Malibu Tiles refers to a type of ceramic tile that took inspiration from tiles produced in Malibu Potteries in Malibu, California, during the second half of the 1920s. These tiles reflect a design style known as Hispano-Moresque or Arabesque that exhibit bright contrasting glaze colors often in geometric patterns reminiscent of tiles produced centuries ago in the Near and Middle East, North Africa and southern Spain. The Adamson House in Malibu, California, now the Malibu Lagoon Museum, contains the largest and most varied displays of Malibu Potteries. The Adamson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and became California's Historic Landmark in 1985.
This type of tile was introduced to the American public in San Diego at the Panama Panama Exposition in 1915 for decorating the Santa Fe Railway Depot and what is now the San Diego Man Museum. These tiles are manufactured by California China Products Company in National City and designed by architectural firms in San Francisco and New York City, respectively. The aesthetics represented by these tiles have a direct appeal to architects and homeowners as they blend beautifully into the popular Spanish Colonial Revival architecture that has also been introduced at the fair.
Video Malibu tile
Histori
Severe fires at Malibu Potteries in 1931 led to the closure of pottery the following year after only six years of production. Some tile makers find jobs at other tile companies in the Los Angeles area, some of which make similar products. But the Great Depression limits construction and reduces the need and desire for decorative tiles. By the time the United States was involved in World War II, most of the remaining tile works were either closed or shifted to produce products that supported the war effort. Another fire, this one was a major fire in September 1970, sweeping through Malibu Canyon that exposes after a large reserve of Malibu Pottery tiles is now unknown except to the potter's heirs. Although unnoticed for several years, most of the tiles are not burned by fire. In the mid-70s rumors aroused interest in this unique collection and tiles began to appear in both installations that could be viewed publicly and in private collections. Robert (Bob) Harris, a sound technician in the film industry, found himself attracted by the unparalleled tile's aesthetic qualities and purchased a large collection.
Malibu Ceramic Works
In 1979, using his original tile collection from Malibu Potteries as an inspiration, Harris founded Malibu Ceramic Works in Topanga Canyon and started a slow process of engineering behind all the steps in reproducing Malibu tile. The original tiles give what models make them popular: size, pattern and, perhaps above all, the color of the glaze and its application. The goal is to reproduce products that are comparable to tiles produced in Malibu Potteries.
Within a year since the founding of this new company located along Topanga Creek, an event took place in downtown Los Angeles that had a major impact on public awareness of Malibu Potteries and its splendid series of ceramic products. A fellow collector, David Greenberg, another recipient of tiled saves left open after the 1970 fire, was displaying his collection at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, opened in June 1980 accompanied by a colorful catalog. object. The impact on the development and success of Malibu Ceramics Work can not be underestimated. In time, Harris was able to replicate almost all ceramic tiles and related products from Malibu Potteries by developing processes and techniques, some benefiting from modern technology, while others still rely on ancient artisan methods. Many companies currently producing Malibu-style tiles use Harris's methods and techniques.
Maps Malibu tile
Original pattern
In the case of 'Green Man' or 'Eternal Man' exhibited at Adamson House in Malibu, a replica was made by making a printout of the original Green Man fountain, including a fully functional water spout. The clay mold is still used to make the man man green. Many 21st century artisans also created variations on one of the most popular murals, the 'Peacock' fountain found in Adamson House's backyard. Though exposed to these elements, these early 20th century tiles still have many original colors and aesthetic features.
Production
Clay Production
The first step in producing ceramics is to make clay bodies where glaze patterns can be applied and then heated to high temperatures in a kiln. In the Spanish Revival tradition, dark red is the standard clay, though Malibu Potteries do make clay from clay. In the end Harris bought a tile manufacturing plant in Long Beach, California that will produce smaller "deco" tiles as well as traditional red-floor tiles that are one of the hallmarks of Malibu-style tiles. Malibu Potteries produces a variety of floor tiles, in various shapes and patterns, including hexagons and octagonals mounted in geometric patterns, from simple to complex. A typical geometric pattern of the original Saracens and Spanish floors as illustrated by the terrace drawings at Adamson House and detailed in several changes in the Malibu Potteries Catalog. Malibu Ceramic Floor Tiles can be compared with Malibu Potteries as they achieve the high levels of hardness required when used for general pedestrian traffic, rear splashes, stair climbers, and other everyday use functions. These floor tiles can be contrasted with common floor tiles used in Southern California, known as the Mexican paver, but do not have the same dark red tones and seem to be lacking in the same level of strength and resilience.
Extrusion clay
Another way to create a key element of ceramic tiles in the Spanish Revival tradition is through an extrusion process. Unkempt clays, usually dark red clay in the Spanish Awakening tradition, are pushed under high pressure through a mold or mold extruding a particular shape. Once the pieces are extruded, they coat and shoot or just shoot, thereby retaining their dark red color. As illustrated in the original Malibu Potteries catalog, such forms include quarter-turns and bullnose, and other shapes that finish the edges of the tiles or allow the tiles to change direction, as can be seen in the picture beneath the bench and in the Star fountain. Contemporary ceramicists can replicate original extruded pieces using modern machines such as Western Claymachinery machines, SE10 extraining machine models.
Silk screening
Malibu Potteries is an early adopter of one method for applying a black line against tiles: silk screening. The technology of advanced silk screening substantially at the end of the 20th century, making Malibu tile replication process more consistent than the hand painting of each tile.
The silk screen is created by printing a black line on a clear sheet of acetate, such as with an ink jet printer, then burning the image onto a frame holding a polyester sheet that emulsion like plastic has been applied. Exposing the emulsion to light causes the emulsion to dry or "fix", while the direct emulsion below the black line on the acetate remains soft and unmixed. When the silk screen is "washed" by a hose, or even washed electrically, the emulsion directly below the black line of the image is emptied, leaving a porous line. The black, semi-liquid lines can now be pushed, usually with a squeegee, through a porous outline onto a piece of tile. A fine silk screen is very useful in that, once created, the pattern can be applied repeatedly to many tiles, of course, even changing the color for any given project.
The black line refused
Malibu Potteries rely heavily on hand-painted artwork and tile painting techniques with brushes. Today the craftsmen have many tools that can improve the process of making images on the tiles. One of the most useful is the creation and editing that is possible in software programs, such as Adobe Photoshop. With such a graphical program, one can develop black and white stripes of cuerda seca tile artwork. In the cuerda seca technique, or "dry line" as it is also known, the pattern outline is made on the tile with a wet ceramic glaze applied with a drop bottle, such as the ear-dropper. for babies. The black line creates a barrier or "hold," keeping the glaze inside the line and, when the tile is fired, the black line also forms an attractive outline of the pattern.
The exact composition of the black line material is an industrial secret, in general, but also varies among today's practicing craftsmen. As reported in various sources, Malibu Potteries uses "fine manganese oxide mixed with medium viscosity mineral oil". Today many companies offer a range of water and oil based products that they claim will form barrier barriers to glazes. Large companies, such as Axner, Laguna, Aftosa and Duncan, all offer a range of products that can be used in creating resistance lines for cuerda seca tiles. A recent Master thesis empirically compares some off-shelf products with variations of the original formula.
Creating glazes
One of the most obvious characteristics of the original Malibu Potteries tile is the vibrant and vibrant colors used. Rufus Keller, who tests and creates ceramic glazes, is known to store the formula for this glaze in a personal notebook recorded in his own code.
In Malibu Potteries, glazes are mixed in the 'forbidden' space known as "holy of holies".
More is known about making ceramic glazes when contemporaries try to replicate the hundreds of colors and finishes created by Rufus Keller. Nevertheless, ceramic modernists have re-created bright and vibrant colors that are often used in Malibu tiles such as bright orange, deep red, lush green, shiny yellow and cobalt blue. Even with modern advantages, making special colors and finishes requires a lot of testing, especially when we have to consider the chemical interactions between clay bodies and ceramic glazes. Just as Malibu Potteries offers a wide variety of glazes in which surfaces may be glossy, matte, or cracker, contemporary ceramics have managed to reverse the engineering of almost all glazes produced by Malibu Potteries, and then some. Some illustrations of this type of glaze are seen in the following figures.
Glaze app
Just as the early photographs show workers in Malibu Potteries, usually women, apply glaze to bisque tiles having a resist pattern, modernist ceramics rely on almost identical techniques. Tiles with resistance lines circulate on Lazy Susan while 'glazers' use a spuit bulb to squeeze wet glazes onto the tiles. Since the non-wandering glaze does not always have the same color as the fired glaze, the scheme is usually close to identify where the corresponding glaze is on the tile. Glazers with stable hands and good attention span produce tiles with consistent edges and rare run-overs.
Kiln shoot
Malibu Potteries builds its factory in an idyllic location, right next to the Malibu pier on a sandy beach. In order to produce large quantities of tile, Malibu Potteries creates a large furnace run with diesel fuel. Their combustion process requires extensive fuel use because they fire their tile at 1900 ° which takes 24 hours and that takes a full day for cooling. With today's technology, there are a variety of kilns available, especially electric furnaces, which can be operated more efficiently and provide greater control.
Modern furnaces use controllers such as computers that make shooting progress more predictable and manageable than in the past years. The user specifies variables such as the ramp rate to reach the final, the temperature and the desired containment, where the temperature is held for a period of time, as well as the overall time of burning. With programs built into most controllers, the modern kiln does not require much actual knowledge of how the kiln operates, nor does it require much monitoring. While Malibu Potteries tiles are fired to very high temperatures for long periods, tiles now tend to be fired at lower temperatures for shorter periods of time. The temperature typically ranges from cone 06 (1816 Â °) to cone 10 (2345 Â °). Cone 06 tiles are less hard or solid so generally are less resistant to things like water and freezing, while the cone 10 tile is a vitrified range and is known to be very powerful and suitable for ubiquitous applications, including flooring, bathroom and kitchen. The tile at the entrance to Adamson's house, for example, has been exposed to the sun facing west, salty air on the coast since 1930, and they still maintain a high level of brilliance and structural integrity.
Installation
The malibu-style tile is installed in various places but easily recognizable by anyone with basic knowledge about it. The basic tile, "deco" for decorative, is a 4 "square by 4" or 6 "by 6." These tiles are often installed in arches, entries, towers, balconies, loggia, and fountains creating a "Mediterranean atmosphere". Another style of tile is a linear tile in which the pattern continues to the left and to the right, as may be found on the border for the floor or on the top row of the wainscot.
Poppy tiles describe the general difference in techniques to keep the glass color separate from each other: cuerda seca technique versus cuenca or tub tile techniques where there is a pattern of climbing into the tiles while still wet. The elevated pattern serves as a physical barrier to withstand glazes in places contrary to the black line resistance normally held in place by chemical reactions between oil and water.
Bench
Another app for Malibu tiles is on the bench. Malibu tiles are ideal because the surface is durable and usually smooth which means that the tile can be used to create benches in various settings, public and private inside and outside the door.
Fountains
The fountain is another application of Malibu tiles. This fountain has been done in various forms, such as, "star-fountain" at Adamson House. Malibu tribes differentiate themselves not only with their usual colors and bright patterns but also by being very strong, fighting the weather or the constant flow of water.
Mural
Another Malibu tile application is found in the mural. Malibu pottery creates various installations, ranging from peacock fountains to art that is clearly reflected in early Spanish settlers, such as Spanish galleons and flamenco dancers. Designs range from representational numbers to distillation patterns such as Spanish Galleons at sunset. The mural is a mural reproduction currently installed in Serra Retreat, damaged by fires that leveled many retreats and destroyed the Malibu Potteries gang that May Rindge kept there.
Gallery
References
Cited work
- Rindge, Ronald (1988). Ceramic Art from Malibu Potteries 1926 - 1932 . Museum Malibu Lagoon, Malibu, CA. ISBN: 978-0295973722.
- Rindge, Ronald (1997). More About Malibu Potteries 1926 - 1932 . Malibu Lagoon Museum, Malibu, CA.
- Taylor, Joseph (2004). California Tile: The Golden Era 1910 - 1940, Hispano-Moresque to Woolenius . Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA. ISBN: 978-0764319433. Ã,
Further reading
- Gellner, Arrol and Douglas Keister, Red Tile Style: American Spanish Revival Architecture , Penguin Group, New York, NY (2002) ISBN 978-0670030507
- McMillian, Elizabeth, Casa California: Spanish Style House from Santa Barbara to San Clemente , Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York, NY (1996) ISBN: 978-0847818501
- McMillian, Elizabeth, Colonial California: The Spanish and Rancho Revival Styles , Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA (2002) ISBN 978-0764314605
- Waldie, D.J. and Diane Keaton, California Romantica , Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York, NY (2002) ISBN: 978-0847829750
External links
- Malibu Ceramic Works
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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