Designed and painted by “Skye Tiles”
Located on the Isle of Skye
How They Are Made…
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Each tile is created by first applying the raised relief for the design. This is known as tube-lining and is a very labour intensive and highly skilled procedure. A tool similar to a piping bag for icing, with a very fine opening, is used to apply lines of very fine clay to the surface of a tile to create the design. It is then hand painted with a number of layers, glazed and finally fired at over 1000 degrees C for 24 hours. This ensures that the vibrant colours used in the painting will never fade, and that the tile maintains its quality for a lifetime. A black felt cloth covered board is then applied as a backing to the tile and a hanging hook is provided to enable the tile to be hung as a wall picture.
Alternatively, these ceramic tiles can be fixed to any kitchen or bathroom wall with standard tile adhesive, perhaps as a feature within a larger tiled area. The tiles are a standard thickness of 6-7mm so will match most plain tiles of any size. The tile backing can be easily removed by soaking in hot water for 20 minutes to soften the glue.
During the lengthy cooling phase of the firing, which takes between 14-17 hours, it is quite normal for very fine crazing to occasionally occur on the tile glaze. It is caused by the difference in the expansion coefficient between the glaze and the tile body, whereby the glaze cools and contracts at a minutely different rate to the tile body. It is influenced by the environmental conditions present during cooling such as humidity, air temperature and vibration. This does not damage or weaken the tile and this slight crazing will not be visible at normal viewing distance. The presence of slight crazing on a tile is quite normal and does not indicate a sub-standard tile in any way. Delft pottery is a good example of where crazing is actually a design feature of the pottery.
We have a fab collection of art work and more images of Oor Wullie by John Patrick Reynolds see our full range of artists work in our gallery…
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