Boston Valley Creates Rich Blue Glazed Terra Cotta Roof Tiles for Second Ananda Temple
Boston Valley Terra Cotta has been working with the spiritual organization, Ananda, to manufacture terra cotta roof tiles for a new temple located in Nevada City, California. This temple will act as a focal point for various large-scale events. The roof tiles have been manufactured by Boston Valley using both the Hand Press and Ram Press forming methods, which utilize clay that is packed into a mould to create multiple copies of the same piece.
The rich blue glaze that identifies an Ananda building has been recreated in our Glaze Lab — at Boston Valley, we are often able to match colors based on a supplied reference, but it is even more helpful when we have already worked with a client in the past. Boston Valley worked on another Ananda Temple back in 2007, located in Bothell, Washington, a part of the Seattle metropolitan area.
The subtle variants of a richly colored glaze create a striking blue mosaic; this creates a dynamic visual effect when viewed in natural light. The sheen of the glaze creates the luminous quality of the tiles. Underneath the blue is an unexpected red terra cotta through-body color. This detail further enhances the depth of the color, since the glaze works with the clay body underneath it.
Click here to view the project page for Seattle’s Ananda Temple.
Unfired, red terra cotta through-body in the Boston Valley factory.
Unfired terra cotta roof tiles awaiting glaze application.
Unfired Ananda roof tiles after glaze has been applied to the clay.
Ananda roof tiles after being fired, featuring their deep ultramarine blue glaze.
