How to Hand Print Tile

Tiles can be painted with patterns and colors.

Making your own hand-painted and printed tiles is an exciting way to add a unique touch to your home and garden. Hand-printed tiles also make special gifts for friends and family. Hand-printing and painting tiles can be a fun and rewarding art project that adds value to your home. Whether printing a single tile for a gift or an entire mosaic for a floor, once you begin to experiment with making your own custom printed tiles, you're sure to find more places and ways to use hand printed tiles.

Things You'll Need

• A craft or hobby shop with a kiln
• Craft stamps
• Ink pad
• Paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Matte finish white glazed tiles
• Edging and corner tiles
• Rubbing alcohol
• Paint brushes
• 4 oz jars of low-fire glaze paints

Instructions

Preparation

1. Contact local craft or hobby shops to see if they have a firing kiln available for customers to use for firing individual projects. Ask their prices for firing, along with scheduling instructions.

2. Draw or use the craft stamps with regular ink to print the tile pattern that you want to make on a regular full-sized sheet of paper. Lay the tiles under the pattern you have drawn out to see where each individual tile fits. Add corner and end tile sections as needed. If painting a larger-sized mosaic, tape more than one piece of paper together. Give each tile section a grid number and name by drawing thin guide lines across the design with a ruler. Using a pencil, label each tile on the bottom, giving it a location designation. Your design is also your tile grid map.

3. Clean each tile with rubbing alcohol before starting to paint or print on it with the low-fire glaze paints.

Printing

1. Paint on each tile with brushes or by dipping the craft stamps in the low-fire glaze paints.

2. Apply a second or third coat of paint as needed to bring out vibrant colors in the hand-printed tiles.

3. Take the tiles to the craft or hobby shop for firing in the kiln.

Tips & Warnings

• Check to see if the craft or hobby shops offer low-fire tile paint and paint brushes for sale if you have difficulty finding those elsewhere.

• For some colors you may need to apply a thicker coat of paint or go over the stamped areas with an additional coat of paint after the initial printing and painting process.

• Be careful when moving and carrying the tiles into the craft or hobby shop for firing so as not to chip, break, or damage the tiles or your artwork.

References

• Home & Garden Publications: You take plain tiles, hand-paint your one-of-a-kind designs - Printing tile and making tile

Resources

• Handpaintedtiles.org: Classifications of Artistic Tiles