Hand Made Tiles

Ceramic Floor tiles are vitrified, non-porous and hard-wearing. They may vary in thickness from 1.25cm to 2.5cm, depending on size and use. Hand made ceramic tiles are made for floors, fireplaces, special wall features or as individual tiles or panels. Because of the high temperature of firing the range of colours is not as rich as that used for earthenware. However, more recently much brighter range of high-fired stains has come on the market.

While industrially produced stoneware tiles are still used commercially, they are now being replaced by thinner but equally strong porcelain tiles in larger sizes. One of the distinct qualities of stoneware tiles is the way in which the body can have a strong influence on the glaze when the two combine at a high vitrifying temperature. When Bernard Leach used a coarse body with an iron content, you can see the enhanced effect it had on the glaze. Again, with Sarah Walton's salt glaze over a slip, the reaction with the salt in the firing gives a rich range of textures and colours.
A lot will depend on the varying temperature in the kiln and the variations in reduction. Because of the high temperature of the firing and the chance of seconds, due to warping in the firing, hand made stoneware tiles are not at the cheap end of the market.