Origin Story

I used to love to make ceramic pots as an avocation and did it for almost 20 years. I enjoyed adding distinctive details to the wet clay of the pots before they dried.

An idea came to me to try modify the surface of a pot with pressurized water rather than with rigid tools. I sprayed water through a mask that I made out of mosquito net and silicone sealer. I found that I higher pressure water gave better results and it worked on wet clay tiles better than on round pots.

I would roll out slabs of clay in our Coop studio and then take them to the nearby car wash, put the masks over the clay and use the high-pressure car wash sprayer to apply my designs. I continue to experiment with variations in my process and materials and I have moved from spraying at the car wash, which was so cold in the winter, to spraying at home in a home-made spray chamber that is in my clay workshop over our garage. Although process is slow and cumbersome, requiring that I handle each tile at least 60 times from beginning to end, I do enjoy seeing what is possible and wondering what will come next.

I applied for, and received, a patent for my process in 2023, which gives me a monopoly on its use. I continue to improve my process and design skills. Although I still make some single-tile designs, my preference has changed to multi-tile designs, called murals.

Tile making has become my passion and purpose. I like to imagine that my tiles will someday grace the homes of people that like how they look.