Celebrating 35 years of making beautiful tiles!!

It's hard to believe, but it's true what they say....time flies when you love what you do!! I'm creating a commemorative tile to celebrate our 35 years in business, and I'm using the very first tile I ever carved for the brand new DBA - L'esperance Tile Works, in September of 1979. Here's the process.

My Daylily Tile 4x4 was the first decorative that I carved after the DBA for L'esperance Tile Works was filed, in downtown Troy, NY.

I had the mould pressed into a large slab of clay, and cleaned up the edges. I decided to make the 4x4 into a larger sized tile with lettering and a decorative swirled background.

I created lettering in photoshop and laid the image over the wet clay tile. Then I traced the lettering onto the clay with a ball point pen.

I created a border around the tile for ease in pressing the mould.

Here's the wet clay with the lettering and border images slightly impressed from the pen.

I'm adding a decorative swirl in the background of the commemorative tile.

Here's the finished added additions to the wet clay. I poured a plaster mould on top of this tile, and notated that it is the original carving on the back of the tile....recorded for posterity!

Here's the tile cut around the border and drying.

This tile will be bisqued in the next few days and glazed in a light blue crackle. Then I'll start pressing a limited number of tiles. I'll hand number 1 - 35 on the back of the first 35 pieces, creating a limited edition. I'll also add a gold luster border to make them even more special. Each of my family members will get one, along with a number of very special friends and highly valued customers who have followed us through the years. I'll also save one for a give-away....so stay tuned for the details before the end of September!

You can find my tiles for sale on etsy here - lesperancetile.etsy.com
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