While statements "hand made," "hand crafted" or "hand painted" were true during the old days, now days vast majority of Mexican Talavera Tiles are printed. In general Talavera tile term is used to identify clay or rather mixture of clays. Some sellers suggest that Talavera is a painting technique but in reality it doesn't matter whether the tiles were hand brash painted or printed they are Talavera because of the clay used to make them. In most cases raw tiles and the printing is done by two different companies where all tiles are packed in cartons and sold cheap without assessing their quality. Only handful of factories in Mexico make raw tiles as well as finish them and only those firms incorporate in the production process quality control but sell their output at the higher price. The printing is done by moving paint with a trowel over especially prepared film placed on the tile and there are as many differently films as colors in the pattern. Since the printed image quality depends on accuracy of the films the quality of the same pattern varies from company to company. At the end of the production process the tiles are fired in industrial ovens so the high temperature bakes the paint and makes it shinning (tiles are not glazed). Even though modern Mexican Talavera Tiles are not entirely hand made if all variables impacting the quality are under reasonable control the tiles will appear equally beautiful regardless they were made using traditional or "modern" production techniques. It is important to be aware of the great difference in pricing between Mexican tiles made in state of Guanajuato and Puebla. Some sellers on eBay indicate in their listings that their tiles were imported from Puebla while the product images show clearly Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato as the production region. Since indicating "imported from" is very misleading it is suggested to ask the seller the production origin as that will determine the product price. Please keep in mind there is no such thing as low cost high quality product and at the end the buyer faces choosing one or the other. -- NOTE: By looking at the talavera item image I can in most cases recognize the manufacturer so if you have any doubt concerning any product on eBay or elsewhere I will be more than happy to assist you.