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cuenca y arista

English translation: Spanish-Moorish tiles

13:07 Nov 26, 2003
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Spanish term or phrase: cuenca y arista
La transición de la decoración del azulejo a lo largo de la historia, ligada a dos técnicas concretas, "cuenca y arista" y "a la trepa",
Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 23:14
English translation:Spanish-Moorish tiles
Explanation:
I found the following explanation.

Azulejos de cuenca o arista

El procedimiento de cuerda seca para decorar los azulejos, que venía realizandose en Sevilla desde mediados del siglo XV, resultaba bastante adecuado para los temas compuestos de líneas rectas, como las lacerías que imitaban los alicatados, pero no lo era tanto cuando se impuso la necesidad de realizar otros diseños que incorporaban líneas curvas o mixtas (tomados en su mayoría de los tejidos al uso de la época). Surgió, por ello, una innovación técnica que consistía en tallar el dibujo en negativo sobre un molde, que al principio fué de madera y después metálico, el cual se aplicaba posteriormente mediante presión a la loseta de barro aún fresco para provocar en esta una impronta con unos alveolos o cuencas separados por aristas, que despues de ser bizcochada la loseta, permitía la fácil distribución de los oxidos en tales alveolos, antes de su segunda cocción. Así nació el azulejo de cuenca o arista.

***Aunque originalmente estos azulejos se llamaron "de labores" y junto con los de cuerda seca se conocen en otros paises como "hispano-moriscos", en nuestro medio se conocen como "de arista" o "de cuenca".***

If they are, as this text says, known in other countries as "hispano-moriscos," then your translation would be Spanish-Moorish. You'll find some examples using this term at the second link.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 7 mins (2003-11-26 16:14:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I\'ve done a little more digging, and have found the following references in English to the mold with the negative design. Both references speak of \"relief tiles\":

We specialize in hand sculpted low-relief art tiles.

Each design is carved in clay, and then cast in a plaster mold. After the mold cures for a period of approximately two weeks, moist clay is then pressed into the negative form and when released, produces a positive replica of the original tile. After the tile dries, it is placed in the kiln to undergo what is called the \" bisque \" firing; irreversibly converting the clay into a stone-like material. The tile is then painted,
And placed back in the kiln for a second firing; adhering the color and producing a glass-like surface. http://www.galileetiles.com/pages/about_us.htm

\"Creating a relief tile can be a rewarding experience. The tile in deep relief, with a dimensional surface, provides a sculptural effect unlike flat painted tiles. Often there is little need to treat the surfaces with a glaze. ... The first approach is the concept of the original design. This should be thought in terms of line simplicity. Most often, the lines, themselves, are only a guide for cutting into the clay prototype for making a relief mold...Our objective here is to make 3 negative molds, each somewhat different, yet all related to the original design.
http://www.colsonart.com/Relief-tiles.htm

\"Making Relief Tiles with Joan Gardiner\"
An acclaimed tile maker from Unison/Middleberg, Joan\'s work may be seen in area schools, libraries, churches and private homes. She will teach the techniques of making a relief tile with the use of a press mold. On the first day, participants will sculpt and cast a relief tile in plaster. Demonstrations for producing multiple copies of the tile plus materials needed will be covered. On the second day, students will make tiles using their plaster relief molds.
http://www.manassasclay.com/events.html


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 59 mins (2003-11-26 19:06:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here\'s another text with \"arista\", which I found with Nikki\'s info.

These hispano-moresque tiles, found in excavations in the cloister of the Convent of Jesus, were imported from Seville in Andalusia, the most important centre of tile production in Spain. They were produced using the corda seca technique in which the clay plate still in raw was moulded with the drawings in relief. The tracks created on the plate were then filled with manganese with grease. This would transform, when cooked, in a thin black bar allowing the separation of the colors of the tile, preventing them to be mixed and also preventing the pattern to be smudged.

This technique gave way to the edge technique (aresta) in which the mould was made with re-entrances which would create thin saliences allowing an easier separation of colors.

Both these techniques, as well as the islamic influenced hispanic-moorish geometrical designs were replaced along the 16th century by the majolica technique, introduced by italians in Seville\'s workshops. With this technique the clay plate needs no more separating lines between the colors because it is covered with white stanniferous enamel (made with lead oxid and tin oxid) allowing the application of colors without mixing between them.

http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/museums/oikos/port56.htm

Although the English does seem kind of funky...
Selected response from:

tazdog (X)
Spain
Local time: 23:14
Grading comment
Extremely helpful. I'd give you 5 points if I could. Nikki too. I wish I could give points to more than 1 person.
It was one of those artsy-fartsy texts with many of those Spanish inter-galactic sentences we all know and hate. I finally got it done though. Take care.

Edward

P.S. I ended up going with "relief" rather than "Spanish-Moorish" though I think both would do. I used "stencil" for "arista".
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2Spanish-Moorish tiles
tazdog (X)
3some more info
Nikki Graham


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Spanish-Moorish tiles


Explanation:
I found the following explanation.

Azulejos de cuenca o arista

El procedimiento de cuerda seca para decorar los azulejos, que venía realizandose en Sevilla desde mediados del siglo XV, resultaba bastante adecuado para los temas compuestos de líneas rectas, como las lacerías que imitaban los alicatados, pero no lo era tanto cuando se impuso la necesidad de realizar otros diseños que incorporaban líneas curvas o mixtas (tomados en su mayoría de los tejidos al uso de la época). Surgió, por ello, una innovación técnica que consistía en tallar el dibujo en negativo sobre un molde, que al principio fué de madera y después metálico, el cual se aplicaba posteriormente mediante presión a la loseta de barro aún fresco para provocar en esta una impronta con unos alveolos o cuencas separados por aristas, que despues de ser bizcochada la loseta, permitía la fácil distribución de los oxidos en tales alveolos, antes de su segunda cocción. Así nació el azulejo de cuenca o arista.

***Aunque originalmente estos azulejos se llamaron "de labores" y junto con los de cuerda seca se conocen en otros paises como "hispano-moriscos", en nuestro medio se conocen como "de arista" o "de cuenca".***

If they are, as this text says, known in other countries as "hispano-moriscos," then your translation would be Spanish-Moorish. You'll find some examples using this term at the second link.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 7 mins (2003-11-26 16:14:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I\'ve done a little more digging, and have found the following references in English to the mold with the negative design. Both references speak of \"relief tiles\":

We specialize in hand sculpted low-relief art tiles.

Each design is carved in clay, and then cast in a plaster mold. After the mold cures for a period of approximately two weeks, moist clay is then pressed into the negative form and when released, produces a positive replica of the original tile. After the tile dries, it is placed in the kiln to undergo what is called the \" bisque \" firing; irreversibly converting the clay into a stone-like material. The tile is then painted,
And placed back in the kiln for a second firing; adhering the color and producing a glass-like surface. http://www.galileetiles.com/pages/about_us.htm

\"Creating a relief tile can be a rewarding experience. The tile in deep relief, with a dimensional surface, provides a sculptural effect unlike flat painted tiles. Often there is little need to treat the surfaces with a glaze. ... The first approach is the concept of the original design. This should be thought in terms of line simplicity. Most often, the lines, themselves, are only a guide for cutting into the clay prototype for making a relief mold...Our objective here is to make 3 negative molds, each somewhat different, yet all related to the original design.
http://www.colsonart.com/Relief-tiles.htm

\"Making Relief Tiles with Joan Gardiner\"
An acclaimed tile maker from Unison/Middleberg, Joan\'s work may be seen in area schools, libraries, churches and private homes. She will teach the techniques of making a relief tile with the use of a press mold. On the first day, participants will sculpt and cast a relief tile in plaster. Demonstrations for producing multiple copies of the tile plus materials needed will be covered. On the second day, students will make tiles using their plaster relief molds.
http://www.manassasclay.com/events.html


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 59 mins (2003-11-26 19:06:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here\'s another text with \"arista\", which I found with Nikki\'s info.

These hispano-moresque tiles, found in excavations in the cloister of the Convent of Jesus, were imported from Seville in Andalusia, the most important centre of tile production in Spain. They were produced using the corda seca technique in which the clay plate still in raw was moulded with the drawings in relief. The tracks created on the plate were then filled with manganese with grease. This would transform, when cooked, in a thin black bar allowing the separation of the colors of the tile, preventing them to be mixed and also preventing the pattern to be smudged.

This technique gave way to the edge technique (aresta) in which the mould was made with re-entrances which would create thin saliences allowing an easier separation of colors.

Both these techniques, as well as the islamic influenced hispanic-moorish geometrical designs were replaced along the 16th century by the majolica technique, introduced by italians in Seville\'s workshops. With this technique the clay plate needs no more separating lines between the colors because it is covered with white stanniferous enamel (made with lead oxid and tin oxid) allowing the application of colors without mixing between them.

http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/museums/oikos/port56.htm

Although the English does seem kind of funky...



    Reference: http://www.arrakis.es/~ramoscor/sigloxvi.html
    Reference: http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=U...
tazdog (X)
Spain
Local time: 23:14
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 91
Grading comment
Extremely helpful. I'd give you 5 points if I could. Nikki too. I wish I could give points to more than 1 person.
It was one of those artsy-fartsy texts with many of those Spanish inter-galactic sentences we all know and hate. I finally got it done though. Take care.

Edward

P.S. I ended up going with "relief" rather than "Spanish-Moorish" though I think both would do. I used "stencil" for "arista".

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikki Graham: My architecture dictionary (monolingual) says that this is Hispano-Moresque style
3 hrs
  -> thanks, Nikki...I found another ref. based on your comment.
agree  Andrea Bullrich: ;)
183 days
  -> well, hello there--you do get around! :-D
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
some more info


Explanation:
I found these glossary entries which might prove useful:

Cuenca
An Hispano-Moresque technique in which designs for tiles or pottery were impressed into damp clay, forming ridges that acted as barriers between glaze colors, keeping them from running into each other.

Cuenca seca
A technique used by Hispano-Moresque potters in which they drew lines around the designs on tiles or pottery, using a mixture of manganese and grease. This barrier kept the multicolored glazes from melding together and provided a dark outline to the areas.


13. 1761 Beach. The decorative riser tiles are from Seville, Spain. These tiles represent the second most influential kind of imported tile (second to the Tunisian product) in the 1920s in California. Tiles like this are still being made. The standard size is 6"X12" and the color palette is black, white, brown, blue, and green. Colors tend to be somewhat harsh, unvarying in tone, and glassy. They illustrate the "cuenca" technique by which ridges are pressed into the clay to form separate pools for each glaze color. The designs are a somewhat rigid reworking of centuries' old Islamic patterns which were first executed, historically, as ceramic mosaics.
http://www.tiles.org/pages/tilesite/sfmarina/sfmarina.htm

California tile-top table on an iron base, with four cuenca tiles in a Hispano-Moresque design, in white, green, ochre and blue. 21" x 12 1/2" sq.
http://www.ragoarts.com/onlinecats/10.06.02MT/10.06.02Tile_0...

Can't find anything with arista in it though, but maybe there's a case for leaving the terms in Spanish (and adding an explanation if your text doen's already have one)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs 5 mins (2003-11-26 21:12:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

doesn\'t (sorry, typing is not my forte)


    Reference: http://www.claygirl.com/glossary.html
    Reference: http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UT...
Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:14
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28
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