Tile Art

These photos came from a woman who discovered a passion for woodworking in retirement. All three of these pieces look like heirlooms to me. So honored she chose to make my tiles part of them! (She asked to remain anonymous since she doesn't sell any of her work.) Thank you so much, H. for sharing these photos! 

Hard to believe the holidays are upon us again! It is my honor to have work in the Holden Arboretum's annual art show and fundraiser for the 9th consecutive year.    The show opens this Friday, Nov. 15th with a party! After that, it will be open daily from 9-5 through the end of the year (closed only on Christmas eve and Christmas day.) The tiles pictured above are from last year's show. Here is some of what I made for this year: (Above: 3"x3" tiles in blue and green glazes) There will be a large selection of all different sizes and designs....

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I recently remade some of my sea creatures in the 3"x3" size by request. It was not a small undertaking; I had to re-sculpt my old designs one by one, and then pour seven new plaster molds. The whole project was fairly time consuming. Here is a photo of part of the sculpting process: After I was satisfied with how they looked, I made molds of them. Making molds is always a bit stressful, because the original is usually destroyed in the mold making process. Fortunately, all the molds turned out great,...

2019 has been busy so far. I have been making lots of tiles and getting lots of special requests, both for new designs, and for resized versions of my existing designs. Usually when I am busy I say no to these types of requests because it takes quite a bit of time to sculpt a design and pour a new mold, but this year I am trying to push myself to say "yes" more often, because it makes my customers happy, and is good for the business when I expand my line. It is not always possible, but when I...

My goal is to come up with more and more groupings of tiles. It takes some of the guess work out of ordering when you can see the tiles all together, so I have added three new sets to the online store. Pictured above is the 6"x6" Elm with 2" border. Next is the Quartet of 4'x4" Tree handmade tiles in multiple glazes: And last but not least is a pair of 4"x8" herons with a 2" and 3" border: To see more tile sets, click here: https://emutile.com/collections/sets If you have an idea for a grouping of tiles that you don't...

This "new" design was over six years in the making! I first sketched out the idea for it on January 28th of 2012. I know the exact date because right after I drew it, I cheerfully wrote a blog post about it, and then proceeded to forget about it for over four years. (above: picture from 2012) Nothing more happened with the dandelion until the summer of 2016, when normal tile production was stopped for 6 weeks so Darrell and I could make improvements to the studio, and (to a lesser extent) so I could work on some new designs. The improvements...

It is always a pleasure to receive customer installation pictures! These are a great example of how it is possible to mix handmade feature tiles with field tiles of a different size. Here, handmade 4"x4"s mix happily with 3"x6" subway tiles from another tile company: The homeowners said that at first they weren't sure about mixing different types of tiles, but they are very happy with how the installation turned out. Their tile setter clearly did a great job. Above are the "Maple" and "Wildflower" designs, in honey and spearmint glazes, respectively. Below are the "Elm", "Pine", and "Locust" designs....

This may or may not be what is commonly referred to as  "Cape Cod" style house, but I can tell your for sure that it is located in beautiful Cape Cod, Massachusetts; a place that is famous for its salt marshes, pristine beaches and diverse flora and fauna. The local plants and wildlife of the area are reflected in the choice of tiles for this bright and cheery bathroom. I love the way the homeowner chose to incorporate multicolored handmade tiles into this bathroom. The the lower third of the wall is covered with beadboard wainscoting. At the top of...