| We went to Doylestown to
visit Font Hill house which was the home of Henry Mercer who was a tile
maker. He inherited money so did not have to work, and also could afford to
experiment. Unfortunately we could not visit the house but we did go on a
tour of the tile works. Both buildings are built of concrete. |  |
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He developed ways of making tiles and glazes which became very popular, and
many of the public buildings in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the US have
examples of his work. |
| This is a mould which was
pressed into the clay. The indentations were guides for separating the
pieces before firing then the pieces were reassembled like a mosaic and
grouted later. |  |
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One of the kilns. Tiles were generally made in small batches and so only
needed small kilns. |
| The first tiles were made
in a small building adjacent to the house but in the early 1900's he had a
dedicated factory built on adjacent land. |  |
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An even smaller kiln was used for firing test pieces. |
| Ancient machinery
although I've no idea what it was used for. |  |
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This was used for mixing the clay to get an even consistency. |
| The resident docent
demonstrates various tilemaking techniques. Most are the original processes
used by Mercer. |  |
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One of the more modern kilns. Once filled it was closed by this sliding
brick door. |
| No idea what this is but
this picture is larger than life size. |  |
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The outside of the tile works. |
| One of the ornate
chimneys with its tile trim. There were several but many were not so ornate. |  |
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