tile work

This is what I've been working on this week. These tiles were commissioned by a friend to be given as hostess gifts for her daughter's bridal showers and brunch.

I roll the clay out on my slab roller, cut the shapes and stack on pieces of sheet rock.

Then I carve, attach and stamp the design into the clay. They have to dry slowly and completely before going into the kiln for the bisque firing.

I love working with clay. It is a quite, gentle kind of work. The wet terracotta clay looks like chocolate.

Some of the tools of the trade

Now they are glazed and ready to go into the kiln. I love to use Majolica glaze on textured terracotta. White glaze is applied first and then the color. After it's fired, the high places on the tile show through the glaze, though I don't think you can tell it in the pictures.

All done.

These tiles measure about 5"x8" and can hang on the wall or stand on an easel. I will be adding these and other designs to my website and they will sell for $25.00 each.