Majolica tile

Portugal is one of the premier nations of the European continent and it also boats of a very strong and rich history. In the ancient era Portugal had been subjected to roman subjugations and later they emerged as a separate nation post the Christian Reconquista. Therefore it is evident that the nation has been subjected to domination and interaction with various different civilizations across the passage of time which has greatly benefited the Portuguese in their cultural field. The various cultural influences have enabled them to enrich their own culture and one of the prominent influences comes in the form of the Portuguese tiles or azulejos. These tiles are widely visible all over the country of Portugal and they display attractive designs displaying historical incidents or simple geometric patterns.

The making of the faience or majolica tiles are extremely complex but it is true that the results are beautiful and attractive. The majolica tiles are a variant of the azulejos or the Portuguese tiles. For their production, at first a metallic design is placed upon a clay slab. This is followed by the chiseling out of the edges properly and with great care with a knife or a sharp object. It is to be noted that the knife must be tilted in an inward direction while cutting. The majolica tile is thus created and it is covered by a tin glaze which provides a white surface color to the background. This has a lot of advantage as it enables other different glazes to be painted on the majolica tiles as well. The design which is to be engraved on the majolica tile is first traced on a piece of paper and the lines are fixed with the aid of a pin. This is followed by transferring the motif on the tile by distributing charcoal powder on the paper placing it on the tile. Once the designs are engraved, exotic colored glazes color the tile before it is subjected to firing.