Last week our good friend Scott Bradbury at Muddy Buddies Pottery Studio let us take a visit to his space to learn more about the process of making custom tiles — an art we’re excited to demonstrate at our special event on March 16th!

Scott — owner and instructor at the studio — not only creates unique clay products himself, but also sells other sculptors’ masterful works in his shop.

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In our time at his studio, he walked us through some of his basic methods for beautiful hand-carved tile production. We loved getting a taste of the process, and hope you do too from seeing some of the steps below!

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First, Scott showed us his template model for the tile, sculpted into an acorn pattern. Hard to believe he carved it entirely by hand!

This first carving is then placed in a wood brace and covered with rubber. Once the rubber hardens and the original sculpted template is removed, we’re left with a malleable mold that we fill with plaster and leave to set.

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After the plaster has dried, we peel out the tile from the mold and a beautiful, handmade acorn-detailed tile is born.

The best part is that the rubber mold can be used over and over again, and modified if one only wants a segment of the design. Because these are plaster tiles, they also don’t require any firing or glaze.

Thanks to Scott and the Muddy Buddies team for taking the time to teach such a beautiful art!

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Interested in more pottery and clay work? Visit Muddy Buddies Pottery Studios‘ website for more information about their products and the classes they offer.

See the process in person and pick up a handmade tile for yourself at the March 16th event in our studio.

For more information on the event, follow our updates on Instagram.

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