Custom Clay Tiles

A couple of weeks ago I shared a sneak peak of a clay tile that I was working on. The tile and it's two companion tiles were almost ready to ship to their new home. Well, they were shipped and have been received by their new owner, so I can share them with you all this week!

"Whimsical Perfection"
I received a sweet email from my customer that ordered the tiles and she was excited about the tiles! She described them as 'whimsical perfection'!

The three tiles that I created were made for a customer who loves my whimsical style! She wanted one tile to look like her house and other 2 to be whimsical, similar to some of the other tiles that I have created. She had some ideas for colors that she liked, but other than that, she left me to be creative with the rest.

The Process
I thought I would share pictures of the completed tiles and a few process photos. The process takes several weeks to complete, from start to finish.

~Once I decide on a photo and details, I begin by creating the tile out of clay.
~Then I cut pieces of clay to layer together to create a relief image of the
house, adding the landscaping around it. I have to make sure each layer is pressed together carefully to avoid separation caused by trapped air bubbles.
~After the image is complete, the tile must dry slowly. I cover it loosely with plastic. If it dries too quickly, it will warp.
~When it is bone dry, it goes into the kiln to be fired.
~After it is fired once, it is then painted with glaze and then fired a second time.
~Then it is complete!

I make these tiles with a hole in the back so that they can be hung on the wall or they can be displayed on an easel, as pictured in the first photo collage. To order a custom tile, contact me for more information. Contact Me

 Thanks for stopping by!

Heart Homes ... A Look Back Six Years

HeartHomes for February 

Original Set of My Hearthomes
2009

Six years ago, I started creating little clay houses, that I called Hearthomes. They have gone through some changes over those years, but they have always had the little hearts, both on the front and back, and on the bottom of each house.

Today, I thought I would share some pictures
of the houses through the years.

The first set was painted with acrylic paint.
This first set, was featured in the Arkansas Magazine, At Home in Arkansas. If I could find the link to it, I would post it!

After that first set, I decided to try glazing them.  
I never used acrylics again, after that first set. I like the effect that the glaze creates.

Here is a Montage of a few of my houses over the years.

2009 - 2015

Not only have they become a little more polished, but my photography skills have improved a tad.

Last year, a friend of mine, dropped and broke one of her little houses. She had a set of 3. She likes her houses because they are a little rough around the edges...original style houses. So she asked if I could make her another one similar to the broken one.  It took me awhile to get to it, but I finally made it last month and sent it to her and she was happy to have the set back together.  When I put the old one next to the newer one, I realized the big difference. There is still a more polished look to the newer one.

I think I may revisit some of my old style houses, with the newer polished look. We'll see what happens this year. My style is always evolving.  Whatever I come up with, I sell them from my Etsy shop and a few local Arts and Craft  Shows during the year.

Beth♥

HeartHome Love...

I've been working on a custom clay Hearthome and I was excited to take it out of the kiln today! This special Hearthome is a going to Newlyweds. It has been personalized with their last name over the door (I blurred out the name for privacy and because they haven't received it yet!)  and their names and date of their wedding on the bottom.  It also can be used as a bank! It has a slot on the roof and a plug in the bottom to remove their savings, hopefully when its full!  So this house will soon be on its way to a home full of love and hope for the future. I've included photos of the progression of the hand built house bank made of clay, so you can see why the process can take a while. Lots of waiting for drying, then firing, then glazing, more firing...sometimes more glazing and more firing.

What a special wedding gift. Thanks to my customer for the story behind it and the idea and ordering such a special gift for her loved ones!

If you would like to order a custom house, you can look at this listing on Etsy:  Custom House Large

Bottom of house
with the plug for the bank. 

Beth ♥

Custom Tile Commission

Merry Christmas Eve!  I'm excited about the possibilitiy of having snow on Christmas tomorrow! That rarely happens around here!

Just wanted to share a custom tile that I created for an out of state customer.

Beth S. Macre©2012
Custom Tile

I take a photo and turn it into a custom tile that looks like your (or a loved ones) house. 

I take wet clay and create a tile and cut out pieces that create the house image. 

It's like drawing in 3D.  

If you would like to order a custom tile, you can contact me about details and we can work something out.  

Check out my Etsy listing for custom tiles here: Hearthomes 

**The tile shown here is larger than the size in my Etsy shop listing.

Beth ♥

My New Kiln!

Now that I am working from home, I needed a kiln at home, so I can fire my mini clay houses. I know that I am going to like having a kiln here at home, so I can fire a load of houses any time I need to. My new little kiln, to match my little houses, came in 2 weeks ago.  I have used it twice. Once for a greenware firing and the 2nd time was for the glaze firing.  It was so fun to open it this morning to see how the glaze firing turned out..  It turned out perfect.  And the little size of my kiln is just the right size.  So I am ready to continue creating lots of little houses and tiles.  Its a good thing, because I had a custom order for 3 houses, a tree, and a fence, that I needed to finish and ship.  Here are some pictures of the kiln with the first load of glazed houses. As you can see, there is plenty of room for many more houses, and there is room for another shelf.   So I need to get busy filling up my Etsy shop!

Beth ♥

Looking forward to Thanksgiving Break!

Only 2 more days of work until Thanksgiving break! I am so ready! It has been one of those weeks!  I'm looking forward to spending time with family and having our traditional family Thanksgiving dinner.  After Thanksgiving my daughter will be here to help put up the Christmas tree.  She loves to decorate for Christmas and has already decorated her tree.  She sent this photo of an ornament that I made for her.  She is a big Razorback fan, so she would probably decorate her whole tree with Razorback decorations, if she had enough!  Guess I need to work on some different ideas for next year.

I have spent some time this week working on another pen and ink commission after finishing the last one. I won't be able to share the current pen and ink until after Christmas.  So I will just share some of the house ornaments that I have made recently, some of which are for sale in my Etsy shop.  Sooo...if you need a new handmade ornament for your Christmas tree, feel free to check out my Etsy shop.

Have a great weekend! 

Beth♥ 

Summer break is almost over!

New houses in my Etsy shop. 

Just thought I would share a couple of photos of some houses that I've finished lately. As you can see, I have added a few accessories to my items that I sell.  I will be working to get a lot more finished and ready to list in my Etsy shop and more to ship to a couple of actual shops as soon as possible. (More about that when I get them ready to go!)  The ones in these photos are listed in my HeartHomes Etsy shop.  

I go back to work next week. Where did the summer go?  I have orders for custom pen and ink drawings that I am working on too, so I have more than enough to keep me busy!  Guess I need to cut back on playing games on Facebook! Sorry neighbors...;-)...

Beth♥

Latest Hearthomes from the Kiln

Just thought I would share photos of the houses that came out of the kiln this morning. 

I need to get busy making more houses. My stock is getting low!

I will be listing all of these houses in my Etsy shop over the next few days.

Thanks for looking!
Beth♥

Hearts and Clay

So Valentines Day has come and almost gone. These holidays always sneak up on me.  But my little houses all have hearts on them, so I have sent many of them off to new homes over the last few weeks.  So I will be busy making more little houses to restock my Etsy shop! Which is a good thing! 

Me in front of my Artwork on display at Bennetts Nursery in Jonesboro.

My display includes my colored pencil artwork also.

Last week I attended the artist reception for the opening of the "Love of Art" Show in Jonesboro.  The weather had been terrible most of the week with snow and extremely cold weather, but Thursday turned out to be warm enough to melt away alot of the snow. So we traveled to Jonesboro for the opening.  I'm glad that we were able to go. I met some very nice people, including several artists who are displaying their art in the show also.  The show will be up until March 10th.  

Happy Valentines Day!

Beth

What makes You Smile?

I got an email today from the writer of this blog called Bunny's Carrots . She said that my little houses make her smile.  That is exactly what my intentions are with my little houses! So its always nice to hear from people who get that feeling from my houses.  So thank you to Amanda at Bunny's Carrots for featuring my houses on her blog today, along with the little houses from The Little Red Door Etsy Shop.

This month my HeartHomes Shop on Etsy has been busier than I expected. I thought after Christmas that things may slow down a bit, but I have been pleasantly surprised to be wrong!  I have sold several of my hearthomes and I have several pen and ink orders for this spring to start working on.  Plus I am getting ready for the show in Jonesboro.  I need to finish the latest batch of houses for the show.  

So, what kind of art makes you smile?  Do you like realistic art, whimsical art, abstract art?  Do you want art just to hang on the wall? Or do you like 3D art to display? I would love to hear your opinions!

What makes you smile?
Beth