Color Cement Handicraft

by Pedro J. Lemos; Reta A. Lemos

MAJOLICA POTTERY derived its name from the island of Majorca, Italy, where during the sixteenth century glazed pottery reached its highest perfection.

Glazed color may be placed in hollows in the surface of pottery or on the surface. A better method is to produce a raised line or rim to retain the glaze, and this is the method we will use in the cement or concrete pottery.

THE CEMENT MAJOLICA TILE is made as follows: First design a subject that will have each motif, part or section defined with lines. These lines must be part of the design and used much as lines are used in stained glass work. The design should be simply planned. A confusing overcrossing tangle of lines is to be avoided. A few geometrical forms rightly related will be most pleasing. Keep the design at least one-half inch within the edge of the space. Then oil a piece of glass as directed, place over a card that has the tile dimensions squared off on it as a guide for placing the casting bars on the glass. Clay or wax should always be used to hold the casting bars in place. Into this now pour plaster-of-Paris, pouring into the center, letting it flow to the outer edge. Level off evenly and remove after fifteen minutes. On releasing this plaster tile a smooth surface will be found on the side which came next to the glass.

THE DESIGN is then transferred to the plaster tile by tracing with a carbon paper. The paper should be thumbtacked onto the sides of the plaster tile to prevent it from slipping while tracing. The design should also be traced on backwards so that the completed majolica tile will be in the same position as the design. The design is then incised with the incising tool, care being taken that at whatever depth the line is made the incision has sides sloping upward. If these grooves have overhanging edges the cement to be poured in will flow under these edges and lock the tile, causing these lines to break before the cement tile can be released.

WHEN INCISING, see that the bottom of the groove is sufficiently wide, as this bottom is to be the surface of the line on the completed surface. A line one-sixteenth or one-eighteenth of an inch is not too wide. The plaster should not be too soft or too hard to secure the best incision and avoid crumbly lines. When the incising is completed oil the surface and surround the tile with four retaining bars. The bars should be soaked in water and be of double width as they extend above the plaster cast. This extension above the tile represents the thickness of the tile to be made. Clay or wax is pressed on the outer edges of the bars and plain neat cement or a mixture of the desired color is made and poured onto the mold. Pour in the center steadily, for cement poured on the “installment plan” will show a mark wherever each installment occurred.

When the cement in the mold has dried for twenty-four hours remove by slightly prying, after the retaining bars have been removed. If parts of the lines are not on the surface it is because air was arrested in pouring the cement or the oil settling in the grooves. If lines are broken and remain in the mold it is because the grooves have overhanging edges and locked the cement line. To repair these lines, soak the tile for a few minutes and mix a small portion of cement to match that used and build the missing section by dripping the cement from a brush.

AFTER DRYING for an hour put the whole tile in water for a day or overnight and it is then ready to add the color. Meanwhile the plaster mold with the defective grooves should have the grooves cleared by scraping the overhanging edge with an incising tool.

The tile as it has been produced by the mold appears with a number of relief lines dividing the whole surface into a number of partitions or cells. It is into these that we are to place the color and it should be worked as follows:

While the surface of the tile is moist, drip in the color with a brush, spreading it to fill the required space. Thin pieces of metal (or material that will not absorb the moisture) may be used to spread the color, producing a smooth, even surface. The color after once commencing to set should not be touched, and for this reason should be rather liquid so as to permit handling without too rapid drying.

THE COLOR SURFACE appears better when the lines of the design remain uncovered with color. If the color is thickest in the center of the spaces and then bevels down as it comes in contact with the lines, the whole tile or surface will appear more professional.