Making a decorative tile - GIF

[Altair]

Making a decorative tile.




Previously:

Traditional tile manufacturing by hand - GIF
Tools for laying large tiles - GIF
Cutting curves on a tile - GIF
Adjustable tile lifting tool - GIF
Tile hole drilling template - GIF
Vacuum tile laying machine - video

[Drew1966]

Many many moons ago I worked as a dipper in a factory that made all different types of tiles. Any tile that fancy was done with a multiple silk screen system. This was done on an industrial scale though and I suspect the moulding process shown above is only for small scale bespoke tiles.
p.s. A dipper is the person who glazes the tiles before the glass firing, or in the case of porcelain tiles, before the combined firing.

[neilbourjaily]

Does anyone know the media being used?

[Floradawg]

Yeah, I could see a CNC machine doing that pretty quick. Beautiful resulting tile.

[Drew1966]

Does anyone know the media being used?

The liquids are probably just basic glaze, so very finely powdered glass and water, and the green powder looks like pulverised dry ceramic clay to me. At Johnson tiles they had a press in which the moulds held a given quantity of the same ceramic powder and just enough water was injected to allow it to meld. Then the basic tiles were fed through a drying kiln. Then they were either biscuit fired or dipped and then fired, depending on the type of ceramic powder used. I never worked with porcelain but did learn how. A few years after I finished there, they packed up and moved to Thailand, where labour is dirt cheap. Their quality went through the floor at the same time. I don’t know where they produce them now, China I suspect.

[Elizabeth Greene]

Yeah, I could see a CNC machine doing that pretty quick. Beautiful resulting tile.

I've seen a machine that paints enamel pins that looked like it might work. A quick internet search did not yield a video, or I'd share it.