[confused_yet_curious]

Hello everyone!
I am currently in the process of making about 100 tiles that have to be the same size. I've been making the tiles from slab roles, yet it's taking so much time and energy! So Ive started making plaster molds of tiles yet that hasn't been working out very well! I place store bought tiles in walled clay box and I've added little plastic newspaper in between the pieces, so I can pull the tiles out and they just float to the top! Any commits will be welcomed! Thanks everyone!

P.s.THis is for my senior thesis :0) so I'm slowly going crazy lol!

[Mark C.]

confused_yet_curious, on 27 February 2012 - 09:27 PM, said:

Hello everyone!
I am currently in the process of making about 100 tiles that have to be the same size. I've been making the tiles from slab roles, yet it's taking so much time and energy! So Ive started making plaster molds of tiles yet that hasn't been working out very well! I place store bought tiles in walled clay box and I've added little plastic newspaper in between the pieces, so I can pull the tiles out and they just float to the top! Any commits will be welcomed! Thanks everyone!

P.s.THis is for my senior thesis :0) so I'm slowly going crazy lol!

You mean High school or collage senior? no matter-
Build your mold box from wood scraps are fine- coat with mold release-put a strip of wood screwed across top of the box rubber cement or better glue (like JB wield-permanent) your tiles to underneath the strip- coat them with mold release no plastic needed-that way they cannot float up as they are trapped at the right level-pour the plaster in -let set unscrew the strip with tiles attached-unscrew wood box and repeat whole process with next pour-till you have enough molds or you go crazy whichever comes 1st.

The easier way is set up some cutters like pizza cutters on a piece of all thread and cut many tiles the same distance apart at once with a slab. Bailey makes one as well.
Mark

[confused_yet_curious]

Mark C., on 27 February 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

confused_yet_curious, on 27 February 2012 - 09:27 PM, said:

Hello everyone!
I am currently in the process of making about 100 tiles that have to be the same size. I've been making the tiles from slab roles, yet it's taking so much time and energy! So Ive started making plaster molds of tiles yet that hasn't been working out very well! I place store bought tiles in walled clay box and I've added little plastic newspaper in between the pieces, so I can pull the tiles out and they just float to the top! Any commits will be welcomed! Thanks everyone!

P.s.THis is for my senior thesis :0) so I'm slowly going crazy lol!

You mean High school or collage senior? no matter-
Build your mold box from wood scraps are fine- coat with mold release-put a strip of wood screwed across top of the box rubber cement or better glue (like JB wield-permanent) your tiles to underneath the strip- coat them with mold release no plastic needed-that way they cannot float up as they are trapped at the right level-pour the plaster in -let set unscrew the strip with tiles attached-unscrew wood box and repeat whole process with next pour-till you have enough molds or you go crazy whichever comes 1st.

The easier way is set up some cutters like pizza cutters on a piece of all thread and cut many tiles the same distance apart at once with a slab. Bailey makes one as well.
Mark

Thanks Mark for your commits. I'm an college senior! I've pretty much tried what you have stated. I just pulled the mold off the table and the mold release worked to an point! Since the middle piece floated to the top, the tiles came out with an fight! I'll do more mold this week and try the wood screw! Thank you again!

[SShirley]

You might look at Angelica Pozo's tile book. She has a neat system for cutting out tiles usung templates made from masonite or something like that. One is big, like 9 tiles big. She cuts out the big one and then switches to three strips that are the size of one tile wide and three tiles long. Then she cuts those and then turns the strips the other way and cuts again resulting in 9 identical tiles. I attended her workshop and it really was slick.

Sylvia

[Mark C.]

confused_yet_curious, on 27 February 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

Mark C., on 27 February 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

confused_yet_curious, on 27 February 2012 - 09:27 PM, said:

Hello everyone!
I am currently in the process of making about 100 tiles that have to be the same size. I've been making the tiles from slab roles, yet it's taking so much time and energy! So Ive started making plaster molds of tiles yet that hasn't been working out very well! I place store bought tiles in walled clay box and I've added little plastic newspaper in between the pieces, so I can pull the tiles out and they just float to the top! Any commits will be welcomed! Thanks everyone!

P.s.THis is for my senior thesis :0) so I'm slowly going crazy lol!

You mean High school or collage senior? no matter-
Build your mold box from wood scraps are fine- coat with mold release-put a strip of wood screwed across top of the box rubber cement or better glue (like JB wield-permanent) your tiles to underneath the strip- coat them with mold release no plastic needed-that way they cannot float up as they are trapped at the right level-pour the plaster in -let set unscrew the strip with tiles attached-unscrew wood box and repeat whole process with next pour-till you have enough molds or you go crazy whichever comes 1st.

The easier way is set up some cutters like pizza cutters on a piece of all thread and cut many tiles the same distance apart at once with a slab. Bailey makes one as well.
Mark

Thanks Mark for your commits. I'm an college senior! I've pretty much tried what you have stated. I just pulled the mold off the table and the mold release worked to an point! Since the middle piece floated to the top, the tiles came out with an fight! I'll do more mold this week and try the wood screw! Thank you again!

Plaster has a way about getting ahold of everything-so no undercuts as you know and lots of release
If you use wood as a form it can all come unscrewed
another option glue the tiles to bottom of box. That way you can drop the plaster mold off them when you invert it
This is one time you not be thinking outside the box.
Mark

[Kabe]

HI I think I saw the video on cuttting tiles with a masonite board and it appeared to work real well. I replicate my tile with plaster molds and I alway make the first one with just wet clay. I have a thick piece of glass left over from a end table that I pour on. The wet clay will stick to the glass and will not float to the top. THe plaster will slightly stick to the glass but if you push the cast along the top of the glass it will slide loose. You can get a real smooth finish on a wet tile with a sheet rock knife the kind that sheet rockers use to spread the sheet rock. Put a little water on the tile and it will be smooth as glass. The sheet rock knifes work well to cut the tile too. you can get real straight edges seeing it cuts the whole lenght of the tile in one push. 10 inch knife is great for tile. If you need 100 tiles in a short amount of time then the masonite board would be the fasted. Otherwise you can make 5 tiles the same size and pour five casts. One advantage to using wet clay is you can allow for shrinkage, in my case 12% and I make the tile 12% bigger. That makes the finished tile the same size as commercial tile so it is easy for a tile setter to incoperate your tiles into a bathroom or a kitchen back splash. I use 4 "L" shaped boards to make my mold box. They are about 16 inches long and 2 inches high, with the base of the "L" about 3 inches long. The four of them will form a square or a rectangle and you can adjust them to whatever size you need. The base of one clamps to the long part of the next one. I do not have a picture. They can be clamped together and taken apart without screws. I use Murphy wood soap for mold release, It is deluted and I paint it onto the boards with a brush. You will not need it on the wet clay, it will fall right out when it is ready. bet you'll do fine. ain't clay fun Kabe

[Kabe]

Kabe, on 27 February 2012 - 11:55 PM, said:

HI I think I saw the video on cuttting tiles with a masonite board and it appeared to work real well. I replicate my tile with plaster molds and I alway make the first one with just wet clay. I have a thick piece of glass left over from a end table that I pour on. The wet clay will stick to the glass and will not float to the top. THe plaster will slightly stick to the glass but if you push the cast along the top of the glass it will slide loose. You can get a real smooth finish on a wet tile with a sheet rock knife the kind that sheet rockers use to spread the sheet rock. Put a little water on the tile and it will be smooth as glass. The sheet rock knifes work well to cut the tile too. you can get real straight edges seeing it cuts the whole lenght of the tile in one push. 10 inch knife is great for tile. If you need 100 tiles in a short amount of time then the masonite board would be the fasted. Otherwise you can make 5 tiles the same size and pour five casts. One advantage to using wet clay is you can allow for shrinkage, in my case 12% and I make the tile 12% bigger. That makes the finished tile the same size as commercial tile so it is easy for a tile setter to incoperate your tiles into a bathroom or a kitchen back splash. I use 4 "L" shaped boards to make my mold box. They are about 16 inches long and 2 inches high, with the base of the "L" about 3 inches long. The four of them will form a square or a rectangle and you can adjust them to whatever size you need. The base of one clamps to the long part of the next one. I do not have a picture. They can be clamped together and taken apart without screws. I use Murphy wood soap for mold release, It is deluted and I paint it onto the boards with a brush. You will not need it on the wet clay, it will fall right out when it is ready. bet you'll do fine. ain't clay fun Kabe

One more thing you can seal the bottom inside edge of the box with wet clay. Just roll up a small coil and then press it in to the bottom edge with your finger . Like how somebody caulks a window that will keep the wet plaster in the box and not all over the table, floor ect. have fun.

[confused_yet_curious]

SShirley, on 27 February 2012 - 10:58 PM, said:

You might look at Angelica Pozo's tile book. She has a neat system for cutting out tiles usung templates made from masonite or something like that. One is big, like 9 tiles big. She cuts out the big one and then switches to three strips that are the size of one tile wide and three tiles long. Then she cuts those and then turns the strips the other way and cuts again resulting in 9 identical tiles. I attended her workshop and it really was slick.

Sylvia

Thank you! I've been looking at Pozo's YouTube videos and your right I need to try her techenics! I would love to take one of Pozo's classes!

[confused_yet_curious]

Hey Kabe, ok first wow! You have just given me an floodgate of information I will process and mold over in my head over. and I'm going to update you as well as the other I believe sometime this week on my results on my practice of all yours as wells the others commits. I think I may be a bit overwhelmed yet it's ok, thank you again!

[trina]

confused_yet_curious, on 28 February 2012 - 04:29 AM, said:

Hey Kabe, ok first wow! You have just given me an floodgate of information I will process and mold over in my head over. and I'm going to update you as well as the other I believe sometime this week on my results on my practice of all yours as wells the others commits. I think I may be a bit overwhelmed yet it's ok, thank you again!

Hi there,

Ok I am making tiles all the time, the best quickest way I have ofund to make a tile is: Get two slats of wood to the thickness that you want your tiles to be. Get some plaster board cut into lenghts of about 20 cm larger than the lenght of the tiles and get the plaster board cut as long as possible. Then put his on the floor, get your block of clay and wire cutter, slice the clay off the slab using your slates directly onto the board, dont cut it to tile shape yet, pick up your block of clay and move it to the next space get the slats ready cut again, move up, repeat. Once you get the plaster board full, trim them with a pattern of the tile( I have a wooden tile with a handle) and pizza cutter. Start again on the next plaster board, once completed you can stack it onto the first one. This hold everything good and flat. Dont try to move or pick up tiles when they are still wet this will cause you warpage ect.

I find plaster mould are only really useful if making a relief series and you really need the proper pressing equipment. Let me know how you get on. Trina


P.S I just foulnd a video that shows exactly what I am talking about.... http://www.youtube.c...ayer_detailpage

[WUVIE]

SShirley said:

You might look at Angelica Pozo's tile book. Sylvia

I second this idea. Love this book!

[Chris Campbell]

http://www.youtube.c...ayer_detailpage

This video is excellent and illustrates the MOST important part of tile making ... he slams down the clay with moderate force, cuts the tile then leaves it alone. I am betting he could dry them in the open air without warping. Well, the only one I think will warp is the first one that he picked up and adjusted ... it would warp a bit in that spot. I build my tiles in a similar way and can put them out in the sun to dry and they don't warp.

A query for the original poster ... you have taken shrinkage into account right? I wondered when you said you were using a store bought tile as your model.

[Mark C.]

The only point I might mention is working on the floor is brutal-he has knee pads but my back hurts looking at that.
Mark

[trina]

Mark C., on 28 February 2012 - 05:00 PM, said:

The only point I might mention is working on the floor is brutal-he has knee pads but my back hurts looking at that.
Mark

I was wondering why i am all gibbled up! Trina

[confused_yet_curious]

trina, on 28 February 2012 - 08:40 AM, said:

confused_yet_curious, on 28 February 2012 - 04:29 AM, said:

Hey Kabe, ok first wow! You have just given me an floodgate of information I will process and mold over in my head over. and I'm going to update you as well as the other I believe sometime this week on my results on my practice of all yours as wells the others commits. I think I may be a bit overwhelmed yet it's ok, thank you again!

Hi there,

Ok I am making tiles all the time, the best quickest way I have ofund to make a tile is: Get two slats of wood to the thickness that you want your tiles to be. Get some plaster board cut into lenghts of about 20 cm larger than the lenght of the tiles and get the plaster board cut as long as possible. Then put his on the floor, get your block of clay and wire cutter, slice the clay off the slab using your slates directly onto the board, dont cut it to tile shape yet, pick up your block of clay and move it to the next space get the slats ready cut again, move up, repeat. Once you get the plaster board full, trim them with a pattern of the tile( I have a wooden tile with a handle) and pizza cutter. Start again on the next plaster board, once completed you can stack it onto the first one. This hold everything good and flat. Dont try to move or pick up tiles when they are still wet this will cause you warpage ect.

I find plaster mould are only really useful if making a relief series and you really need the proper pressing equipment. Let me know how you get on. Trina


P.S I just foulnd a video that shows exactly what I am talking about.... http://www.youtube.c...ayer_detailpage

Thank you everyone for your commits! So yesterday I made an work station at home in the drive way and followed the YouTube video and talk about fast! I ended up making about 42 tiles and it would of been more but I messed up on some! A lot of neighbors kept coming over and I got to talk to one who was telling me about how she spent an year living in Israel volunteering and it was free for her since she was Jewish. My tiles are going to be design to reference Islamic decorative ceramic art, as well as some tiles are going to have sgraffito of my doodles. I have an interest in doing my masters as well as my Ph.d on Islamic decorative art, so our conversation was really good and wouldn't of happend if I was outside working, thank you so much everyone :0) I'll keep y'all posted!
P.s. Thanks Trina, for the video, cause it was an huge help! I'm an visual person and seeing the video truly helped!