Primitiva Tile promises a distinctive, artisan finish to any tiled space. The carved surfaces of these tiles invite you to touch them.  Primitiva Tile uses an old tradition of carving, creating negative molds from plaster, and pressing clay in the molds to return positive images of the original. A limited number of tiles can be made from a mold depending on the type of clay I use and the amount of detail that must be replicated.                                                                          

 Many steps are required to create the final flat tile. Pressing, scraping, waiting, sanding, washing and patience are required before glazing them.                                                                         

Primitiva Tile can be ordered from my existing "library" of tiles or I can custom design a tile.  My library consists of flowers such as trillium, calla lilies, bleeding heart, clematis, lilies of the valley and more. Most of these tiles are 6 x 9 inches. I also have thin borders to combine with these tiles or to use by themselves such as waves, ribbons, leaves, and vines.

Primitiva Tile also offer themes of frogs, cats, hummingbirds, lizards, and sea turtles in small accent tiles or framed as pictures. These tiles range in size from 4 x 4 to 10 x 12. 

I introduced sculptural bird tiles fall of 2008 at the annual Artisan Tile NW Tile Festival in Seattle, WA. Small, framed sculptural scenes offer the personality of birds perched on branches amidst leaves interacting with one another. These tiles can be used as accent tiles in tile installations.  

In 2009, I introduced Totem Tiles at an Artisan Tile NW group show in Minneapolis at Clay Squared to Infiniti Gallery and Crow Valley Pottery on Orcas Island. These are three dimensional tiles with leaves and hanging glass and semiprecious stone beads wrapped with copper wire.

© 2011 Maria P. P. Root, all rights reserved.