Front Towards Bird Feeder

September 17, 2012 6:01 PM

Is it be possible to make a few replica [100% inert, of course] Claymore mines while also practicing my slab/ceramic skills?

I'm hoping these will be gifts for friends and will, hopefully, be the most awesome lawn ornaments on the block. Or they'll just sit under a bush with no one the wiser except my friend, who knows there's a claymore guarding his side gate... who knows.

Anyway, this idea just came to me and I'm hoping to talk to my slab class instructor about it this week. I guess any and all opinions are welcome, I've done a bit of wheel stuff and had luck but I'm just getting into slab type work. I have access to a slab roller and pretty much anything else you'd expect a campus art shop to have as well, though I doubt they have a mold for Mine, Directional laying around somewhere.

So, with as little as I know, right now I'm concerned with how to go about shaping the main piece of the body*, how to best do my lettering and/or attachments, and how to manage to get the glaze to look good, if I even glaze it, who knows, maybe just doing a bisque fire and then painting it with something out of a can would work better? How would that hold up to the weather here (rain, humidity, sun)?

I'm not looking for a replica that would stop a collector in his/her tracks, just something that would pass for a claymore to my friends (who have zero military experience, just video game/movie familiarity) from 5 feet away.

Thanks all.

*Measurements for the body are 8.5 x 1.5 x 3.5 inches, with an arc that I'll probably just eyeball... who knows.

posted by RolandOfEld to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 answers total)

Is this really a wise idea? They could be mistaken for the real thing. Our block was closed off last week for 12 hours because someone left a package on the bus. I can't even imagine what would happen if I put some ceramic claymore mines on my lawn.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:03 PM on September 17, 2012 [6 favorites]

I really think you should reconsider this idea.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:05 PM on September 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

I had the same thought as KokuRyu, and even did a quick google. I couldn't find that it was illegal (unless you're trying to transport them in some cases), but, damn, if I saw one I would call the police in a heartbeat. You're going to upset all of us old VietNam era vets!
posted by HuronBob at 6:06 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

Or, you could just buy one....
posted by HuronBob at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2012

You might consider looking into a way of learning ceramics that doesn't result in random bomb scares, your going to jail and the entire planet knowing your name forever because of the viral news reports describing the astoundingly dumb thing you did.

Just consider it. That's all I ask.
posted by mhoye at 6:14 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

I agree this is a bad idea. The the kind of bad that ends with handcuffs. But I do love a challenge...

Me, I'd start with something similarly shaped (a brake pad off a large truck maybe? a plumbing fitting? poke around your favorite parts/salvage/hardware store for a bit and see what fits) and make a plaster slump mold around it and then carve into it for the letters and additional details. Bonus tip: you can craft additional details out of clay when you are pouring your plaster.

Lay your slab of clay into the mold and press. Pull it out gently. Make a bunch of them. You're gunning for trouble with one, ten won't get you in exponentially more trouble.

As far as a finish, I'd stick with what we in the ceramics biz call "room temperature glazes:" good old rattle can spray paint. Treat the bisqued ceramics with a good skim coat of bondo. Sand smooth with 250 wet/dry, then 500 wet/dry, prime with Kilz, sand once more with 500, then spray your color coat. Easy peasy, and oh so industrial feeling.

Just don't blame me when the bomb squad chases away your blue jays and blows up said birdbath and scares the neighborhood cats way better than you ever dreamed.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:10 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Regarding buying one, that's kinda the trivial solution, and doesn't even fit the DIY aspect of things.

1f2frfbf: Thanks for the tips, that's exactly what I'm looking for regarding the slump mold construction and glazing/painting. I wonder if a local army navy store might have a decommissioned/practice/shell-only one I could use to make a mold from. I'd lose some size to shrinkage but my posse would never know the difference.

Regarding the legality/safety/bomb scare aspect, I was strongly considering putting something like a replica tag on it and I'll also tell them to put them in their gardens at their own risk since, I suppose, the AC repairman might not appreciate the joke. Sitting it next to their xbox is just as likely a place for it, or in their closet, unused and unappreciated. That really might be one of the benefits of making it out of ceramics and possibly putting an obnoxiously glossy green glaze on it, it'll be less 'military-hardware' more 'interesting tchotchke".

Beyond those measures, I just have to wash my hands, if they're dumb enough to put it next to someone's car with a tripwire leading to it, despite warnings and common sense dictating otherwise, then I hope they have fun talking to the cops/bomb squad. Otherwise it's well within the realm of the grenade complaint department or paperweight thing on the "will Roland get busted for this?" continuum. For what it's worth, I'll not be shipping them and I'll make sure the staff at the ceramics studio are groovy with it of course, I'll not be pissing them off anytime soon if I can avoid it.

Thanks for the concern, it's well taken, really it is. I'll be that much more aware that not everyone is in on the joke, including repairmen, meter readers, etc and will warn my friends accordingly.

That said, a quick googling yielded the following two bomb lawn ornament bomb scare stories. One was a real-bomb perceived as dummy that was really live, the other is someone putting a solar LED lawn light in a mailbox and the bomb squad showing up.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:35 PM on September 17, 2012

You are making a mistake and should abandon this course of action. I know of plenty of prosecutors who would love to charge you with Possession of a Hoax Destructive Device, for instance, if you lived in Oregon. Note that the particular law I linked to includes manufacturing in its definition of possession. Sure, they'd have to prove you knowingly put another person in fear of serious physical injury, but do you really want to expose yourself to this risk?

This is not legal advice, I am not your lawyer, I am just saying that this is a dumb course of action to pursue. Make coffee cups or something a little more inane.
posted by Happydaz at 12:12 AM on September 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

make an opening on top , put some daisies in and you'll be fine
posted by ouke at 1:59 AM on September 18, 2012

Ignoring whether or not his is a good idea (I can see the handling of this going either way), I think you'll have trouble getting the sunken letters in the mold to come out if you just mash a slab in there. You might have to pour a little slip, or you might be able to get away with just pushing bits of clay into the details before you fill the rest with slab. Or you could slip cast the whole thing.
posted by cmoj at 7:56 AM on September 18, 2012