Handmade Tile

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE customer installation photos? It's so gratifying for me to see where the tiles end up after they leave my studio. A big thank you to S.E. for sending these photos of your "birds on a branch" set in action! Love how it looks with those field tiles! Great job!

This tile installation has become a record a family's history, because every member of this family got to pick out a tile for the hearth! I especially love that the 4 and 5 year old granddaughters carefully selected the mermaid and unicorn tiles. Why not have a few magical creatures in the mix? It totally works! The homeowner told me that whenever they come to visit, they always go to the hearth find "their tile." How sweet! Here is a close up of some of the tiles before they were installed. Quite an assortment! Obviously this is a light-hearted family...

A tiny washroom and spacious kitchen were both thoughtfully refreshed as part of the renovation of this "Craftsman- Victorian" house that was built in Virginia at the turn of the last century. Both rooms kept their historical character while becoming more fun and functional. The addition of bead board and a tiled backsplash enliven the diminutive water closet and provide moisture protection for the walls. I love the energizing hue of the deep gold wainscoting and how it picks up on the color of the cattail tiles over the classic wall mounted sink. The homeowner sweetly commented, "Who ever thought...

With everything going on in the world right now, it is wonderful to see something positive come together! "Lovely Little Farm" is a British TV show for kids about a family living on a thriving organic farm (with talking animals, naturally!) I haven't seen it yet, but from the trailer it looks delightful and I am so honored that my tiles are part of the plastic free, sustainable set: The series is streaming now on apple tv and you can watch the trailer here: https://www.apple.com/uk/tv-pr/originals/lovely-little-farm/ Here is a close up of some of the tiles before they shipped: This amazing...

What a thrill for me to be featured on the Bailey Pottery website! I have been using a Bailey slab roller for years and years and so I was delighted when I when they asked me to be part of their "Made with a Bailey" spotlight. You can read the whole interview here: https://www.baileypottery.com/blog/post/made-with-a-bailey-interview-featuring-emily-margaret-ulm.html This is NOT a paid or sponsored post!

Oh, how I love installation pictures! And they are even more fun when they include process photos. This customer got her tiles from River Light Gallery in nearby Peninsula and installed them in her former coach house which she calls "Skyloft." It is a fitting name given those skylights! Looks pretty dreamy to me. Here are the tiles going up: A praying mantis, honeybee, caterpillar and dragonfly each make an appearance in this cheery arrangement.  As you can see, she planned the layout at the gallery before taking them home: Thank you so much, F.R., for including my tiles in...

Sometimes new designs don't make it on the to website right away. For example, I created this new, 2x2 inch crow tile last fall and it is only now available through my online store.  What can I say? Often I am so busy making tiles that I have a hard time finding the time to write about it. The black and white color combination in the picture above is new and there is an upcharge for it because it is more labor intensive than my normal glazing process. No extra charge for any of my standard glazes.  Crows are my...

Normally plants and animals are the inspirations for my tiles, but recently a client requested that I come up with some new geometric designs in the 2x2 and 3x3 inch sizes, so I sculpted some out of plasticine clay, which I then made molds of. Here is a picture of the sculpting process: Once a mold has been made, I can replicate the designs hundreds of times or more. This customer wanted their set of tile to be glazed in white, but these tiles could be glazed in any color. Not every design in this collection is completely new.  The "geometric...