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Short
Ceramic Tile History |
The Latin word ‘tegula’ and its French derivative ‘tuile’ mean quite
precisely a roof tile of baked clay. The English ‘tile’ is
less precise, for it can in addition be used of any kind of
earthenware slab applied to any surface of a building. The word
‘ceramic’ comes from the Greek word ‘keramos’
meaning pottery, it is related to an old Sanskrit root meaning
‘to burn’ but was primarily used to mean ‘burnt stuff’.
Origin
Historically, man has desired to create living spaces which were
beautiful, durable, and user friendly. With that in mind, ceramic
tile has been made by man for 4000 years.
Beautiful tiled surfaces have been found in the oldest
pyramids, the ruins of Babylon, and ancient ruins of Greek cities.
Decorative timework was invented in the near east,
where it has enjoyed a longer popularity and assumed a greater
variety of design than anywhere in the world. during the Islamic
period, all methods of tile decoration were brought to perfection in
Persia. In Europe decorated tiles did not come into general
use outside Moorish Spain until the second half of the 12th century.
The tile mosaics of Spain and Portugal, the majolica floor tiles of
renaissance Italy, the faiences 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 tile.
Body technique
the technique of tile and its secrets of trade were
safely guarded and orally handed from father to son
and master to student; thus rarely have designs,
patterns and details of technique been documented
and few complete treatises exist on the art of tile work
in the past. each tile was hand-formed and hand-painted,
thus each was a work of art in its own right.
Simply defined, ceramic tile is tile made of clay. Tiles were made
by hand, 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 mould carved in relief,
which indented a pattern on the clay slab. The slab was dried and
the impression filed
with clay, which after further drying was shaved flat. 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, unglazed tile was fired
once. Glazed tile was fired twice. The first firing formed a
tile body called a ‘bisque’. The biscuit firing had the highest
temperature at 1060 C that fixed the tiles for size and shape.
After glazing the tiles were gloat fired at about 1020
- 1240 C. on glaze decoration was fired at 750 C, just before the
glaze began to melt. The modern tile industry was advanced by
reviving the lost art of encaustic 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.
Decorative techniques
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.
PLAIN GLAZES:
white lead, flint, china stone and china clay were ground to
form a glaze. a clear glaze brought out the natural body
color and might be applied over any colored decoration.
Glazed tiles are decorated with natural and artificially colors.
palette of colors consists of glaze and under glaze colors.
the first glazes were blue in color and were made from copper. Also
turquoise and light green glaze were popular colors. Ground metal
oxides could be added to give different colors.
ENCAUSTIC OR INLAID:
this method was to fill the matrix of a stamped tile with
white pipe clay before it was glazed and fired. The two
sections fusing during firing.
MOSAIC:
Tiles in such colors as yellow, blue, brown, black, turquoise,
green and white were cut and carved into small pieces
according to a previously prepared pattern. These pieces were
placed close together and liquid plaster poured over to fill in all
the opening and gaps. After the plaster dried and hardened, a
large single piece tile panel had been created, which was then
plastered onto the required wall of the building.
HAND PAINTING:
The artist painted freely onto a plain surface tile. The glaze
was one centimeter thick, with hand-painted decorations of flowers,
plants, geometric designs, birds and human beings.
a design could also be copied from an original sketch by
'pouncing'. alternatively a tile could be transfer printed
and colored by hand.
CARVED AND MODELED TILES:
each piece is individually carved in relief or modeled in clay,
the pattern could be engraved in outline on the surface of the tile
or the design carved in relief or counter-relief on a wood-block
which was then pressed into the tile. Sometimes painted to emphasize
the three-dimensional appearance of the work.
GRAFFITO:
An early form of decoration, the tile body is covered with
coats of slip that is scratched off to produce the design.
LUSTRE PAINTING
the metallic lustre of glazed ceramics is a very special type
of decoration. it can be red, brown, ochre yellow or green in
scattered light and shows, in secular reflection, colored metallic
reflections (blue, yellow, orange, rose…). Metallic copper and
silver colloids suspensed in glazes
compose lustre decoration.
TUBE LINING:
slip is trailed onto the surface of the tile to make raised
lines separating the areas where different color is wanted.
colored glazes were then applied. This technique was used for art
nouveau tiles.
TRANSFER PRINTING:
A copper plate was engraved with a design, this would be covered in
color, the excess removed leaving the color only in the engraved
parts. A tissue paper was pressed onto the plate, and placed color
side down onto the tile. Then removed, and the color transferred to
the tile. This method was quicker, and therefore cheaper than
hand painting.
Scheme of decoration
TILE PICTURES
Square tiles were placed together and necessary design
was painted in glazed colors on them. Each tile was fired.
then all were placed again next to each other to create the main
large illustration.
SINGLE MOTIF
Isolated figures
PATTERNS
Mathematically-minded people elaborated geometric designs, providing
a continuous decoration. Most designs required four tiles to
complete a pattern, some required as many as sixteen. A
‘wallpaper’ pattern is one that has translation symmetry in two
directions (such as left/right and up/down). A frieze pattern
is one that has translation symmetry in one direction. a rosette
pattern is one that has no translation symmetry, just reflection
and/or rotation symmetry.
Tile setting
SHAPES
Irregular tiles, round and mitred to fit corners, diamond or
octagonal, pentagonal, triangular forms were common. Through the
13th century there was a general movement towards standard sizes in
convenient square or rectangular shapes.
TRADITIONAL
New methods and materials have, of course, been introduced, but tile
setting (despite modern efforts to mechanize it) remains a
hand-operated, labor-intensive process, and it's not likely to
change soon. Modular tiles are tiles which, when placed in a
pattern, automatically create a certain sized grout joint. But
some of the tiles, because of the symmetry, have only one
orientation.
MOUNTED TILES
tile assembled into units or sheets, either back mounted
or face mounted. and bonded by suitable material to
facilitate handling. back mounted has perforated paper,
fiber mesh resin or other suitable material permanently
attached to the back and/or edges so that a portion of the
back of each tile is exposed to the bond coat.
face mounted has paper applied to the face of the tile,
usually by water soluble adhesive so it is easily removed
prior to grouting of the joints.
CHARACTERISTICS
Ceramic tile was used almost everywhere - on walls, floors,
ceilings, fireplaces, in murals, and as an exterior cladding on
buildings. Ceramics are defined as products made from inorganic
materials having non-metallic properties. Ceramic tiles have a
number of outstanding properties which determine their usefulness.
one of the most appreciated is their great durability. This
durability can be divided into three types: chemical, mechanical and
thermal :
* water absorption
* not affected by oxygen
* abrasion resistance
* impact resistance
* breaking strength
* stain resistance - resistant to almost all acids, alkalies,
and organic solvents.
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painted and glazed tile of around 880 B.C.,
Nimrud
glazed bricks relief tile wall,
the Ishtar gate at Babylon, around 575 B.C. ,
irk
glazed bricks relief tile wall,
from the palace of Persepolis around 518 B.C.,
Iran
relief tile of the early 13th century,
Afghanistan
encaustic tile of the 13th century,
England
brick-and-tile panel of the 14th century,
Iran
under glaze painted tile, first half of 15th century,
Syria
majolica tile of the 16th century,
Italy
painted tile of the 17th century,
Syria
azure of the 17th century,
Mexico
decoration pressed with wood/copper- blocks,
tile setting of the 18th century,
India
tile setting of the 18th century,
the Netherlands
majolica tile setting of the 18th century,
Italy |
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