Kate's picture corner - some of my favourites

[Kate Tiler]

Look away now if you don't like tiles! (Or Cairn Terriers...)

This is one of my favourite pictures - my dog when he was still a puppy, covered in puppy feathers! I was trying to finish my first tile commission, couldn't decide what other pictures to create and thought if I laid the finished tiles out upstairs I could see what other animals or designs to add. Archie began his photographic career - he still has to be in every picture we take!

[Kate Tiler]

Difficult to follow that, but here is one of my favourite firing pictures - taken by Phoebe, firing the big kiln at Kentwell. I think I'm waving a bit of firewood while watching the sparks ly out of the top - anyway, a cheerful one for a change!

[purple peril]

Hi Kate, just discovered this and it seems a lot easier than sending you the tile piccies on a disc. Obviously I've had to size them down quite a bit so if you do need greater detail I'd still be happy to send the original sized ones.

Hope this works

[purple peril]

There was a little card in the corner of the cabinet, visible on picture 3. It's in French

Couvent des Cordeliers XIVe siecle

Ensemble de carreaux estampes en terre cuite em.......le (word obscured) provenant d'un dallage degage dans une chapelle laterale.

[purple peril]

If it helps, it's emaille. This is confusing because my keyboard doesn't have accented letters so you'll have to assume that some of the e's at the ends of words have acute accents on them. I'll try and work out a translation, but please, anyone else feel free

[Kate Tiler]

Thank you SO much for posting these & for trying to send them directly too! They are so lovely! Similar to patterns I know from England, but slightly different. I tried a google language translation on the text & by altering a few of the letters & spacing I managed to get:

"Brood of Cordeliers XIVe century"
"Together of squares prints out of terra cotta enamels coming from a pavement of pledge in a vault laterale."

So maybe they are from a floor dedicated to a family or group? Some look as if they were carved by the same hand, they are similar patterns to those I already know, I've never considered the whole 'pan-European' aspect of tiles!

Thanks again I really appreciate your kindness in thinking of me

[purple peril]

Hmmm, my attempt differs from that a bit. Here it is;

Convent of the Ropemakers (poss). 14thC

Collection of printed,enamelled terracotta tiles, from a pavement in a side chapel.

There's lots of pilgrim-type activity going on in that area, hence the little man on the horse, but I still don't know what the other little man is trying to insert up his bottom, or why!

Glad you liked them.

[Kate Tiler]

Rather than clog up anywhere else, this is what I've been up to today, it has taken me all day to remember how to paint! These are the first 3 panels of 36, all made from white earthenware heavily grogged clay, rolled into panels which are 18 inches wide x 12 inches deep. These will form 6 panels of 6 tiles, measuring 6ft tall when they are on the wall.

I've impressed the flowers into the clay, when the panels are dry I paint them with underglazes, which are then fired and then glazed and re-fired. Working with colours is very strange, I'm used to honey glaze onto two colours of clay. So far I've spent about £100 on flowers, about £400 on coloured underglazes and about £200 on clay - each tile takes a third of a 12.5kg bag (25lb). Manouvering the finished tiles around takes some doing - they are on boards which have to be changed to encourage the tiles to dry flat - even nearly dry they still weigh about 6lb each.

When this is finished it will go up outside a women's unit in a hospital, so the flowers are just because it's always nice to have flowers when you are in hospital!

[WorkMonkey]

you can use a standard keyboard to make accents, holding ctrl, alt and a vowel will accentify it.

áéíóú.

[Gerald ye Herald]

Kate the flower tiles look fab and what about those french ones eh?
they are brill!.

Will you be doing some? you know I like dragons

Regards
Gerald

[Kate Tiler]

Thanks Gerald! Bit busy at the mo to start any new medieval ones, but I'll bear it in mind!

WM - thanks for the tech advice, but you really should get out more!

[Kate Tiler]

Some more pics of the tiles that I've been working on recently - the two series of tile panels are the rushes and the roses large panels that I made before and over Christmas, which all broke in the kiln. They are going to go up at the hospital, but in an area that the public can't get access to, so they'll be seen from a distance of about 12ft away.

The other picture shows the tiles I was painting a few days ago, they are in the kiln now, you can also see some 'slimline' medieval tiles that I'm making for a family in Pittsburgh, for their kitchen.

Just tiles, tiles, tiles at the moment! The group that I'm painting also shows some of the pots of undergalze that I'm using to paint them with, each pot has a mini tile sample stuck on top with blu-tack! That's the first thing to do when using a new medium, to make test tiles, whether that is colour or glaze, as the clay that you use always has an effect on the final outcome.

Hope you find them interesting.

[Kate Tiler]

Final picture of workbench & painted foxglove tiles ready to fire - note large cup of tea!

[Lady Cecily]

The rush panel looks fantastic. The rose one looks good too but I love the colours of the rush one.

I wish I had the money to get my bathroom and kitchen done by you Kate.

[baron rojo]

step away from the key board right now, that`s a lot of tile, now the wall in the living room is another thing, the rush tiles are the right colour`s

[Gerald ye Herald]

Tiles to drool for now where's me hankie Seriously Karen the
panels are magic! everything you do is magic!

[Andy T]

well those look wonderful-I think you're going to have a lot of people thinking more positively now when they have to stay in hospital

[Kate Tiler]

Thanks everyone! very weird to see them out & about in a public forum as I've been used to just me, Jon & the dog seeing them since December!

I'm glad that the large panels are going to be salvaged & put up, they were heartbreaking as every one of them broke in the firing - I think I just pushed the size of each tile too far.

All a part of the learning process & I'm very lucky to have friends like Pheobe & Jack at the end of the phone in the 'real world' to get me through it, and all you lot here in the virtual world as well to help keep me sane!

I'll post a picture here when the mural is up & in place, end of the first week in April.

[DomT]

Kate>
To be honest I've always pottered about thinking 'Kate the Tiler, meh. Tiles'. How wrong was I? It's art of a rather lovely type. Bravo.

As I have some particulary ugly examples around the old listed cottage I live in we may have to have words at some point. I'd like something actualy pleasant to look at. I thought the rose and reed series were both fantastic.

[Cat]

Beautiful, Kate. well done.