Making Chimney pots

I have always been fascinated with chimney pots, especially those magnificent, elaborate Tudor and Victorian pots with swirling brick patterns and ornate design reaching up past the rooftops, and chimney stack and into the sky. When you look at some of them, you have to wonder at the fact that the artisans put so much incredible beauty into an item whose details can scarcely be seen from the ground!

 Just look at some of these amazing chimney pots

  Why were these purveyors of SMOKE  created in such an elaborate and artistically whimsical manner, by craftsmen of real talent. To understand that, you must understand the history of the fireplace and chimney.

  I'll make it brief:

   Initially, homes heated with wood had no chimney, the smoke just traveled around the room making life rather miserable and causing everyone's eyes to water, hence the invention of the chimney to carry out the smoke.

 If you were well off, and had the means to make a chimney,  you wanted everyone to know about it, and you topped off the chimney with the decorative pot, which was something of a status symbol.  The more ornate and intricate the design, the more prestigious.  Of course, the pots also helped increase the draft up a chimney and carry away stray sparks from your roofing materials.

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Aren't these just gorgeous?!

Throughout the Tudor, Gothic and Victorian ages, Chimney pots were the final statement and flourish at the top of your roof.

  A Writer in 1842 wrote of Chimney pots "..being the highest point of the chimney, they should meet the eye agreeingly"

 ( all my chimney pot images are courtesy of Pinterest)

Though often thought of as purely English, Chimney pots were used throughout the world.

I want a chimney pot or two on Trimble Manor

Mine will be rather more of a humble affair, and I have to figure out how on earth to make one.

First I made my chimney using the same stone facing that I used around my front door.

 I found no useful tutorials on this project so I had to use my imagination.... starting with these items:  Empty toilet paper roll, paper clay, my little bricks, wooden egg holders and buttons

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   I decreased the size of the tube to suit

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And experimented with different brick patterns. I can't tell you how many times I removed these little bricks and started over again.
I glued together the wooden discs, egg cup holders and buttons for the tops and bottoms of the pot and painted, trying to come close to the color of clay.

I've got more work to do on these, but at this point, I think these chimney pots will definitely "meet the eye agreeingly"

   Here is a peek of the thatched roofing I've been working on... We really needed those tall chimney pots!

 

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My old kitty, Shasha, loves sitting in the attic of this house