Handmade tile for your kitchen backsplash tile must be a serious consideration. These days there are a multitude of tile artists creating beautifully crafted tile. This has not always the case. In the past 20+ years tile making, especially handmade tile has been experiencing a resurgence in the United States. Handmade tile had died out to a great degree when linoleum was invented and began to be manufactured in volume. It was cheaper to produce than tile and it was modern looking. Tiles took a nose dive for a few decades but like all good things do the use of tiles eventually come back into vogue in interior decoration.
Hand made tile artist Ellie Hudovernik of SE Wisconsin has been designing and producing her own very unique line of handmade tiles since 1982. Before she started her design studio she had searched for information on how to make handmade tiles for years but to not avail. "I was taught to be a potter in college," says Ellie, "we were told that the hardest thing to get clay to do is to dry flat. Getting clay to dry flat goes against its innate nature!" When she couldn’t find any useful information on making tiles in her research here in the States, Ellie traveled to Spain where she visited small cottage tile making shops. But she was too late. Mechanization had already come to Spain. Most of the small shops she visited were no longer making their own handmade tiles. Instead they were purchasing their leather hard blanks from a cooperative that owned a large clay machine that extruded the tiles under terrific pressure. This insured the tile, when fired in a kiln, would fire flat!
Ellie returned to the States frustrated in her quest for knowledge on how to make handmade tiles but not deterred. She eventually learned about the Moravian Pottery & Tile Museum in Doylestown, Pa. She applied to the summer long apprenticeship program and was accepted. It was at this living history tile museum that she learned the handmade tile making techniques she uses today. It is a simple and slow process but one that anyone can learn to create their own beautiful handmade tile.
In the years Ellie has been producing her unique line of tiles she has done kitchen backsplash tile installations for many homes from coast to coast. Because of constantly being asked just how exactly she does her tiles she finally created an instructional ebook ("The Art of Tilemaking")that teaches anyone the step-by-step process for how to make their own handmade tiles too.
If you would like to get in touch with Ellie Hudovernik you can email her at quietplacetolive@aol.com
If you want a kitchen backsplash tile installation that is unique and even one of a kind, consider going with handmade tile created by a clay artist or why not be adventuresome and try you hand at making your own handmade tile.
Hand made tile artist Ellie Hudovernik of SE Wisconsin has been designing and producing her own very unique line of handmade tiles since 1982. Before she started her design studio she had searched for information on how to make handmade tiles for years but to not avail. "I was taught to be a potter in college," says Ellie, "we were told that the hardest thing to get clay to do is to dry flat. Getting clay to dry flat goes against its innate nature!" When she couldn’t find any useful information on making tiles in her research here in the States, Ellie traveled to Spain where she visited small cottage tile making shops. But she was too late. Mechanization had already come to Spain. Most of the small shops she visited were no longer making their own handmade tiles. Instead they were purchasing their leather hard blanks from a cooperative that owned a large clay machine that extruded the tiles under terrific pressure. This insured the tile, when fired in a kiln, would fire flat!
Ellie returned to the States frustrated in her quest for knowledge on how to make handmade tiles but not deterred. She eventually learned about the Moravian Pottery & Tile Museum in Doylestown, Pa. She applied to the summer long apprenticeship program and was accepted. It was at this living history tile museum that she learned the handmade tile making techniques she uses today. It is a simple and slow process but one that anyone can learn to create their own beautiful handmade tile.
In the years Ellie has been producing her unique line of tiles she has done kitchen backsplash tile installations for many homes from coast to coast. Because of constantly being asked just how exactly she does her tiles she finally created an instructional ebook ("The Art of Tilemaking")that teaches anyone the step-by-step process for how to make their own handmade tiles too.
If you would like to get in touch with Ellie Hudovernik you can email her at quietplacetolive@aol.com
If you want a kitchen backsplash tile installation that is unique and even one of a kind, consider going with handmade tile created by a clay artist or why not be adventuresome and try you hand at making your own handmade tile.
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