House Tiles
Your house, in tile
Send us a photo of a home that matters to you — the house you grew up in, the cottage that’s been in the family for generations, a first home, a gift for someone who just moved in. We draw it, carve a plaster mold of it by hand, and press, glaze and fire a ceramic tile that is unmistakably that house.
$500 for the first tile, which includes the sketch and the hand-carved mold. $75 for each additional tile of the same house.
How it’s made
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1. Your photo
You send a photo of the house — straight on, in daylight, is ideal. We look at the roofline, the windows, the porch, the trees that frame it, and decide what will read well at tile scale. We’ll ask for more angles if a detail needs them.
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2. The sketch
From the photo she draws the house by hand, simplifying it into the clean, layered lines her tiles are known for. Every line here becomes a ridge or a recess in clay, so this is where the character of the tile is decided.
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3. Your approval
You see the sketch before anything is carved. Want the porch swing, the dog on the step, a full moon because it’s on Harvest Moon Drive? This is the moment. Nothing goes to the mold until you’re happy with it.
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4. Carving the mold
The approved sketch is carved, in reverse and in relief, into a block of plaster — by hand, with small tools, over many hours. This is the slow, exacting heart of the process, and it’s what makes the first tile of any house the one that carries the cost.
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5. Pressing, glazing, firing
Clay is pressed into the mold and released as a raised-line tile. After a first firing, each area is hand-glazed — sky, roof, brick, lawn — and the tile is fired again. Once the mold exists, more tiles of the same house can follow for family members and friends.
What it costs, and why
First tile — $500. This covers the whole journey: reviewing your photo, drawing the sketch and revising it with you, carving the plaster mold by hand, and pressing, glazing and firing your first tile. The mold is the labor-intensive part, and it’s made once.
Each additional tile of the same house — $75. Because the hard part is done, extra tiles are priced like the art tiles in the shop. Many families order one for each sibling, or one for the new owners and one for the old.
Please allow 6–8 weeks. Every tile is 5×8 inches, hand-glazed, and comes ready to hang or display on a stand.
The tile neighborhood
Some of the houses we’ve made so far. Tap any tile to see it larger.