What is your primary medium?
Kat Dellamater: Well, mainly the ceramic tile that I make. But also, we can't display it without Harry's steel frames, both the table frames and the wall frames.
How did you get started working with all of this?
Harry Dellamater: I'd been in the construction business for years and we were building an outdoor kitchen on our house and Kat decided she wanted to do some mosaic work on the countertops and researched different styles of tile. I found a place in Arizona called Santa Theresa Tile Works and they made similar flowers and animals and so forth and Kat thought maybe she'd like to try that. So we decided to send her down there and she went down for how long was it?
K: It was a week-long, intensive course and there were probably 10 or so of us there. One person was from Alaska, so I didn't get the farthest away award but it was a great time. I learned how to physically make tiles using this method and then I came home. We had a kiln that we bought used from a friend and Harry gave me a room here in his shop. I got started and haven't looked back since.
What's the process for creating the tiles?
K: They are high fire ceramic. I do it in a little different order than most people do with ceramics, I don't bisque my tiles first at a lower temperature. So the method I learned is; I roll out a slab of clay and I start cutting out the designs. When they're dry, I glaze them and they go in the kiln for the first fire. If they need black line details or any other colors they go in again at a lower temperature fire. Most things have been fired twice, some things have been fired many more times. That's the beauty of this method. I can keep firing them until I get them just the way I like them.
So you're able to build on top of layers as you go?
K: Exactly, I can layer colors on. I can't really change once I've started on a certain theme but I can make things pretty detailed, which can sometimes be a problem. I get a little too in depth into things but it comes out good. I like the way they turn out
What's it like being able to work together as a couple?
H: It's been really good. We met each other right here on this property 30 plus years ago. I was a home builder for many years and this kind of evolved into something that we could do together after I retired. That was when Kat started making the tile, and as you can see, this is no longer my shop, this is now Rocky Canyon Tile's shop. I've been shoved out the back door kind of but it's just great. I mean, we have a wonderful relationship and we are really enjoying sharing this. She's the artist, I'm the Muse if you will.
K: He's a fabulous support system. And by the way, we're making out the back door better.
H: Yeah. Improving my end outside back there. I get a little tent. *Laughs*
What does it take to fabricate the frames?
H: It's steel and you have to be able to cut it and measure, cut it, weld it, grind it up and put it together into something that looks nice. We have our frames powder coated so they're impervious to weather. They can sit outside and they won't rust. I've got a ring roller and equipment out here to where I can make a circle. And it's just a matter of cutting out the steel and putting it together. There's a guy in town that we have do the powder coating for us. The wall frames you'll notice are kind of coppery or different color. We make those colors ourselves, we stain the steel and it comes out with all kinds of different colors. Then I'll put an epoxy clear coat and automotive clear coat over the top. So again, it can be out in the weather all year round and the sun can shine on it. It's a good finish..
How long have you been doing tile work here?
K: We've been Rocky Canyon Tileworks for a little over 10 years now.
Where do you get the inspiration for your designs?
K: Well, obviously I like bright colors. But you know, it's our surroundings. I've always loved flowers. We are overrun with quail and lazuli buntings and goldfinch. I mean, we have all kinds of different animals and birds up here. We just love where we live, and how we live and I think it comes out in our artwork.
What gives you the drive to come out and work in the shop?
H: Well, I'm retired, I built homes for years and the shop is a great place to work. We don't have a big pension plan or anything like that. So this is a nice little supplement for my retirement and soon her retirement. And so, you know, we're making a living and working together and being on this site together and sharing it. That's all the motivation I need.
K: And I need something to do.
H:Yes.
K: So as Harry reminds me, it's better to use my powers for good rather than evil. The family appreciates it. So yeah, I love this. It's therapy for me. I love repetition so glazing 30 Bees at a time doesn't bother me. In fact, I love it. So I can't wait. Harry knows I come down here first thing in the morning. He has to remind me It's lunchtime. You know, this is a dream come true.
H: Sometimes when the kiln is done and she's going to open the kiln, It's like Christmas morning. She doesn't know what's gonna come out sometimes. So we come out in the morning and it's exciting.
How often does a batch fail when you're making tiles?
K: Well, just like anything, when you start out you get a lot more failures than you do successes. It was difficult at first because the way I saw the tiles in my head wasn't the way they were coming out. But, what do they say? 10,000 hours or 10 years maybe is what it takes. I don't have as many failures anymore and now that I have so many different designs and directions I can go in, a lot of them become “Yeah, I wanted them to look like that.” And so I go forward with them, I use them. But after you've put in this much time, I know how my glazes are going to react now. And thankfully it's usually just shades different from what I was going for and I've learned that I can adjust it in the next fire if needed.
I've heard glazing is one of the harder things to learn, what was your experience?
K: Well, the glazes are so much better now than they were when I was in high school. Of course a lot of times schools are trying to save money and use cheaper glazes, I use really expensive glazes and they just go on like paint for me. That's the way I think of it. I did face painting for a few years in some of the local Idaho City and Stanley craft festivals and things. So I knew how to paint. Brush technique is really important. But the glazes nowadays, they're fabulous.
How do you get your work to clients?
H: We can ship them. Some of them, hopefully, are local and we don't have to ship them or take them too far. But I build these frames so they can come apart. And then I build a big wooden crate these things will go in and we've shipped them all over the country. We've had inquiries to all parts of the world. Shipping is difficult when you're trying to leave the country but other than that, yeah, we've shipped some pretty big things all the way back east.
K: We have a really good shipping connection here in town. So they work with us and we can put things on pallets. We've only had one that we had a little problem with and we insure them to the hilt so yeah, so far so good.
How does the tile stay in place?
K: So we've kind of come up with our own way of doing it. Again, experience is a great teacher, but Harry uses an acrylic tile adhesive. We have a method now of flipping the tiles out of the frame. I build the design by dry laying the tiles into Harry's frame right onto the concrete backer board. When the tiles are all in and the design has been approved by the customer, we then cover the design with sticky backed clear shelf paper type material and put a board on top of it, lift it up, flip it over, take the steel frame off. That leaves the design upside down stuck to the sticky paper. Harry trowels the acrylic tile adhesive into the frame and we put it back on top carefully on top of the design and flip it back over. Then Harry peels the paper off while I make sure the tiles stay in position. He leaves it with me, I rearrange everything, make sure the tile is exactly the way I want it. After it's dried for a day, Harry mixes up the epoxy grout and applies it. That's where we've got a lot of our best videos on TIkTok and Instagram.
H: We get a good response from our grouting videos.
K: Everybody loves the reveal. So I grab the phone and start taping and Harry does the grouting.
H: And one other thing, the beauty of the epoxy grout is that it's impervious to moisture, it doesn't fade, it doesn't crack, it won't stain. It can sit out in the weather.
K: If you want to clean it, you can run a hose over it.
H: Hose it off, a light brushing and away you go.
K: It's amazing stuff.
H: Tile setters don't like it. When we first started making these pieces, we used regular grout, masonry type cement base grout. And really, grout tile work outside, unless you really seal it and take care of it, it really doesn't last. They'll fade and so on and so forth. So when people would ask us, “Can I leave this outside?” We would have to say no. So we kind of made some adjustments and decided let's go that way. So now, absolutely you can put them outside. The epoxy grout is fantastic for that. The glazed ceramic tiles are great. And the epoxy on the steel. It's all just set up to be outdoors.
K: So he makes it sound “Oh yeah, no problem.” Epoxy grout is very difficult to work with. It's unforgiving in that if you don't get it completely off of anything you don't want it on, it's there forever. And it sets up when it wants to set up.
H: It's a time limit, yeah.
K: You can't just mix a little bit and do a little area over here, you have to mix the whole batch and you better be ready to go. So it was a big decision when we decided to go with it. But we would never go back. Once you figure it out it works great and if you know what you're doing you get a good result.
Are there challenges working up in the mountains?
K: Yeah, wanting to leave. That's the only challenge.
H: We don't want to go.
K: Yeah, that's honestly another thing that factored into us not doing the art show circuit anymore. You know, we're just happy to stay here and make our artwork and sell it online.
H: We've got a good presence on the Internet now. We have what, over 61,000 followers right now? We have inquiries all the time. We do a lot of custom orders and in fact, we were shut down for custom orders until spring.
K: We will be open for BOSCO in 2021. We're members of the Boise Open Studio Collective Organization and will be open. It's the first two weekends in October this year. I'm not sure which weekend our region gets. But its really something people should be marking on their calendars.
H: There are a lot of great artists in Boise and the BOSCO tour is something that if you're interested in art in Boise, you just got to go. There's so many great artists in Boise showing how they make their art and you get to see all their studios.
K: We'll be open again, we'll have it by appointment only. We'll have everything just like this set up, showing people how we do each step.
Are there opportunities you've had specific to Boise?
K: Definitely Art in the Park.
H: And BOSCO has helped us. And again, the big art community. The other artists support each other really well here in Boise. It's a really great community.
Do you think art is something you'll ever stop doing?
K: No, no, no, not at this point. It's getting worse.
H: She loves it. She'll sit in here, and again, she makes every single tile, every little detail on every tile herself and it takes hours and hours and hours. And she will sit down here for hours and hours, and just have a ball making these tiles. So it's something that she can do for as long as she can do it. And so yeah, it's been great for both of us and, and yeah, I'll keep doing it. as long as I can.
K: *To Harry* Thank you.
Is there anything I haven't asked that you wanted to talk about?
K: Well, we met on the property.
H: Yeah. Let's talk about our little story.
K: Absolutely.
H: Yeah, go ahead.
K: So, on our Instagram page, we have a video that kind of tells our story, but in a nutshell, we met on this property.
H: 30 plus years ago.
K: Mutual friends. We liked each other right away. It ended up that when the friends moved away, we moved in. We've been working on the place ever since. We're really proud of the fact that we are carbon negative. You should talk about that. That is your baby.
H: Yeah, we have a great solar power setup here. We have a 5kW system that powers this shop completely. We have a welder and plasma cutter, the kiln. Everything we do in here is powered by the sun. We actually make more power than we use here in the shop. So we can use some of our credits on the house’s bill. We're generating more power than we're using and we're pretty proud of that. That's a good thing we all should be doing.