Tile Project 

For this assignment, our task was to design a single tile that could interact with itself and create some sort of design or image that required multiple tiles. We then had to make a tile, create a plaster mold, wait for the mold to dry, and make at least four tiles that we could arrange together to create one image. The tile also had to consist of at least three layers. 

I immediately knew that I wanted my end product to focus on a circular figure like a sun or a grapefruit. I decided on a grapefruit as my design, drew it out, printed it out, arranged my printed tiles together to make sure all my angles were correct and then I started to construct the tile that would be used to make my mold. I started making that first tile by creating a slab and cutting it into the appropriate-sized square. After my square was done, I made another slab and used a protractor to cut out a quarter of a circle, making sure it was 90 degrees so that it would match up perfectly when all the tiles were finished. The two slabs only make up two layers of the required three, so for my third layer, I carved out the design of the grapefruit to reach the three-layer requirement, but also because I knew that it would look super cool, and that was also the way that I wanted it to look. After carving out my design, I let the tiles dry slowly so that they didn't warp before being bisque-fired. After the initial firing, I then chose my glaze colors, glazed three coats, and threw them back into the kiln and I think they turned out great.

Overall, I am really happy with my final product. I loved my design from the start and I think I did a good job creating the exact image that I had in my head.  If I were to do this again and do things differently, I would make sure that after retrieving my tiles from the mold, making sure that they were perfectly flush with one another. I didn't do that this time because I made these tiles on different days and I also just didn't even really think of doing that until it was too late. I would also have more patience for my glazing process because I think I got impatient and my glaze work is a little messier than I would like. Overall I am happy and proud of my tiles.