Large Pressed Tiles

This Project was created in Spring 2024, my second semester in Advanced Ceramics. In between my advanced classes, I took a plaster mold-making class. In that class, I created a small version of this tile and always wanted it to be bigger, so in the advanced class, I did just that. Making the large mold was a feat in and of itself, but totally worth it to see it pay off. After making the mold, I went on to explore making the tiles in a larger quantity. I ended up making 11 tiles total. 5 Terracotta, 6 cone 6 stoneware. It took around 9lbs of clay to fill the mold without excess and about 11lbs to wedge and press the mold. The project was my labor of love. Since I had so many tiles, I decided to have fun when it came to glazing and finishing them. For 3 of the tiles I did special firings for. I have 2 raku tiles, 1 with a “dragon scale” raku glaze and another with horse hair. I placed the third tile in the soda kiln, and I had the opportunity to help spray the soda. This is definitely one of my favorite projects. Read more about the tile inspiration with the small tiles.

Tiles were pressed in a plater mold, mad or terracota or a cone 6 stoneware. Most were glazed with cone 6 glazes and fired to cone 6. 2 were fired raku style, one with glaze, one with horse hair. 1 time was fired in a soda kiln with soda wash pre-applied to get a better coloring due to it layying flat in the kiln. 📸 by myself with an iPhone 14pro captured in AppleRaw photo mode.