2019 #10 Tiled Patterns: or Patterned Tiles? with JoFY {by Helen Chilton}

2019 Topic 10: Tiled Patterns

Actual Tiles! Well someone had to give it a go...yes I know Alison did lovely miniature ones for her fireplace, so here are the human-size version! With a JoFY twist! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Helen with you today, and I'd like to share with you my tiled patterns project.

I've used a bit of artistic license with the theme here and and worked on an actual 6x6 tile with some of JOFY's newest stamps - they're a good size and fit the scale of this project perfectly.

  I love stamping on tiles - there's so much you can do with them - use them as wall art, placemats, teapot stands, house signs or, as I've done later, combine them to make larger designs. Usually I use bisque (unglazed) tiles for this but I've found them harder and harder to come by at a reasonable price when you include postage, so I've experimented with ordinary glazed plain white tiles this time. These come in packs of twenty and are easily available from any DIY store - these were 20 for under £5.00 so you have spares if you go wrong.

You can see here how glossy they are. Now you can stamp on them like this but the stamps can slide around a bit.

So all I did was give them a quick coat of white paint - this 'mattes' them down nicely and gives the surface a good key for working on.

As you can see this JOFY stamp is a lovely size. I decided to black emboss the design so that you get the slightly raised edge to paint up to.

I didn't bother with any masking off when I added the border and the extra seed pod (all that embossing had practically finished me off!). I was going to use the circular design as my filler but it was just too large to fit between the petals.

Then I just added paint - keep a cotton bud handy to wipe off any stray blobs.

After that I though I'd try some monochrome tiles - blue above, green below:

Combine the tiles together and that's where your 'Tiled Patterns' comes in. You could add to the design by using different combinations of the same three colours - I can see some more yellow based tiles in there as well.

And here's a pic of where I've used them.

Of course once I got started I couldn't stop there - I thought I'd try a really bright one.

And then something more muted using Sugar Plum and Teresa Green and painting with a more 'watercoloury' effect. Surprisingly, considering how much I love bright colours, out of all of them, this one is my favourite. It just goes to show you can never quite tell what something is going to look like until it's finished!

I added some doodling to all of my tiles, on the petals and round the edges, some black, some white and then sealed them with a glossy spray varnish. If you're going to stand things on them or use them outside, make sure you varnish them well - several coats. I thought I might dot some round the garden or you could combine them to make a tabletop for outside

.

And there are my tiles - however I've still got quite a few left to work on and in the DIY shop I saw that you could buy some much larger, single, sample white tiles (one was 10" by 16") which are definitely calling to me! Be great for a big piece of art.

Enjoy!

Helen

Blog: A Splash of Colour