A post grid for Elementor with a large image and an overlaid title — bold, full-bleed layouts built from any query.
Kiln is a nine-person studio in Leeds. This is the working journal — case notes, failures, and the occasional argument about type.
Every write-up names the thing that went wrong. If a project has no such paragraph it does not go in the journal.
Identity, packaging and the boring parts — spec sheets, print tolerances, and the handover pack nobody photographs.
Lead Ines Karras
Typical run 10–16 weeks
We test with eight people, not eight hundred. The notes are published with the work so you can see which decisions came from evidence and which came from taste.
One room, two lights, no rental. Shooting our own work means the crop is decided by whoever designed the layout.
31
projects shipped since 2019
4
we would not take again
We take four projects a quarter. The queue is public and the next slot is usually eleven weeks out.
Older posts stay exactly as filed. Where we later changed our mind, the note goes at the top and the original stays underneath it.
Written on the last Friday of the month, usually late. Around 900 words, one image, no tracking.
Kiln is nine people, one dog and a kiln that has never been fired. Say hello — the studio inbox is read by whoever is nearest.
Straight answers about what this one does, where it fits in a real build, and what it costs you to ship.
Read the documentation for this one, or write to us — a human answers inside a business day.
They set how wide each tile runs on a six-track grid. Default gives the first two posts of every five a half-row each and the next three a third of a row each; Layout 1 gives the first post two-thirds of a row, then runs three-up; Layout 2 is two equal tiles per row throughout; Layout 3 is three equal tiles per row with a 360px minimum height.
Because the tile widths are the design, not a variable. Each preset is a fixed rhythm of spans, so you choose a pattern rather than a column count — Layout 2 and Layout 3 give you the plain two-up and three-up grids if that is all you wanted. For a freely dialled one-to-four columns, the Sapling Grid or the Generic Grid in Sky Addons for Elementor is the right widget.
The presets only apply above 1024px. From 1024 down the grid becomes two equal columns and every tile takes one of them regardless of which layout you picked, and below 768px it drops to a single column with a 320px minimum height per tile so the overlay always has an image to sit against.
Row Gap and Column Gap are separate responsive sliders in pixels or ems. The rows themselves are already equal — the grid sizes its rows in equal fractions, so a tall tile does not stretch its neighbours’ row. That is what keeps a mixed-width mosaic reading as a grid rather than as a stack of odd blocks.
Yes. Show Pagination prints numbered page links under the last row and removes itself when the query fits one page. Worth planning for: the wide-tile pattern counts from the first tile on each page, so page two starts its rhythm again from the top rather than continuing where page one left off.
A multiple of five. Every preset repeats its pattern across a group of five posts, so ten or fifteen posts end on a full row while eight or twelve leave a partial one that reads as an accident. If a specific post needs the widest tile, order the query so it lands in first place rather than trying to promote it afterwards.
It is one of the better fits, because the card is the image and the text is overlaid on it. Set Source to your portfolio post type — every public type on the site is listed — and switch on Only Featured Image Post so any entry missing artwork is filtered out of the query rather than drawing a placeholder into the middle of the mosaic.
Larger than you would use for a card grid. A wide tile can occupy two-thirds of the content width, so Large — the default — can look soft on a big screen; 1536×1536 is usually the sweet spot. Full is available but ships the original upload, so check what your photographers are actually sending before choosing it.
No, and it needs neither Pro nor a loop template. Elementor’s Loop Grid asks you to design a card as a separate template and then repeats it; the Ultra Grid brings its own overlay card with a built-in hover exchange and is configured entirely from one panel. It ships in the free Sky Addons plugin.
Both are mosaics of overlay cards; the rhythm and the hover differ. Luster repeats a group of three — one large tile and two half-width ones that drop their byline and excerpt — and lifts the text on hover. Ultra repeats a group of five with four selectable patterns, keeps the same content on every tile, and swaps the text for a button on hover.
