Evening star., 1914-10-10
JOINTS IN TILE FLOORS
NOW DEEMED DESIRABLE
Play an Important Part in Design
and Give Artistic Texture
to Work.
From the Dayton Journal.

From the Dayton Journal.
Tile floors have a practical value;
they also have great decorative value,
and 1t is with the latter that we are at
present concerned. Owing to the De-
culiar limitations of the material and
the methods of manufacture, tiles are
necessarily small units. To cover a
large surface with these units obvious
y requires joints. Therefore. the
joints. as we'll as the titles, should be
given Importance in the design. From
a designers point Of view, the limita-
tions OF material are it's greatest as
Sec,1ia net. eacn material material requiring its own
NOT many years ago all the tiles that
were available for floors were OF the
machlne- made variety, so perfect in
workmanship that they could be laid in
cond,tyana a00d Wo.n joints OF a hairs breadth.
we nave come to realize the value of
tne Joints. 1t is seldom necessary to
iay foor Of plain tiles with Joints
iS. less tnan one-quarter of an inch in
the natural color of cement, or are col
ored. they will always count in the de-
sign. and the slight unevenness Of the
tes thet themselves will give texture
as the floors of mechanical perfection
building Affects DESIGN.
The character of the hut1dt,1 -.
location of furniture and rugs af,ect
the design Of the floor If the floor ia
an important room of a monumental
building and is free from large pieces
OF furniture, 1t may well be treated 80
as TO be In accord with the architec-
turaf treatment of the walls hut -
mere is TO be much furniture and manv
rugs on the floor it is better treated -
~ Wn9le. rms Is point that is often
and restaurants. Twins
Church floors afford as great an on
portunfty for tile work as the win
COWS 40 for stained glass. Much could
sufficient here to make ), the foiiow;ns
observations: The nave aisle should he
simple, the choir somewhat more elab-
orate. and the sanctuary very rich in
pattern. symbols and color In short.
the elaboration increases an the altar
is approached
1t is not necessary to use large tiles
IN large room to get scale, as the
tiles can be arranged so that the unit
Is composed of several small tiles. and
reduced at will
It is not essential that all the tiles
laid In floor come from one factory.
Herein has the tile setter great ad-
vantage, especially in colored tiles, In
the matter of shapes and designs, clay
is so easily nodded that there is almo st
no limit to the variety that the small
est factory can produce. 1t is in the
matter Of glazes and quality that man.
ufacturers differ.
There are many patterns that have
been common property ever since the
beginning of tile making. and are to
be found. with slight variations. in
many tile manufacturers lists. New
designs can be readily produced and
old ones revived; the process is simply
model in clay or wax, from which
a plaster mold is made, then the clay
pressed in by hand. removed from the
mold, dried and baked; simple proc
charm. The difficulties are in compo-
sition of the clay and glazes: these, of
course. it is assumed, have been over
come by the manufacturer.
The ideal method of designing a floor
is to arrange general scheme and
then lay out the details on the job
changing and rearranging as occasion
arises. This, of course, requires an
artist as a workman-and there Are
such-or constant supervision. This
is not always possible. but when it is
done, the result is spontaneous. and
free from the mechanical look that
might come from hard and fast plan
laid on the drawing board.
BY the use of color in pattern, and
pattern in individual tiles. there is
almost no limit to the richness and
elaboration possible for tile floors. but
on the other hand. it is also possible to
make an interesting floor of plain tiles
in one color by taking advantage Of
the joints.
The diagrams will serve as reminders
that the joints are of equal Importance
with the tiles.