Thomas Clark on wed 12 mar 97
I recently began making handcut tiles and I'm having so much FUN! I've been
able to make them uniformly square, however they aren't perfectly flat after I
fire them. What is the trick to flat tiles?
Also, where can I buy brilliant colors for painting my tiles and pots? I want
to buy bright reds, blues, yellows, golds, bronzes, etc. Can I order them by
mail? I'm living in Japan so I've had a hard time finding good colored
paints. Because of the language difference, I'm not sure exactly what I'm
doing!!! I've had success with glazes but for the tiles I've been using some
dull colored paints that come in a box and I don't even know what they are.
Are these glazes also? Can you recommend brighter paints that go on smoothly?
Thanks for your help, I will be eternally grateful!!
New to the lovely field of clay,
Amber Geiger
Derryl Craddock on thu 13 mar 97
Thanks to a recent Paul Lewing tile workshop at the Indianapolis Art Center,
I have learned several "tricks" for flat tiles. one of which is to put down
a layer of interfacing or "Pellon". Put down your slab, put another layer of
interfacing on top to make a clay "sandwich" if you will, and roll out your
clay. then carefully flip the clay and rotate 90 degrees and roll out the
clay again, all the time using the interfacing to manuever the slab. I also
like to use saran wrap and lay it on the slab and cut the tile with a pizza
cutter right over the saran wrap. It makes a nice rounded edge. Derryl
Craddock on a beautiful day in Indy.
Dave/Janice Schiman on thu 13 mar 97
To Amber:
I am in the process of covering an old table with my handmade tiles and
am loving it.
I have had success getting flat tiles by:
1. using new clay from the pugged block.
2. cutting a slice slightly bigger than tile. No wedging, just use
the slab you cut.
3. using clay that is drier than I normally use.
4. rolling clay between two sticks at the level I want my tiles.
5. don't roll more than necessary, when stretching the clay out
there will always be a rebound or springing back when drying.
6. place cut tiles inbetween two prepared wall boards. Make boards
by getting a wall board (the ones with plaster inbetween cardboard).
Cut to the size you want. Make severel the same size so that you can
stack them. Cover edges with duck tape to avoid plaster in your clay.
Weights can be put on top to ensure boards are level. You can cover
your stack with plastic for slower drying, but I did not bother.
I colored my tiles with slip, then clear glazed (^6) after bisquing. I
am having fun and plan to do more projects.
Janice Schiman
Moose Jaw, Sask.
Thomas Clark wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I recently began making handcut tiles and I'm having so much FUN! I've been
> able to make them uniformly square, however they aren't perfectly flat after I
> fire them. What is the trick to flat tiles?
>
> Amber Geiger
Jaine & George on thu 13 mar 97
Amber, without knowing your clay body or how large and thick your tiles
are, I can only offer general guidelines. Slow drying usually helps.
It's also good to minimize moving the tiles once they're cut 'til
they're bone dry: so, if you can cut them on the ware board, you're
ahead; if you cut them on newspaper, you can slide them with the paper,
and minimize the movement risk. It also helps to dry them with enough
weight on top to keep them flat; I usually make stacks, layered: ware
board, paper, tile, paper, tile, paper, ware board, etc. Also, if the
tiles are especially thick, you may need to cut channels in the back.
Hope this helps,
Jaine
Thomas Clark wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I recently began making handcut tiles and I'm having so much FUN! I've been
> able to make them uniformly square, however they aren't perfectly flat after I
> fire them. What is the trick to flat tiles?
> New to the lovely field of clay,
> Amber Geiger
Clay on thu 13 mar 97
At 09:44 AM 3/12/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I recently began making handcut tiles and I'm having so much FUN!
GREAT! That's important.
I've been
>able to make them uniformly square, however they aren't perfectly flat after I
>fire them. What is the trick to flat tiles?
Clay have a memory,Liz,one of my Tucker's clay teacher, just remind me that
.. So if you been bend it when you're handling it before it dry,I'll say good
luck! I usually use some flat wood (hard to find them perfectly flat)to clam
them together through the whole drying process.Or you can use PLASTER.
I press them & leave them into the plaster mould usually.I know you are
talking about firing. However it is important in every step.
Now firing. I went to this local kiln making company to make out a couple of
slab before,out of soft kiln bricks, about an inch thick.I layer them,
sometimes even three to four tiles on top of each other.
I'm not sure about slow firing .I fire them really fast.6hrs to ^o2.Depend
on how dry they are.
Believe it or not , when I'm glaze firing it to ^ 05 to get all the color ,I
glazed the Front & the Back.I find that reduce a lot of chances in cracking.
& using stilts that with wire tip to raise it up.
If you bisq it higher it shouldn't warp very muchwith earthenware.However ,
try your clay first.>
>Also, where can I buy brilliant colors for painting my tiles and pots? I want
>to buy bright reds, blues, yellows, golds, bronzes, etc. Can I order them by
>mail? I'm living in Japan so I've had a hard time finding good colored
>paints. Because of the language difference, I'm not sure exactly what I'm
>doing!!! I've had success with glazes but for the tiles I've been using some
>dull colored paints that come in a box and I don't even know what they are.
>Are these glazes also? Can you recommend brighter paints that go on smoothly?
>
>Thanks for your help, I will be eternally grateful!!
>
>New to the lovely field of clay,
>Amber Geiger
Good luck Amber! Any question please send me mail.
Iannn
Clay@Tomigi.com
David Donica on fri 14 mar 97
Some other things you may want to try is to dry the tiles on greenboard (
the green stuff you use to sheetrock bathrooms) it absorbs water evenly and
is cheap. Also, painting the edges of the tile with wax can help decrease
rapid drying of the edges. I also sandwich tiles between pieces of
greenboard and then flip them over every couple of days, weighting them
while drying. Probably the most important thing is to dry slow and don't
disturb the tiles once they've been cut. Hope this helps- I send wishes of
minimal warpage your way.
Maggie Shepard
FireWorks Pottery
Mt. Shasta, Calif.
The Shelfords on sun 16 mar 97
Maggie Shepard wrote:
>Some other things you may want to try is to dry the tiles on greenboard (
>the green stuff you use to sheetrock bathrooms) it absorbs water evenly and
>is cheap.
In this part of the world, greenboard is more expensive than wallboard
(gyproc). Is the greenboard better in some respect? I've used wallboard
for drying tiles, and beautifully it works too. Maybe greenboard lasts
longer? But does it absorb enough to dry the tiles effectively? Please
respond, as I have access to scrap of both kinds, and I might as well
salvage the best. Thanks.
____________________________________________________________________________
Veronica Shelford
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel: (250) 246-1509
____________________________________________________________________________
Tom Colson on wed 19 mar 97
>Well, now I'm confused. Greenboard was recommended to me by
>a professional tile maker here in town so that's what I've
> used with good success. My husband now informs me that
>greenboard is less absorbent than regular wallboard
>(sheetrock)- that's why it's used in bathrooms. The fact
>that sheetrock absorbs more water may not be a bad thing for
>our purposes but probably makes it less durable. I say,
>use whatever works best.
>
>Maggie Shepard
>FireWorks Pottery
>Mt. Shasta, Calif.
I've been down this path before and here's what I found: greenboard is
indeed more water resistant. Try drying tiles on it and you will often
see water beaded up on the surface of the paper, as well as the water
soaked into the "plaster". It does work fine, but slowly. Since I am the
impatient type and wanted to maximize the drying rate, I use regular
5/8" X-grade (for firewall use) drywall. This stuff is only a touch more
$ than the 1/2" stuff and has one important advantage: wet strength.
Aside from the gain the strength from the thickness, x-grade drywall has
a small amount of fiberglass mixed into the plaster to hold it together.
Nothing ruins a day in the studio like having a water soaked bat fall
apart on you as you move a load of tiles!
Tom
--
Tom Colson tcolson@aimnet.com
Tiles On The Web: http://www.aimnet.com/~tcolson/webtiles.htm
The web site for handmade and historic ceramic tiles.
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