The Tile of Your Dreams















Well, you will be able to order it soon. I am going into the tile business. Not just 'any' tile, no-sir-ree-bobtail. This is fabulous tile that is available and used just about everywhere in the world except the USA. Why, I don't know...but I plan to change that !!

I suppose that because it is labor intensive may be one reason it has ceased to be produced here, but I really think over time, that could change too.

If McDonalds can have monkeys squirt out catchup in controlled amounts, then I am sure my bro. Stephen can engineer a system to have encaustic tile slurry squirt out in correct colors and proportions in molds in the USA one of these days.

But for now, I have designed 6 field tile patterns and 4 tile borders & corners to be made outside the USA. Now, I have never been to this place in person, but I am sure it won't be too long B4 I need to make a biz trip. ;o)

Click the image to see it bigger.

The tiles will be named after my house project. The Villa Lagoon Collection,....and yes, I have registered the domain, that ans several others I may use...for the massive promotional campaign I will have to embark upon to make sure that these tiles gain an audience.

"Encaustic cement tiles" or "Mosaic Hidraulicos" as they are known elsewhere, are made from marble dust and fine cement and are pressed in a hydraulic press before they are exposed to water and allowed to cure. They weigh about 10 lbs. per sq ft. They come in fantastic patterns, like Persian rugs and cost about 25 bucks per sq ft delivered to your door or jobsite. Maybe even less. Well, that is for the patterned ones, the solid colors ones will be less, and you can do a rug looking design and surround it with the solid tiles. I am planning to have them made 10 inches square even tho 8 in. sq. is sorta the historical size. We will use my place for the photos for the brochures. I'll need a professional photographer...any volunteers ?

The encaustic cement tiles that are made in all the Latin countries are of historical patterns or cool art deco ones...but I am introducing tiles with seacoast themes. These tile floors are a permanent flooring solution...they last centuries. Any of you who have traveled, to Europe or Mexico, Latin America, Vietnam, and elsewhere have seen this type of flooring. It is majestic. The color goes deep into the tile so wear is no problem. The finish is waterproof and scratch proof and only needs to be waxed occasionally. They grow more beautiful with age. Cuba is full of them.

The same tile can be rotated in different ways to produce different flooring effects. Note the one here with sailboats, it looks good tessellated 90 degrees and also in a fish scale pattern.
Anyway....I am having the molds made now and we are pushing to have the tile samples ready for the Coverings Show in Orlando in end of April. I'll be busy on hand-outs and brochures as well. Oh yea, websites too.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
10:36 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Color Change Paint Job

Image
I spotted another car with one of those awesome paint jobs that change colors are you drive past. I used to see one with a different set of hues parked in from of a local vinyl liner pool company here in Gulf Shores. This is what I'd like on my VW Thing, but I want coral and peach shades so it look like a woman's fingernail polish rack at the nail salon. Anyone know anything about this type of paint job ? What is it called ? What's it cost. Where do you go to get it ?
Read more

Class distinctions and social networking sites

Interesting read: An excerpt: A month ago, the military banned MySpace but not Facebook. This was a very interesting move because the division in the military reflects the division in high schools. Soldiers are on MySpace; officers are on Facebook. Facebook is extremely popular in the military, but it's not the SNS of choice for 18-year old soldiers, a group that is primarily from poorer, less educated communities. They are using MySpace. The officers, many of whom have already received college training, are using Facebook. The military ban appears to replicate the class divisions that exist throughout the military. I can't help but wonder if the reason for this goes beyond the purported concerns that those in the military are leaking information or spending too much time online or soaking up too much bandwidth with their MySpace usage. The entire article
Read more

Is It Just ME?

Two odd phrases keep popping up in print that just seem weird to me. Here is one: "I am absolutely appalled that another computer containing the personal information of veterans has gone missing ," said Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican. Why not say "is missing" ? Doesn't "has gone" imply some action on the part of the computer? And our local newspaper recently had headlines that said: "City looks to buy land on Ft. Morgan Road" Is "looks to buy" an accepted English phrase for "considers" or similar? Maybe it is, but both of those phrases sound rather like Granny Clampett to me. Your opinion?
Read more