Applying Paperclay Stone Work from a Novice....but it turned out Fabulous IMHO!

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest and just googling photo's of dollhouses and miniatures. I found a lot of houses that have amazing stone patterns. This look is perfect for older structures such as castles and in this case an old rare bookstore.  Somehow I stumbled upon a blog about using Paperclay.  http://www.paperclay.com/  The issue I had was there didn't seem to be one place, that I could find, that gave a tutorial about how to apply Paperclay to a dollhouse.  In the end I was able to piece together a process....and that is what I am going to share here.



Supplies

First, supplies....it comes down to this basic list:

1. Paperclay (lots of it!) - I used three 16 oz bags for the bookstore ~$10/bag
2. Vinyl tile 12" x 12" - I got mine from home depot ~$1 I would recommend a smooth surface
3. Square Dowels 1/8" x 2 at least 12" long - picked this up at Michaels
4. White Glue (personal preference is Crafter's Pick The Ultimate!- also available at Michaels
5. Credit card, rewards card, hotel room key - This is going to be destroyed so don't use something you want to keep.
6. Plastic Wrap
7. PVC Pipe that is 16" or so - find one at the local hardware store that is already cut to a short length but at least 12" long....I would not recommend cutting your own because then you have to sand it and buy a saw and it just gets cost prohibited at that point....and you would probably need a truck to bring a long PVC pipe home and what are you going to do with the extra....ok rambling.
8. Washcloth - clean hands are good
9. Paintbrush - I use a round brush with short bristles, pretty much any short stubby brush will work 

Step 1 - Creating a Rolling Board

Since we are working in 1/12th scale the width of the Paperclay has to be pretty thin.  In order to get a fairly uniform piece of Paperclay it is best to make a small board to roll the clay on.  So take the tile you purchased above and the square dowels.  Take the dowels and glue them down the side of the tile on opposite sides from one another.  I have seen where people have put a border around the entire tile but I did alright with just the two sides.  Let the glue dry overnight. 

Oh yeah, the PVC pipe you bought earlier....that is the rolling pin.  The diameter of the PVC should be wide enough so that it doesn't bend when you push on it.  I probably would have bought a thicker pipe but I didn't find one that was pre-cut.



Now you have a rolling board that will deliver fairly accurate 1/8" thick Paperclay sheets! Hooray!



Step 2 - Measuring Card

On to the next step, creating a measuring tool to help measure your stone work and/or bricks.  Take your scissors, ruler and pen.  Figure out how long you want each of your bricks/stone to be in length and width.  Mark the length on one end of the card and the width on the other.  Then basically but from one point to the other point across the card.  Here is an example of my finished card.


Step 3 - Stone Mason...Time to Start

We now have all the tools to start.  So take your plastic wrap and put a layer down on your rolling board put a glob of Paperclay on top and then put another layer of plastic wrap on top.  Roll out your clay with your PVC pipe until you have a nice consistent 1/8" thickness of clay. 




Take the clay out of the plastic wrap and place the clay on your dollhouse where you want it to lay.  I usually put the clay down and slice off the edges with my measuring card before I put the glue down. This way I don't have excess clay with glue on it. I also take a pencil and mark around where the clay hits on the house so that I know where to put my glue.




Now spread a nice even layer of glue on the surface of your house and place the clay on top of it. Make sure that you pat down the clay all over the glue, don't worry about finger prints and indentations because the next step is to add some texture to the stones.

This is also a good time to make sure that you feather the edges of your work where you will join the next piece of clay.  The picture shows the feathering but was taken after the next step (sorry for the sequence).



Now take your paint brush and pounce all over the work, don't leave any spot untouched!  This will add the texture to the stone work.  I also cut off additional excess at this point as once I am done pouncing the clay flattens out a bit.  

Now it is time to become a stone mason!  Get your cutup credit card and carefully measure out where to mark the clay using both sides of the card. You will want to make sure that you push down to create the grout lines and do not pull the card through the clay.

  
Once you have all your stone marked out you can either let it dry or add on the next layer of clay using the steps above.

Step 4 - Wait....Wait...and Wait some more!!

This step sucks...I mean it really really sucks.  You now have to wait for the Paperclay to dry! And it doesn't take hours but days!!!!  Three to four down here in sunny So Cal.



Here is the finished product after it has dried, there will be larger gaps between the stones than when you first set the piece to dry; these gaps are perfect for moss! Also, some of the stone might have moved out (ballooned up) a bit. I actually like this look so if this is something that would not work for your project then my best guess is to use more glue and make smaller stones.




Some of you may want to know how to paint and finish the Paperclay...and I would love to tell you but it will have to wait for another time/blog. 

Thanks for reading! Keep miniaturing (IS THAT A WORD?) on!

Here are a couple more pictures: