Builder's Library

Tile With Style Setting Ceramic Tile, by Michael Byrne: Taunton Press, Newtown, Conn.; 1987; 230 pages, $17.95, paperback At age 8, Michael Byrne, began his odyssey to the role of tile setter when his mother showed him some photos of the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi's weird and wonderful Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona. Years later, motivated by the mosaic work he had done as an art student, Byrne steered a course to California, "the Mecca of tilesetters." There he apprenticed himself, spending 16 years studying and practicing his trade. A resident of Vermont, he now shares his knowledge of the craft through writing and videos. Setting Ceramic Tile is Byrne's effort to set down his accumulated knowledge. Divided into two