Tile,
Clay & Glaze Specifications
Sansei tiles are available in two types of clay bodies:
We
recommend our Low Fire
Ceramic Tiles
for
wall use only. Because of their
high relief designs, and fragile nature of low fire clay, tiles are to be placed
in non-traffic areas. Do
not use on floors, countertops, outdoors or in freezing temperatures. The
base of Sansei tiles are ¼” thick, therefore are compatible with machine manufactured
tiles. Sansei tiles are environmentally friendly, lead free and non-toxic.
All tiles are hand crafted and hand glazed, therefore sizing and coloration may vary slightly.
See our Low Fire
Glaze Pallet for glaze colors. Low fire glazes are compatible and can be custom mixed.
They
come in an array of vibrant colors. All full color tiles come in low fire tiles
only.
Tiles are made to order, please allow 6-8 weeks delivery.
Benefits
of Low Fire Clay:
Stable: shrinks evenly, doesn't warp
Glaze colors are compatible: multi colors on one tile
Glaze colors stay put (do not run)
Can manufacture tiles 1/4" thick so compatible w/machine made (store
bought) tiles
Drawbacks:
Fragile! wall use only in non-traffic areas
Porous
(can not be placed in wet areas): showers, pools, etc.
*Now available!
Medium Fire Ceramic Tiles
Tiles
Sansei tiles is pleased to announce that we now manufacture our line in
durable (but unstable, see notes in red) Medium Fire ceramic clay bodies. Medium
Fire tiles are for multi-purpose use, indoors and outdoors. Still recommended
for wall use only. They can be used on countertops but are never
recommended nor guaranteed because of the high relief designs. Tile
thickness varies (3/8"-1/2" relevent to the tiles dimensions so please
ask. Sansei
tiles are environmentally friendly, lead free and non-toxic. All
tiles are hand crafted and hand glazed, therefore sizing and coloration will vary. See our
Medium
Fire Glaze Pallet for glaze colors. Full
color tiles are not available in Medium fire tiles. One
color choice per tile only. We can not use multiple colors on Medium Fire tile. Medium fire glaze colors are not
always compatible, they
may
run together or chemically change into another color. Custom mixing is
unfeasible. Medium fire glazes are unstable, therefore results will vary.
Glazes do not "stay put" and tiles will
have a "pooled" effect onto lower relief areas or even run over the
edges.
Although our clay manufacturer states the versatility of Medium fire clay
bodies, Sansei Tiles does
not guaranteed nor recommend Medium Fire tiles for floor,
countertop, outdoor
and
*freezing temperature
(stoneware porosity 1.5%) use because of our high relief designs and the
unstability of Medium Fire clays (may warp slightly during firing thus will
crack if weight is applied to it, ie. stepped upon). Because our designs our not symmetrical, Medium fire clay tiles are
unpredictable and may shrink and warp unevenly during the drying and firing
process.
Tiles
are made to order, please allow 6-8 weeks delivery.
Benefits
of Medium Fire Clay:
Durable: Outdoor use, countertops
Non-porous (can be used in wet areas): showers, pools, etc.
Drawbacks:
UnStable:
may shrink un-evenly, may warp, may hairline crack
Glaze
colors are NOT compatible: single colors only on each tile, no multi-colored
tiles
Glaze colors do not stay put: will run and pool in low areas, may run over edges
and drip
Must manufacture tiles thicker (3/8"-1/2") to stabilize clay and
minimize warping so not compatible w/machine made (store bought) tiles, should
use handmade field tiles for continuity of design.
*email for pricing
Care
and cleaning information
Handle
with care! Sansei tiles are made with the finest US clay. Grog and
sand have been added for durability and strength but due to the nature of low
fire clay, they are still delicate. Each tile has been handcrafted one at
a time with attention to every detail. Please handle each tile as a work
of art. Dust dry with a feather duster or clean with a mild dish soap,
sponge and cotton tipped swab. Do not scour or use abrasive pads.
***************************************************************************
*Outdoor
Weather Resistant Definitions
link: http://digitalfire.com/education/clay/outdoor.htm
If climatic conditions demand it, outdoor ceramic installations must be able to survive the stresses of freeze-thaw. Porous ceramics absorb water and freezing temperatures that cause this absorbed water to expand tend to break down the matrix, eventually crumbling it.
Some technicians assume that if absorption is below a certain amount that a fired clay is durable for outdoor use. However, any fired clay with more than zero percent absorption demonstrates water penetration and is theoretically susceptible to freeze-thaw damage. For practical purposes however, the brick industry considers any clay under 5% porosity resistant to freeze/thaw failure.
More porous ceramic actually has both absorbency and porosity. A fired piece will naturally absorb a certain amount of water to fill the pores (open porosity). However more porous clay matrixes also have capillary-like networks which normal soaking does not fill (closed porosity). This auxiliary network allows fired ceramics to survive freeze-thaw because the expansion of the water has somewhere to go.
It is possible to perform a simple test based on the principle that a sample of fired ceramic boiled in water will absorb more moisture than one that is simply soaked. This is because for the former, the entire network is filled, for the latter only the pores. This test compares the cold soaking absorption or open porosity (C) of a clay with its boiled absorption or closed porosity (B). The structural ceramic industry requires a C/B result of less than 0.78 in order to pass CSA and ASTM specs for outdoor use.
The C/B test procedure is defined in detail in FORESIGHT's Test Information database. The procedure uses 10 mm thick by 25 mm wide by 120mm long fired test bars and defines a 24 hour soak and weigh, then a 5 hour boil and weigh.