Christmas houses?
I was thinking about starting to make my own Christmas town houses. So far
my idea is to press some tiles in the shape of walls and roofs and bonding them together. This is (IMO) better than attempting to make a multipart mold and slip casting it. But since I don't know the pro's and con's of either, I thought I'd better ask around first. If you wanted to make Christmas houses, how would you do it? |
Christmas houses?
"Steve Mills" wrote in message ... Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates. Steve Yup. Slab-building. Try to roll the slabs in 2 or 3 motions in varying directions, to avoid "memory" in the clay. A good "trick" at the joins is to use something slightly harder than a toothbrush (I use a bunch of steel strands from a steel brush, which I have glued into a dowel - but strands cut from a stiff broom can also work) - dip that in water and brush both join sites - makes slip at the same time as you roughen up the edges for a better join. Also - consider wrapping the houses in plastic for a few days, giving them a _very_ slow dry - possibly helping to avoid unevenesses that result in cracks when firing. Marianne |
Christmas houses?
Steve Mills mentioned in passing :
Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates. Don't you then have to reduplicate detail for each piece? I was hoping to save my miniature sculpture work by making a mold or template from plaster. I am planning to make them "n scale" to match my trains, which means each house would be about an inch or two high (1/160). I know that most people make larger ones, but that's why I want to make my own. I probably should have mentioned that to begin with... I do appreciate your response and any further suggestions you and fellow Norwegian "Bubbles" might have. |
Christmas houses?
Bubbles mentioned in passing :
Also - consider wrapping the houses in plastic for a few days, giving them a _very_ slow dry - possibly helping to avoid unevenesses that result in cracks when firing. I have been doing other miniature work, progressing the detail of carvings in drying clay, and I've used plastic storage containers to help them dry evenly. I have never had problems with cracks in firing, but I always assumed that I would and work to avoid it. I failed to mention that my intent is to make fairly small houses, N-Scale (1/160). |
Christmas houses?
Hi Bill, I would go for a two part mould and slip cast.If you decide to
go for a single press mould I would caution you to make the surounding plaster of a fairly good thickness (inch and a half or thereabouts). Iv'e often seen people make press moulds for small parts only to have the mould snap after short usage due to too thin walls. Andy |
Christmas houses?
Oops! I meant to say also that you might consider making the mould in
biscuit fired clay, less danger all round! Andy |
Christmas houses?
Ah, now I see where you are coming from.
If you make a set of basic House Fronts moulds, that gets a lot of the fiddley work done pre-assembly, as customizing each one will take relatively little time. Backs and sides can be plain or likewise moulded. The other thought was provided by Andy (2 part slip mould) which for N gauge additions would probably be the best option. Again the cast piece can be embellished or not as required. Steve In article , Bill DeWitt writes Don't you then have to reduplicate detail for each piece? I was hoping to save my miniature sculpture work by making a mold or template from plaster. I am planning to make them "n scale" to match my trains, which means each house would be about an inch or two high (1/160). I know that most people make larger ones, but that's why I want to make my own. I probably should have mentioned that to begin with... I do appreciate your response and any further suggestions you and fellow Norwegian "Bubbles" might have. -- Steve Mills Bath UK |
Christmas houses?
"Bubbles" wrote in message ... "Steve Mills" wrote in message ... Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates. Steve Yup. Slab-building. Try to roll the slabs in 2 or 3 motions in varying directions, to avoid "memory" in the clay. A good "trick" at the joins is to use something slightly harder than a toothbrush (I use a bunch of steel strands from a steel brush, which I have glued into a dowel - but strands cut from a stiff broom can also work) - dip that in water and brush both join sites - makes slip at the same time as you roughen up the edges for a better join. Also - consider wrapping the houses in plastic for a few days, giving them a _very_ slow dry - possibly helping to avoid unevenesses that result in cracks when firing. Marianne Ya know I used to do the old score style join. IMO (possibly controversial here) it creates more problems than it fixes. It was at a demonstration (forget who) but a potter said that they didn't do it, waste of time. So I started experimenting and joined with just slurrying up the surface with water or vinegar. The vinegar appeared to initially make it stick better, but as the vinegar made no difference in the long run I gave up using it. You need to really work up some slurry, and use a little force when pressing the two parts together. I found that my joins were not only tidier, but failed less often. Since then a friend said he uses terra sig made from whatever clay he is using to join it. I have made terra sig sometimes, but find that just slurrying up works ok for most things. I think scoring messes up the area so makes it more untidy, it has the possibility of introducing air, and it does not seem to improve the join quality. :o) |
Christmas houses?
Xtra News wrote: "Bubbles" wrote in message ... "Steve Mills" wrote in message .. . Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates. Steve Yup. Slab-building. Try to roll the slabs in 2 or 3 motions in varying directions, to avoid "memory" in the clay. A good "trick" at the joins is to use something slightly harder than a toothbrush (I use a bunch of steel strands from a steel brush, which I have glued into a dowel - but strands cut from a stiff broom can also work) - dip that in water and brush both join sites - makes slip at the same time as you roughen up the edges for a better join. Also - consider wrapping the houses in plastic for a few days, giving them a _very_ slow dry - possibly helping to avoid unevenesses that result in cracks when firing. Marianne Ya know I used to do the old score style join. IMO (possibly controversial here) it creates more problems than it fixes. It was at a demonstration (forget who) but a potter said that they didn't do it, waste of time. So I started experimenting and joined with just slurrying up the surface with water or vinegar. The vinegar appeared to initially make it stick better, but as the vinegar made no difference in the long run I gave up using it. You need to really work up some slurry, and use a little force when pressing the two parts together. I found that my joins were not only tidier, but failed less often. Since then a friend said he uses terra sig made from whatever clay he is using to join it. I have made terra sig sometimes, but find that just slurrying up works ok for most things. I think scoring messes up the area so makes it more untidy, it has the possibility of introducing air, and it does not seem to improve the join quality. :o) I'm pretty new to all this, so please forgive my naivety. I can't quite work out whether you are agreeing with Bubbles about the "wirebrush" method of joining or if you're talking about something else Could you say what exactly do you mean by "slurrying up"? Thanks pbhj |
Christmas houses?
"pbhj" wrote in message ... Xtra News wrote: "Bubbles" wrote in message ... "Steve Mills" wrote in message . .. Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates. Steve Yup. Slab-building. Try to roll the slabs in 2 or 3 motions in varying directions, to avoid "memory" in the clay. A good "trick" at the joins is to use something slightly harder than a toothbrush (I use a bunch of steel strands from a steel brush, which I have glued into a dowel - but strands cut from a stiff broom can also work) - dip that in water and brush both join sites - makes slip at the same time as you roughen up the edges for a better join. Also - consider wrapping the houses in plastic for a few days, giving them a _very_ slow dry - possibly helping to avoid unevenesses that result in cracks when firing. Marianne Ya know I used to do the old score style join. IMO (possibly controversial here) it creates more problems than it fixes. It was at a demonstration (forget who) but a potter said that they didn't do it, waste of time. So I started experimenting and joined with just slurrying up the surface with water or vinegar. The vinegar appeared to initially make it stick better, but as the vinegar made no difference in the long run I gave up using it. You need to really work up some slurry, and use a little force when pressing the two parts together. I found that my joins were not only tidier, but failed less often. Since then a friend said he uses terra sig made from whatever clay he is using to join it. I have made terra sig sometimes, but find that just slurrying up works ok for most things. I think scoring messes up the area so makes it more untidy, it has the possibility of introducing air, and it does not seem to improve the join quality. :o) I'm pretty new to all this, so please forgive my naivety. I can't quite work out whether you are agreeing with Bubbles about the "wirebrush" method of joining or if you're talking about something else Could you say what exactly do you mean by "slurrying up"? Thanks pbhj Well I did not want to be rude, but I was disagreeing :o) What I mean exactly - generally people are taught to score the two surfaces of a join, then wet that down and bring up slurry with water worked into it. So you keep rubbing at the scored surface with a little water until you have a good wet thick clay area, then you press the two parts together. I suggested you skip the scoring bit and just work up the thick slurry instead because I think the scoring makes it messy, can introduce air and IMO does not work better. Working up a good slurry, or even better using terra sig makes joins that are strong. If you have trouble with joins coming apart or cracking when drying painting around the join with brush wax helps, this is particularly useful for porcelain handles. Terra sigilatta is the very finest of clay particles. Lots of info on it if you do a google search. |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:02 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
CraftBanter.com