Clay buildings

[gregh]

My wife is a potter so when I?m lucky I can talk her into making some buildings for my railway. Clay (pottery) buildings are great for leaving outdoors. If they are glazed, they don?t fade or get dirty and any dirt just brushes off. But they are fragile and it is hard to make exact models as clay tends to sag and is hard to support. So some of the roof and column lines are a bit ?wonky? but I think of them as caricatures rather than models.
Some of these models have been outside for 15 years now, others are her latest batch. So here?s some pics.

A recent house ? I?ve added a styrene verandah floor where the clay cracked, and put in windows. About 10? wide.

A small station building about 6" wide

Another recent house

Hunter?s Railway Hotel. It?s a bit fragile and hard to clean under the verandah without breaking the posts. Snails like the verandah!

A signal equipment building. (unfortunately I dropped it, so it is no more!)

A signal box. Unglazed, so it gets dirty.

The original house ? outside for 15 years.

Fettlers? lineside Tents

A timber cutters hut. The grey glaze didn?t work so I?ll have to paint it. (Apparently grey is a very difficult colour to make for a glaze.)

And here?s a street scene of 2 houses and the pub.

 

[tramcar trev]

Greg they are quite smart... look very much the part. I enjoy seeing others being creative that's what its all about. Your wife could make big money making exterior G scael buildings that are trully exterior.....

 

[ge_rik]

Hi Greg
Over here we have a couple of potters who market their wares for Garden Railway modellers. Stanton Abbey is one:

http://www.stantonabbey.com/catalog... go into business in the antipodes. Rik

 

[Steve]

What a brilliant idea Greg , i think the tents are very clever never even though about making buildings out of clay.
Then again the closest i have got to making anything with clay was watching Ghost at the theatre in London.
10 out of 10 for your railway,bridges and building an inspiration to us all.

 

[JRinTawa]

Neat buildings Greg, I like the character they bring.

 

[beavercreek]

Great buildings....but how did she fire the hotel??? It is huge! What size kiln does she use?

 

[Gizzy]

Like those a lot....

 

[bobg]

Very characterful! I like the colonial look.

Greg, if the clay tends to sag could it not be provided with a wire armature to hold it; even embedded in the clay permanently, or are the firing temps too high?

 

[3Valve]

Very Nive Gred. Lots of character.

 

[DRG11]

They look fantastic..much better than any of the plastic kits you can buy,
congratulations
as said earlier your wife could make some cash thru taking some orders !!

 

[gregh]

Thanks for all the comments guys - Pauline thanks you.

Trev, Rik, Drg11 - I doubt Pauline could make money from these. They take her a long time to make and the failure rate seems pretty high to me. (cracks, sags etc)
That said I'm sure she'd always be willing to try a special for someone close to Sydney. She has sold a few of these to my mates.
(My next order is for a bank and Post Office.)

Steve, thanks for comments. I like the tents best and are easy to make.I've requested more detail next time - holes for ropes etc. They are perfect for making small 'vignettes' - I'm imagining a billy over a flickering fire, fettler sitting on a stump, small water tank etc.

Beavercreek - the pub was fired in her club's large kiln. Hers is large enough for 2 of the houses only. ( the pub really wasn't made for me - she wanted a big building for a competition. She didn't win, but I did !)

Bobg - I discussed the idea of metal reinforcing with Pauline. She saysit has been tried and she might try some steel nails or wire next time, but they are fired at 1100C, and the metal expansion will probably crack thin clay. Steel starts to soften around 600C even though it's melting point is around 1400C

 

[garrymartin]

Marvellous Greg, your wife is very talented, as is mine but sadly a prize winning cross stitch is of little use on a garden railway

 

[bobg]

bobg - I discussed the idea of metal reinforcing with Pauline. She saysit has been tried and she might try some steel nails or wire next time, but they are fired at 1100C, and the metal expansion will probably crack thin clay. Steel starts to soften around 600C even though it's melting point is around 1400C

I thought that might be the problem. I'll try and remember to speak to a guy I know who builds kilns, he may have an insight to something (this was the heart of the pottery industry, there must be some knowhow out there somewhere. ).

It seems such a shame to loose some on firing, after all the work that goes into producing them.

 

[playmofire]

A very original and successful idea. The tents are my favourite.

 

[beavercreek]

Marvellous Greg, your wife is very talented, as is mine but sadly a prize winning cross stitch is of little use on a garden railway

Oh ....I don't know.....a good stitching technique would be needed if trying to build this!!!