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Day 04, Bricking The Other Side


LPCullen

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Time to paperclay the other side of the house. I've gotten Jimmy to do this and I'm just taking pictures, since I wanted to show "blending" and Jimmy does that MUCH better than I do. He begins by rolling out the paperclay, and you want to roll it out to about 1/8" in thickness. We usually use 1/2 pack of paperclay at a time. Once his clay is rolled he puts glue (wood glue) on the house. We usually just squirt the glue on there and then use an old credit card to spread it around so that you have a thin layer of glue on the wood, although Jimmy uses much more glue than I do. He then puts the first tier of clay on the bottom of that side and pats it down, trims it out, and then begins preparing the clay to be "blended" into the next layer. What he does is take his paperclay tool and smash down the side where the next tier is going to go.

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Now, for the second tier. Gotta roll out more paperclay, LOL, and he also "cuts" the clay to make straight lines. Once he has paperclay rolled, he puts his glue on where the second tier is going, including putting in on the clay ONLY where he has smashed it down so that that clay and the new clay for the second tier will stick together. Then he puts his clay on for the second tier and pats it down. Then he takes his little yellow tool and "blends" the clay together, basically smoothing it together so that you can't tell it's been joined. He also smashes down the top of the second tier, preparing it to be joined with the next tier, and trims the edges off the side of the house. He also uses his hands to smooth down the clay and make sure there are no air bubbles.

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Now for the third and final tier, he basically does what he has done before, and he's sure to smooth it real well and close around the window frame so that it doesn't pull away.

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Once Jimmy is done applying the paperclay, I do what is known as (or at least the term taught to me) as "stippling". What that means, basically, is that I texture the clay. Using an el-cheapo paint brush that has had the ends cut off to blunt it up real well, I basically take the brush bristles and beat it on the clay. This textures the clay, and I do it all over, turning the brush as I am working so it's not all one way. This is what the clay looks like when it has been "stippled".

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I then begin drawing my lines for bricks again, using, once again, my trusty lil piece of cardboard. Once all my lines are drawn, I then begin "drawing" my bricks. Basically, I want the bricks to be about 1/2" in length, and maybe 1/4" in height--of course, they probably aren't, but that's the general idea, LOL! The first row of bricks that you "cut" are the deciding bricks, and then you stagger the next rows as you go. It's not hard, and once you have that first row cut, it's kinda mindless.

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I turned the flash off and took a closeup of what the bricks look like when they're "cut".

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Are they straight? No, but houses do settle, you know. Are they all the same size? No. I don't care--all bricks are not equal, LOL!

I hope I didn't overload you with too many pictures. Plus, I know some of them are dark, but I wanted to try and show detail.

Next step, the front of the house, and when that's done--it's time to PAINT SOME BRICKS!!!!!

Compliments of LPCullen

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