Ceramic
Mural Tile: Take A Closer Look
By Frederick
M. Hueston www.stoneforensics.com
From its beginnings in 13th century Morocco,
ceramic mural tile has been a staple in American design and decor. Although
ceramic tile making was a craft known to the Egyptian, Chinese, and Babylonian
ancients, the methods of its creation that we employ today stem directly from
those early Moroccan artisans of ceramic mural tile.
Although ceramic mural tile goes through
phases of popularity, its appeal reached an apex during the Arts & Crafts
movement, which endured until the 1920s. Because of the current resurgence of
interest in the Arts & Crafts period, ceramic mural tile has once again
experienced a surge in status among designers, decorators, and, of course, ceramic
mural tile artisans.
Learning the craft of making ceramic mural
tile takes more than an inherent artistic talent. It also entails becoming
educated about such things as different clays, paints, firing techniques, kilns
and other firing equipment, and a host of minute details only someone truly
committed to the task would undergo. Most serious ceramic tile artisans spend a
lifetime not only fine-tuning their craft, but constantly searching for means
and methods of improving their techniques and learning about the latest and
best processes necessary for creating quality ceramic mural tile for their
patrons.
An awareness of the length of time and the
commitment necessary to learn the techniques of creating high-quality ceramic
mural tile makes it easier to understand the sometimes eyebrow-raising prices
these artisans require. Most of them with reputations for superior work ask for
and get sixty dollars or more per hour to create custom ceramic mural tile
offerings for customers with specialized requests.
So the next time you see a gorgeous, hand
painted ceramic mural tile example, keep some things in mind. When one
considers the history of the craft, the hours and hours spent learning and
perfecting it, and then the actual creation of ceramic mural tile, the price
suddenly comes into perspective. You may even come to think of that
painstakingly rendered ceramic mural tile you have hanging in your home for
just what it is almost priceless!
