Chris Pugh's clay models of famous faces prove a hit

Chris Pugh, 38, uses a lot of his spare time to get creative and make four-inch high clay models of the rich and the famous. These have included Nelson Mandela, Daniel Craig as James Bond, Freddie Mercury and The Simpsons.

The Bradford City season ticket holder even makes a host of models of football managers including Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho. He has just finished making a model of his own side's boss, the Bantams' Stuart McCall.

Pugh, who is now based in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, says it can take him as little as 90 minutes to make each model, but it depends on how much work is involved.

Chris Pugh putting the finishing touches to his Stuart McCall model

He has become a popular figure himself on social media, with Have a Nice Clay showcasing his work and also working as a platform for requests for new personalities for him to construct for people.

Pugh's first clay model was of Jon Snow from the TV series Game of Thrones, which was used to decorate his partner's birthday cake.

Del Boy and Rodney from Only Fools and Horses

By day he is the project manager for Wolverhampton City Council's coronavirus response strategy, so Pugh says he enjoys relaxing by making and selling the clay models.

He said: "I have been doing them for about four or five years now. It started as a bit of a laugh.

"I enjoy it, it's a bit of a hobby. There is a real eclectic mix of characters that I get asked to make.

"I have had the weird and wonderful requests for models to be made. I have a lot of football managers, TV people and politicians. Somebody requested Margaret Thatcher.

Daniel Craig as James Bond

"I would love to develop it more and do it as a permanent thing.

"I don't class myself as an artist, I am a craftsperson.

"I just intend for people to have a laugh with it. Just to see the reaction to the models from people is the best thing, just to make them smile.

"My models are far and wide. It's intriguing to find out where they end up. People from Pennsylvania in USA contacted me to do some models as cake toppers for a wedding.

Nelson Mandela in clay 

"Somebody on Twitter made a snide remark that I should stick to making Wallace and Gromit type models, which I saw as a compliment.

"It's an accessible medium. If it's a fairly basic model, it can take around 90 minutes to two hours.

"Pavarotti is the most complicated one I have done, I put him in a bottle. It took ages, I had bleary eyes. It was a good challenge. It took hours and hours and hours.

Incredible Hulk in a lightbulb

"I have made a Stuart McCall model for one of my friends. I have also made Billy Bantam and Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street wearing Bantams jerseys."

Pugh can be contacted via Twitter @HaveANiceClay. He also sells his original items at ebay.co.uk/usr/bantamchris