Handmade Tile

Q. How long do handmade tiles last? A. A very long time. Tiles are forever, almost. Fired clay can last a very long time and tend to do so which is why archeologists are always digging up ceramic pottery. Under the right conditions ceramic tile or any other type of ceramic can last thousands of years, this is especially true of stoneware and porcelain. Not many other man-made materials will last as long without changing in some way. Strength of tile increases when this tiles are thick, like for instance Emu Tile's handmade tile. Some of our tile are very...

So the whole idea of my blog will be reasons, many reasons, that handmade ceramic art tile are great. In the upcoming months, and years, I will be posting quick tidbits of information about handmade tile and start conversations about tile that is hand-made using the traditional methods. Today this is the first post so I will leave readers with the thought that more is on the way so subscribe to this RSS feed! Thank you! -Emu Art Tile

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...

It never fails to brighten my day when a customer takes the time to send me pictures of Emu Art Tiles in installed in their home.  Seeing all of the different ways in which people display and interact with my work reminds me that the world is full of possibilities, and gives me a feeling of connectedness.   An art tile installation is a collaboration between the person who makes the tiles, the person who decides where and how to display them,  and the person who actually installs them.  Since each of these steps is equally important, it is tremendously...

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...

We are happy to announce that our new website is now up and running.  Darrell and I are still in the process of adding features and content, but we both agree that it is already way better than the old website.  Our new and improved site runs on the open source content management system, Drupal, and it has many new features that we find exciting. For starters, we can blog right on EmuTile.com.  From now on, I will post entries here instead of at my old blog. My favorite feature of the new site is that product pages show thumbnails of each...