building materials : flooring

[miniarquitect]

hello,

this time I will share some of the flooring I use in my miniatures

I have grouped into three families:

common tiles, mortar paving tiles, stoneware, and concrete.

the first three photos on left are "panots" (mortar paving tiles), they have been using in the last hundred years for paving the sidewalks of Barcelona. there are four patterns (here you can see three, as well as a stone used as dropped kerb and a kerb) their size is 20x20 cms.

the next photo and the big one in the center are clay common tiles, their size is 30x15 cms, in clay colour or sometimes, straw colour.  You can combine the tiles in different ways. These tiles are also used in finish of parapets, in windows..

the next ones are examples of small stoneware tiles, the first one, the hexagonal in red colour is the most common in kitchens, small baths and toilets and service rooms

finally, a continous pavement of polish concrete.

 

the next family are the stones

I reproduce in different sizes tiles of marble, granite and other stones. I use them in stairs, steps, and inside of small structures where I design  mosaics in which I combine sizes, shapes and  different stones

 

 

[miniarquitect]

the last one is the most important in my houses:

hydraulic mosaic tiles and "nolla" mosaic.

the four photos on top, and the big one in the center are"nolla mosaic" . It is made of small pieces of coloured stoneware tiles that are combined in extraordinary and complex patterns.

the other photos are hydraulic mosaic tiles, they are made of mortar,  white cement, marble powder, sand and pigments. In some floors are necessary up to six different pieces to make the perimeter, the frieze, the corner's frieze ( sometimes two different patterns) and the center tiles that cover most of the floor.

 

 

 

[ElgaKoster]

Your floors are beautiful Francisco. Would you mind telling us more about how you make them, I have to make terracotta tiles for my Cape Dutch house and have been wondering about how to make them realistic.

[miniarquitect]

Your floors are beautiful Francisco. Would you mind telling us more about how you make them, I have to make terracotta tiles for my Cape Dutch house and have been wondering about how to make them realistic.

 

Hello Elga,

hydraulic and "nolla" mosaic are designs that I draw in my PC, then, I print the floor, I varnish, I frame the tile joints, cover the joint..

the rest of flooring : clay (or terracotta), concrete, granite.... are made with silicone moulds according to an original piece that I have made of wood or methacrylate (for those which can have polished finishings like granite or marble.)

then I fill these moulds with a kind of mortar made of plaster, plaster of Paris, powder of marble, coloured sands, sand, pigments and liquid acrylic resine.

for terracotta I use plaster, clay sand, beige sand and pigments (brown shadow and red, very crushed because they are not  soluble in water).

[ElgaKoster]

Thank you Francisco, guess I am going to have to experiment with this to find the correct mix. The sand, where do you get it, and I take it the pigments are powder pigments from art suppliers?

[Wm. R. Robertson]

These and your other posts are just great, your photos look so real it is hard tell they are miniature. Thank you for showing these and sharing how you do this.

[miniarquitect]

Thank you Francisco, guess I am going to have to experiment with this to find the correct mix. The sand, where do you get it, and I take it the pigments are powder pigments from art suppliers?

 

Hello Elga,

clay powder and pigments that I buy in stores of arts and craft

[miniarquitect]

These and your other posts are just great, your photos look so real it is hard tell they are miniature. Thank you for showing these and sharing how you do this.

 

thank you Bill for your comments!. I believe that miniature houses and structures are not only a mere container for other miniatures. They can have their own personality and soul, but for this, it is necessary that the house as a whole as well as each of its parts was as real and logical as possible.

and, As it happens in real life, the final feeling will depend on how the new owner will customize and furnish this miniature houses according to his taste!.

 

[ElgaKoster]

Clay powder? Never heard of it before...I keep on learning about new stuff on the forum!

[miniarquitect]

Clay powder? Never heard of it before...I keep on learning about new stuff on the forum!

 

It is not very rare. All clay soaps that are use for beauty  are made with powder clays from different areas!

[miraclechicken]

Amazing! Beautiful flooring, great work ---

[Warren Barnard]

As has been said, beautiful and inspiring, I have a herringbone foyer for a theater to tile and you have shown a better way for me to accomplish this so thanks again for you inspiration.

[miniarquitect]

Amazing! Beautiful flooring, great work ---

thank you for your visit

[miniarquitect]

As has been said, beautiful and inspiring, I have a herringbone foyer for a theater to tile and you have shown a better way for me to accomplish this so thanks again for you inspiration.

 

welcome to this forum and thank you for what you say. I'm looking forward to seeing this foyer!

[WeekendMiniaturist]

Francisco, your floors are very beautiful.  I am amazed that your printed designs look so realistic in the photos.  You must have sprayed them with some kind of sealant.  I would love to see what your mold looks like for casting the individual tiles of the floor.  I haven't crossed the threshold of making a mold yet for anything in miniature. The ingredient list is also interesting.   I think I would try to cast floors with flumo, of course with a plaster mold.  Flumo is  an air dry slip that is used in our scale miniature doll world for participants who don't own a kiln.  This product may lend itself to a floor application, and would still give you that tile feel.

 

Tamra/Indiana

[miniarquitect]

Francisco, your floors are very beautiful.  I am amazed that your printed designs look so realistic in the photos.  You must have sprayed them with some kind of sealant.  I would love to see what your mold looks like for casting the individual tiles of the floor.  I haven't crossed the threshold of making a mold yet for anything in miniature. The ingredient list is also interesting.   I think I would try to cast floors with flumo, of course with a plaster mold.  Flumo is  an air dry slip that is used in our scale miniature doll world for participants who don't own a kiln.  This product may lend itself to a floor application, and would still give you that tile feel.

 

Tamra/Indiana

 

Hello Tamra,

I print these floors in a professional plotter, so, paper and inks are supposed to be of high quality, but I protect them with a very thin layer of matt varnish, mainly because, although I use matt photographic paper, it is still too shiny for a floor.

Here you can see the original floor and my interpretation in miniature.

 

As I said, I use silicone for the moulds, here you can see an example of them, one for terracota tiles and the other for the "panots" for my sidewalks.

 

 

Silicona moulds are very soft, so you can bend them in order to take out the moulded piece, which is very fragile with a thickness between 1,5 and 2 mm. flumo is a kind of clay, so I don't know if a plaster mould is the most appropiate, bacuase the moulds which I make have only one part, so to take out the piece you should use something as a lever and you can damage the mould or the piece. Or, I think so!.

[WeekendMiniaturist]

Wow,  The printed floors do look nice.  I am amazed at the quality of the Spanish Miniature Magazine that is sold at the Chicago International Tom Bishop show, so if your floors are printed with this same quality printer as the Spanish Magazine, well... I'm sure your floors are exquisite.  (I actually purchased several of them, and I can't read them; that is how impressed I was with the pictures and quality of printing.)

 

In the photograph illustrating the real floor and computer image, is the real floor life size?  I would not even know where to begin to design a floor in Corel Software.

 

I think Flumo would definitely require a plaster mold; the plaster of course absorbs the water, so the flumo sets to the mold and you can eventually remove it.  (I think.)  I had never considered how to make a floor tile.  I had cut up formica for my floor tiles on my table saw.

 

Thank you for posting this information, as I have learned a lot!

 

Tamra/Indiana

[miniarquitect]

Hello again,

 

a new pavement for a shop window for modern lights. It is a mosaic made of stone tiles.