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Department 56
Making of a Villages
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The Making of a Building Step One: Scaled Drawings Similar to a blueprint, scaled drawings are created for every piece. Each side is drawn in explicit detail, showing windows, shutters, doors, chimneys and special architectural features. |
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The Making of a Building Step Two: Prototype Model A full size three dimensional paper model is made to show placement of attachments as well as to compare with other buildings in the village. This guide is crucial to the next step of manufacturing, which is sculpting. |
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The Making of a Building Step Three: Sculpting Pieces take shape from clay, wax or plaster. The complicated, meticulous sculpting process can last many weeks. The main body of a building is sculpted first, followed by the detailing of each individual brick, roof tile and snowdrift. Most details that extend beyond the walls, such as chimneys, are separately sculpted. Requiring extreme precision, these sculpts will be attached at a later stage of production and must fit perfectly. Some buildings can require more than 25 different sculpted pieces! |
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The Making of a Building Step Four: Mold Making The finished sculpted building is now ready for mold making. Through a complicated process, the sculpted building is transformed into prototype molds. A complete building is made from this prototype mold, assembled and then fired. This becomes the artist's "proof" to test the building in the kiln and to check for any imperfections. Once the fired building is approved, the mother mold is made. The mother mold is made of plaster and sealed against moisture. Production molds are produced from the mother mold. Depending upon the number of buildings produced, up to several hundred production molds may be needed to maintain the high degree of detail demanded by Department 56. |
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The Making of a Building Step Five: Hand Painting The hand-painting stage of production is very labor intensive, requiring the ultimate concentration and patience from our highly skilled artisans. The various colors are applied directly to the fired ceramic. |
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From tiny trees to 50-foot giants, traditional trees to funky colored trees, we have what you want. |
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