unalun tile

Live Oak Piece for Collector

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:07:47 +0000

This piece, Live Oak, was recently commissioned by a collector of Natalie’s work. The collector and his wife saw our original Live Oak piece but needed to have it scaled down to fit his wall. Here’s the result. We love it and hope he does too!

Live Oak, handmade ceramic wall art tile

New Dahlia mural

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:01:11 +0000

Ann Sacks Tile Co recently commissioned this piece, glazed in turquoise, for their new London showroom. The 12″ x 12″ tiles will be grouted in place so their edges were made without undulation to make grouting easier. We love the antique look of the glaze. This would make a fantastic backsplash.

The Dahlia design is one of three designs which are exclusive to Ann Sacks.

This one really pops!

ceramic wall art and backsplash tile

Dahlia design featured in Home & Garden magazine

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:35:46 +0000

Our ceramic wall tiles were featured in the March 2010 issue of Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine.

While the article says that the tiles are for indoor use they can be installed outdoors as well.

As reported in the article, our tiles are one-of-a-kind!

Each tile is handmade and sgraffito-carved.

Video on tilemaking

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:59:01 +0000

Here’s a great video showing our tilemaking process. Unalun tiles are all individually-made, hand carved in the old-world technique of sgraffito (“to scratch”). They are perfect as wall art or kitchen/bath backsplashes.

Click on this image to go to the vide:

making unalun ceramic wall tile

Kitchen Backsplash

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:11:17 +0000

Unalun tile is ideally suited for backsplash applications. Unalun tiles give your backsplash real “pop”.

In researching backsplash ideas on the web, we came across this advice from Tim, at Askthebuilder.com:

“It’s no surprise to me that you keep gravitating to ceramic tile for your backsplash. A tile backsplash will last for years, and will add beauty to your kitchen. I have installed ceramic tile at backsplash locations between the countertops and the underside of kitchen wall cabinets for years, and each homeowner was dazzled by the final appearance. Ceramic tile makes sense when you are mulling over backsplash ideas because it is durable, easy to clean, colorful and can add texture to an otherwise dull, flat boring wall space. In recent years, there seems to have been an explosion of new tile colors, patterns, styles and textures, many of which are perfect for areas directly behind a kitchen sink and cooktop areas.”

Stay tuned for upcoming images of unalun tiles in backsplash applications.

Bathroom Backsplash Ideas

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:54:41 +0000

Unalun tile is ideally suited for backsplash applications.

Form over function rules in the case of bathroom backsplashes. Consider that a bathroom backsplash is largely aesthetic and you’ll see why picking beauty really matters. Practically, a bathroom backsplash is used to protect vulnerable drywall from water splashes. It is also useful in tying the countertop to the wall. But once you’ve achieved these goals, anything goes!

There are endless possibilities of designs for your backsplash. Just contact the studio and speak to Natalie or Ellen.

More photos of Rittenhouse piece

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:32:45 +0000

Just got a few more photos of the mural for 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street installation (see blogpost dated 27 April 2010). This mural is installed in a parking garage at the condominium complex in Philadelphia, PA

Click to enlarge:

ceramic tile mural

tile mural

New mural completed

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:51:40 +0000

Just completed a 15-tile Dahlia mural for a client of Ann Sacks Tile Co. The client liked the full Dahlia mural but only needed 15 tiles. So she selected the section of the larger mural that she wanted. Here’s the result. The tiles will be surrounded by smooth field tiles and grouted in place.

wall tiles

Natalie’s tiles embedded in the sidewalk of Brattleboro

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:12:18 +0000

Fulcrum Arts, which combines the studios of Natalie Blake and Randi Solin, joined with Hand of Man Artisan Builders, owned by Nick Marchese, to create the first-ever sidewalk art installation in downtown Brattleboro, VT. Located on Elliot St, the 7 x 10 ft plot was dug out by the town and refilled with fresh cement for us to press our sherds of hand carved tile and hand blown glass into.

We are taking mosaic-making to a new level! The challenge was how to embed our undulating sculptural wall tile and round, broken bits of glass into the fresh cement with a time limit, as the cement set up. Nick was a bit frantic working after us to clean and trowel the cement around our sherds. He worked for two complete days in the wet work and then later in the polishing work, bringing the glass back out of the cement and polishing it, with Randi’s help, to a high sheen.

The Brattleboro Town Arts Committee is given the credit of starting an arts meet downtown program that will put out a Request for Proposals for Public art projects such as this one to created permanent installations in the downtown district. Fulcrum Arts and Hand OF Man Builders were proud to be the first ones to be asked to create such an installation.

Installing tile and glass into a sidewalk in Brattleboro

Click the link below to see more photos of their progress:

http://web.me.com/vermontviews/vermontviews/Brattleboro_Arts.html

Fletcher Allen project-update

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:42:09 +0000

We wrote in a recent blog entry (6/14/10) that Natalie and Cynthia are working on a public art piece for the Radiation Oncology Department of the Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, VT. The tile piece will consist of 2, 7-tile murals depicting tree canapies. Natalie is busy carving her section of the mural in her studio in West Dummerston, VT. Cynthia is carving her piece here in the Brattleboro studio. Here’s a picture of one of Natalie’s tiles:

Stay tuned for more updates on this project.

ceramic wall tile