Blackhawk Custom Work: The Makela House
 
Joel and Ruth McKinney
Ceramic

This project involved discovering personal family iconography and incorporating this into custom designs. In this case, Mr. Makela's Grandfather had been a wheat farmer who had emigrated from Finland. In moving back to the country, Mr. Makela felt he was returning to his roots, so the horse-drawn plow and wheat pattern were appropriate.
The wheat pattern was also produced in the cream color with a watercolor blue accent stripe (shown here in Blackhawk Iron), and outlet and switchplate holes were cut in the tiles while still wet clay. The size of the wheat pattern tile was also custom due to the unusual cabinet sizes used in the house.