The last few days I have been working on the roof of The Cauldron Shop. This time instead of opting for the usual shop bought tiles I have always used in the past I decided to play with PaperClay.
I looked carefully at various sites showing the work of the Paperclay King Rik Pierce and set to work.
Firstly I rolled out the clay to the thickness I wanted on a glass tile.
Then using a nail brush I stippled the clay, cut off the ragged edges with a fimo cutter and then marked out the rows of tiles. I then separated a row at a time and cut off each individual tile.
You can see on the bottom row where I started laying individual tile, unlike Art Mache you have to glue Paperclay to make it stick. I then had another look at Rik's models and worked out that he seems to attach the tiles in rows.
I started to mark out the tiles with the edge of my plastic protractor without cutting right through. This was much easier and quicker.
After I had laid a couple of rows I shaped the edges to make the tiles stand up a little. This was quite fiddly as my clay tools are a bit basic and clay is definitely not my forte!
I kept going a row at a time and eventually.........
........I finished off one whole side. I was quite pleased at the end. It wasn't perfect by any means but it actually looked pretty promising.
The next morning, however, I was a little less happy. One of the problems with Paperclay is that as it dries it shrinks, this can lead to cracking or, as in the case of my roof tiles, gaps.
I think these have also occurred because I did not blend the separate rows together. I am also a little concerned by how fragile the clay appears and I am a little worried that it will chip very easily.
So the question is do I seal with a PVA solution to toughen it up? Before or after painting?
Hmmmm, a bit more research is required I feel.
In order to deal with all the gaps I have decided to add extra wonky tiles which I hope will make the roof look patched and not simply bodged!
