Terracotta floor tiles add warmth to any room. Inspired by Mediterranean architecture and the modernist-style encaustic tiles, I wanted to learn how to make a tile in which the coloured design extends into the tile and not merely painted on top. Why? Because I want the legacy of the design to continue on well worn tiles. If my tile ends up in a high traffic area and wears down over time, the design will remain in tact.
Creating an encaustic tile first took a bit of research as I had never done it before and so I started by checking a book about tile making out of the library. It was reading this book that I learned how to make a plaster of Paris mould. It isn’t that difficult to do, but there are many steps involved. (Please see my video below to see how to do it.)
My first attempt wasn’t entirely successful as parts of the olive design stuck to the mould. I then realised that I had to file some of the raised bits in the design so that the tile could smoothly slide from the mould. As this is the inside of the cavities of the design that would later be filled with slip, it really didn’t matter that the bits were filed smooth.
The cavities in the tile are then filled with liquid coloured slip to create the design. This is a fiddly step as clay slip dries at a different rate than the original tile depending on its water content. Special care must be taken to slow the drying process so that the slip doesn’t separate from the clay tile and as the slip colours dry, the cavities must be topped up.
At this stage the tile may not look very good as the surface is rough and not very neat. Fear not! Once the tile is just beyond “leather hard”, but isn’t yet dry it is time to scrape the surface with a metal kidney tool to produce a smooth and uniform surface that has a finished design. When it came to scraping, it was difficult to find the right moisture balance on the first few tiles. The clay needed to be hard enough to scrape and not smear the coloured slip, but not too hard that it crumbled.
Once scraped smoothly the tile will need to dry for a couple of weeks until it is bone dry and can be biscuit fired.
The entire process from pouring the main tile design with liquid terracotta clay to the final dry tile takes a long time; it takes at least a month. Why does it take so long? Well, for a few reasons. Firstly, since it is a floor tile, it has to be thick and so it physically takes a long time for liquid clay to dry. Secondly, the drying process must be controlled so that it doesn’t dry too quickly and crack the terracotta or, more likely, have the coloured slip separate from the terracotta. Thirdly, as the coloured slip dries, more must be added to “top-up” the cavity.
But it’s worth it as the end result is a unique design that will last the test of time. This design is a repeating border of olive branches that can be set into a terracotta or hardwood floor. The corner design is special as it includes the name of the home within it.
