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    Things that make you go HUM!  As I was getting my thoughts together on how to present this page, I heard about a radio contest in Lexington, Kentucky on our local  news.  The station had stated that the 10th caller would win A Hundred Grand!  When the winner went to get her money she was presented with a Nestle 100,000 Bar.  I found this as an appropriate opening to point out sometimes it just ain't what they say it is.

Manual Tile Warmer "TOSH"

  When I typed in a search for "Handmade Tile" on Goggle, I got a lot of individual tile makers who make a few tiles and a bunch of "Handmade Manufactures".  Seneca and Motawi being the main ones.  To make a point, I copied this text directly from Louisville Tiles page about Seneca tile "While soft, moldable clay, individually batched glazed, and natural oxides are the ingredients of the tiles, the "magic" that is Seneca Handmold is in the human hand. Skilled craftsmen vigorously beat handfuls of plastic clay into shallow wooden molds. Excess clay is then scraped from the top of the mold. A wooden drying board is placed over  the mold; together they are carefully inverted; the mold is lifted, and a tile falls free. "Handmade."

  I do not know a lot, but I can tell you it would take more than "magic" to make a tile fall out of a mold and be "Handmade", but this is what they are pulling over on people.  To make a tile by Hand, you would use your hand, molds are how tiles are manufactured.  The "magic" that they are referring to is the fact that the tiles are made out of "wet" clay instead of "powder pressed" like the large manufactures use.  The "skilled craftsmen " are basically anyone who can shove clay into a mold.....and you thought you weren't talented.  You may ask "why go through the trouble of misrepresenting yourself"?  Money......Motawi tile charges $100 a square foot for molded field tile.  Field tiles are the plain ones that make up the majority of a project. As you will see in the following photo's, I make all my tiles, I charge less for them, and when they are installed you will not have to tell your guest that the tile is handmade, it will be obvious.....unlike molded tiles.

Thumbnails can be enlarged by CLICKING on them

How Hand made tiles are Made!

	New clay is pugged (mixed) into long logs (18 to 28 inches depending on the tiles to be made.
The logs are then rolled into 1/2 inch slabs of clay that are designed by impressing handmade doilies into the clay
	The doilie is removed revealing a heavily textured surface that can then be accented through a variety of glaze techniques

	Eight inch floor tiles getting ready to be horizontally cut.
The slabs of clay are then Hand cut using an aluminum guide I had made at our local machine shop. The excess clay is taken back to the pug mill and reclaimed.
	The tiles are then placed close together to dry. This limits the air flow around the sides while allowing the top to dry even.
When the tiles become dry enough to handle, the edges will be rounded, the corners knocked off and the surface retouched....each tile...by hand.
	After the tiles are finished, they will be stacked for drying, some stacks will be weighed down, others will just be stacked high and rotated daily....every day....until dry

Tiles stacked on a Architectural table, waiting to dry.  The slower tiles dry, the less chance they will warp, cup or turn.  Or so say they.
	I use four different clay bodies to make up my tiles. They are each unique and give me four different options for each clay.
Before the tiles are fired, I let them dry out completely on the top of a kiln that is firing, this ensures that no moisture is left in the clay. Now these are Hand Made!

To View My Glaze Colors and Prices go to TILE COLORS Page
 

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Last modified: 03/19/10