How Hand Painted Ceramic Tiles Are Made

The sequence

Design drawing. The pattern is drawn as a line drawing on the porcelain plate, by hand, using the artisan own design or the customer artwork.

Polishing. The plate is washed and polished by hand so the whole surface is smooth and even before any line is laid down.

Setting the line. Clay line is applied on the porcelain plate following the drawn draft. The lines have to be strong, decorative and rhythmic, because they hold the glaze in place.

Glazing. Coloured glaze is filled inside the raised lines, colour by colour. This is what separates the technique from ordinary porcelain panel painting.

Firing. The piece is fired at high temperature, above one thousand degrees, which fixes the colour inside the glaze.

Why the line matters

The raised clay line is not decoration for its own sake. It is a physical barrier that stops one glaze running into the next during firing, which is how the finished tile keeps clean colour separation and a relief surface you can feel.

What this means for a buyer

Because every stage is hand worked, pieces vary slightly. That variation is the product, not a defect. What is repeatable is the drawing and the glaze recipe, both of which we retain so a second order matches the first.