Stairs for dollhouses or other projects can be created from clay.
Clay stairs can be the answer to building a staircase in a miniature project such as model construction or dollhouses. When working in scale, such as 1:12 scale, you must convert real life measurements to miniature measurements. Clay is a malleable medium, that when dry, hardens allowing the stairs to be painted and glued into place where required. The same concept used to build miniature stairs can be used on a life-size scale, but the dimensions required would need to be tailored to the entryway for which the stairs were being made and the drying time would significantly increase.
Instructions
1. Cover your work area with plastic.
2. Measure the height of the area where you'll install the stairs. According to Ask the Builder, for a single story, straight staircase in a home with 8-foot high walls, there are thirteen steps, and the staircase measures 10-feet and 10-inches high. If working in 1:12 scale, you'll build an approximately 11-inch high straight staircase.
3. To make clay stairs for a specific house or project, measure carefully.
Measure the width of the area for the stairs. This is the width of the staircase. Stair parts include the tread and the rise. The tread is the surface of the step, where you put your foot. According to Backwoods Home Magazine, the rise of a stair is the measurement between the surface (tread) of the step and the surface (tread) of the next step.
4. Determine the size of each step. According to Ask the Builder, for a straight staircase intended for 8-foot high walls, each step will be 10 inches from the outer edge of the step's surface, to the riser. The riser is the part of the step facing you between the step surface. The riser of each step would be 7.5-inches high. In 1:12 scale, each step will be about the width from Step 2, and the stepping surface will measure about 1-inch from the outer step edge to the riser. The risers will measure about ½-inch high.
5. Form a clay rectangle according to the height measurement from Step 1 and the width measurement from Step 2. Flatten the sides/ends by pressing the rectangle against a cookie sheet.
6. Stand the rectangle on a longer side with a short end facing you. You will be cutting the staircase in one solid unit out of the clay. There will not be individual steps cut out and assembled.
7. Measure the rise of the first step from the table surface using the rise measurement you determined in Step 4. Use a plastic knife to mark a line in the clay. When you have completed measuring for each step and each rise, you will have drawn a "staircase" onto the side of the rectangle of clay. You will then cut the clay along the lines you've drawn.
8. Measure the stepping surface of the step. If you're working in 1:12 scale, measure horizontally from the outside end of the rectangle (facing you) 1 inch toward the center of the clay. Draw a line in the clay on the outside of the rectangle's long side with a knife. You are drawing a staircase onto one of the clay's long sides.
9. Draw the staircase on the side of the rectangle.
Repeat the measurement from Step 7. The drawing on the clay will resemble a staircase. Continue measuring the rise and surface of each step until you reach the top of the rectangle.
10. Turn the rectangle of clay flat onto the table onto the long side that has not been drawn onto with the plastic knife. Use your knife to cut through the clay down to the table along the lines you have previously measured and drawn onto the side of the clay rectangle. Remove the excess blocks of clay that result from the cuts. You'll be left with a solid clay unit of graduating stairs.
11. Allow the stairs to air dry until hard. According to ArtsEdge at The Kennedy Center, air-drying clay doesn't need a kiln to harden. The clay will shrink slightly.
Tags: each step, from Step, clay will, measurement from, measurement from Step, step surface, straight staircase
