Tile Project

In this project I had to create one tile with an aesthetic appeal. It not only had to look good on its own but also when assembled with several other tiles. This means the design had to be universal and could be moved in any direction and would create a unique visual when applied with several more tiles.

Firstly I had to sketch and model a design. I created several sample sketches to see which design I thought would work best on a bigger scale with several tiles. Then I came up with the design which is shown below. I wanted to create a polygon pattern which would infer some sort of visual illusion when you look at it as it plays with different depths. So I sketched up a CAD model on Fusion 360 as shown below to visualise what it would look like.

Once I had decided on this design as my final selection I needed to make a mould before I used the Vacuum former. So using scrap MDF wood I used a laser cutter as shown in the image below. So I laser cut a 100mm x 100mm x10mm MDF tile and then laser cut the Polygon pieces and glued them into there correct position.

Once I had my MDF tile I needed to create a mould with it using the vacuum form machine as shown below. To use this machine there are a few steps you need to take. Firstly you need to clamp your piece of plastic which and turn the machine on. After 15 minutes the heat produced from the machine should make the plastic malleable and ready to mould around an object. Next you need to slide the top open and place the MDF tile centrally in the open space. Next close you need to pull the large handle on the right side of the machine which moulds the plastic over the MDF tile and give it around 15-20 seconds before letting go of the handle. Once this is complete all you need to do is remove the MDF tile from the plastic and you have your mould. I repeated this process 4 times to create 4 tiles.

Next you have to create the mixture to fill the moulds with. Once you fill all the moulds you have to wait a couple of hours before the liquid solidifies into a solid and creates the shape of your tile as shown below.

Finally I created an acrylic stand cutting it out using the laser cutter. Next because the tile is quite detailed I could not spray paint each section so I had to paint it by hand. I chose to use light blue, dark blue and white as the colour combination. This was inspired by the colours of greek architecture in many villages. The final tiles are presented in the image below.