How To Make Handmade Decorative Tile

Handmade decorative tile has become a trend since it is full of creation and it spark inspirations. Designer and art lovers are  very crazy about it. Homeowners may also have a try. It is not so difficult as they think. Then you can make your kitchen backsplash,bathroom wall,fireplace,TV background,balcony,any place in your house or your garden into a unique art of work with your own handmade decorative tiles. Then here is our topic today:how to make handmade decorative tile? Let's learn and have a try.

Laying out the design for a carving on a porcelain 'blank. Starting to carve a 12x12 Celtic knot tile.

Carving done! Lay out and complete a carving using a variety of conventional and custom made manual carving tools.

Prepare a wooden frame around the carving to make a mold of it.

All set to make a mold!

Pouring the prepared plaster into the mold box, over the carving.This part is always a little tense,  if anything goes wrong, it's a lot of hours of work down the drain.

A reclaimed dryer motor with an unbalanced wooden fly wheel mounted on the pouring table.This vibrates the table while pouring the plaster and ensures there's no air bubbles trapped in the mold.

Done!
The carving rarely survives this process and is thrown into the clay scrap pile. We now have a master mold, one tile or several in the case of smaller accent and border tiles, will be made from this and another mold made from it.
This will become the production mold and the master will only be used when it's necessary to make a new production mold due to wear or breakage.

The tile making bench. A large heavy duty oak rolling pin is used to roll out slabs of wet clay to a specific even thickness on the canvas covered surface of the bench. Templates are used to cut the proper shape and size out of the slab to fit the mold.

The cut slabs of clay are placed into the mold, covered with a board and pounded with Johns very special duct taped wooden mallet.

The backs are trimmed, stamped and set aside until they're dry enough to remove from the mold.

The tiles are dried slowly in drying racks to prevent warping.This part just can't be rushed, especially with the larger tiles.

The tiles are dry and for some it's now time to start applying the color. The tiles are decorated in a variety of ways, these ones are hand painted with under gaze and will later have a clear gloss glaze over top.

    

All the tiles are fired twice at around 2000 degrees in one of our three kilns, which generally takes two or more days. Most of that time being cooling down, another thing that can't be rushed. The first firing is called a bisque firing,the clay is now hard and any painted on under glaze is fused to the tile. A glaze, either clear, colored, gloss or matte is then applied to the tile and the second and generally final firing is done. Bright gold, copper or mother of pearl are applied over a gloss glaze and require another firing at a lower temperature.

 

The tiles are finished and they are really beautiful! Do you like it?

  

(Selected from Internet)

Ideas of Mosaic Tile Murals in Your Room

Mosaic tile murals can add flare to your home. You can add mosaic tile mural designs to any spaces in your house, like your kitchen backsplash, bathroom shower stall, TV background in the living room or as well as flooring throughout your home. Mosaic tile mural designs include intricate cutting mosaic murals and simple patterns/jigsaws.
Kitchen backsplash
In the kitchen, you can add a back splash above the sink in a floral pattern, such as colorful flowers. A complete scene is also a good choice. You can also create many different subjects as fruit harvest, dining, picnic, etc.

Only simple pattern is also nice looking. It makes your kitchen counter look tidier.

Shower Stall
Having a shower can be a relaxed thing, so it is better that the mosaic mural tiles can make people feel joyful. The kids may like the scenes as fish with seaweed and coral or a mermaid swimming in the ocean.

You can also choose simple mosaic mixed patterns. They are beautiful too and the most important it costs less and easy to install.
TV background
TV background in the living room is the most obvious place. Friends and relatives usually come and have a party in the living room therefore you have to decorate it with more well-designed patterns. Flowers, landscapes, animals, figures are very good ideas if you like. Simple pattern is also beautiful and makes your house looks wide and clean.

Floor
For flooring, you can use mosaic tile borders to make your room look united or if you need to underline the place (like living room) in your house. Stone mosaic pattern is a kind of common mural in the center of the house.

Arabesque Tiles Decorate Your House

As the growing demanding in decorating designs of house, homeowners are prone to choose special shape tiles for house decoration which will show their own characteristic and styles of their houses. Hexagon tiles, octagon tiles, penny round mosaic tile, fan-shaped tiles, diamond tiles, oval shape mosaic tile and lantern shape tiles/Arabesque tiles are choices for them. Recently, arabesque tiles are very popular with high demands in the market. 

They are good choices for kitchen backsplash, bathroom wall and living room TV background. It’s simple but attractive and gorgeous. Arabesques tiles can be porcelain and glass. Regarding to the shape, it have different forms, some are a little big and flat while some are some and slim. For the production technology, some are cut, some transmutation glazed and some are hot melted. Different processes make the colors and effects differently.

Welcome to contact us for more details. Our professional sales team will help you to get more information!

How to Install Stainless Steel Mosaic Tiles

How to Install Stainless Steel Tile

With the popularity of the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen stainless steel mosaic tiles are also becoming more and more popular to homeowners. Stainless steel mosaic tiles are good choice for backsplashes and countertops and will give an upscale, modern look to your kitchen. Besides, they are stand up to everyday wear and tear and are easy to clean. Let’s see how to install stainless steel mosaic tiles today!

Instructions

1. Choose the pattern for your backsplash or countertop. Test fit a row of mosaic tiles in each direction to make sure that you are satisfied with the how the finished pattern will look.

2. Mix the tile adhesive according to package instructions. The consistency should be like peanut butter. Some adhesives are ready to use and do not require mixing.

3. Apply the adhesive to small area of the wall or countertop with a notched trowel. Dragging the notched side of the trowel through the layer of adhesive to make rows which can bring complete adhesion to the metal mosaic tiles.

4. After all the mosaic tiles are applied and adhesive is dried, you need to grout the joints with non-sanded grout or epoxy grout.

5. Clean the mosaic backsplash and countertops after applying. 

Transmutation glazed mosaic tiles

Transmutation glazed mosaic tiles are very hot recently. Generally, mosaic which has attractive distinctive changes in color, appearance, tone and nature after opening the kiln can be called transmutation glaze mosaic. Usually, there are two kinds of high-temperature glazes, one is high-temperature color glaze, the other is high-temperature transmutation color glaze. These two glazes are essential difference from colorants molecules, colors, textures as well as nature. The key point is Transmutation. For example, blue color glaze and blue transmutation color glaze. You can see the difference from the below pictures.

You can see the first one common blue glaze is fairly unimpressive but the second one is special and incomparable. The transformation of the color makes it looks unique!

Mosaic is one of the most ancient decorations. People are creative enough to bring this transmutation to mosaic and this technique makes the designs of mosaic more and more popular and decorative. Here you can see our Colorbuilding new arrivals transmutation glaze mosaic tile. It can be hexagon, square, round, etc.

For more details, you can send your question to us, we will be happy to be helpful!

Live with colorbuilding, live with colorlife! That's what we aimed at: color your life, build your dream!

The Difference Between ceramic Tile and Porcelain Tile

The first decision you should make when installing tiles in your home is choosing between ceramic and porcelain tile. The biggest difference between ceramic and porcelain tile starts with their composition, which not only determines a tile's color and texture, but its density, durability and uses. Though choosing a type of tile seems daunting at first, understanding these differences will make finding the type of tile that best suits your needs much less overwhelming. 

Ceramic Composition and Processing

Ceramic is made mostly of red or white clay mixed with various minerals and water and is fired in a kiln to solidify. Because ceramic is porous, or more likely to absorb water, the top surface of ceramic tile is usually sealed with a glaze, creating a design layer that determines the tile's finished color, design and texture.

Porcelain Composition and Processing

Porcelain is made mostly of finely ground sand and highly refined and purified clays and is processed at a temperature much higher than that of ceramic. The finished product is a glass-like tile that is denser and, with a water absorption rate of 0.5 percent, less porous than ceramic tile. Porcelain tile is sometimes glazed for extra durability, though glazing is not always necessary.

Durability

Glazed ceramic tile is not only durable and long-lasting but is one of the easiest surfaces to clean and does not absorb odors, allergens or bacteria. However, ceramic tile has a high water absorption rate, making it less stain- and frost-resistant, while porcelain tile has a low water absorption rate, so it is less likely to absorb moisture and is more stain- and frost-resistant. Porcelain tile is also more durable than ceramic tile, as porcelain tile's higher density makes it more resistant to wear, chipping and other damage than ceramic tile.

Suitability

Ceramic tile is best suited for indoor walls and floors with light to moderate traffic, as it is more susceptible to wear, chipping and cracking. Porcelain tile is suitable for both indoor and outdoor areas with light to heavy traffic due to its higher density and durability. However, because of its hardness and high density, porcelain tile is harder to cut and shape during installation.

Be selected from www.e-how.com

Cersaie 2014

Cersaie is the top exhibition of ceramic tiles and bathroom fair in Bologna , Italy.

You can see the newest designs ,technology, top brands, luxury decor on the fair.So it attracts architects, designers, retailers, manufacturers, distributor wholesalers in this industry from all over the world.

There is no much new things at this year event.
Cement and decor tiles still take leading role in the exhibition, but no much different about colors, patterns, or sizes.

The only thing new is hexagon shape tiles, it is in almost every stand, even in Bisazza's, one of the most

 famous and leading brand of glass mosaic. Hexagon tile are used for wall ,floor ,decoration,etc. It will probably hit the market at rest of year.

Meanwhile , the Chinese tile manufacturer or dealer are facing intense competition from Europe. Except the anti-dumping tax on European market, we are losing price advantage too.So its been very difficult for Chinese exporter to sell in EU market. It might be smart to pay attention to Asia or Africa market.