Fine Art on Ceramics Taken to Another Level by Gildn'Tile

The concept of printing or decorating tiles has been around since tiles have been produced so what Gildn'Tile is doing is not totally new but is just taking what already existed to a whole new level. About a year ago we found a resin based material that could be printed on our professional home based printer that produced quality images that could then be transfered to just about any non porous substrate with results that are nothing short of amazing. Imagine anything from fine art to high quality photos and something as simple as just text being viewed on items like ceramic, wood or marble tiles. In fact it goes beyond that, it can be applied to just about anything. For folks like Justin and I (my photography and Justin's art skills) this opened possibilities we could in the past only dream about. It started out simple with taking a basic piece of line art and applying it to a 4.25" x 4.25" white ceramic tile. It took several weeks of trial and error to master the application and once that was out of the way the fun began. Next came the thought to try a photo and while that was a bit more tricky it worked out fine also. At that point, never being able to just be satisfied, Justin decided to take it all a step further and came up with what is an age old technique of using an art form known as gilding. Gilding is a process of using a metal like gold or silver in the form of foil, better known as leaf ( like the aluminum foil we all use in the kitchen) to decorate objects like pottery and even picture frames. The reflective property of these metals make for a most impressive presentation that can't be duplicated by simple paints though there is a method that involves a powdered version of these same metals that when added to a base works nicely. Justin decided that this gilding process could be combined with what we were already doing to come up with a piece of art unlike anything else being done. By using a verigated (multi-colored) foil instead of the traditional gold, silver and copper foil he was able, with his keen eye and steady hand, to take gilding to another level. Here are some scans that will show you the progression from the basic gray scale vectored art featuring John Lennon and Jim Morrison to the vectored color Presidential seal and so on, ending with the fine art gilded animals that to me are so stunning they're hard to describe and I might add fairly hard to scan or photograph properly to get the full effect. These are scans, which show you a good look at how they appear when viewed straight on but only show one view. When viewed from all other perspectives and adding in the factor of available light they take on a completely different look. Enough rambling, go take a look and let us know if you like what we're doing. One of my favorite things about the project is that we can do custom work, so really there are no limits to what can be accomplished. We both thank you for taking time to check out our work and if you're interested shoot us an e-mail at Gildntile35@hotmail.com. or check out our new temporary website (the main one is still under construction) at http://www.wix.com/jkistner35/gildn-tile and purchase one for yourself or a friend. All pieces are one of a kind and cannot be duplicated exactly. Peace!!