Looking to add a little more sunshine to your weekend?

This Saturday, January 21st, Mosaic Artist Delaine Hackney will be teaching a hands on instructional mosaic making workshop at our Fireclay Tile Boneyard. $80 gets you all the tools and tricks to designing a winning garden mosaic!

Visit Delaine's website to register for this weekends workshop.

Questions? Call Dearsy, our showroom diva at 408.275.1182 (or email dearsy @ fireclaytile.com)
between 9am and 5pm Tuesday through Friday

Can't make it this weekend? That's okay, check back in with us soon for the 2012 schedule of mosaic workshops!

Exciting Mosaic Classes In October at Fireclay TIle's San Jose Factory Showroom

In October Delaine Hackney is offering a great class on Pet Portraiture. Read about the success of these classes as told by the San Jose Mercury Times! All supplies and materials are included, and each participant will recieve 10% off any Fireclay Tile Boneyard purchase. To register just email Delaine at delaine@delainemosaic.com.

Classes are two consecutive Saturdays and the fees total $135, which includes all supplies and tiles.

To register email Delaine here!

To register email Delaine here!

Please note we will be closed Thursday, May 5 for Cinco de Mayo. Our team will be spending the day at our factory working as an entire company to help improve our operations.

We will be returning to work Friday, May 6.

Thank you for your understanding, and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Join us March 9 - 19 at our Annual Late-Winter San Jose Showroom Sale. Included in the sale will be:

- 20% OFF All NEW Fireclay Tile materials orders

- 20% OFF the entire Boneyard

Please note, the sale only applies to in store purchases made from March 9 - 19 and does not include any non-Fireclay Tile material, i.e. other vendor products.

We hope to see in our showroom! For hours and directions click here.

The Fireclay Tile Boneyard gets to see its fair share of local Bay Area artists. Many of these are mosaic artists interested in finding beautiful tile to use in their designs, but sometimes we get an artist of another medium scavenging the yard for the perfect material to complement one of their other works. Over the past few weeks, we've been fortunate to get the chance to meet a local metal sculpter, Hardy Jones.

 

Hardy found Fireclay as most do, through Google and searching for local tile. We were lucky to strike up some conversations with him, and discovered his passion for sculpting and using locally scavenged recycled materials, something you all know we at Fireclay LOVE! After checking out Hardy's website we were floored not only at his story - a successful orthopedic surgeon turned metal creator - but also his works, over 30 of which are displayed in public areas in and around Silicon Valley.

From his website: Hardy Jones sculptures are whimsical and alive. Welded from scrap metal, old tools, and found objects, each sculpture is as unique as its parts: a 1952 Buick steering linkage, old farm equipment, truck and railroad yard fittings. With their metal parts rearranged and welded together, creations come to life--reborn as dancers, animals, or warriors, inspired by the exciting discovery of some new found art treasure. (see sample)

Most sculptures are one-of-a-kind, although themes run through Jones's work: dancers, angels, shamans, fish, horses, and occasionally giraffes, dragons, cats and dogs. Sizes range from a one-foot baby alligator to monumental. Jones, retired from his career in orthopedic surgery, now joyfully devotes his energy to art and sculpture. His passion for found art spans 25 years, and sculptures number over 200 in private collections in California, throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico. His works are recognized in public locations--including city parks, restaurants, and a variety of businesses--throughout Santa Clara County

These are just a few of our favorites, but we highly encourage you to check out Hardy's site at http://www.hardyjones.com to learn more about him.

Hardy, good luck with the tile project, and keep up the great work!

- The Fireclay Tile Team

Note: All images courtesy of http://www.hardyjones.com

By Guest Blogger and Fireclay Tile customer Tricia Creason-Valencia

We are proud first-time homeowners of a charming 100-year old house. When we bought the property, it was an abandoned foreclosure that simply needed a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint on the inside. The exterior, on the other hand, needed a major makeover. We spent days clearing out debris and overgrowth in the yard, rebuilt the back fence, and began filling a three-ring binder with ideas for “Do-It-Yourself” home improvement projects and a detailed plan for our dream California native garden. 

As a visual artist, the project that most excited me was tiling the front steps. I’d heard about the Fireclay Tile “Boneyard” sale since I moved to San Jose five years ago, but this year my heart leaped when I saw the article in the San Jose Mercury News. I tapped the page excitedly and declared “We have to go to this tile sale, TODAY!” Luckily for me, my mother, a DIY home improvement expert, was visiting us and eager to come along as my consultant. The long Labor Day weekend stretched out ahead of us during which we could execute our plan. The goal was steps with beautiful Cuerda Seca tiles.

We took some quick measurements (not surprisingly, 100-year old steps are not uniform in shape or size) and headed out to the Boneyard sale equipped with our scribbled notes. Once we arrived at the sale, we called my husband, Hugh, to verify our measurements; the artistic endeavor of tiling involves a lot of math!

The sheer quantity of tiles in the Boneyard was both overwhelming and thrilling—the hunt was on! Over the next 4 hours, my mom and I laid out various patterns, taking care to balance my desire for beauty and my need for low-cost options. We worked and reworked our design ideas and came up with a pattern made from 60% recycled material tiles that was elegant, unique and economical. I figure I saved about 75% by buying the tiles at the Boneyard Sale.

Our installation process was a family affair. My mom and stepdad served as our mentors. Although they had lots of experience tiling tables, they warned us that they had not done vertical tiling before.

My six-year old daughter helped with the touch up painting of the stoop and sealed the grout as we finished. 

The combination of my parents’ coaching, my interest in learning the relatively simple but painstaking tiling process and the entire family’s commitment to doing-it-ourselves resulted in a super snazzy “curb appeal” upgrade to our home. 

AFTER

Link to my filmmaking website: http://www.flacafilms.com