Newest Backsplash, installed

Natalie and her fiance, Nick, recently installed this custom backsplash for a client in Annapolis, MD.

Natalie writes:

Bev and I met five years ago at the American Craft Council show in Baltimore where she gave me a deposit and told me she didn’t think she would ever find the kind of backsplash she was looking for, but had a hunch I might be able to make it for her. I had just started making tiles at that point and the first pieces were small squares with flowers and leaves on them. She was a ways off at that point from having her kitchen remodeled, and a couple of years later finally started asking me for glaze colors and sketches as her renovations were coming to completion. The final renovations took a while to be punch listed, and so we had yet another year and a half to think about design, and for me to create some of the glaze colors that Bev was hoping for. She wanted a purple backsplash. I hoped I wouldn’t have to make a completely purple piece, and in the end we realized that some blue and cashew colors would most suit the beautiful granite countertop fleck tones in the counters she had found.

Players, custom backsplash tile by Natalie Blake STudios

Last February I finally visited the house, as she was truly ready, and we agreed on colors and concept. I was to work with a painting by Anatole Kraznyansky Russian artists that they had bought while on a cruise. While I said I wasn’t interested in reading directly off this imagery, I was willing to take that image in and bounce off it to create my own feedback loop of imagery in response to this painting. And so I went home to my studio, rolled out white paper, measured out my tile sizes, and then stared at the paper. I stared for a couple of days and found myself quickly filling in images that appeared on the paper as I sat and waited. This was a most enjoyable process and felt very easeful. It was as if these figures wanted to come out on the page and be seen. The energy lines coming off these mythical figures moves from the center outward creating butterfly wing vibrations on the left of the piece and a storm at sea on the right side of the piece.

Players, custom backsplash tile by Natalie Blake STudios

The mythical goddess/queen figure, who showed up to me as benevolent and compassionate with powerful ram horns which give her the power gift of reverence and might, can be seen as flying in horizontal position holding a point of energy with her left hand that can be seen as either holding the cacophony of wind and storm tumult at bay, or pulling the source of that storm of energy along with her. She is holding a tiny sailboat in her right hand. She holds it near the lute player whose large cloaked arm holds a feminine character in his sleeve. His face is the King’s face that can be found in the three faced musician facing right (the figure’s left). The other two musicians are playing a ukelele type instrument and a double-headed woodwind that blows the monarch butterfly wing sound waves.

On the left hand side of the kitchen, I created a single musician standing alone playing with energy lines coming out from the top of his head and cascading away to the left. He plays a double barreled lute like instrument that I am not even sure exists, but I found some interesting images on line with this kind of shape. Beautiful instruments!!! He has a black face and to me seems to be playing perhaps some sort of jazz. There are nine faces in the main backsplash, which happens to be my lucky number.

handmade, ceramic backsplash tile by Natalie Blake Studios

Installing backsplash tile

Natalie Blake Studios Tiles in New England Home Magazine

The studio’s Botanical tiles are pictured in the Elements section of New England Home’s October issue.

The section highlights “striking kitchen and bath materials from around New England.” As the write-up

explains, “Natalie Blake Studios uses the technique called sgraffito for its undulating tiles, carving free-hand to ensure the unique character and exquisite delicacy of each one. As functional as they are beautiful, they would make a sensational backsplash, though many of the studio’s clients hang them on the wall as art.”

We are proud to be a New England-made source for fine wall art and backsplash tile.

Natalie Blake Studios tile mural in New England Home magazine

Here are two versions of the tile mural, one in cream, one in honey:

handmade, ceramic wall art and backsplash tile, Natalie Blake Studios

Botanical Cream

handmade, ceramic wall art and backsplash tile

Botanical, glazed in honey

The mural certainly makes a beautiful backsplash:

Natalie Blake Studios handmade, ceramic backsplash tile

Botanical, handmade, ceramic backsplash tile

New Kitchen Backsplash Concept

handmade, custom, ceramic backsplash tile by Natalie Blake Studios

Flowerscape: kitchen backsplash tiles

Flowerscape Backsplash Tile

We used these tiles in a proposal for artwork for the bulkhead of first-class cabins in a major airline’s airplanes. But we love them so much we just had to show them as a backsplash! These tiles are glazed in cashew, jade and honey.

Kitchen Backsplash

Custom, handmade, ceramic backsplash

Tree of Life design

Tree of Life Backsplash

Cool backsplash brightens a kitchen

Just a few tiles serve as a beautiful kitchen backsplash and add just the right amount of color to this lovely kitchen.

backsplash tiles by Natalie Blake Studios

Here’s a closer look:

handmade, sgraffito-carved, backsplash tiles by Natalie Blake Studios

Tiles for backsplashes

These tiles were commissioned for grouting into a mantel above a fireplace, but they would also work as a kitchen or bathroom backsplash. They are glazed in persimmon.

handmade, sgraffito-carved, ceramic backsplash tiles

Ann Sacks, San Francisco

Just completed this 15-tile Dahlia mural for a client of Ann Sacks Tile Co. Three of our designs (Dahlia, Botanical and Nautilus are available exclusively through the Ann Sacks Tile Co).

The client liked the full Dahlia mural but only needed 15 tiles. So she selected the section of the larger mural that she wanted. Here’s the result. The tiles will be surrounded by smooth field tiles and grouted in place.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Kitchen Backsplash

Unalun tile is ideally suited for backsplash applications. Unalun tiles give your backsplash real “pop”.

In researching backsplash ideas on the web, we came across this advice from Tim, at Askthebuilder.com:

“It’s no surprise to me that you keep gravitating to ceramic tile for your backsplash. A tile backsplash will last for years, and will add beauty to your kitchen. I have installed ceramic tile at backsplash locations between the countertops and the underside of kitchen wall cabinets for years, and each homeowner was dazzled by the final appearance. Ceramic tile makes sense when you are mulling over backsplash ideas because it is durable, easy to clean, colorful and can add texture to an otherwise dull, flat boring wall space. In recent years, there seems to have been an explosion of new tile colors, patterns, styles and textures, many of which are perfect for areas directly behind a kitchen sink and cooktop areas.”

Stay tuned for upcoming images of unalun tiles in backsplash applications.

Natalie Blake tiles for backsplashes

The magazine, Kitchen Solutions, recently showcased our Dahlia tile design, carried exclusively by Ann Sacks Tile Company. According to the editor:

“Lush and sculptural, Ann Sacks’ new Blake Studios tile collection combines old-world craftsmanship with striking contemporary beauty. Handmade using the ancient Italian technique sgraffito, where surfaces are etched to create shapes in the contrasting layers beneath, each tile is a masterpiece in its own right. The tiles are offered in an 18-color palette.”

Click on the images to enlarge them: