About My Tiles

Each Osprey Arts tile is hand made from stoneware or porcelain clay, fired once to bisque at 1800 degrees
Fahrenheit, and again to 2200 degrees Fahrenheit, with a stain and/or glaze.  Most of my tiles are suitable for indoor
or outdoor installations.  Raku tiles are the exception, as they are meant to be used only as art pieces.

The complex process of carving the design, making the mold, pressing and releasing the tile from the mold, touching
the tile up, addition of detail, bisque firing, glazing, and glaze firing, ensures that no two tiles are exactly alike.  Slight
variations in shape and color add value to these tiles, making each a unique addition to the handcrafted tradition of
tile making.  Handcrafted tiles are durable and ageless.

Osprey Arts tiles, panels, and murals can be displayed as art pieces, or incorporated into multiple projects, including
architectural installations from kitchen to bath to fireplace, walls, floors, to gardens and garden benches.  My tiles are
suitable as gifts, decorative plaques, commemorative pieces , commissioned works such as donor walls , trail
signage, and garden murals.

Single tiles and plaques have wire hangers attached to the back, and most tiles are also lightly scored on the back to
aid in adhesion to mastic.  If you wish to install a single tile in a wall as an accent piece, the hanger on the back will
not interfere.

Stoneware and Porcelain
Osprey Arts tile designs reflect images of Nature, as well as abstract designs based on these same images.  Each tile
is individually carved, molded, dried, and glazed or stained by hand.   Tiles are fired twice to high temperatures to
ensure that tiles are non-porous, making them suitable for indoor or outdoor use.

Raku
Raku is a Japanese method of ceramics that creates unpredictable and beautiful crackle effects in the glazes, smoke
patterns on unglazed surfaces.  The tiles are first bisque fired, to make them sturdy enough to be handled without
breaking.  Then they are glazed with special Raku glazes and fired once in an outdoor kiln to approximately 1600 to
1800 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature at which the glaze melts.  The hot piece is then removed from the kiln with
long tongs and placed in combustible materials (leaves, sawdust, pine needles) in a metal container, and then
covered.  The organic material burns, removing oxygen from the container, producing a reduction atmosphere that
brings out the unique characteristics of the Raku glaze, to achieve the classic Raku look of smoky black and crackled
and/or metallic glaze.  No two pieces are alike!  Raku tiles are best used indoors in non-wet locations because they
are somewhat porous.

Important Note:  Color in Ceramic tiles
Most of my tiles incorporate the natural color of the native clay into tile design.  The relief images often are
highlighted with a stain wash for a subtle, natural look.  Other tiles are partially or totally covered in glaze.  Color
variation, and variation in shades from tile to tile are a desirable and inherent characteristic of all handmade
ceramics.  
The Studio