MAKE YOUR OWN TILES

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Tiles can be made in any shape or size that you wish, but my experience indicates that small (about one-inch) squares are strongest. The easiest way to cut this sort of tile is to line your wood slat up with the left side of your sheet of clay and run your knife slowly along the right side of the slat. Now, move the "ruler" over a notch (aligning its left side with the cut you've just made) and make another cut along the right side. Repeat the procedure all the way across the clay. Then simply do the same thing from top to bottom, making horizontal lines. Each square of the resulting grid will be a tile.

It's best not to move your mini-ceramics for at least 24 hours. Lifting the small squares when they're still soft tends to make the corners curl, and they have a natural inclination to do so anyway.

On the morning following "cutting" day, take the tiles off the board and set them face down on a level, newspaper-covered surface. Reversing the tiles helps them dry flat, so—after still another day—turn them back over to their original position. As it dries, the clay will become lighter in color and quite hard.

Your tiles will have picked up some texture from the cloth that covers the work area. If you're feeling creative, however, you can carve designs into the clay on the second day of drying ... before you turn them over. The curved end of a hairpin makes a good "pencil" or—if you can't draw—just go out and get some leaves, a seashell, an old spool, paper clips, nails, bark, or what have you and press these designs into your tiles.

FIRE THE TILES

No matter how lovely your creations may be, they won't be permanent until they're fired. Unfired clay breaks easily and will return to mud if it gets wet. However, before your tiles can be committed to the flame, they must be so dry that they don't feel cool when held against your cheek. Clay that has reached this stage of dryness can be fired in a fireplace, wood stove, or outdoor pit ... depending on the season and your circumstances.

If you use a fireplace, lay the tiles out flat on the bottom, build a hot fire on top, and let it bum all day. Leave the clay squares in the coals overnight, and—the next morning—rake the cooled tiles out of the ashes. The colors will vary from gray to black to yellow. And—since the flame leaves its mark—many will have black areas which won't rub or wash off. Various cultures (including the ancient Greeks and the Pueblo Indians) have used this natural coloring to great artistic effect.

Though many types of stoves can be used to fire clay, a box stove is ideal for this purpose. The logs are positioned on the horizontal and provide a nice surface for the tiles ... and the stove cools slowly after an overnight fire, so it won't put the clay through any sudden drops in temperature.

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