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Manufacturing and Designing Artisanal Tiles

Bob meets with Steve Powers of Trikeenan Tileworks who explains how their artisanal tiles are created. The field tiles Powers shows him are created in an extruder that squeezes the clay out in a ribbon before they are hand cut into squares. The glaze is either hand-dipped or sprayed onto the surface of the tile. How they glaze takes and presents on the tile surface depends on the chemistry of the glaze and the method of application. Trikeenan also creates tiles that are stamped between specially manufactured dies to create hand-stamped tiles. The tiles Powers shows Bob have been glazed and hand-rubbed to give a varied appearance. Homeowner Jeanne Sanviti-Masher explains the layout she created for the bathroom space. She and her husband decided to go with a single color scheme, which gave them direction and focus as they perused the glazes, colors, and styles available. Powers lays out the tiles specified for the design to show the field tiles, pencil liners, accent tiles, and decorative tiles that will be used on the walls and floor.
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Manufacturing and Designing Artisanal Tiles

  computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" They stayed at him up. What's the difference between anarchists and old tile and just a kind of a regular -- on -- we're not mass produce we follow each job through. All the way to how many employees you have we have about 35 employees. That's not so small so. Can you find your tiles anywhere in the country they're sold all over the country now all right let's look at a typical background tile. OK. Plain four inch field tile these we extrude. Out of being extra there. Basically just like a big plate over extra care with going to die on extrude these these are soldiers we have. Seeing the clay through a form yep and they come out. This come out and read them and arrest them we hand cut across them. So that means that there could be a little bit of irregularity in terms of the shape right right yeah and then what about the the glaze on them. The glaze we either spray the -- honestly hands of the -- depending on the kind of surface quality one team there is is certain amount of irregularity here I mean there's no corner for example is not as white as other. Yeah this glaze we call shark skin we're like because it has that sort of from dark green light gray variation like shark skin would. -- soft matte finish to me achieve that is mostly the chemistry of the glaze and how we apply it. Okay and what about all the decorative elements that are involved in some of these projects well here's some of the moldings that we make once again we extrude these. In. We also have hydraulic presses that we make some of our decorative pieces on so then these little guys are hand pressed all right. You have hydraulic presses now what does that atomic and die -- this form on it and will print on press and squeeze two dies together. -- between now form tile. And that is made out of steel the die they're made out of plastic. -- So that you're really see that there's a certain not quite primitive but you know there's certain handmade quality to each one of these two rundown -- and we can get very fine detail also -- on glass window series these old guys are hand pressed. Shall press these right out of and and manipulate the glaze is only the blue stuff in the back yeah it's glazed and then it's rubbed off with a sponge that's how you get them feel great now. As I understand it gene you -- a lot of time working out the layout and of how are you were -- let's take a look at how probably so come together there's there's about six or seven to."

" elements right sure there are yes. It's they worry you know as we talked about many different. Glaze is available and because this is such a small space. We I was happy to have that limitation it and it David and I decided you know let's go with a very simple color -- that's where we started."

" And so the background as we see there on the left wall is this shark skin that's correct. The whole body field charts and even the floor now can you show us the layout maybe down on the floor so that we can see all the different decorative stormont and how they got together."

" You know on student and this is. -- Philippines and then it gets a look -- grow up. For a I don't. And then maybe. Dome liner. In their different colors. Yup hope. -- got into. The mind body field with the shark skin."

" And then as you're getting to the top what happens then we see -- One of the decorative. Shell inserts. So those tiles would have to be you have to cut the corner and elegant I cornerstones. And then we have two pencil liners pencil liners yep just thin liners. Then this sheep's wool. Three by three. Runs all the way around the room. Another -- right forest. -- to a one by six and then we cap it with a two by six bullnose good which finished is an -- all."

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