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?

Reply to
Bill DeWitt
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Make them out of clay slabs cut from a pre-rolled sheet, using cardboard templates.

Steve

In article , Bill DeWitt writes

Reply to
Steve Mills

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

Reply to
Bubbles

Steve Mills mentioned in passing :

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.

Reply to
Bill DeWitt

Bubbles mentioned in passing :

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).

Reply to
Bill DeWitt

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

Reply to
plodder

Oops! I meant to say also that you might consider making the mould in biscuit fired clay, less danger all round! Andy

Reply to
plodder

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

Reply to
Steve Mills

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)

Reply to
Xtra News

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

Reply to
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.

Reply to
Xtra News

Oh my goodness! TALK about fiddly! Honestly, I would consider making the houses out of balsa-wood or something like that instead. You can make patterns using bendable sheet plastic. Some hobby stores at least have thicker sheets for window-painting that are see-through and that you could cut with a sharp knife.

"fellow Norwegian"? Is there another Norwegian on here I don't know about?

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles

Awww! How sweet! ;-)

I always have a thick slurry in a box that I use to repair when I eg. bump into a surface and make a gouge, or just to even up surfaces after hollowing them with an iron.

I really do see your argument that scoring can introduce air. I am always very careful to fill the areas to be joined with water and slurry before joining them. BUT!!! I think you may be right that a thick slurry would do the job better, as it will not change the properties of the clay (water content) as much in the join as slurrying "my way" does. And I do think that water content has a lot to say on how the piece wants to split later on.

As I am just now starting to do some experiments with making boxes (to have my coffee and tea in in my kitchen), I will try your suggestion on a couple and see how that goes.

Thanks!

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles

Should we assume that you know about shrinkage?

Reply to
dkat

Another means of keeping joints from cracking is to paint the joined area with wax (latex). That allows the moisture content of the wet to dry area equal out better.

Donna

Reply to
dkat

dkat mentioned in passing :

Yes, thanks. As these are just for my own use and are truly decorations, the disparity will not matter.

Reply to
Bill DeWitt

When making boxes it is best to cut edges at an angle, so that they meet like the corner of a picture frame. I think in carpentry they call it a mitred corner?? Work with leather hard clay so that it is not going to buckle and sag, and when putting the two edges together be very firm with pressing them together, some paddling towards the join is a good idea too. Good luck with your boxes :o)

Reply to
Xtra News

Tried that a few times, but find it very fidly. Do you have any special tool you use to get the angles right? Also, using that method, would eg. a 10x10 cm box made of 10x10 squares stay 10 cm? I did one last night, using just end-to-side joins, and the box is now about 11 cm, which meant that the bottom I had cut 10x10 was a tad too small.

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles

Tool for cutting a 45 degree angle on a slab end. Materials: An *L* shaped piece of wood or MDF about 1 inch thick & 2 inches long on each leg. a short length of very fine wire (Fuse wire?)

2 thumb tacks (drawing pins)

Stretch the wire between the upright and the horizontal legs, secure with the thumb tacks on the back of the L.

Turn it upside down. You now have a 45 degree edge cutter!

Tada!

Steve

In article , Bubbles writes

Reply to
Steve Mills

I enjoy making small carvings. Not enough to make similar ones over and over again 8-) hence the desire for a process, but in general I find it relaxing.

I have decided to press them into flat plaster molds like some people do decorative tiles. I want to test to see if I can accurately miter the edges (perhaps with a sponge) or if I will have to make end cap looking things.

I don't want wood or plastic because I want them to be very nice.

Although my surname is Dutch and my home is the US, my genetics and culture are largely Norse. I'm a little consious of it these days because I'm trying to recreate some of that heritage for my family. I apologize for mentioning it.

Reply to
Bill DeWitt

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