Stephen Clay is the builder and entrepreneur bringing back a very old hobby of Table Top War gaming. “The PC and gaming consoles damaged the hobby terribly but as time has passed younger PC game players are discovering Tabletop war gaming and the hobby is beginning to return to where it began (and belongs in my opinion) – the tabletop”, Clay says.
Check out the European Cottage replica below. The level of detail is mind blowing!
Below is the rest of my interview with Stephen:
Rishi: How do you come up with the idea of what to build?
Stephen: The idea for each item come from several sources really, historical information, ideas from customers and everyday sights (I have a terrible habit of looking at building details wherever I go!).
Rishi: Take me through the process of creating one of your pieces
Stephen: Each piece is hand sculpted in wax using fine tools similar to dental tools. Each piece can take anything from an hour to several weeks to complete to a suitable standard. The next step is to take a mold from this original piece. This is a critical point in the process, we use raw silicone rubber to make the mold and any mistake is costly, usually costing in the loss of the piece (this hasn’t happened yet but it is a possibility). Once the silicone has cured the wax model is removed (and destroyed in the process) what’s left is a rubber mold of the model from which we can cast exact reproductions in our own marble based resin. Each piece is cast in a vacuum chamber to remove all air and ‘pull’ the resin into the detail contained in the mold. After the resin has cured the cast is removed from the mold to be tidied up, the base sanded flat and on to painting. The painting is done completely by hand and each piece has a ‘master’ which is copied as closely as possible to maintain both colour shade and painting standards. After varnishing to protect the item the product is carefully packaged for shipping.
As we all know. Behind every great product their is a strong team behind it. Stephen’s wife Kim plays a big role in production of the range of products.
Thanks for the Interview Stephen! Keep up the amazing work.
Tags: stores
I had no idea!!! Thanks for the enlightment Stephen!!!! This is fantastic. I worked in 1/10 doll house scale for years and know how tedious this kind of work can be. I”ll be following your work from now on
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for your comment on the store. You’re right about the tediousness!!! I think I may be going cross-eyed anytime soon! thanks again.
Kindest regards,
Steve