We would like to decorate a large wall in our cafeteria with ceramic tile decorated by our students. Our middle school has a Kiln that we can fire them in, we will then make a donation to the Middle School art teacher for that. We hope to do it as a family night for the remaining PTO meetings for the year (We have 1200+ students in K-4). However, we have bought tile at only $.25 each (closeout!) but now we are stuck. We were going to go with a place that supplied it all but the board opted to go with doing it ourselves to save $$ and make the tiles more affordable. Anyone done this? Any advice would be helpful. Our plans are to separate the student body by last names. So one night last names of u-z etc. would come. Thank you. :confused:

are the tiles unglazed?

Also, with regard to the install of the project, do you have a Lowe's Store near you? If so, go to the store, ask for the store manager and ask him to help round up some skilled volunteers from the store to help get everything up on the wall. While you're there, perhaps asking for a donation of needed materials would be in order.

On assembly day, call the local TV station and ask them to come film a nice family public interest item of the assembly to add to the newscast. Make sure the Lowe's volunteers get filmed in case you need add'l help from Lowe's in the future.

Otherwise, LMK how far along you are with the project and I'll try to add what I can

PTO Slave.... We just started this same project last year!! It is sooo fun & a big money maker. We plan to continue to hold 2 tile paint nights a year so we can alway keep adding more to our tile walls. Our tiles are in the hallways!!

Anyways... We also were going to go w/ a ceramic/ painting store who would supply the tiles, paint, firing etc... But there price were so high ($10 a tile) So we went on our own also... heres what we did

We charged $15 a tile or $12 for each additional tile per family (no one complained about that price)

We had 300 white 6 by 6 already glazed & fired tiles donated. (after you paint on them you must re fire)

Then we found a tile painting shop who sold the paint wholesale to us (not the same shop that had gave us the original quote they charged to much for the paint alone) The paint was about $12 for a large bottle, and a little paint goes a long way!
HINT buy the paint from a independent paint shop the chain stores like Color Me Mine charge way to much. We never could find the paint at Michaels or other craft stores check with ceramic paint shops. Only buy 6 basic colors. Keep it simple. HINT the paint looks light in the bottle but fires dark so pre paint & fire a tile so they can see how the colors will "turn out"

I went to the dollar stores and bought tons 400++ brushes in different sizes, stincels, tape, sponges etc...

On the back of your flyer trace the tile and tell them to practice there,so they have some idea what they want to paint when they arrive.

Do not put out water cups the paint get runny & kids & adults make huge messes.Have a voluntter or 2 walk around and collect & clean/dry brushes.

That night we had a desk at the front door to take payment & give them a paid ticket. Then we kept all the tiles in the lunch room & people would come to the lunch window with their paid ticket to pick up a tile, then they went to one table for paint (we had volunteer teachers pouring the paint) do not let people pour their own paint. Then painters could go to a different table to get brushes, stincels etc...

Although about 300 people came through the 1st tile paint night the lines were never long because we had several "stations" tables for them to stop at ie- 1 to get the tile, 1 for paint, 1 to pay etc..

Over all it was pretty easy & tons of fun everyone loved this event/idea & the tiles look great up.
Basic hints- shop around for the paint,
get volunteers, buy tons of brushes.

Our cost was about $1.78 per tile!! So we made a nice profit!! We had to take our tiles to be fired at a cost of 78 cents each. And we hung the tiles all on our own... The things you learn for the PTA I am now a skilled tile setter Haha!!! Email me with any more questions
Good luck!!

[ 09-26-2003, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: chic*mom ]

Renegade, yes the tiles are unglazed. The tile store owner told us that the paint would adhere better if they were a matte not a glossy type finish. We do have a Lowe's and a Home Depot about 30 min or so away so I'm not sure how much they would be willing to help out, but I will certainly see if one would be interested. It also gave me an idea on a developer in the area that has several crews working that might help out as well.

We so far have only purchased the tiles. I've been told they need to be cleaned prior to us painting on them. Any idea's on what we should use to clean them that won't make us need respirators? So far of course there is no chair, but I'm hoping if I can get an outline of set up etc. one of our new members will want to take it and go with it. They all seem more afraid of the organizing than the actual doing. I could use any and all suggestions.

Thank you.

[ 09-26-2003, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: PTOslave ]