Pratt & Larson Mosaics

If you came to our booth at Coverings in Las Vegas this year then you know we've been hard at work on our mosaic patterns. We cleaned up the shapes, tightened up the grout lines and sorted through the patterns; imagining them in all sorts of fresh color combinations. There's a new brochure with images of these patterns for inspiration and it also has black and white line drawings to use in designing your own color combinations. Download the brochure here. 

Choose high contrast colors for bold patterns, and bright colors for a touch of whimsy.

Go with low contrast and pale color combinations for a quiet subtle look. 

With our hundreds of glaze colors to choose from there is no end to the variations.

Change the colors,

or change the scale. There's so many options.

Use the line drawings to design your own color combinations. 

Just tell us where you want the colors placed and we'll send you a sample.

And there's so many colors to choose from....

Introducing Filigree

The Filigree Series uses an intricate, delicate design to create an overall repeating pattern. As its name suggests it calls to mind delicate lacy metal work with it's precise clean lines.

There are 4 patterns available in a 6x6 format. 

Glazes pool in the lower areas of the design and break on the high points, allowing the patterns to show beautifully in any of our glazes.

Filigree A in C52 & C611

 Filigree B in W1 & W92

 

Filigree C in C600 & W36

Filigree D in C609  & W61

The Filigree patterns repeat to create an intricate surface embellishment for a luxurious look. Visit a dealer near you to see these beautiful tiles in person or stop by our Portland showroom. We look forward to seeing you!

Introducing Scraffito

 Inspired by an ancient technique where the surface layer is scratched to reveal a contrasting color, the Scraffito collection was created by Michael Pratt in celebration of our 30th anniversary. Using an etching process to explore the Scraffito technique, Michael created patterns with wide ranging influences from medieval Europe to Arabic geometry. The designs all have a wonderful hand drawn quality to them which is rarely seen in ceramics, and they are continuous to create large fields of beautiful pattern. A brochure is available on our website to download.

There are 4 patterns available in the new line; each comes in an 8x8 and a 5x10 format:

 The Scraffito series can be ordered in any of our glazes. They all work beautifully - the opaque glazes create a more subtle pattern and the translucent Watercolor glazes pool in the recesses which brings out the design.

Scraffito pattern C in C607

 You can also use our new hand painting technique - Polywash to add an accent color and really bring out the patterns:

Scraffito pattern B in PW1 with Golden accent

There are 8 accent colors carefully formulated for Polywash. Each accent color has a name. The palette below shows the accent colors under W1 Watercolor glaze.

 The accent color is applied and then rubbed away leaving the accent color only in the recesses. The over glaze color is sprayed over the top, adding a layer of transparent color. You can use the 8 accent colors under any of the Watercolor glazes, just keep in mind the darker glazes will obscure the accent colors and the more contrast between your accent color and your over glaze color the bolder the pattern will appear. Hereare some new concept boards showing different ways of using this versatile new line. We can't wait to see how you use it in your next projects!

Update: Concept Studio sent us these pictures of the  beautiful Scraffito installation in their Costa Mesa showroom.  We just had to share them!

Motif Part 2- Looking at the larger picture

Last month I introduced our newest line - Motif and talked about the basics of the line. This entry talks about how our the Motif tiles are designed to repeat and create a larger overall pattern. Sometimes this pattern can be hard to see when you are just looking at a single tile. This is especially the case when you use the Color Fill technique. Here's a few examples to help you keep the big picture in mind!

 In the Motif pattern F below the gold accent creates a bold focal point in the pattern. In a single tile its not so obvious - the gold is off at the edges and the pale blue is the central element. Once repeated the pale blue recedes to the background and it's the gold elements that form a bold pattern.

Here is the same pattern in a much softer palette. 

Motif pattern E is a bit more obvious from a single piece but the little blue triangle becomes a diamond accent when the pattern is repeated. 

The arabesque shape in Motif pattern B can form bands of colors that might not be obvious in a single piece.

Here's Motif B again with two colors which creates more of a checkered pattern.

The next few images show Motif pattern H ColorFilled in different ways. This can have a big impact on how the pattern reads. The first example has a light background which recedes, letting the flower pattern standout.

The next example uses two colors with very little contrast. Using the lighter color for the center petals reduces the floral feeling of the pattern a bit, making it a little more abstract.

Here's an example with a really bold background color which creates a lattice pattern behind the flowers.

This last example colors the petals differently to create more of a clover like pattern. In the corners they chose the dark color only for the small petals which makes a small flower pattern offset to the larger one when the pattern is multiplied. 

When you order custom Motif ColorFill we'll send you a computer generated picture showing a square foot of the pattern so you can visualize how the overall pattern will read. We'll also send you a sample tile so you can see how the colors read on the specific pattern you've chosen. Since all of our tile is made and painted by hand every piece is going to be a little different.  There are so many options that even we are sometimes surprised by the big picture! Keep an eye on our Facebook page too where I've been posting lots of pictures of the beautiful Motif tile samples everyone has been ordering!