Customer Reviews

Handmade Tiles: Designing, Making, Decorating (Lark Ceramics Book)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been active in clay for more than 15 years. I stayed away from making tiles, since I also paint. This book with its gallery of color photos, its clear advice, sound directions was inspiring.

At the end of the book Frank takes the reader through his journey of producing a large order of tile. It was most enlightening to see how he set up, how he refined producing tiles in mass quantities. He even included the final timeline for each step. Which side of the clay should you have it on to get it quickly to this step, etc. Extremely helpful.

As most beginning clay people know, getting tiles and slabs to dry slowly and flat and not buckle in firing is difficult. I found Frank's tip on using wallboard to carve the tiles on etc, most helpful, he stated that the plaster in the wallboard helps to suck out the water from behind the tile so that the tile dries in a more even manner.

When I first started drying tiles, I was using the plastic baffles, even though this allows for greater air circulation, I think using the wallboard idea, and then evenutally switching over to the plastic baffles would help. I have dried tiles completely on the wallboard as he suggested and it has worked fine. I also liked that he suggested you can stack them up to four high, wallboard-tile, wallboard-tile etc. and not to go above that.

He includes instructions on how to create a tile press, which he has used at the Parson's School of Design for many years now, trouble free! The instructions were clear, step by step, and believeable. I plan to give this to my brother-in-law and see if he can produce one of these for me. The materials are readily available too.

Overall, in slowly and carefully building my ceramics library, I began with purchasing only three books at first. (I have access to the public library and belong to a clay cooperative and study at a guild, all of which have tons of books on clay). If you are interested in tile making, this is the first book I purchased. It was highly recommended to me by other artists, and in looking it over at the Guild, I found it to be the most precise, detailed and gives a nice overview about the intricacies of tile making. His photos of other tiles were from a broad variety of artists and time periods. There is always more to learn, however, this is a must have reference book for anyone seriously considering making decent tiles, without having to start off with messing up on all your first efforts. For those who have been making tiles for sometime, the more advanced tips were helpful and thorough, if you know your stuff, you may want to check it out of the library first and then see whether you need a reference book. I also found Frank's own work to be exactly like his book. Carefully rendered, controlled, easily accessible, interesting to look at, nicely and fairly balanced designs, with an emphasize on realism. Good book,... for me a Reference book I know I had to have.

The chapters go as follows:
1. the handcrafted tradition - its a brief overview about the popularity and history of tile making - not for the art historian but good enough for beginning tile makers.

2. Getting started - basics, what you need, how to prepare etc.

3. Making a flat tile - even if you are advanced this can help.

4. Making Tile Models for Open-Face Press Molds - Really step by step, with all the details that others might dilute or skip, or leave out. Intermixed with step by step close up photos, and pictures of actual tiles from other artists.

5. Making and Using Open-Face Press Molds. Very helpful, good clear step by steps.

6. Carved Plaster Blocks, Tile Presses, and Extruders - Couple this chapter with Chapter 14 - and you are in business!

7. Surface Decoration on Unfired Tiles - good sound ideas. There are books just dedicated to this subject, but, a good overall reference of terms, and examples. This book has tons of great color photos! so it's an inspiration just for that too.

8. Firing to Hardness - He is clear.

9. Surface Decoration on Bisqued Tiles - once again a good step by step reference.

10. Glaze Firing, Overglazes, and Decals - brought out some decent techniques, many books just on this, once again, good for the beginner and for more advanced in reminding you what you can do and what's out there.

11. Mosaics - he breaks it down so it doesn't seem so daunting.

12. Tile Design - He is a great designer himself, so reading his book helps break down design concepts.

13. Installation - wish there had been even more on this, but a good beginning.

14. Making Your Own Tools and Equipment - I thought his directions were believable, haven't made the tile press yet, but, will try! I liked how he went over different designs, he seemed evenhanded and fair in his discussions. I was impressed with how careful and thorough this all seemed to be.

15. The Day of One Hundred Tiles - I really have read and re-read this chapter, makes for extremly good reading. For an advanced ceramicsts with a sense of humor you may find yourself chuckling with glee over this one. He didn't try to be funny, but, I loved his honest and humble approach. I especially appreciated how he kept refining his methods and how each time it worked better. I probably learned more from this chapter than from other authors because he was so humble and honest! I am glad he explained exactly what he first did and how he thought about the problem and then tackled each issue. His step by step, no panic approach, is really brilliant. He must be an incredible teacher at Parson's, no wonder they have such an incredible reputation, with teacher's like him....

16. health and safety - lots of ceramics books don't emphasize this enough....it's nice he puts this in.

then there are charts and indexes and lists of artists and tiles and metric conversion charts and all that.

For the price, a great investment.

I recently became interested in tiles and tile-making and ordered a half-dozen books on the topic. This was the one book I'd keep and recommend over all of the others. Frank Giorgini is a teacher's teacher! I felt like I was sitting in on one of his classes. His in-depth knowledge, step-by-step photos and explanations and clear love of the topic are inspirational. Even if you knew nothing about handmade tiles, this book would make you want to start creating them! I especially enjoyed all the examples that were created by various students - there was something for every taste and level of experience. He makes it look do-able and easy. His tips and tricks will save amateurs much suffering. After reading this book, I felt eager to begin designing and creating my own handmade tiles, and confident that I had enough knowledge to do it right.
Personal note: I envy his students the opportunity to learn from Frank Giorgini!

This is one of two de facto textbooks those of us making tiles use. (The other is Handcrafted Ceramic Tiles by Janis Fanning)

The book is an excellent introduction to the techniques used, but you must remember, Frank has been doing this for a long time. There are some techniques he shows that should not be tried at home (or without teacher supervision).

The best part of the book for me was the color photo samples of tile installations. The book is an excellent resource for everything from tessellations to tile painting. Inspirational. Highly recommended.

This was my first tile book. I have bought several others, and love many, but turn to Handmade Tiles regularly for quick information. It contains great information without that text book feeling. The tiles pictured in the book are whimsical and inspiring. If you are buying one tile book, this is the one to buy.

The tile making techniques described in this book are very easy to understand and the color photos of various artist's tiles are inspiring. If you have any interest in handmade tile, I highly recommend this book. My favorite chapter was the one called "The Day Of One Hundred Tiles", in which the author describes how he made 600 commemerative tiles for the Tile Heritage Foundation. Anyone can make one tile---but how do you make 600 efficiently? Read this book to find out.

This book inspired me enough to make tiles for not one of my bathrooms, but for two of my bathrooms! In the next few months I will make the tile for my kitchen too!

I am not a professional tile maker by any means, but with the help of this wonderful book, "Handmade Tiles" by Frank Giorgini and some ceramic classes when I was in grade school, I was able to successfully make over 1000 tiles!

My home has appeared on HGTV's "Homes of Miami" and will be on a new show "Generation Renovation" also on HGTV in December 29, 2004 which will show the tile that this book inspired me to make!

I've had this book for about about 5 years, and I refer to it often for decorating and design techniques for thrown work, as well as for tiles. I'm not much of an artist, but the non-intimidating design processes in here are so well-described that I'm at least moving closer to transferring what's in my head onto the clay! The examples range from classical to contemporary, and they're by a lot of different people. There are detailed, step-by-step instructions on creating raised designs, making plaster molds to duplicate design elements or tiles, doing everything by hand, and building/using various types of equipment. There's really something for everyone in here!

I also recently found that, of all the pottery, kiln and firing books on my shelf (and there are many) this one has the most concise, easy-to-duplicate instructions for a good C-10 reduction firing in my 5-cu ft gas kiln. It's a challenge to fire a kiln that small evenly. For my last several firings, I've consistently gotten excellent clay-body reduction color and glaze color and surface development.

There is also a nice section of glaze recipes from low- to high-fire---I haven't tried them yet, but they look great.

If you're an absolute beginner, I would recommend starting with one of the smaller paperback project books (Lark's or Sunset's are both good for basic techniques and lots of different project ideas). If you've already decided that you like working with clay, and you're looking for your first (or your 10th) reference book, this one would be an EXCELLENT choice.

This guy knows his stuff! Explains everything in plain English, provides lots of photos to assist you, and offers a variety of projects to inspire you. Hard to put it down!

This book is a beautiful start if you are interested in making ceramic tile. Beautiful, diverse, all-encompassing illustrations and photos and matter of fact text make this an excellent choice.

Excellent! A very informative book for both beginners and experienced hand-builders. Frank Giorgini gives step by step instructions for a variety of tile making and hanging techniques. His instructions are clear enough for beginners, yet serve as an excellent overview for more experienced potters. He also adds instructions and tips for the production tile maker that will help you save time and steps. The book is also loaded with color photos of tiles and tile murals. It is a wonderful source for ideas... my copy is ragged with post-it notes marking pages from which I am planning to adapt projects.