CHAPTER VIII

THE MAKING OF A TILE

The ancient Egyptians were probably the first tile-makers. Some of their most remarkable pieces of enamel work are clay plaques or slabs, made as early as 1300 B. C. Figures of men and animals were drawn upon them, modelled in low relief, and coated with enamels, brilliant and beautiful in colour.

In other tiles a kind of mosaic was made—a combination of fine clay and enamels, which were mixed into soft pastes. The design was modelled and fitted together in these coloured pastes, which, when they were fired, the heat fixed and vitrified. Again these cunning craftsmen left in the clay incisions forming a design. Into these settings, so to speak, small pieces of glass or enamel were fitted, and when fused into place by the heat of the kiln suggested jewels.

Now-a-days our artist potters are designing and modelling tile for wall and floor decoration —whole mantels to match the colour scheme of a library or my lady’s boudoir.

To the uninitiated, the making of a tile seems almost too simple to learn—just a slab of clay, cut square and baked. Simple enough it is, to be sure, yet it has difficulties enough to make it interesting.

Suppose we mould a tile and learn by experience just what the difficulties are and how to surmount them.

The clay that is used in moulding tiles is the same as that of which the other pieces of pottery are made—_i. e._, a mixture of fire and ball or blue clay with the addition of a large amount of what is called by potters, “grog.” This is fire clay which after baking becomes pale yellow in colour and quite hard. It is pounded into pieces the size of a small pea, and smaller, and mixed thoroughly through the clay, to act as a tempering agent. Mould in as much of the “grog” as the clay will hold. Too much will make it lose its plasticity and separate into small lumps, but short of this the more “grog” the tile clay contains the better, as, being baked and shrunken, it minimises the chances of cracking by shrinkage.

In making a tile, the following materials will be required:

About 4½ pounds of tile clay,

A level board, about 15 by 20 inches,

A frame made by screwing a strip of wood, ⅞ of an inch thick by 2 inches wide and 21 inches long, on each of the long edges of a board, 14½ inches wide by 21 inches long,

3 pieces of white cheese-cloth, 15 by 21 inches,

A rolling-pin,

The rectangular sheet-steel tool,

A T square or a piece of sheet metal, 8 by 8 inches,

A strong, sharp knife,

A bowl of slip,

The boxwood modelling tools,

The pointed-steel tool,

The steel tool with flat point.

To begin with, a large piece of tile clay is worked until all the air-holes are out of it, as already described.

A wooden board which is absolutely level, having previously been covered with a piece of wet, white cheese-cloth, which is tacked securely upon it, the clay is moulded into a square by hand and laid upon the board. It is then pounded flat with the thick part of the hand into an irregular square cake, and rolled with a rolling-pin, wet with slip, until it is a little less than half an inch thick.

A wooden frame made of a board fourteen and a half inches wide by twenty-one inches long, with a strip of wood the same length, seven-eighths of an inch thick when planed, and two inches wide, screwed on to each of the long edges, should have been provided beforehand. A piece of wet cheese-cloth is spread upon this board, and the clay square is carefully transferred to it, fitting it carefully into the form by patting and pressing with the hand. It should then be smoothed with the rectangular tool of sheet steel.

The tile must now be reinforced for the reason that the outer edge, which dries and shrinks first, would naturally crack when the inside finally dried and shrank, and so spoil the tile. When reinforced, the edges, being double thickness, dry more slowly, making the whole tile shrink evenly. Six pieces of clay are rolled into as many rope-like strips. Five of these strips are patted flat with the hand until they are about an inch and a half wide and not quite half an inch thick. They are then laid along the outer edges of the tile, which have first been lightly brushed with slip, and across the middle (see Fig. 36), pressing them firmly onto the tile and joining the edges carefully. The sixth strip is cut into two short pieces, which are laid in at the centre, between the three strips crossing the tile (see Fig. 36), and firmly attached by moulding them against the other strips and working the edges on to the tile upon which a touch of slip has been brushed. A damp piece of cheese-cloth is laid on the tile and it is again rolled with the rolling-pin. Next it is made smooth with the sheet-steel tool, and the four depressions are moulded evenly, as shown in Fig. 37. It is then set away over night, to get in proper condition to cut and finish.

The following day put a board on the bottom of the tile and reverse the frame so that the tile will slide off on to the board. Then with a T square or a piece of sheet metal eight by eight inches (the size of the tile) laid upon it, cut around the edges with a sharp, strong knife. The tile is then set away to receive its decoration, which should be made the day following.

Care should always be taken to lay the tile only upon an absolutely level board or other flat surface in drying, as otherwise it will warp and dry unevenly.

Having chosen a simple design—for example, the one shown in Fig. 38—draw it upon the tile in pencil. Next go over the lines with the pointed tool of boxwood, and with a curved pointed wooden tool incise the outline still deeper. Make a clean-cut, firm outline, broad and deep, with a bevelled edge. This is, of course, supposing that the tile has not become very dry, in which case the tool used should be the pointed steel one, finishing with the wooden tool. The whole design should be deeply incised with firm, sure strokes. The pieces of “grog” which the tool will run against now and then will not injure the outline if the hand is firm. Should one by mistake cut away more of the design than was intended, it can easily be repaired with a touch of slip and a small piece of clay, the consistency of the tile, worked in with the pointed steel tool.

The portions of the design which are indicated by dots in Fig. 38 are depressed with the flat-pointed steel tool, according to the method for leaving the design in low relief, described in Chapter IV. Before setting the tile away to dry for the last time, the potter incises his mark on the back. A dull yellow mat-glaze or a gray green one (see