What Is Encaustic Cement Tile

Cement encaustic tiles today are made from a combination of marble dust pigment and cement.

What is encaustic cement tile.

Encaustic tiles may be glazed or unglazed and the inlay may be as. They were made with a mix of cement sand pigment and mineral powders. When cement tiles were first introduced during the mid 1800s the victorians thought they looked just like encaustic tiles which have been around for centuries and mistakenly started referring to them as encaustic tiles also. Cement tiles are made by hand one at a time using mineral pigments cement a mold and a hydraulic press.

They have this name because of the intricate patterns and designs that mimic the encaustic enameling process. The individual patterns are made by manually applying separate pigments one by one in a handmade brass mold. Cement tiles are made of concrete and the color in the pattern comes from mineral pigments which are mixed and poured into a mold. Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay they are usually of two colours but a tile may be composed of as many as six.

Traditional encaustic cement tiles meaning not ones with a porcelain body were created by skilled artisans in the mid 1800s. Cement tile is handmade. After this mix would be poured into a metal mold that held a pattern design and was set. Cement or more accurately concrete tile is made from portland cement and is compressed rather than fired like encaustic tile.

Encaustic tile is traditionally made from clay but today most modern versions of the tile are made using cement and are often referred to simply as cement tile. Cement tiles are not fired. To this day england has the most prevalent encaustic tile installations because minton tile is an english company. Pigmented cement is hand poured into decorative molds until it sets then the tile is removed and compressed under 2 000 pounds of pressure.

There is no glaze layer on. Similar to natural stone each tile is made by hand and takes between three and five minutes to make. Like their predecessors encaustic clay tiles they derive their name from the term encaustic which is an art term used for metal enameling that uses a type of lost wax procedure. How to get the look of patterned cement and encaustic tile for less through the magic of the internet i tracked down the tile and found it at an amazing for cement tile anyway price of 10 95 a square foot.

What sets encaustics apart from other types of tile is that the pigment is pressed into the surface in a patterned mold instead of just being a thin.