Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/323

Rh of delicate objects, such, as grasses, leaves, lace, etc., the article to be represented was placed on the surface of the unburned tile and forced into the clay by means of a press. Such intaglios, plainly showing every small detail of marking, were utilized as molds for forming the raised designs on tiles, which were called "natural tiles."

In the high-relief tiles the undercutting is done by hand after the designs have been stamped in the press. Among Mr. Osborne's designs are ideal heads, mythological subjects, portraits of prominent men, Japanese sketches, and an almost endless variety of animal, bird, and floral studies. His plastic sketches, on a larger scale, are particularly meritorious, some of the most pleasing being a group of sheep in a pasture, a drove of swine, entitled "Late for Dinner," a herd of cows wending their way homeward, and "The Old Windmill." A beautiful conceit is the "Flying Moments," in which three Cupids hover around an hour-glass, one being depicted in the act of winging his way upward (see Fig. 35). These works also make stove tiles, calendar tiles, clothes-hooks, paper-weights, inkstands, and pitchers in plain colors, enameled, and glazed. They at one time also manufactured tile stoves. Lately the Lows have been making a specialty of the manufacture of art-tile soda fountains, in which work Mr. Osborne has found a broader field for the exercise of his talents.

The United States Encaustic Tile Works, of Indianapolis, Ind., is the outgrowth of the United States Encaustic Tile Company, which was organized shortly after the Centennial. Five years ago the present proprietors took charge of the works, and are now making encaustic geometrical and relief mantel tiles. So rapidly has the business grown in the past few years that the plant now