Olde Good Things carries a variety of beautiful and unique antique tiles, but sometimes they can be challenging to work with. Salvaged tile often has imperfections, like chips, cracks, and scrapes. Most challenging of all are gorgeous antique murals that are missing tiles in key areas of the design.

Some might call these incomplete murals a complete loss, but our customer Debbie Lee of San Jose, California, sees them as opportunities. Debbie applies her artistic skills to reconstitute the missing tiles and frames the murals in magnificent cut glass mosaics. She recently sent us some photos to demonstrate her process, from start to finish.

For this project, Debbie started with a charming figural tile set made by Ceramica Catteneo that she purchased from the Olde Good Things web store. The mural featured two warriors and a lion, framed by a colorful decorative border. Two crucial tiles were missing: the center of the first warrior’s body, and the face of the lion.

Undeterred, Debbie purchased two plain black tiles from us in the same size that she could use as blanks. She sanded down and painted the blanks, carefully matching the sandy color to the background of the tile mural. She then sketched out the missing components of the mural, first drafting cartoons on paper and finally painting the designs onto the blank tiles. Debbie also designed and constructed an impressive frame for the mural using cut glass in shades of blue and green, complementing the warm oranges and yellows in the mural.

 

The finished product looks seamless and entirely original. Our hats are off to Debbie for her skillful reconstruction of the missing tiles! We’re so grateful to see this mural whole again.

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