Arts and Crafts Tiles

The Custom Tile for Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, PA  that I started working on a few weeks ago is now in production! The first few tiles are coming out of the kiln now: I am very happy with how they came out. This batch is glazed in Spearmint glaze, which really brings out the detail in their logo. If you have a logo that you think would make a good art tile, contact me for prices and lead times.

I was thrilled when John Burdick sent me pictures of my art work hanging at his front door. Here is the view as you approach the house: See the frame to the right of the front door? Here is what it contains: An artistic arrangement of glass roses, bamboo, and my tiles :-) All different plants and animals are represented.. ...including a whole flock of wild turkeys, which John says are plentiful in his area. I love the creativity of this project! It really shows that tiles don't have to be limited to the kitchen, bath and hearth. Here is...

I love the combination of glazes on these four 4"x4" tiles. Clockwise, from top left: 4"x4" Spring Oak in Cinnamon Glaze, 4"x4" Elm in Buckwheat Glaze, 4"x4" Tree of Life in Autumn Glaze, 4"x4" Willow in Northern Lights Glaze. These four glazes play well together and with natural material like stone or wood. On these four tree tiles, they almost create a four- seasons effect, though I am not exactly sure which tile would represent which season. I am planning to use one of these four glazes on my submissions to the upcoming artTILE exhibition at indigenous gallery in Cincinnati. So excited to...

A new tile I started last month is ready! "Spring Blooms," a 4"x8" tile (shown here in leaf green glaze) is now available in the online store. A few words about the Leaf Green Glaze: It is absolutely one of my favorite glazes. It has a depth and richness that is hard to describe and, unfortunately, even harder to photograph. It is super shiny, the most glossy of the group, and no matter how I try to take good photos of it it always is either too dark or gets glare. In the picture above, I tried to photoshop out the bright...

A whole colony of bats just came out of the kiln! I just finished a large set of 2"x2" Bat tiles in Northern Lights Glaze for a customer. This is the most bats I have ever made at the same time, so I thought it was worth documenting.  I love bats, I think they are adorable. If you look close, you can see that my bats are smiling: We have had a real, live bat end up in our studio on two separate occasions. The first one was flying in circles around the room, so we just turned off the...

Here are pictures from a customer who loves art, and has a knack for displaying it her home.  In her kitchen, she had 4"X4" tree themed art tiles installed along with stone field tile, with fantastic results. I love her shelf of art pottery at the end of the wooden counter!  Great use of natural materials.  Here is another view of the area above the stove: And here is a picture of the sink side of the kitchen: Love the soapstone counters and art pottery display! Everything integrates so well in this room.  Thanks for sending pictures.  It makes me...

This past weekend was a working weekend here at Emu Tile.  DRU and I took the whole studio apart, then deep cleaned and rearranged it.  It was not the most fun we have ever had on a weekend, but it was so worth it.  It is like I have a new studio!  The new arrangement makes my work flow better.  And cleaner = safer in a ceramics studio.  We do have a industrial air cleaner to reduce our exposure to silica dust, but cleaning is still important.   I am very lucky to have a husband who cares enough to spend...

On my wish list for a while now has been a test kiln that would hold just a small number of tiles.  As the name implies, it would be great for testing a new glaze, clay or firing technique.  In my situation, having one would also enable me to get certain orders in the mail more quickly while saving energy.   Sometimes I get a small order the day after I do one of my normal firings, and then my choices are either make the customer wait for my next scheduled firing, or to fire a large kiln that is only...