One of our newest Fireclay Tile Dealers, Q-Tile and Lighting in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida openened it's doors two and a half months ago with ten differnent lines of tile.

Suzy Accola, Owner and Designer, took a few moments to chat with us about her reasons behind choosing to pick up Fireclay Tile.

Owner/Designer, Suzy Accola in the Q-TIle and Lighting Showroom.

FCT: What prompted you to open Q-Tile and Lighting in Santa Rosa Beach?

SA: I moved here four months ago from Wisconsin, and saw a need for quality artisan tile in the area.

FCT: Why do you carry Fireclay?

SA: I love the shapes, colors, and the fact that it's handmade vibrant tile, my clients love the colors available and the fun shapes too. Building Green is a passion of mine, and after becoming a licensed Green Consultant it became even more important for me to choose vendors who not only make an envirnonmentall friendly product, but have sustainable business practices as well.

FCT: What are some of your Fireclay Favorites?

SA: Right now, it's the Paseo shape in turquoise and the larger tiles in the Crush line.

FCT: What is your favorite, or most memorable install?

SA: We LOVE color at Q!  One install was pretty exciting as it was a dining room floor and kitchen floor.  The cabinets were robins egg blue.  We went with 4 colors of 9 inch arabesco floor tile: robins egg  blue, vanilla, light yellow and sage green.  The kitchen transitioned into vanilla and robins egg blue 10 inch square tiles to form a pattern.  There was a BIG moment when we all were scared if the color/pattern combo could be overwhelming.
Luckily for all of us, it turned out to be a beautiful, eclectic and cheerful kitchen/dining room!  In fact, it won a space in the tile company's latest catalogue!  We can't wait to be in Fireclay's!

Having said that, we take our selections seriously, but like to take risks.  So far, they have really paid off!  We absolutely love the color pallet and array of design options we have with Fireclay.

If you are in the Santa Rosa Beach,FL - stop in and say, "Hi" to our firends at Q-Tile!

If you would like to become a Fireclay Tile Dealer, please visit our become a dealer page.

Fireclay Tile has stunning reddish orange selections to add real pop to your next project.

                             Vitrail Series in Tangerine                                                    Debris Series in Coral

        Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile in Habanero

Fireclay Tile has been making handpainted decorative Cuerda Seca tiles for over 15 years. Beyond our natural, lead-free glazes, we paint our cuerda secas onto our recycled Debris Series clay body, creating what we believe is the highest quality, most sustainable decorative tile available anywhere in the world. Cuerda Seca tiles compliment installations and projects of almost all sizes, whether it is a poolside fountain in a luxury hotel or stair risers on your condos front steps, cuerda seca bring elegance and sophistication to your designs. And with over 60% locally sourced recycled materials, it not only looks beautiful but is crafted with our natural environment in mind.

Cuerda Seca is a Spanish term for wax resist handpainted tiles. The technique came from Persia to Spain, and the intent is to ensure the glaze paint does not run from one part of the design to another during kiln firing. Today we use a proprietary formula for the wax resist to ensure both efficiency as well as high quality. Historically, a combination of animal fat, grease and mineral pigments such as iron or manganese were used as the medium for controlling the glaze pooling. Glazes are then inlaid with bulb syringes into areas between the lines, and for our Cuerda Secas we use all of our own glazes creaed for our Debris Series tiles. Thus, there are over 112 glaze colors to choose from!

In this blog post we take you through a brief glimpse into what Cuerda Seca designs we offer and how to choose the design right for you, how we make our Cuerda Secas, and we conclude with installation pictures that highlight the beauty and diversity one may find by incorporating Cuerda Secas.

Choosing the Right Design

Design Colorways

We have created 3 Design Colorways - Mediterranean, Tuscan, and Peacock - on our most popular designs to make the ordering process easier for many. These colorways are based on colors we feel go great together, and the designs create gorgeous patterns and are appropriate for numerous settings. These colorways are not stocked, but they can potentially be created in less time than our standard 4 week lead time.

The square tiles shown above are available in 4x4 ($24) or 6x6 ($28) and the rectangular tiles are available in 3x3 ($20).

Customize Your Own

We offer over 150 cuerda seca designs which are available to view in our online cuerda seca catalog. We maintain them all as graphic line drawings to allow you the ability to pick and choose colors as you want them. For example, here are 8 popular designs seen in line drawing format:

Each segment within the line drawing can be handpicked by the color of your choice from our 112 Debris Series Glaze Colors. Here is an example of our beautiful San Sebastian design in our standard Mediterranean colorway overlaid on the original graphic with the color key below it. Notice the letters in the graphic on right, which correspond to the colors in the color key below and in the picture on the left side:

When ordering your cuerda seca design, having a color key like the above ensures your unique design will come out exactly like you want it. And if you think designing your own colorway might be too much, perhaps make some tweaks to our Design Colorways to create something unique but guided.

Also, one key thing to note is 32 out of 112 of the Debris Series Glaze Colors have a white engobe base. These "engobed" glaze colors can not be incorporated onto the same Cuerda Seca as non-engobe because of this engobe base layer. Thus, when designing, pay attention to whether the glaze color is engobed or not. We generally recommend sticking to the non-engobed colors to keep it simple.

Floreza Series

Our Floreza series was designed with ultimate beauty and flexibility in mind - paying homage to gorgeous flowers, stems, and flower pots. Like our "Design Colorway", we have developed 3 standard colorways, with 18 beautiful pieces to each colorway. The design combinations are truly nearly limitless!

One aspect of the Floreza series that makes it unique is it’s ability to create vertical accents from horizontal boarders.The 6x6 “Pot” tiles allow the floral design to litterally grow to heights of 6”, 12”, 18”, 24” and beyond. Making this tile perfect for unique back splashes, fireplace surrounds, wall and floor designs. Our "Infinity Piece" allows you to take the pattern and continue it literally as high or as long as you can imagine!

Cuerda Seca Murals

We have some stunning murals handpainted and available for order, as well. Murals are based on either a Peacock or Floral setting, and colorways can be customized or based on some existing sets which we have.

How we make our handmade Cuerda Seca decorative tiles

We make each and every individual handpainted Cuerda Seca tile in our Aromas, CA factory. Our highly trained and experienced painters make each unique tile using either our Debris or Vitrail Series clay bodies as the base, and then apply the appropriate glazes.

As an order comes to our factory, bisqued tile (i.e. pieces of clay that have been fired once to create a hard, durable body) is screen-pressed with the chosen Cuerda Seca patterns. If the patterns are existing Fireclay Tile cuerda seca patterns we have screens ready to go, and if a custom design is chosen a new screen template is made.

After screen pressing the pattern to the clay body, the appropriate glaze colors are selected and then applied to the clay body. We use the exact same in-house Fieclay designed glaze colors on our Cuerda Seca tiles, ensuring we stay true to our commitment to using all natural, lead free glazes. This also ensures that our Cuerda Seca tiles will perfectly match any accompanying field tile you might order.

Upon completing painting, the tiles are kiln fired overnight. They are then packed, and ready for shipment.

Applications for Cuerda Seca decorative tiles

We look forward to working with you to help transform your project into something unique and stunning using Fireclay handmade Cuerda Seca designs. If you want samples or a quote, please let us by emailing us!

By Amie Johnson

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve helped customers in the showroom that want to use our Debris Series Recycled Tile and Vitrail Series Handmade Tile colors together. It happens so often because when you come into our San JoseFactory Showroom and you make it back to the hallway of colors, its quite overwhelming. Most people get so excited at their choices of 224 different colors and what they don’t realize, unless they’ve already been told, is that the left side of the hallway is Vitrail and the other side is Debris. So they pick out all of their colors and ask for design help. Oops...now they are dead set on using these colors.

So first off, our Debris and Vitrail clay bodies are different sizes which can put a kink in your design. The reason for the different sizes is simply because the Debris Series tiles contain recycled post consumer glass and when they are fired the glass expands, thus causing the clay body to expand. So the Debris Series tiles tend to be a tad larger. So my suggestions are always to use either the Vitrail or the Debris for the field and to use the other for the decorative element in your design in a different size. Then, take your color selections home and look at them in the lighting they will be going in because as you can see, the colors give a different feel in different lighting.

Debris Series - Merlot, Debris Series - Peabody, Debris Seires - Lichen and Vitrail Series - Tarragon

When you’ve narrowed down the colors, pick out a few decorative pieces to finish off your design. As you can see in the picture the boldness of Debris colors compliment the high crackle beauty of the Vitrail colors.

So now you’ve incorporated both clay bodies, have a beautiful “green” design as your backsplash and you still got to use the colors you LOVED! So be creative with our tiles and if you need help with that, then you can turn to us color specialists here at Fireclay Tile and we’ll help you design a timeless backsplash using all of your ideas.

New Glaze Color Pages for Debris Series Recycled Tile and Vitrail Series Handmade Tile

Recently the Ceramicists at Fireclay have been talking a lot about glaze color variation and how it impacts our fired ceramic tiles. Our recent blog post on The True Beauty of Color Variation in Fireclay Tile was meant to educate customers about the beauty of color varation and describe the mechanics of how it happens, and today we take the next step to actually showing you color variation and how it impacts each of our colors.

For our main two types of ceramic tile, the Debris Series Recycled Tile and Vitrail Series Handmade Tile today we launch BRAND NEW glaze color pages that show individual images of each of our colors, reflecting the potential rang of variation for each.

We invite you to click the respective color below to be taken to a world of color and wonder! Enjoy!

Debris Series Sea Blue	Vitrail Series Kiwi

Wnat to experience Fireclay Tile first hand? Check out a free sample pack!

Trivets, Coasters, Pizza Stones, and Butter Trays!

We are all accustomed to using ceramic tile for its intended purpose - kitchen, bathrooms, floors, wall coverings, etc. But there are so many other wonderful uses for ceramic tile and especially Fireclay Tile! Here we present three quick ideas for turning your ceramic tile into something fun and extremely useful:

Trivets, Hot Pads and/or Coasters

Ceramic tile has some fantastic properties - it is durable and will last forever, is an extremely clean and hygenic surface that won't get moldy, and is unique and beautiful, especially when featuring Fireclay's beautiful colored glazes. For a coaster it will easily protect your most precious hard surfaces (such as wood), and if using it as a hot pad our ceramic tiles are high fired and can withstand heat you might give it.

You can easily DIY these product with a few rubber feet at the corners, and paired with a beautiful tile you have a unique creation that will complement your kitchen. Lately we've been making a lot of decorative coasters/hot pads using our Cuerda Seca decorative tiles, and they have been a hit with customers and friends. 

If you happen to be near our San Jose Factory Showroom stop by and make yourself a set!

Pizza Stones

If you like making pizza you will LOVE a Fireclay pizza stone. There are a lot of options when it comes to pizza stones, but as Planet Green points out a DIY approach using a ceramic tile like Fireclay's 12x12 unglazed Debris Series makes the perfect option. It's a high-fired ceramic product that is light-weight, easy to clean and store, and makes delicious pizzas.

Why a pizza stone - amazing crust, consistent heat throughout the entire pizza, and most important your friends will be very impressed!

We currently sell these pizza stones through our ebay store, so pick yours up today!

Butter Trays

One of our favorite customers, Jesse Cool, the owner of the extremely popular Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, CA, recently turned us on to a creative use for our Debris Series Field Tiles. She recently visited our Factory Showroom and purchased about 50 Moss colored 2x2s. We thought maybe it was a replacement for something, but she later informed us that she was using the tiles for butter trays in her restaurant!

We love these creative ideas, and encourage others to think of fun ways of using tile for alternative purposes. Ceramic tiles cleanliness, natural ingredients, and our lead-free glazes all make for a perfect product upon which to have fun and get creative!

If you have other ideas, please comment and let us know! And if you want to purchase tile for any of these purposes, look no further and let one of our fantastic Fireclay Tile dealers or our team know how we can be helpful!

Ever wonder what makes the variation in our tile colors so beautiful and unique? Curious why tiles that have been fired in the same batch sometimes vary in texture, color, etc? Why is it that every individual tile is unique to a certain degree?  This can be a common question in the tile world and one we at Fireclay are quite familiar with. BUT it is also one of the reasons we love what we do and the uniqueness of the products which we make. Color variation is what makes Fireclay so special and wonderful! The key things to know are:

  - It happens! Because of this we grade each of our Debris and Vitrail Series colors V1 to V4 to indicate potential range of color

  - Color variation and range in ceramic glazes is beautiful and one of the many reasons people choose Fireclay Tile

  - Educate yourself or your customers about color variation so you know what to expect and can fully appreciate the beauty

  - Order ~10% extra in case your job requires more than you originally anticipated

  - Matching color or a control sample is a very challenging task and is not a guarantee. Hence, we have a $350 color set-up fee for custom work or non-standard colors.

At Fireclay Tile we custom manufacture each and every order we receive. Rather than stocking product and limiting our selection, which means your tile may look mass produced, we have developed a proprietary process to ensure a quick (~4 week) turnaround that allows an infinite range of possibilities and uniqueness for your tile. It’s a great process and one that produces absolutely stunning ceramic tile, but being that it is a handmade tile we want to make sure you, our customer, are aware of color variation – why it happens and what it means.

Why Color Variation Happens…

Color variation occurs in high-fired ceramic tiles where the glaze reacts slightly different at high temperatures and the amount of O₂ circulating in the air. Certain colors react more than others, producing more color variation within an individual batch.  Unlike paint which is mixed and then dries a final color, glazes only show their true colors when combined with a heat catalyst that brings forth beautiful, deep, rich colors. People are drawn to glazes because of this richness and depth – it’s something you will never get from glass, plastic, or paint products. But because of inconsistencies in heat and because our tiles are handmade, many of our colors experience subtle color variation that one must understand so as not to be surprised when they see it. We and others believe it is this variation which truly brings forth the beauty of Fireclay Tile – it’s not mass made, rather it’s made for you by Fireclay Tile!

Some glaze colors are more effected by differences in heat. An example is a color with a peach tone or green/yellow, which will be more effected by the temperature. White, on the other hand, does not vary much because there is almost no color, and black which has a very strong stain does not vary much either. To help you better choose your colors we have ranked each color V1 to V4 to express how much variation to expect for each Debris Color and Vitrail Color. The ratings are:

Here are some examples (note: computer monitors do not always show exact color match):

Debris Series Example Colors & Color Variation Grade
Tusk (V1)	Brown Bear Satin (V2)	Bryce Canyon (V3)	Bamboo Matte (V4)
Vitrail Series Example Colors & Color Variation Grade
Ebony (V1)	Cranberry (V2)	Prussian Blue (V3)	Basil (V4)

What This Means for You…

We guarantee you an absolutely stunning product that is beautiful, vibrant, and unique. Understanding variation ensures that you are not surprised when you see slightly different shades on certain colors, and do not view those shades as imperfections but rather benefits of purchasing a handmade tile. We've included a few shots highlighting some subtle variation which we love!

What We Recommend...

  - Always refer to our Color Variation Grades and compare those grades with the Debris Series and Vitrail Series colors you are interested in.

  - If you are looking at a V3 or V4 color, feel free to ask us for a sample to purchase or visit a retailer near you.

  - Purchase your tile first and then follow with paint colors, countertops, or cabinetry. The tile will be the focal point, and it sets the tone for the rest of the space. Plus, it will certainly out-last any other product because of its durability and strength.

  - When placing your order, we suggest ordering an additional 10% more than you need just in case something should happen or you mis-measured. We can try our best to re-make part of your order, but it may come out looking slightly different.

  - Don't expect an absolutely perfect match to your sample. We will always give our best effort and our quality control department will try its best to always catch true imperfections. It is a handmade product, though, which means exact matching will almost never occur. We will come close, but when ordering colors you must realize that matching is not a guarantee.

  - Order from our current set of Standard Colors. Old or discontinued colors should not be considered unless you pay a $350 color set-up fee.

We hope this provides a better explanation of color variation in ceramic tile! Any questions please never hesitate to email us.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Kathy Norton and Mitchell Keith

NEW Fireclay TIle Manufacturing Video

Our February Newsletter is rich with content and an exciting FREE new sampling program. For the interactive version please click here

Last week we were fortunate to have Daniel Cronin visit our Factory Showroom and Offices and take some incredible still photography of our products. You can view the entire set of product shots on our Flickr site

We loved all of his shots, and some of our favorites were as follows:

Basic 4x4 Field Tile (Debris Series)

Relief Debris Series Decorative (12x12)


Raised Vitrail Series Decorative (2 4x4s)


Cuerda Seca Tile (6x6)

Set of Field Tile

any many many more here...

About Daniel Cronin: Daniel lives in Portland, OR, but does work throughout the West Coast. His website has great representations of his work, and we think very highly of him.