HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1912 
diiced to the liquid state first. It is purified of all foreign matter 
such as sticks, stones, leaves, sand and particles of metal by being 
strained through a silk fabric of one hundred and twenty meshes 
to the inch. For the making the liquid material is seldom used 
except as a decoration or after treatment. Where a modeled or 
embossed surface with a raised 
pattern is desired the tile must be 
made with a die with the clay of 
a plastic consistency. For floor 
and wall tiles the tile press is 
used with the material in dust 
form. 
The mat or dull glazed tiles 
are now in greatest demand. 
The texture of these tiles is de¬ 
pendent upon a very thick coat¬ 
ing being applied to the tile. This 
makes possible certain schemes 
of decoration which are not ap¬ 
plicable to bright glazes. 
Tiles with a simple color glaze 
are made in all sizes with con¬ 
trasting fields and borders. In¬ 
laid tiles, essentially used for 
floors with one color set into the 
body of another, so that con¬ 
tinual wear does not afifect the 
pattern are to be had. We find 
these in neutralized reds, blues 
and yellows in simple designs. 
The scale of the pattern should 
be influenced altogether by the 
environment. 
Painted tiles vary from crude 
markings to exquisitely delicate 
porcelains. Imitation painting 
in the form of printed or sten¬ 
cilled outline should be avoided 
as far as possible. The hand of 
the individual artist should be 
seen in the finished product. All 
tiles are fired, after decoration, 
in kilns, and it should always be remembered that colors have a 
tendency to run in the process. The beauty of painted tile lies in 
the quality of the design and the depth and clearness of its color. 
Color plays an important part in the value of the material. 
Tiles are advocated on ac¬ 
count of their cleanliness; 
in fact, it is one of the chief 
characteristics of tile that 
they can always be washed 
without detriment to their 
surface. It is therefore 
best to select tiles which 
have a light field for all 
broad surfaces, either faint 
tints or pure white. For 
fireplace facings, fountain 
niches as a background for 
lighter materials, and for 
floors the dark tiles are to 
be preferred to the lighter 
ones. 
There are certain pieces 
of tile used for inlay or spe¬ 
cial decoration which have 
all the finishes known to the 
artist and manufacturer. 
There seem to be reasons both practical and sentimental for the 
use of tile in the various places advocated for it. It should be re¬ 
membered, however, that a first essential in the use of tile is that 
it should be used in combination only with materials with which 
it has points in common. By this we mean all clay products such 
as brick, terra cotta and porce¬ 
lain. Big stones and large sur¬ 
faces of bright metal do not lend 
themselves to association with 
tile. Wrought iron, however, 
and stone or metal in small pieces 
make a happy combination. For 
fireplaces tile seems most appro¬ 
priate. Tile is a product of fire. 
It is fire made, fire proof and as¬ 
sociated with fire in all ways. 
Again when we think of tile for 
our porch floors we remember 
that it is only a step from the 
walk or lawn onto the porch, and 
that tile is closely related to 
earth, its source being the earth. 
The cool, inviting texture of a 
tile floor, together with its wide 
range of colors, lends itself to al¬ 
most every architectural scheme. 
The little touches of color 
which tile offers for relieving 
the uniform surface of concrete, 
both interior and exterior, is 
worth mentioning. A tile decor¬ 
ation is both appropriate and 
durable, and the range of colors 
and design offer one's architect a 
great opportunity for attractive 
designing. The inlaying of tile 
in concrete has been done for 
ages, the Byzantine school mak¬ 
ing free use of this method of 
offsetting the monotony of the 
plain surfaces. We feel, how¬ 
ever, that unless properly han¬ 
dled the architecture of such buildings loses a certain amount 
of dignity. 
In comparing the cost of tile with that of other materials one 
should understand that tile is an imperishable product and so 
Where the appearance of hand work is desired the 
tiles are of varying sizes and each of different hue 
from its neighbor 
Modern tiles may be had to give a rich texture as well as color 
and often supersede the use of carved panels about the fireplace 
Where the tiles are uniform in size an interesting deco¬ 
rative feature is obtained through the use of various 
shades of the same color 
