CHAPTER 7

The Majolica Tile

MAJOLICA POTTERY derived its name from the island of Majorca, Italy, where during the sixteenth century glazed pottery reached its highest perfection.

Glazed color may be placed in hollows in the surface of pottery or on the surface. A better method is to produce a raised line or rim to retain the glaze, and this is the method we will use in the cement or concrete pottery.

THE CEMENT MAJOLICA TILE is made as follows: First design a subject that will have each motif, part or section defined with lines. These lines must be part of the design and used much as lines are used in stained glass work. The design should be simply planned. A confusing overcrossing tangle of lines is to be avoided. A few geometrical forms rightly related will be most pleasing. Keep the design at least one-half inch within the edge of the space. Then oil a piece of glass as directed, place over a card that has the tile dimensions squared off on it as a guide for placing the casting bars on the glass. Clay or wax should always be used to hold the casting bars in place. Into this now pour plaster-of-Paris, pouring into the center, letting it flow to the outer edge. Level off evenly and remove after fifteen minutes. On releasing this plaster tile a smooth surface will be found on the side which came next to the glass.

THE DESIGN is then transferred to the plaster tile by tracing with a carbon paper. The paper should be thumbtacked onto the sides of the plaster tile to prevent it from slipping while tracing. The design should also be traced on backwards so that the completed majolica tile will be in the same position as the design. The design is then incised with the incising tool, care being taken that at whatever depth the line is made the incision has sides sloping upward. If these grooves have overhanging edges the cement to be poured in will flow under these edges and lock the tile, causing these lines to break before the cement tile can be released.

WHEN INCISING, see that the bottom of the groove is sufficiently wide, as this bottom is to be the surface of the line on the completed surface. A line one-sixteenth or one-eighteenth of an inch is not too wide. The plaster should not be too soft or too hard to secure the best incision and avoid crumbly lines. When the incising is completed oil the surface and surround the tile with four retaining bars. The bars should be soaked in water and be of double width as they extend above the plaster cast. This extension above the tile represents the thickness of the tile to be made. Clay or wax is pressed on the outer edges of the bars and plain neat cement or a mixture of the desired color is made and poured onto the mold. Pour in the center steadily, for cement poured on the “installment plan” will show a mark wherever each installment occurred.

When the cement in the mold has dried for twenty-four hours remove by slightly prying, after the retaining bars have been removed. If parts of the lines are not on the surface it is because air was arrested in pouring the cement or the oil settling in the grooves. If lines are broken and remain in the mold it is because the grooves have overhanging edges and locked the cement line. To repair these lines, soak the tile for a few minutes and mix a small portion of cement to match that used and build the missing section by dripping the cement from a brush.

AFTER DRYING for an hour put the whole tile in water for a day or overnight and it is then ready to add the color. Meanwhile the plaster mold with the defective grooves should have the grooves cleared by scraping the overhanging edge with an incising tool.

The tile as it has been produced by the mold appears with a number of relief lines dividing the whole surface into a number of partitions or cells. It is into these that we are to place the color and it should be worked as follows:

While the surface of the tile is moist, drip in the color with a brush, spreading it to fill the required space. Thin pieces of metal (or material that will not absorb the moisture) may be used to spread the color, producing a smooth, even surface. The color after once commencing to set should not be touched, and for this reason should be rather liquid so as to permit handling without too rapid drying.

THE COLOR SURFACE appears better when the lines of the design remain uncovered with color. If the color is thickest in the center of the spaces and then bevels down as it comes in contact with the lines, the whole tile or surface will appear more professional.

If color becomes blurred or disturbed, it is better to wash the whole out under the faucet and begin anew, or remove the section at fault and work over. No amount of patching or rubbing will perfect the surface after it is partly dry or completed.

After the coloring is finished put in a tray, carefully pour water into the tray without dropping any onto the tile and let harden for five days. The water should reach a little more than half-way up the side. After removing it from the water let stand until dry, polish with a soft flannel slightly waxed to remove white sediment on surface.

ANOTHER METHOD WITHOUT THE LINES is to use the color directly onto cement or concrete surface without any retaining lines. The colors may be placed so that they intermingle or so that they just touch, or the color spots may be separated one from another similar to stencil work. The color for this method is mixed thoroughly with cement and water until the mixture is a fine thick liquid or “slip.”

SLIP PAINTING is a method of painting a design in one or several colors over a cement or concrete surface. The color may be slightly in relief or if done at the proper time it can be made to become a flat stain of color sinking into the first surface.

THE TWO WAYS OF SLIP PAINTING must be handled a little differently and the best way to become familiar with these methods is to do the work. Therefore let us work out the first method of producing a design slip painted in slight relief as follows:

FIRST: Make a design for a six-inch square, the design to denote the colors to be used. Second: on a glass place retaining bars which have been soaked in water and oiled, leaving space six inches square into which a half layer of neat cement is poured and then a layer of one-half sand and one-half cement. Third: after standing for twelve hours, release this cement tile and it will be a plain, smooth surface. This is placed in water for an hour and the design traced upon its surface.

Chalk of any visible color should be rubbed on the back of the drawing to act as a tracing medium. Carbon paper or graphite should not be used as any greasy substance will prevent the slip painting from adhering to the cement tile surface.

THE COLORS FOR THE SLIP PAINTING should be mixed so as to match the colors of the color sketch. When matching the colors, dry a small dab of each color on a glass to see the dried color effect.

TO MIX THE COLORS PROPERLY, select the color you wish, emptying a little upon a glass or marble slab. Take a little clean water and mix with a palette or putty knife and grind the color until it becomes a thin liquid paste. Having ground this color thoroughly, scrape it up and place on one side of the glass, then proceed with the next color until you have mixed the complete palette of colors to match those on the sketch.

VARYING COLORS CAN BE SECURED by mixing the mineral colors and where hues different than those in the set are wanted they should be mixed the same as in water colors. There is one exception to this rule and that is in using the orange. The orange in the mineral colors when mixed with blue will produce a violet.

To gray the colors add gray cement, and to lighten the colors add some of the white cement.

TO PLACE THE COLOR ON THE TILE, take it up with the brush and drip onto the cement surface, being guided by the tracing previously made. The color should be thin enough to flow from the brush easily and not so thick that it drips in lumps. More water should be added if too thick and more color is added if too thin. In both instances, whether water or color is added it must be ground in thoroughly. If the color settles on the glass it should be stirred again to keep the mixture uniform.

THE RELIEF OF THE COLORS can be regulated by how much color is flowed from the brush, and surfaces can be built up by repeating the strokes of color. Avoid repeating a stroke after the color has commenced to set, as a second stroke in such an instance will destroy the surface lustre. Where colors run over the boundaries they may be scraped back or taken off with a moist, clean brush.

The direct clean stroke will produce the best final results, and if preceding each stroke a little thought is given, mistakes will be avoided.

The tile surface should not be permitted to dry while working upon it and if kept in a shallow tray of water there will be less risk of it doing so. Water should never be permitted to fall upon or touch the surface of the slip painting or tile as the color will be destroyed. The tile is placed carefully into shallow water to continue hardening and in four or five days will be hard enough to remove. After drying out of water several days it is ready to use or it may be given a gasoline wash or wax rub if needed.

Tiles will harden as they age. Those that appear to be partly chalky when completed will harden in a month’s time, when the moisture from the center of the tile has completely evaporated.

THE SECOND METHOD OF SLIP PAINTING is used where three different planes or heights of color are wanted. For instance we will suppose that the subject is to be a decorative design of trees and distance landscape in three colors. This would be worked out as follows: First, cast a plain cement tile and after removing it and while damp pour a spoonful of color on the surface coating it with plain color as desired. This color should be the background color of the sketch. Second, while this coating is soft, take the lightest color (for clouds, water, boats, flowers, etc.) and with a full brush place the color onto this soft coating. It will blend and sink into the background color and remain equally flat. Third, after these colors have commenced to set, with a full brush paint in the foreground part of the design (trees, etc.), working in large masses and building up the color by repeated strokes until the right relief is secured. Avoid shading the parts and keep all parts flat in tone, even though they may be in relief. It will be found that the later color is added to the first coating the less it will sink into the background. Any design can be worked out accordingly either in relief or flat. A little experimenting will solve many questions, and reveal greater possibilities. To complete the tile it is placed in shallow water until it hardens, then let dry for several days after which it may be given a toning wash, or gasoline wash, and a wax rub.

A THIRD METHOD is to take a flat surface and slip-paint a design onto it in relief. After the color has set for a short time it can be trimmed carefully with a knife so that the sides are nearly vertical. This will give the slip-painting a decidedly different appearance and it may be left this way or other color may be added so that it comes nearly up to these trimmed sides.

AVOID LEAVING ANY PART OF THE SURFACE DRYING or setting when painting on the surface; or the tile hardening in the water too long before being painted upon, as it will prevent it from becoming durable. Surfaces can be covered smoothly when slip-painted if the color is used very thin. First cover the surface with a coating of the color to be used, immediately adding more of the color and it will flow and settle evenly.

A slip-painted color will dry dull if placed upon a tile shortly after it has come out of the mold. To secure a glaze to a color the tile should remain in the water for two days before the color is placed onto it.

FOR LARGE SURFACES on which color is to be slip-painted, the surface on which the color is to go should be roughened, so that the color will become anchored.

THREE DEGREES OF SURFACE can be secured by different treatment. These finishes are, first, Dull Surface; second, Mat Surface; third, Glazed Surface.

DULL FINISH is secured by putting the color into the mold. The mold absorbing the water from the surface causes it to dry dull.

MAT FINISH is secured by placing the color onto the tile or vase surface after the surface has come out of the mold and moistened in water for a few minutes.

GLAZED SURFACE is secured by letting the tile or other object harden in water for several days and then draining off the surplus water, after which the color is slip-painted onto the desired surfaces.

TILE SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO DRY at any time before color is added, as the color will not become attached to the surface.

DO NOT FORGET to roughen the surfaces of the spaces and to add neat cement also before dripping the color onto either the mat finish or glaze finish tiles as described in chapter five in the paragraph on The Glazed Color Finish.