Handmade Tile

I've been busy this week sculpting various 4"x4" tiles, including a completely new Rooster design. The Honey Bee was already available as a 2"x2" tile and I am re-sizing it. I am also working on enlarging one of my cat tiles, but it is not ready for the public eye. The rooster and bee, however, are almost finished:  I am going to fiddle with the wings and feathers a bit more, and then make molds. The mold making process will destroy the original proofs, but that is ok because with the finished molds I can make hundreds of reproductions of...

Seeing customer installation pictures never fails to make me happy, so getting these photos from Nan S. was quite a treat. She has a stairway in her home, and she wanted to increase the visual impact of this transitional space with tiles. She achieved her goal brilliantly, but not in the way you might expect. Instead of tiling the stair treads and risers, she tiled the walls and ceiling of the stairwell. And lucky for me, she took lots of pictures: The view up the stairs. Art tiles are 6"x6" Tree of Life and 4"x4" Acorn The upper wall and...

The new heron tile I have been working on is ready at last. It is pictured here alongside my original heron tile. Both are shown glazed in Watercolor Blue. As you can see, the new tile is a mirror image of the original, so now you can order two heron tiles that face each other in my online store.  A pair of these would look great installed on opposite sides of a fireplace; or maybe over a kitchen stove along with some cattail or cypress tiles. There are lots of possibilities & I look forward to seeing what ideas people come up with...

We are savoring to the end of summer here in Northeast Ohio. The days are still warm and sunny, but they are getting shorter & the nights are getting cooler. I feel less like swimming and more like hiking. When DRU and I took our morning walk today, and I was glad to be wearing long pants instead of shorts. I would have grabbed a jacket, too, if the cool, crisp air weren't so refreshing. The trees are still quite green, but DRU managed to find a perfect orange & red leaf sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. More...

It never occurred to me that the "Birds on a Branch Triptych" could be installed with a border made up of 2"x2" field tiles and blossom tiles. Fortunately for me, the idea did occur to a clever couple who made it happen, and then were kind enough to send me pictures. I am quite impressed with how well their kitchen installation turned out. The border does double duty: it gives the art tiles more presence while softening the transition to the surrounding linen colored subway tiles. "Birds on a Branch" and border tiles are all glazed in "Autumn." Field tiles are...

What a great concept: take an art tile, frame it with art tiles, and presto! Durable, washable wall art for the kitchen. Bonus: this is wall art that never needs straightening (after the initial installation, of course). This kitchen features three 6"x6" art tiles in northern lights glaze, framed up with a combination of 3"x6" and 3"x3" art tiles in buckwheat glaze: I can't tell from these pictures if the field tiles are natural stone or ceramic; in any case the color harmonizes beautifully with the buckwheat and northern lights glazes. The homeowner described the arrangement above as a "Sunburst."...

If it is wrong to love a kitchen, then I don't want to be right. Because I love this kitchen. How could I not? The cabinets, counters and floor have a limited color palette, clean lines, and not too much ornamentation. This simplicity really sets off the fun, multi-colored art tiles.  The high gloss, black granite counters create a mirror effect, further emphasizing the tiles. I made the patterned, relief tiles, the field tiles are by a different manufacturer- if I find out which one, I will give them credit here. Thanks to Susan Hall, of One Source Design, for...

Not quite. More like "attack of the fifty foot tiles." If I laid all of these 4"x4" tiles out, end to end, they would come in at just under fifty feet. I am not going to lay them out end to end... my studio isn't big enough! Instead, I am going to pack them up carefully and send them off to their new home.  These tiles are glazed in Cinnamon, Autumn, Northern Lights, Leaf Green, and Watercolor Blue. I am really hoping to get pictures of these installed! I *love* customer installation pictures.