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The History of Ceramic Tiles. Origin of the Words:. The Latin word tegula and its French derivative tuile literally translated mean “a roof tile made of baked clay.” The word ceramic comes from the G reek word keramos meaning “ pottery .”
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Origin of the Words: • The Latin word tegula and its French derivative tuile literally translated mean “a roof tile made of baked clay.” • The word ceramic comes from the Greek word keramos meaning “pottery.” • It is related to an old Sanskrit root meaning “to burn.”
Origin • Ceramic tiles have been made by man for 4,000 years. • Beautiful tiled surfaces have been found in the oldest pyramids, the ruins of Babylon, and ancient ruins of Greek cities. • Decorative tile work was invented in the east, where it has had a longer popularity and assumed a greater variety of design than anywhere else in the world.
During the Islamic Period, all methods of tile decoration were perfected in Persia. • In Europe, decorated tiles did not come into general use outside Spain until the second half of the 12th Century. • The tile mosaics of Spain and Portugal, the maiolica floor tiles of Renaissance Italy, the tin-glazed tiles of Antwerp, the development of tile iconography in England and in the Netherlands, and the ceramic tiles of Germany are all prominent landmarks in the history of ceramic tiles.
Maiolica– a tin-glazed pottery from the Italian Renaissance
Technique • The technique of tile and its secrets of trade were safely guarded and orally handed from master to student, thus rarely have designs, patters, and details of technique been documented. • Few complete documents exist on the art of tile work in the past. • Each tile was hand-formed and hand-painted, thus each work was a work of art in its own right.
Technique • A ceramic tile is a tile made of clay. • In early days, clay bricks made by flattening the clay and cutting pieces into shape were dried beneath the sun or baked. • Later the only mechanical aid was a wooden mold carved in relief, which indented a pattern on the clay slab. • The slab was dried and the impression filled with clay, which after further drying was shaved flat. • Dried clay is known as Green-ware
Technique • After the formation of the tile body, ceramic tiles go through a firing process in a kiln under very high heat to harden the tile body and to create the surface glaze. • Historically an unglazed tile was fired once and a glazed tile was fired twice. • The first firing formed a tile body called a “bisque-ware.” • The bisque ware is then glazed and fired again – called glaze-ware
UNGLAZED • The color range in unglazed tiles are limited to the natural colors of the clay, ranging from a light sand to a red brick color.
GLAZED • White led, flint, china stone, and china clay were ground to form a glaze. A clear glaze brought out the natural body color and was also applied over any colored decoration. The first glazes were blue in color and made from copper. Ground metal oxides could be added to glaze to create different colors.
ENCAUSTIC or INLAID • This method was used to fill the matrix of a stamped tile with white pipe-clay before it was glazed and fired.
MOSAIC Tiles in various colors were cut and carved into small pieces according to a pattern. These pieces were placed together and liquid plaster poured over to fill in all the openings and gaps. After the plaster hardened, a large single tile panel was created.
HANDPAINTING The artist painted freely onto a plain surface tile with (1) glaze, or(2) underglaze followed by clear glaze.
SGRAFFITO The tile body is covered with coats of slipthat is scratched off to produce the design. Slip is
SGRAFFITO • Slip:a suspension of clay in water • When colored: it is used for painting on clay • When un-colored: it is used for joining sections of raw clay
TILE PICTURES • Square tiles were placed together and designs were painted in various glaze colors on them. Each tile was then fired. Following the firing, all tiles were placed together again to create the main large illustration.
SINGLE MOTIF • Isolated tile figures
PATTERNS • Elaborate geometric designs providing a continuous decoration
Modern Tile Making • The modern tile industry was advanced by reviving the lost art of encaustic tile-making. • Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze, but of different colors of clay. The pattern is inlaid into the body of the tile so that the design remains as the tile is worn down.
Modern Tile Making • The industry was further revolutionized in the 1840s by the “dust-pressing” method which consisted of compressing nearly dry clay between two metal dies. • Dust-pressing replaced tile-making by hand with wet clay, and facilitated mechanization of the tile-making industry.
