Cutting Porcelain

I’ve had a few people ask how we managed to make the focal point in this garden, and a couple interested in having a unique feature like this in their patio.

So, without giving too much away. Every single piece in this was cut from either a 900x600mm or 1200 x 450mm slab of porcelain; creating a Lotus Flower - symbolising growth, purity and birth! (the clients soon after made a baby!! coincidence!?)

Creating the Lotus (brunch bar for scale). See below for finished product…

Practically, the trick was taking the vibrations out of the slab whilst using quality blades. Each piece was dry-cut by hand (in a suitable position to avoid dust pollution). Credit to Phil at Pulvex for the diamond blades… and some good old insulation boards from MKM!

The trade secret is how I got the shapes right. It was harder then I thought to be honest.

Others may question the joints, which are scaffolded to hold the grout. There was also some colour matching involved; and a frustratingly fractured big slab. Next time I’ll take the tension out of tricky corners with a diamond drill bit to prevent this.

Each piece is laid on a full mortar bed and liberally primed for adhesion and bonding, with a fall out to each side of the circle. Thanks to Cheshire Stone for the combination of slabs from their ‘Overland’ range.