This is a picture of the box in progress. It is 18" tall and 48" wide. I used a real light black spray paint mist to emphasize the wood grain. After it dried i sanded it away, and finished it with a "ebony" wood stain. Resulting in a glossy black finish.
The tile press.
The die- 4" x 4"
A ball of low fire white clay (cone 03-04). Roughly 10 onces
Beginning to press (manual)
Press complete.
Switch to turn on the air which comes through small holes in the die to release the clay, refraining it from being stuck.
Bottom die releases first, when the press is still complete
Because the bottom is released it is now stuck to the top.
Once you turn the air to the top die, it then falls gently with out damaging the perfectly smooth surface.
After the press is complete, the clay now looks like this.
By using a exacto knife you carefully trim up the edges that are half way pressed in.
A single completed tile.
Multiple, top and bottom.
Next, placed into the kiln.
Unfired. fired.
Grouping.
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The image above is "The Gift." The subject is one which has preoccupied Richard Notkin for most of his professional career. and was what first drew my interest to his work. This large installation consists of 1106 individual tiles and a pile of "ears" (below). Each tile is 4" x 4" - saw dust fired to achieve the variations needed in black and grey and white. In order to have enough tiles to assemble the image, Richard made over 1700 tiles.
