A few years back I was asked to help with the production of two new fireplace surrounds for a home renovation. A box of assorted Victorian tiles landed on my doorstep and I was to clean and mend scorched tiles that were prised off an old fireplace. It was quite the assortment.
After we had a final count of tiles, it was realized that many more fireplace-grade tiles of the same size and 'depth' or width would have to be found.
I realized that this wouldn't look right unless the new tiles were English, from the same era (Aesthetic Movement) and had similar transfer-decorated motifs, style and colours. The tiles were largely floral in various colours - some very emphatic! They tended to be geometric rather than realistic. So, English fireplace grade transfer non-embossed Aesthetic Movement Victorian tiles.
It was EBay to the rescue! After many false starts, I found dealers in England who had boxes of mixed tiles in storage and often had two of the same type.
The computer was useful in making tiny virtual tiles that I could move around on digital versions of the fireplace drawings. Above is one of the fireplaces with an assortment of 'provided' and 'aquired' tiles.
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