Studio Tour #25 - Tortuga Tile Works

Koi Set In A River Rock Stream, hand built mosaic by LuRu

Welcome Back to another Saturday Studio Tour

Pack your swimsuit & sunscreen because we are off to Hollywood, Florida today.

Ceramics artist LuRu has invited us to stop by her backyard studio, Tortuga Tile Works. This is where LuRu creates her colorful tiles and unique mosaic pieces. Her tiles are made by hand out of Earthenware clay and are fired with a variety of glazes, many of which she makes herself.

You can view her tile collections on her website TortugaTileWorks.com as well as the new Etsy shop, TortugaTileWorks.etsy.com. These tiles can be mixed & matched to create a vibrant piece of mosaic art. They also work well as individual hanging pieces.

Now, I'm going kick back with a cold glass of iced tea so that LuRu can show you around. While you are here, click on any of the images for more information. (Photos are courtesy of Tortuga Tile Works.)

LuRu: Tortuga tiles are all hand-made. First, I carve a low relief design in clay. Then I cast it in plaster.

Once I have the mold I can reproduce the original carving by pressing earthenware clay into the mold. Each pressed tile gets cleaned up and fired to bisque temperature in one of my electric kilns.

My studio has a garage door that opens up onto my garden. It makes for a bright and sunny environment within which to work. I tend to work outside as much as I can.

Once the tiles are bisque fired I can glaze them. Many of the glazes I use are made from scratch using materials such as Gerstley Borate, Silica, EPK clay and mineral colorants. Here is a shot of my main work station with my glaze kitchen shelves.

I do most of the glazing outside under my umbrella. For the Death Head tiles I start by rubbing a black glaze into all of texture. Then I add color.

This process always takes longer than I would like as each color gets three coats. Once I am finished glazing, I can fire the tiles to a slightly higher temperature for a finished product.

Death Head Double Portrait by LuRu

I can adhere the fired tiles to a surface and grout between them for finished mosaic type pieces or I can sell the tile in pieces for do it yourself types to install themselves. Here are some finished pieces.

This is a gaming tabletop that fits over any standard fold up card table. It is tiled with playing card royalty tiles, dice tiles, coin tiles and playing card suit tiles.

This image is of a bar top featuring the Tiki Tapa tiles. They make a durable surface for bar tops that see a lot of action.

Want to find out more about LuRu's ceramics? She will be back here next Thursday to talk more about herself & her art. Click Here for Thursday Giveaway & Artist Feature details

How about a chance to win a free Tortuga Art Tile? In honor of her Etsy Shop Grand Opening this weekend LuRu is sponsoring the next Thursday Giveaway. Be sure to stop back here on 5/20 to visit with the artist & enter a random drawing for one of her colorful tiles.

Where else can you find Tortuga Tile Works?

http://tortugatileworks.com
http://tortugatileworks.etsy.com
http://www.facebook.com/tortugatileworks
https://twitter.com/TortugaTile

If you find yourself in West Palm Beach today (5/15) stop by and say hi to LuRu at the Art Rock Show & Indie Marketplace (at The Armory Art Center)

Like Luau? In June she will be vending at:

The Hukilau, Bahia Mar, Ft Lauderdale, FL (6/10 - 6/13)

Ohana-Luau at the Lake, Tiki Motor Inn, Lake George, NY (6/25- 6/27)

Thanks LuRu for the fantastic tour!

And Thank You to all who stop by and leave a comment. It is your interest in these Studio Tours that keeps them coming! See you back here on 5/20 for the Artist Feature & Giveaway. Until then, I'll leave you with a final thought from LuRu

"You are not square and beige
so why should your tiles be?"

October Country - Polaroid Transfer on Marble Tile

October Country

Having fun with another Polaroid Transfer on marble tile. The photo was originally taken on a rainy day walk in Ormelle, Italy. (same town where the bicycle tile photo was taken)

I love playing with Polaroid transfers. To create this piece, the polaroid is heated in a hot water bath until the emulsion comes loose from the paper backing. The transparent image floats in the water & you can then place it on your choice of surface. In this case, I laid it upon a 4" piece of marble.

This was one of my older pieces that needed some reworking. So I went over the image with markers, paints, colored pencils & ink. It still needed something until I pulled the Italian Script stamp from Judikins. (Definitely my favorite stamp lately).

close up

October Country measures 4" sq and has hanging hardware attached to the back. It is available at ArtSnark.etsy.com - just click either photo for details. All of these reworked tiles are priced to sell at $10 each. (I'm trying to make some elbow room around here)

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Have you entered the random drawing for a custom printed vinyl banner yet? Ends 5/13. Click here for details

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By the way IllustrationFriday.com has a new prompt this week - Fearless. Click the link to add your own or see what great stuff others have come up with.

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Oh... in case I don't make it back here tomorrow - Happy Mother's Day!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Transfer on Tile BEFORE & AFTER

Polaroid Emulsion Transfer on Marble Tile - BEFORE coloring

Italian Bicycle - Polaroid Emulsion Transfer Tile

AFTER coloring with
markers, micron pens, watercolor, colored pencils & white paint pen.

Ready to hang. Available now. Click either photo for details.

The Messenger - Polaroid Transfer on marble Tile

The Messenger

A few years ago I was really into making Polaroid transfers. I recently came across a box of emulsion transfers on marble tiles & and decided to rework them.

The tiles measure 4" sq and have hanging hardware attached to the back. Each is one of a kind. At $10 each, they are priced to move (I need to make some space around here). They are available in my ArtSnark etsy shop. Just click the photos for more info.

The Messenger tile started out the mate to this angel

Angel

First I went over the image a bit with watercolor & colored pencils. Then I coated an Italian Script stamp from Judikins with 2 colors of cat's eye chalk ink. After stamping the front, I wrapped the text around the sides & sprayed the whole thing with several coats of UV resistant finish.

I haven't had any time to work on major projects lately so I'm glad to have something to dabble with. I get cranky when I go to long with out my "art therapy."

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By the way:

Linked is the IllustrationFriday.com prompt this week.

Miniature Art is Theme Thursday's challenge

Icecream is for Mix it Up With Melange (which changes every other Wednesday so you have almost 2 weeks to do this one).

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If you missed yesterday's post, click here to read about the amazing Steampunk artist Ramona Szczerba (aka Winona Cookie). You can also enter her random drawing for a steampunk art magnet (winner's choice).

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And now I'm off. Time to take the Little Dude to dinner and his first art opening. He's so excited. I have to chuckle, he was telling his kindergarten class about it & insisted on bringing invite cards to his teachers this morning.

If you're in the area, be sure to pop by. And if not, I hope you have a fantastic evening anyway!

IF - Poise

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone - Audrey Hepburn

Poise ... another stimulating prompt from the folks at
Illustration Friday.

My 1st thought was to draw Audrey H., but I got distracted by some new ideas for the stagnant blue WIP canvas. I've got most of it sketched out now. Hope to have some time in April to bring it all together....

Due to the time-crunch, I've gone archive diving again. This lovely lady seems to fit. She is a life size drawing in lithocoal & chromacoal on thick etching paper.

By the way, I love D'uva Lithocoal products! Comes as stick, powder or liquid & is fully erasable until you heat set it. Then it is permanent without fixative. Not easy to find anymore though.....hmm...what is it with my favorite products going extinct?

I was sooo sad the day Polaroid announced they were eliminating film 669 (among others) It's my fave for transfers. Here are a couple more on marble tiles that are now available at ArtSnark.etsy.com . Click on the pic to go straight to the details :

Sorrow

These are both emulsion transfers of charcoal drawings

So Naive

On the plus side, I heard a rumor that Fuji has a film similar to 669 on the market. Has anybody heard anything? I'll have to get googling. The last of my film stash is expired & temperamental but still works okay most of the time. I'm down to 3 boxes tho...

The Butterfly Charmer & Faux Frescoes

Cleaning out some shelves & uncovered these wonderful teeny frames

Decided I needed to make a little something.

And I do mean little. The frames are 3"sq & almost 1.5" deep.
So made this tiny Butterfly Charmer

It feels good to create something...anything. Too many days without making stuff & I get cranky!

Hope to really dig my heels into something meaty soon.

Till then, I added 5 Polaroid Transfers to my etsy sale at ArtSnark.

These are emulsion transfers on marble tile.* Ready to hang
Fun to make The final look reminds me of old frescoes & ruined walls.Just click on any pic for details
* If you'd like to read more about the different steps for making emulsion vs. image Polaroid transfers click here. The photos I posted yesterday were image transfers. Friday's post featured an emulsion transfer