The Majolica Tile
[Illustration]
MAJOLICA POTTERY derived its name from the island of Majorca, Italy,
where during the sixteenth century glazed pottery reached its highest
perfection.
Glazed color may be placed in hollows in the surface of pottery or on
the surface. A better method is to produce a raised line or rim to
retain the glaze, and this is the method we will use in the cement or
concrete pottery.
THE CEMENT MAJOLICA TILE is made as follows: First design a subject that
will have each motif, part or section defined with lines. These lines
must be part of the design and used much as lines are used in stained
glass work. The design should be simply planned. A confusing
overcrossing tangle of lines is to be avoided. A few geometrical forms
rightly related will be most pleasing. Keep the design at least one-half
inch within the edge of the space. Then oil a piece of glass as
directed, place over a card that has the tile dimensions squared off on
it as a guide for placing the casting bars on the glass. Clay or wax
should always be used to hold the casting bars in place. Into this now
pour plaster-of-Paris, pouring into the center, letting it flow to the
outer edge. Level off evenly and remove after fifteen minutes. On
releasing this plaster tile a smooth surface will be found on the side
which came next to the glass.
THE DESIGN is then transferred to the plaster tile by tracing with a
carbon paper. The paper should be thumbtacked onto the sides of the
plaster tile to prevent it from slipping while tracing. The design
should also be traced on backwards so that the completed majolica tile
will be in the same position as the design. The design is then incised
with the incising tool, care being taken that at whatever depth the line
is made the incision has sides sloping upward. If these grooves have
overhanging edges the cement to be poured in will flow under these edges
and lock the tile, causing these lines to break before the cement tile
can be released.
WHEN INCISING, see that the bottom of the groove is sufficiently wide,
as this bottom is to be the surface of the line on the completed
surface. A line one-sixteenth or one-eighteenth of an inch is not too
wide. The plaster should not be too soft or too hard to secure the best
incision and avoid crumbly lines. When the incising is completed oil the
surface and surround the tile with four retaining bars. The bars should
be soaked in water and be of double width as they extend above the
plaster cast. This extension above the tile represents the thickness of
the tile to be made. Clay or wax is pressed on the outer edges of the
bars and plain neat cement or a mixture of the desired color is made and
poured onto the mold. Pour in the center steadily, for cement poured on
the “installment plan” will show a mark wherever each installment
occurred.
When the cement in the mold has dried for twenty-four hours remove by
slightly prying, after the retaining bars have been removed. If parts of
the lines are not on the surface it is because air was arrested in
pouring the cement or the oil settling in the grooves. If lines are
broken and remain in the mold it is because the grooves have overhanging
edges and locked the cement line. To repair these lines, soak the tile
for a few minutes and mix a small portion of cement to match that used
and build the missing section by dripping the cement from a brush.
AFTER DRYING for an hour put the whole tile in water for a day or
overnight and it is then ready to add the color. Meanwhile the plaster
mold with the defective grooves should have the grooves cleared by
scraping the overhanging edge with an incising tool.
The tile as it has been produced by the mold appears with a number of
relief lines dividing the whole surface into a number of partitions or
cells. It is into these that we are to place the color and it should be
worked as follows:
While the surface of the tile is moist, drip in the color with a brush,
spreading it to fill the required space. Thin pieces of metal (or
material that will not absorb the moisture) may be used to spread the
color, producing a smooth, even surface. The color after once commencing
to set should not be touched, and for this reason should be rather
liquid so as to permit handling without too rapid drying.
THE COLOR SURFACE appears better when the lines of the design remain
uncovered with color. If the color is thickest in the center of the
spaces and then bevels down as it comes in contact with the lines, the
whole tile or surface will appear more professional.
If color becomes blurred or disturbed, it is better to wash the whole
out under the faucet and begin anew, or remove the section at fault and
work over. No amount of patching or rubbing will perfect the surface
after it is partly dry or completed.
After the coloring is finished put in a tray, carefully pour water into
the tray without dropping any onto the tile and let harden for five
days. The water should reach a little more than half-way up the side.
After removing it from the water let stand until dry, polish with a soft
flannel slightly waxed to remove white sediment on surface.
ANOTHER METHOD WITHOUT THE LINES is to use the color directly onto
cement or concrete surface without any retaining lines. The colors may
be placed so that they intermingle or so that they just touch, or the
color spots may be separated one from another similar to stencil work.
The color for this method is mixed thoroughly with cement and water
until the mixture is a fine thick liquid or “slip.”
SLIP PAINTING is a method of painting a design in one or several colors
over a cement or concrete surface. The color may be slightly in relief
or if done at the proper time it can be made to become a flat stain of
color sinking into the first surface.
THE TWO WAYS OF SLIP PAINTING must be handled a little differently and
the best way to become familiar with these methods is to do the work.
Therefore let us work out the first method of producing a design slip
painted in slight relief as follows:
FIRST: Make a design for a six-inch square, the design to denote the
colors to be used. Second: on a glass place retaining bars which have
been soaked in water and oiled, leaving space six inches square into
which a half layer of neat cement is poured and then a layer of one-half
sand and one-half cement. Third: after standing for twelve hours,
release this cement tile and it will be a plain, smooth surface. This is
placed in water for an hour and the design traced upon its surface.
Chalk of any visible color should be rubbed on the back of the drawing
to act as a tracing medium. Carbon paper or graphite should not be used
as any greasy substance will prevent the slip painting from adhering to
the cement tile surface.
THE COLORS FOR THE SLIP PAINTING should be mixed so as to match the
colors of the color sketch. When matching the colors, dry a small dab of
each color on a glass to see the dried color effect.
TO MIX THE COLORS PROPERLY, select the color you wish, emptying a little
upon a glass or marble slab. Take a little clean water and mix with a
palette or putty knife and grind the color until it becomes a thin
liquid paste. Having ground this color thoroughly, scrape it up and
place on one side of the glass, then proceed with the next color until
you have mixed the complete palette of colors to match those on the
sketch.
VARYING COLORS CAN BE SECURED by mixing the mineral colors and where
hues different than those in the set are wanted they should be mixed the
same as in water colors. There is one exception to this rule and that is
in using the orange. The orange in the mineral colors when mixed with
blue will produce a violet.
To gray the colors add gray cement, and to lighten the colors add some
of the white cement.
TO PLACE THE COLOR ON THE TILE, take it up with the brush and drip onto
the cement surface, being guided by the tracing previously made. The
color should be thin enough to flow from the brush easily and not so
thick that it drips in lumps. More water should be added if too thick
and more color is added if too thin. In both instances, whether water or
color is added it must be ground in thoroughly. If the color settles on
the glass it should be stirred again to keep the mixture uniform.
THE RELIEF OF THE COLORS can be regulated by how much color is flowed
from the brush, and surfaces can be built up by repeating the strokes of
color. Avoid repeating a stroke after the color has commenced to set, as
a second stroke in such an instance will destroy the surface lustre.
Where colors run over the boundaries they may be scraped back or taken
off with a moist, clean brush.
The direct clean stroke will produce the best final results, and if
preceding each stroke a little thought is given, mistakes will be
avoided.
The tile surface should not be permitted to dry while working upon it
and if kept in a shallow tray of water there will be less risk of it
doing so. Water should never be permitted to fall upon or touch the
surface of the slip painting or tile as the color will be destroyed. The
tile is placed carefully into shallow water to continue hardening and in
four or five days will be hard enough to remove. After drying out of
water several days it is ready to use or it may be given a gasoline wash
or wax rub if needed.
Tiles will harden as they age. Those that appear to be partly chalky
when completed will harden in a month’s time, when the moisture from the
center of the tile has completely evaporated.
THE SECOND METHOD OF SLIP PAINTING is used where three different planes
or heights of color are wanted. For instance we will suppose that the
subject is to be a decorative design of trees and distance landscape in
three colors. This would be worked out as follows: First, cast a plain
cement tile and after removing it and while damp pour a spoonful of
color on the surface coating it with plain color as desired. This color
should be the background color of the sketch. Second, while this coating
is soft, take the lightest color (for clouds, water, boats, flowers,
etc.) and with a full brush place the color onto this soft coating. It
will blend and sink into the background color and remain equally flat.
Third, after these colors have commenced to set, with a full brush paint
in the foreground part of the design (trees, etc.), working in large
masses and building up the color by repeated strokes until the right
relief is secured. Avoid shading the parts and keep all parts flat in
tone, even though they may be in relief. It will be found that the later
color is added to the first coating the less it will sink into the
background. Any design can be worked out accordingly either in relief or
flat. A little experimenting will solve many questions, and reveal
greater possibilities. To complete the tile it is placed in shallow
water until it hardens, then let dry for several days after which it may
be given a toning wash, or gasoline wash, and a wax rub.
A THIRD METHOD is to take a flat surface and slip-paint a design onto it
in relief. After the color has set for a short time it can be trimmed
carefully with a knife so that the sides are nearly vertical. This will
give the slip-painting a decidedly different appearance and it may be
left this way or other color may be added so that it comes nearly up to
these trimmed sides.
AVOID LEAVING ANY PART OF THE SURFACE DRYING or setting when painting on
the surface; or the tile hardening in the water too long before being
painted upon, as it will prevent it from becoming durable. Surfaces can
be covered smoothly when slip-painted if the color is used very thin.
First cover the surface with a coating of the color to be used,
immediately adding more of the color and it will flow and settle evenly.
A slip-painted color will dry dull if placed upon a tile shortly after
it has come out of the mold. To secure a glaze to a color the tile
should remain in the water for two days before the color is placed onto
it.
FOR LARGE SURFACES on which color is to be slip-painted, the surface on
which the color is to go should be roughened, so that the color will
become anchored.
THREE DEGREES OF SURFACE can be secured by different treatment. These
finishes are, first, Dull Surface; second, Mat Surface; third, Glazed
Surface.
DULL FINISH is secured by putting the color into the mold. The mold
absorbing the water from the surface causes it to dry dull.
MAT FINISH is secured by placing the color onto the tile or vase surface
after the surface has come out of the mold and moistened in water for a
few minutes.
GLAZED SURFACE is secured by letting the tile or other object harden in
water for several days and then draining off the surplus water, after
which the color is slip-painted onto the desired surfaces.
TILE SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO DRY at any time before color is added,
as the color will not become attached to the surface.
DO NOT FORGET to roughen the surfaces of the spaces and to add neat
cement also before dripping the color onto either the mat finish or
glaze finish tiles as described in chapter five in the paragraph on The
Glazed Color Finish.
[Illustration: The Majolica Tile]
[Illustration: Slip-Painted Tiles]
[Illustration: Slip-Painted Tile Methods]
[Illustration]