Handmade Ceramic Tile Table -- DIY

Finished!  Lots of steps, none of them hard, but took some time to complete.

a. Design layout.  I used existing image. Next time I will try my own, but this time was concentrating on technical process, so used a Paul Klee painting

b. Copy (xerox)  image  to "actual" size you want you item to be -- in this case about 24" x 38".

c. Put  clay in slab roller to desired thickness. I worked in three sections for this --
    allowed me to make time manageable cuts and keep the adjacency in order when I went
    to cut.

d. Lay paper pattern down on top of clay slab. Using side of sharp pencil (not point, but side), trace
   the lines of your design onto the clay slab. Watch that you don't keep the paper on the clay for too   long, as the dampness can have paper stick and be hard to pull on intact. The paper pattern removed once your section is done.

e. Using sharp x-acto tool, cut the shapes out. You need to play with the angle of your blade...
    it should be so clean on the cut that there are no "warbles" in the clay...a clean cut.

f. Begin the drying process. Keep the clay pieces on flat board with clean paper underneath and on top of the pieces. Spread them slightly so the edges have air expose space to dry. Cover with heavy board.  Cover with plastic for the first 2 days. The idea is to keep them flat while allowing them to dry slowly.  I did this over a few days...gradual.

I turned my tiles a couple times a day, refreshing the damp paper to help the moisture from the clay absorb. When your tiles are to hard cheese dry stage, label them..I etched them with pencil on bottom.  (After bisque fire, I labeled again in under glaze pencil on bottom).  You wouldn't have to do this if your design was more straightforward...but it helped me map the design out as I also labeled the life sized copy to refer.  (before tiles had color, it was more complicated to lay them out in order...the label on underside helped).

g. Shrinkage. This is going to happen ...for me, it was more in the length than the width. Since this
design includes horizontal and vertical tiles, I did end up with some gaps on the horizontal tiles when I went to lay them out.  I could have calculated a 3-5% shrinkage, but since this design was so  "interlocked," it seemed too complicated for me to do on my first hand made tile table. Learning element for future.

h. Bisque fire.

i. Glaze.  I laid the tiles out on another life sized copy of the design that I had laminated to protect from glaze dampness and allow me to wipe it off as needed. I kept a color copy of my design nearby to refer to color.  I am a rookie on glazing -- this is my second glazed item in adult life, and it went smooth enough. Had made myself a glaze test tile with various colors and notes on how I had mixed the particular color. This helped a lot when I went to do it on my real tiles, but didn't cover all the colors. Most of them turned out ok...I tried to use a few base colors on the color families to help with some cohesion, and did color families in batches..oranges, greens, etc...so I could keep more clear on gradations of color in the family.

j. Fire.

k. Make table. I used plywood as my base, and ordered table legs and cleats. Two coats paint on flat plywood board cut size of design. Side trim boards cut to measure, screw to sides -- using level to make sure your trim boards are flush with the tiles so your grout as a side to grab at same height as tile. Countersink of screws and filled in with little wood biscuits that I drilled from trim board. Wood glue in the drill hole, stuff the biscuit in hole, trim with saw, sand, voila (except I had to sand and re-finished the section of trim where I used this method to cover the screw heads). . I put polyurethane coat to protect the wood...did not stain, but this coat did deepen the color. (alder).

l. Glue tiles in place. I've used Liquid Nails on granite benches and a Heath Tile Bench, but I read the label on Liquid Nails, and it says it is not recommended for ceramic tiles. Since I had put time into making these tiles, I decided to be "careful" and do what they said (!)...ending up using tile adhesive. I put the mastic on the tile itself, and then the base. If you covered your base (2 coats of painted plywood) with mastic you would likely get a more even surface than tile by tile, but my design was a bit complicated, so I wanted to keep tiles next to each other and pick up and glue as I went, so I never really had a clear flat surface to spread...just a tile space or two.  Worked ok.

m. Wait 24-72 hours to allow adhesive to dry.

n. Grout.

o. Seal the grout.  I used paint brush to keep it on grout, not the tiles.  The instructions (511 sealer) indicate you can get on it the tiles, but was cautious not to do so.  I have't sealed  my outside benches, but since this is a coffee table for my sister, figured it will have more opportunity to have things spilled on it.