Made with a Bailey Interview featuring Emily Margaret Ulm

Made with a Bailey Interview featuring Emily Margaret Ulm

How did you get started with ceramic tile? Can you give any advice to ceramic artists that would like to create handmade tile of their own?

I come from a creative family and have enjoyed making things for as long as I can remember. I started sculpting when I was still a kid. My dad made beeswax candles and I used to go with him to craft shows and use his trimmings to sculpt little objects which I would sell alongside his candles. It was always a thrill when someone would walk up and pay money for something I made. Wax roses were my best seller.

You could say my dad was a big influence on me because he and my uncle Bill introduced me to the tiling process when they tiled our kitchen floor together. The technique and materials seemed so simple but the results were really transformative, even using inexpensive commodity tiles. Years later in college I met tile maker Donna Webb and got to work alongside her on a couple of large-scale public art tile installations. At that point I started to really fall in love with tile. I consider myself extremely fortunate that I have been able to combine my love of sculpting with my love of tile.

My one piece of advice to anyone who wants to create handmade tile is USE GROG! It is so much easier to make your tiles lie flat if you use a high grog clay.

Which Bailey products do you use and how do they help you get the results you need?

My Bailey slab roller has been a real work horse since I bought it in 2005. Before that I was using a rolling pin. When I got my first commission that was too large to roll by hand, I used that customer’s down payment to buy my slab roller, which I then used to complete their order.

Like many artists, I started my business on a shoestring budget so it felt like a huge purchase at the time but it has paid for itself many times over. The ability to make consistent slabs quickly is fundamental to my business model.

I also have a Bailey ware rack that I purchased around the same time when I ran out of places to put tiles.

What are some of your favorite things about working in clay?

It is thrilling to take a gray lump and turn it into something that I find beautiful. That never gets old. Conjuring something new into existence from one of the most basic raw materials available always feels a little magical, like spinning straw into gold. I’ve noticed that working in clay also seems to keep people humble. No matter how long you work in clay, at times you won’t get the results you want or expect. Not a lot of big egos in clay. They may be out there, but I don’t know any. All the clay people I know are incredibly kind and generous, and very quick to share information. I always joke that the only real trade secret is how much work it is to make a living in clay!

Where do you find inspiration for your tile imagery, color palette, and overall style?

My main inspiration comes from the natural world; mostly plants and animals. I like to sculpt my original designs in plasticine clay so I can take as long as I want to finish them and plasticine doesn’t dry out or shrink. I use press molds to reproduce my tiles. Mostly I use a single glaze on each tile because it is relatively fast and the results are fairly consistent, which is important because most of what I do is made to order. I like to keep my prices reasonable and my output high. Lately I have been experimenting with using multiple glazes on individual tiles but that is mostly for my own enjoyment.

What are you currently working on in the studio?

For the last couple of years, I have been so busy with production that I haven’t had much time to work on new designs. This year I am trying to “carve out” more time to work on new designs (pun definitely intended) and I am getting a little bit experimental with designs that may or may not be marketable. I just made a mold of a tile that depicts a weed growing through the cracks in a sidewalk. That image has always resonated with me. I am not sure how well the concept will come through in the finished tile, but it made me happy to try it. The resilience of plants always gives me hope in this crazy world.