Making Clay Tiles

Here is how to make a clay tile using carving subtractive and additive methods.

Making clay tiles.

Remember that clay will shrink and you have to adjust for this when making your tiles. Make your own diy decorative tiles with this craft tutorial. The following tutorial could help you in making tiles successfully. I have worked with several clay bodies rated up to cone 6 but found them to be best vitrified at cone 5 and what i would consider over fired at cone 6.

Then cut out your tiles. Making ceramic tiles or flat slab forms without the right equipment and process knowledge can be very disappointing mostly due to warpage. Generally this means tiles that have a high amount of grog. Having the right type of clay body is important when making ceramic tiles.

Make a moat around your tiles by putting bars of clay around their edges. This helps them heat from above and below rather than the edges heating faster than the middle. To determine shrinkage take a slab of clay and incise a line 100 millimeters long. The clay should be heavy duty as it will need to be durable and most importantly completely waterproof when fired.

Make sure to add an extra 1 4 inch in all directions when making your tiles because the drying process will cause them to shrink some. Roll out the clay so it forms a flat slab that is about a 1 4 inch thick. Clay bodies the first thing is to start with a good clay body for tiles. The key factor is that the clay has a high amount of grog a material in clay which contains a high quantity of silica and alumina.