Tile Inlay - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Marct · 08-24-2009, 04:39 PM

I have just started doing tile inlay by hand, I am an artist, as are all tile layers, but all these are my own artwork / designs.
I dont have any experience in waterjet, or the pricing of waterjet design, so my question is this...
A. is there a market out there for this kind of stuff?
B. does anyone know what it cost's to have something like this cut into stone or ceramic Tile?

Any help would be appreciated.

reveivl · 08-24-2009, 05:41 PM

Nice stuff, I suggest you take your query as well to Johnbridge.com there are others there who do similar stuff and may even be some people who could spread your name around.

Marct · 08-24-2009, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reveivl

Nice stuff, I suggest you take your query as well to Johnbridge.com there are others there who do similar stuff and may even be some people who could spread your name around.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice.

cleveman · 08-24-2009, 11:05 PM

Heck yes there is a market for this stuff.

I have no idea what it costs to produce. If you are producing it, you should have a better idea. I would market custom or insets ready to go.

I remember eating at a fish restaurant and they had a big mural of poseidon on the wall which was very nice. I wouldn't be surprised if people pay over $5,000 for a large wall mural.

angus242 · 08-24-2009, 11:52 PM

Yep. I agree. Having the option of an inlay is one more design option.
When I was at Coverings this year, I didn't notice anything like that (although there may have been a booth that I missed). The closest thing I saw was an Israeli company that would reproduce a photograph onto mosaic tile. I thought the cost was very reasonable too but there may have been a cost issue if they had to import.
I even bought myself a small wet band saw last year for the option of doing inlays with back splashes.
It's probably about marketing. Post your work on tile trade forums and perhaps get the word out to designers. Look into getting your website to be top hits on Google, etc.
As for what to charge, just figure out your time, overhead and what profit margin you want. Unless you're competing with others, you have the ability to charge kinda what you want (as long as people are buying).

Nice stuff! Good luck

Marct · 08-25-2009, 09:34 AM

Thank you all, I appreciate your kind response's.

Cdat · 08-25-2009, 09:48 AM

I make a very good living doing work just like this. Most of mine is in wood. There is a very good chance you'll make more then you expect persuing this career path. Just stay away from my neck of the woods and all will be good...

SelfContract · 08-25-2009, 10:05 AM

Commercial hi-end/luxury premises like restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, etc.. would certianly love these DECORATIVE tiles, murals, & artist rendering works like that.. Lots of money$$ for big imaginations too!!

Lesser competition & higher profits guaranteed than other fields of constructions.

Cdat · 08-25-2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SelfContract

Commercial hi-end/luxury premises like restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, etc.. would certianly love these DECORATIVE tiles, murals, & artist rendering works like that.. Lots of money$$ for big imaginations too!!

Lesser competition & higher profits guaranteed than other fields of constructions.

What he said. Then the rich individuals follow after the commercial ones.

WarnerConstInc. · 08-25-2009, 04:29 PM

How much for the carpenter, he's cool!!

Marct · 08-25-2009, 07:51 PM

I'd love to sell it to you, but that was the first one I sold...to a tile company in Colorado called Tile Meister.

Check out the original Logo...

Alwaysconfusd11 · 08-25-2009, 08:06 PM

How do you cut the tile?

WarnerConstInc. · 08-25-2009, 08:47 PM

Well whip me up one that looks like a dirty old carpenter!! Thats pretty freaking cool man!!

You cut those on a water jet?

angus242 · 08-25-2009, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marct

I have just started doing tile inlay by hand

and according to his website:

"Using Natural Stone Tile, I Create these one of a kind pieces by hand.
The natural veining of the stone insures that no two pieces are a like.

This is not waterjet....a CNC process using computers, these are cut by a human."

Marct · 08-25-2009, 11:38 PM

I draw all my patterns out on the tile, and then cut with a Ring Saw.

Works great.

WarnerConstInc. · 08-25-2009, 11:55 PM

Ok, maybe I am just a little drunk, and blazed but, what is a ring saw?

You drew that from the orginal picture? Damn man, really nice.

angus242 · 08-26-2009, 12:23 AM

+ YouTube Video

The blade is shaped like a ring. I suppose it's a fancy version of a band saw.

Cdat · 08-26-2009, 08:34 AM

If I could suggest, use cnc only for bread-on-the-table mass market stuff that you actually have on display somewhere. The individual works will bring a lot more money and people will spend it to get one-of-a-kind items.

Be prepared to travel. I did two items in the last year that were far away. 1 in Texas and 1 in Arkansas. That's the price you pay when you pick out this line of work.

Marct · 08-26-2009, 11:28 AM

Thats pretty much what it is, a saw that has a blade in the shape of a ring, usually contains a cutting edge on both sides (inside and out) which makes cuts forwards and backwards....Great concept, but they dont cut straight lines very well, so dont get rid of your wet saw.

Marct · 08-26-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cdat

If I could suggest, use cnc only for bread-on-the-table mass market stuff that you actually have on display somewhere. The individual works will bring a lot more money and people will spend it to get one-of-a-kind items.

Be prepared to travel. I did two items in the last year that were far away. 1 in Texas and 1 in Arkansas. That's the price you pay when you pick out this line of work.

So do you know how much something like this would cost to have done with waterjet? I dont so much want to compete with that sort of pricing, but I would like to know if it is something that I should look into, I was kind of under the understanding that CNC (Waterjet) was pretty expensive by the time they uploaded your art work and set out all the different tiles, but I have been know to have a false understanding of things before.

Thanks for all of your advice, I really appreciate it.