Stephani Stephenson on mon 31 mar 03
Julie
if you have promised a client these tiles, on such a short deadline ,
without a clue as to how you will get them or make them
you have made a numero uno, mucho grande size boo boo, in both a
business sense and a technical sense.
Of course, this is your choice, and if high drama is your elixir of
choice, you have certainly uncorked a good size jug of it here!
So here's my personal opinion:
first:
few places provide true porcelain bisque. Many places provide white
earthenware bisque. (Most of the commercial tile industry works with
lower fired ware, many studio tilemakers work either in lo fire or lo to
medium stoneware temps). I think it is possible that there are a few
suppliers such as H and H (I don't have the contact info) that supply
cone 5 clay tile, bisqued .
I don't know of anyone who supplies bisqued porcelain. That isn't saying
it doesn't exist...but if I was you and I could not find a commercial
supplier, I would eject myself out of this job at once. I probably
would eject anyway as there is just no room for any profit whatsoever
here.
If you can't find a large scale , dust pressing supplier , you will
need to rely on a studio tilemaker using a wet clay method and this
will certainly be more costly than your bid allows.
second.
If you WERE to find a source, chances are they will not have the bisque
in 12 X 12 size, but in smaller sizes. want to know why?
Problems with warping and cracking are MUCH more significant with this
size tile and in porcelain.
Have you ever made a 12 X 12 porcelain tile? have you ever shipped a 12
X 12 porcelain tile which has only been bisqued? try it , this will
answer your question, especially at the .....price
third.
Price. Try this. Make 100 12 X12 porcelain tiles (remember they will
actually need to be larger than 12 X12 to account for shrinkage)
take them through the drying, firing, glazing and shipping process. how
many first quality , un warped, un cracked , un broken 12 X 12
porcelain tiles do you end up with? Especially the first time through?
You will likely have to make at least 1200 12 X 12 tiles to get 600
good ones, as you may loose 1 in 2 , or even 2 in 3.
I'd say you should have bid $60,000 instead of $2,000, or at least
$30,000 anyway., and even if experienced you should give yourself 4-6
months lead time for this project in a small studio. Oh what am I
saying... 4-6 years is more like it....
fourth :
PORCELAIN. porcelain is 'demanding', to say the least. tile clay
usually requires a good amount of grog to reduce warping, shrinkage,
cracking. So most hi fire tile is made from a good grogged stoneware
body. If you are truly experienced with working porcelain, maybe you
can pull it off.
If not, in the words of Bette Davis in "All About Eve", "Fasten your
seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride"
Pricing :
first quality studio made field tile sells from $20 to over $100 per
square foot. $ 20 is quite low I think, and usually the tilemaker
moves up from this rather quickly. And this is just rough and ready
terra cotta or stoneware tile
. Ours sells for $40 per square foot for ram pressed, glazed terra
Cotta 4X4 tile, and $80 per square foot for certain kinds of
handpressed field tile ( the kind aged 100 years in honey and sprinkled
with fresh nymph milk every morning... kidding!) That may sound
lucrative.... but if you get into tile production you will discover the
story is, er, complex.......R and D... R and D......
Motawi tile, for example, is at the high end, but look at their glazes
and quality of each individual tile. Look at the marketing and the glaze
development, etc. etc. , the staff required to pull it off.....all of
that goes into the pricing of that field tile.
many tile artists sell work by glazing and painting on commercial
tile. But they spend a good deal of time developing their glazing and
painting with glazes skills. And they tend to find their source of
tile first, try different sources, then go from there.
none of it is an overnight sensation.....
we all take on jobs we aren't ready for
the one's we lost money on
the ones that make for funny stories.... after a few years have
passed.....
but this one has OUCH written all over it.
Stephani Stephenson
steph@alchemiestudio.com
Dannon Rhudy on mon 31 mar 03
Stephani said:
......> if you have promised a client these tiles, on such a short deadline
,
> without a clue as to how you will get them or make them
> you have made a numero uno, mucho grande size boo boo, in both a
> business sense and a technical sense.........
It really hurts to hear what Stephani has to say, I know. But listen,
LISTEN, listen.
Inexperienced tile makers often and often underestimate the
difficulties of making successful tiles in large quantity. It's possible
to do, but it takes research and experience. And you definitely
underbid. "Handmade" is the strongly operative word in this kind
of project/price.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
| |
|
