Ceramic Industry History

The latin word ‘tegula’ and its french derivative ‘tuile’ mean quite precisely a roof tile of baked clay.
the english ‘tile’ is less precise, for it can in addition be used of any kind of earthenware slab applied to any surface of a building.
the word ‘ceramic’ comes from the greek word ‘keramos’ meaning pottery, it is related to an old sanskrit root meaning ‘to burn’ but was primarily used to mean ‘burnt stuff’.

painted and glazed tile of around 880 B.C., nimrud

glazed bricks relief tile wall, the ishtar gate at babylon, around 575 B.C. , irak
 

Ceramic Industry is origin historically, man has desired to create living spaces  which were beautiful, durable, and user friendly. with that in mind, ceramic tile has been made by man for 4000 years. beautiful tiled surfaces have been found in the oldest pyramids, the ruins of babylon, and ancient ruins of greek cities. decorative tilework was invented in the near east, where it has enjoyed a longer popularity and assumed a greater variety of design than anywhere in the world. during the islamic period, all methods of tile decoration were brought to perfection in persia.

glazed bricks relief tile wall, from the palace of persepolis around 518 B.C., iran

in europe decorated tiles did not come into general use outside moorish spain until the second half of the 12th century. the tile mosaics of spain and portugal,  the maiolica floor tiles of rennaisance italy,
the faiences of antwerp, the development of tile iconography in england and in the netherlands,
and the ceramic tiles of germany are all prominent landmarks in the history of ceramic tile.



body technique
the technique of tile and its secrets of trade were safely guarded and orally handed from father to son and master to student; thus rarely have designs, patterns and details of technique been documented and few complete treatises exist on the art of tile work  in the past. each tile was hand-formed and hand-painted, thus each was a work of art in its own right.
 

relief tile of the early 13th century, Afghanistan
 

simply defined, ceramic tile is tile made of clay. tiles were made by hand, in early days clay bricks
- made by flattening the clay and cutting pieces  into shape - were dried beneath the sun or baked.
later the only mechanical aid was a wooden mould  carved in relief, which indented a pattern on the clay slab. the slab was dried and the impression filed with clay, which after further drying was shaved flat. after the formation of the tile body, ceramic tiles go through a firing process in a kiln under very high heat to harden the tile body and to create the surface glaze. historically, unglazed tile was fired once.  glazed tile was fired twice.the first firing formed a tile body called a ‘bisque’. the biscuit firing had the highest temperature at  1060 C that fixed the tiles for size and shape.
after glazing the tiles were glost fired at about 1020 - 1240 C. on glaze decoration was fired at 750 C, just before the glaze began to melt. the modern tile industry was advanced by reviving
the lost art of encaustic tile-making. the industry was further revolutionized in the 1840s by the ‘dust-pressing’ method which consisted of compressing nearly dry clay between two metal dies. dust-pressing replaced tile-making by hand with wet clay, and facilitated mechanization of the tile-making industry.

encaustic tile of the 13th century, England

decorative techniques

UNGLAZED:
the color range in unglazed tiles are limited to the natural  colors of the clay, ranging from a light sand to a red brick. PLAIN GLAZES: white lead, flint, china stone and china clay were ground to form a glaze. a clear glaze brought out the natural body colour and might be applied over any coloured decoration. glazed tiles are decorated with natural and artificially colors. palette of colors consists of glaze and underglaze colors. the first glazes were blue in color and were made from
copper. also turquoise and light green glaze were  popular colors. ground metal oxides could be added to give different colours.

 

brick-and-tile panel of the 14th century, Iran

ENCAUSTIC OR INLAID:

this method was to fill the matrix of a stamped tile with white pipeclay before it was glazed and fired.
the two sections fusing during firing.

MOSAIC:
tiles in such colors as yellow, blue, brown, black, turquoise, green and white were cut and carved into small pieces according to a previously prepared pattern.
these pieces were placed close together and liquid plaster poured over to fill in all the opening and gaps. after the plaster dried and hardened, a large single piece tile panel had been created, which was then plastered onto the required wall of the building.

HANDPAINTING:
the artist painted freely onto a plain surface tile. the glaze was one centimeter thick, with hand-painted decorations of flowers, plants, geometric designs, birds and human beings.
a design could also be copied from an original sketch by  'pouncing'. alternatively a tile could be transfer printed and coloured by hand.

CARVED AND MODELLED TILES:
each piece is individually carved in relief or modelled in clay,  the pattern could be engraved in outline on the surface of the tile or the design carved in relief or counter-relief on a wood-block  which was then pressed into the tile. sometimes painted to emphasise the three-dimensional
appearance of the work.

underglaze painted tile, first half of 15th century, Syria
 

SGRAFFITO:
an early form of decoration, the tile body is covered with  coats of slip that is scratched off to produce the design.

LUSTRE PAINTING
the metallic lustre of glazed ceramics is a very special type of decoration. it can be red, brown, ochre yellow or green in scattered light and shows, in specular reflection, coloured metallic reflections (blue, yellow, orange, rose…). metallic copper and silver colloids suspensed in glazes  compose lustre decoration.

TUBE LINING:
slip is trailed onto the surface of the tile to make raised lines separating the areas where different colour is wanted.

Majolica tile of the 16th century, Italy

coloured glazes were then applied.
this technique was used for art nouveau tiles.

TRANSFER PRINTING:
a copper plate was engraved with a design, this would be covered in colour, the excess removed leaving the colour only in the engraved parts. a tissue paper was pressed onto the plate, and placed colour side down onto the tile.  then removed, and the colour transferred to the tile. this method was quicker, and therefore cheaper  than hand painting.

painted tile of the 17th century, Syria
 

scheme of decoration

TILE PICTURES
square tiles were placed together and necessary design was painted in glazed colors on them.
each tile was fired. then all were placed again next to each other to create the main large illustration.

SINGLE MOTIF
isolated figures

PATTERNS
mathematically-minded people elaborated geometric designs, providing a continous decoration.
most designs required four tiles to complete a pattern, some required as many as sixteen.
a ‘wallpaper’ pattern is one that has translation symmetry  in two directions (such as left/right and up/down).a frieze pattern is one that has translation symmetry in one direction. a rosette pattern is one that has no translation symmetry, just reflection and/or rotation symmetry.

azure of the 17th century, Mexico
 

Tile setting

SHAPES
irregular tiles, round and mitred to fit corners,diamond or octagonal, pentagonal, triangular forms
were common. through the 13th century there was a general movement towards standard sizes in convenient square or rectangular shapes.

TRADITIONAL
new methods and materials have, of course, been introduced, but tile setting (despite modern efforts to mechanize it) remains a hand-operated, labor- intensive process, and it's not likely to change soon. modular tiles are tiles which, when placed in a pattern, automatically create a certain sized grout joint. but some of the tiles, because of the symmetry, have  only one orientation.
 

decoration pressed with wood/copper- blocks,  tile setting of the 18th century,  India

MOUNTED TILES
tile assembled into units or sheets, either back mounted or face mounted. and bonded by suitable material to facilitate handling. back mounted has perforated paper, fiber mesh resin or other suitable material permanently attached to the back and/or edges so that a portion of the back of each tile is exposed to the bond coat. face mounted has paper applied to the face of the tile,  usually by water soluble adhesive so it is easily removed prior to grouting of the joints.

tile setting of the 18th century, the Netherlands

maiolica tile setting of the 18th century, Italy
 

CHARACTERISTICS
ceramic tile was used almost everywhere - on walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces, in murals, and as an
exterior cladding on buildings. ceramics are defined as products made from inorganic  materials having non-metallic properties. ceramic tiles have a number of outstanding properties  which determine their usefulness. one of the most appreciated is their great durability.  this durability can be divided into three types: chemical, mechanical and thermal :
* water absorption
* not affected by oxygen
* abrasion resistance
* impact resistance
* breaking strength
* stain resistance - resistant to almost all acids, alkalies,
and organic solvents.

Refrences: http://www.designboom.com/history/tiles_history.html