How was this made?
The Chertsey tiles were made with earthenware clay– which has these distinctive red and white features. A stamp is pressed onto the soft clay about 1 cm deep and white slip clay is applied to fill in the hollow impressed design. The tile is left to dry and excess white clay is scraped off. A wooden bat is placed on the surface of the tile and then struck down with a mallet. The process served to consolidate the inlaid white clay and break down surface level clay so that the face of the tile was smoother.
The tile is trimmed to shape, and then a lead glaze would be applied to the surface of the tile to give an essence of yellow-goldish color. The tile is then fired in a kiln. What is fascinating about this object is that it's one of the premier lasting tiles from the medieval period. Due to the techniques in design, the tile resembled many of the features that it initially held.
The differences in coloring is caused by the amount of oxygen present in the firing process within the kiln. A shortage of oxygen creates darker greens and browns which comes as a contrast to the brighter reds and oranges. What is fascinating about this object is that it's one of the premier lasting tiles from the medieval period. Due to the techniques in design, the tile still resembles many of the features it initially held.