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Monday, January 3, 2011

CREATING THE TILES FOR THE DELI FLOOR!

Coming up with a the color for the tiles that mimicked the sample (last photo featured in the post directly below) took a little experimenting.  I first mixed about ½ tsp. of green liquid food coloring with 2 cups of warm water, then submerged a few tiles for about 10 minutes.  As the tiles are made of real wood, they each take on dye differently and did come out in various shades of green, but too bright for my liking.  To tone it down, I stirred in 3 tbsp. of instant coffee crystals and put it in the microwave for about a minute to ensure the water was hot enough for the grains to dissolve.  That mix turned out almost too brown, so I added another ½ tsp. of green food coloring and stirred.  This seemed to be the right recipe to create the shading and patina I was looking for.

NOTE:  THE PHOTO BELOW SHOWS THEM IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER!  THE TILES NEED TO BE FLIPPED OVER TO REVEAL THEIR BEST COLORING AND DESIGN!


I stained about 30 tiles at a time, fully submerging each, then removing them and rinsing them thoroughly under warm water.  To dry, the tiles were placed in a single layer on cookie sheets lined with paper towel to soak up the excess.  I repeated this process several times using the same dye bath before changing it out for a fresh solution.  The dry tiles do have a grainy sawdust on them but dry tiles tend to take the dye better than wet tiles.  Because of this,  I didn’t want to rinse them beforehand, though I did wipe off as much of the dust as I could before submerging.  Whatever didn’t come off originally did come off in the coloring, thus making it a little mucky to work with after a while.   This is why you should change the dye bath after every 100 tiles or so, to ensure you have an even coating of coloring with a similar tone. 

NOTE:  I WAS NOT DESPERATELY NEAT WITH THE TRIM PAINT!  THERE WERE TOO MANY CRACKS AND CREVICES I WANTED TO SMOOTH OUT WITH A COAT OF PAINT!  AND REALLY...DOES IT MATTER IF YOU PLAN TO WALLPAPER OVER IT?  I THINK NOT!


To prepare the dollhouse for tiling, I sanded, then painted the interior with a flat latex primer, then sanded some more.  After prepping, the trim was painted in a shade called ‘Green Pasture’ using a satin finish by Valspar Paint.  The medium green tone actually was my second choice as I had originally planned to paint the trim a soft creamy white.  But because the wood trim already in place in the dollhouse was not of high quality, the lighter color showed all the flaws that could not be sanded out.  On the other hand, the darker shade of green helped to camouflage all the issues a little better.  I do like the green though, so I think it all worked out nicely, in the end!  Before tiling, I also painted the floor of the deli with two coats of craft paint in a dark shade of spruce green.  I chose the darker green knowing that the color between the tiles would show through and I thought it might look a little more like grout.  Not sure at this point how I plan to finish the floors yet, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and go with the dark green. 


NOTE:  SOME OF THE TILES HERE ARE STILL STICKY WITH A LITTLE GLUE AND CURLING UP BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT DRY YET!  CLICK THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE AND GET A BETTER FEEL FOR THE TILES!




To give myself an idea of the design, I began to lay down a test run for the tiles using a parquet-style pattern on the diagonal and alternating tones from dark to light.  To keep it looking more realistic, I didn't always stick to this pattern and would knock it off a little by throwing in the odd-ball bright green or deep olive to give it a casual feel.  Once I got an idea for the overall style, I started gluing down the tiles one by one using Elmer's wood glue and a small paint brush.  To keep the ends from curling up, I could only glue about 10 tiles in place at a time, then had to lay a large ceramic tile over the top, and one of my 5 lb. hand weights on the tile to keep everything underneath pressed flat.

As I get a little further along, I will post more pictures and show you my progress.  So far, I am really liking the look and am already thinking ahead.  I have decided it would be awesome to try this same technique using different pigments and tones in the future.  I could really see doing something with the more jeweled tones without the coffee coloring added, or perhaps creating a white-washed feel that would take on the appearance of real marble!  Or simply dying them with coffee to bring out the wood tones!  One of the best features of this method I think is that the wood grain is allowed to show through and adds to the natural effect.    

OK, so I’ve been converted!  I honestly do believe the possibilities with these tiles are endless, and am now very excited about a product that at one time disappointed me. 

Don’t you love it when a negative turns into a positive?