that decorative inscriptions were set up. Rather later, at the beginning of the IIIrd dynasty, there is the doorway of glazed tiles of King Zeser, with his name and titles in various colours ”

“ A line one-sixteenth or one-eighteenth of an inch is not too wide. The plaster should not be too soft or too hard to secure the best incision and avoid crumbly lines. When the incising is completed oil the surface and surround the tile with four retaining bars. The bars should be soaked in water and be of double width as they extend above the plaster cast. This extension above the tile represents the thickness of the tile to be made. Clay or wax is pressed on the outer edges of the bars and plain neat cement or a mixture of the desired color is made and poured onto the mold. ”

“ In the better class of tiled roof it is common to point off with white mortar the joints between the rows of tiles near the eaves, and also next the ridge; and oftentimes the entire roof is treated in this manner. In some photographs of Korean houses taken by Percival Lowell, Esq., the same method of closing the seams of the bordering rows of tiles with white plaster is shown.
Fig. 71.—Eaves of tiled roof. The older a tile is, the better it is considered for roofing purposes. ”

“ To make the tile the board is wetted and an even coating of grog dust is sprinkled upon it. A ball of clay is laid in the center of the board and rolled out with a rolling pin to fill every part of the frame. With a straight edge the clay is struck off smooth and clean, working always from the center outwards. Reversing the plaster mold method the tile are now face upward and any kind of surface may be given at will. The clay may be lubricated with water and made smooth or it may be sprinkled with grog dust which will give a sandy or toothed finish. ”

“ The floor, for example, is rich in its varieties of tiles, there being some five or six of different designs and shades. It is true that the great central floors are made of tiles of uniform design and color, and that these—a deep brick red, with small green spots at the corners of each tile—are grave and good; but all around, where we pass through arch or door, there is a deep fringe of brilliant tiles, which are reflected into the glass cases nearest them, to the injury of the objects shown ”

“ At the present day, when slate is not used, tiles of burnt clay are the ordinary roofing material, and many complicated forms have been invented to exclude rain. Most of these are; however, costly and do not answer better than the rectangular tile about 9 by 6 in., fastened with two copper or even stout zinc nails, and well bedded on mortar mixed with hair. ”

“ Colored tiles are used in some cases with quaint effect; but I believe the dignity of the building is always greater when the roof is kept in an undisturbed mass, opposing itself to the variegation and richness of the walls. The Italian 346 round tile is itself decoration enough, a deep and rich fluting, which all artists delight in ”

“ In majolica tiles, for flower-boxes, many effective and appropriate designs are made; these are of bold relief and richly coloured. Among the patterns are tulips and other flowers in high relief, painted true to nature, and of remarkable richness. Earthenware tiles, printed or painted, not in relief, are also largely produced for the same purpose.
For wall decoration, fire-place cheeks and linings, and other purposes, the variety of tiles produced by the firm is very extensive, and embraces almost every class of design. ”

“ The latter have patterns in white, dark blue, and yellow, and in all cases they are remarkable for the beautiful inequality both of the colours and of the surface of the tiles. Both colour and material are in themselves better than the work of our tile-manufacturers at the present day, and illustrate very well the difference between hand-work and machine-work, which I have already noticed in comparing the old and new modes of dealing with plaster. The Moorish tiles are very commonly seen in Toledo, and were used both for flooring and inlaying walls, and in some cases for the covering of roofs. ”

“ One portion of the tiles appear designed to stand vertically, and probably formed a reredos or other wall ornament; they represent a series of niches flanked by panelled buttresses and crocketed pinnacles, surmounted by foliated canopies, in which the ogee arch occurs. The design of each niche occupies one tile in width and four in height; one is filled by an archbishop, another by a queen with a sceptre in her right, and a squirrel in her left hand, and the third by a king, having in his right hand an oak or olive branch, and a figure under his feet whom he seems to be crushing to the earth ”

“ A wall found on the site of the Mansion House seems to have had only one row of piles; it was plastered outside.
Tile Walling.—The brick commonly used in Rome was a crude or unbaked block; the burnt walling tile was, as said above, developed from 15pottery, and it always remained pottery-like in texture and thin in substance. As Mr. T. May has said of bricks: “They were made of heavy clay, well tempered and long exposed; the modern practice is to use the lightest possible clay right off without tempering.” ”

“ It is presumed that a pure white tile body is not required. For studio work the most pleasing white surface is found in an opaque enamel, but for the most part the craftsman will wish to work for colored tile. A cream or buff body is all that is necessary, [134] therefore, and the foundation of this is a clay known as sagger clay. In order to secure the necessary porosity a fine "grog" must be used. Grog is burned clay. After working awhile there will be an abundance of this in broken unglazed pottery but at first some soft fire-bricks must be pounded. ”

“ A building in Lower Thames Street had walls of red and yellow tiles in alternate layers. This fact I learn from a sketch by Fairholt at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and such use of bricks of two colours was a common practice. In 16Hodge’s sketches of the tile walls of a great building discovered at Leadenhall Market it is noted that some of the courses were red and buff. Price recorded of walls, 21⁄2 ft. thick, found in the Bucklersbury excavations, that “the tiles were the usual kind of red and yellow brick.” ”