A customer in Pennsylvania requested a sycamore leaf tile. Sycamore trees are prevalent where she lives, and she wanted tiles to reflect the local environment. My dad is really good at identifying plants, so I asked him there are any sycamore trees are here in Kent. It turns out sycamores are fairly prevalent here, too! There is a fine specimen just a few blocks from my house. There are some even closer, but they are in people's yards and aren't accessible. After a short walk to harvest a few leaves, I pressed them in a book for a few days, and then got to work:
Once I was satisfied with the shape, I made a mold:
From the mold, I began to press some tiles from soft clay. Here is what those first tiles looked like, right after they came out of the mold:
After they dried thoroughly, I fired them once before glazing them. Here they are after the first firing, but before glaze was applied:
I forgot to take a picture after glazing, but before re-firing. Unfired glaze looks chalky and weird, you just will have to imagine that step. Applying heat transforms the chalky surface, just like magic, to this:
The new 4"x4" sycamore leaf tiles are shown here with various 2"x2" tiles. All are glazed in "honey." I have added the sycamore design to my online store, and will add more pictures as people order them in different glaze colors. For now, they are only shown in "Autumn" and "Honey," but they are available in 10 glazes.
https://emutile.com/collections/tree-tiles/products/sycamore-leaf-4x4-ceramic-handmade-tile
