I’m a full time ceramic producer in my solo studio and I’ve switched over to slip casting recently. With my engineering background I’ve been surprised at the lack of (and inaccurate) mold making for ceramics resources. I’ve done a lot of trial and error, and refused to heed the advice of pottery shops to “judge plaster mixing by feel” and to ignore the scientific process to make good molds. Your videos are amazing and super insightful. You mentioned you have a book for ceramics, where can I find it? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!!
Hi Josh, Thanks for messaging. I agree, there is a deficit of solid mold making information out there... largely because one size does not fit all and mold makers are not community centric. Donald Frith has a good mold making book, but it is slanted to industry and not artistic at all. My books were art centric, but in another video I mentioned why I did not publish the ceramic volumes when I wrote them in my early 30s. The contracts were crap work for hire agreements that were not to my highest good. We will be uploading chapters from those books in the near future. It is expensive to organize and reformat for video, but we will commit as soon as I can sort out the economics of it. Plaster mixing... I kept it simple. Room temp water / 1 gallon to 11 pound #1 Pottery with 1 pound hydrocal. hydrocal extends mold life, but is not necessary. lay in dry plaster to water gradually..should not take more than 2 minutes to get in water bucket. Let slake/soak for three minutes and then power mix with disc for one minute max. Pour and you are gold. I will show on a video in the near future. Thanks for joining in on the community...we are small but dedicated types! M
I’m a full time ceramic producer in my solo studio and I’ve switched over to slip casting recently. With my engineering background I’ve been surprised at the lack of (and inaccurate) mold making for ceramics resources. I’ve done a lot of trial and error, and refused to heed the advice of pottery shops to “judge plaster mixing by feel” and to ignore the scientific process to make good molds. Your videos are amazing and super insightful. You mentioned you have a book for ceramics, where can I find it? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!!
Hi Josh, Thanks for messaging.
I agree, there is a deficit of solid mold making information out there... largely because one size does not fit all and mold makers are not community centric. Donald Frith has a good mold making book, but it is slanted to industry and not artistic at all.
My books were art centric, but in another video I mentioned why I did not publish the ceramic volumes when I wrote them in my early 30s. The contracts were crap work for hire agreements that were not to my highest good. We will be uploading chapters from those books in the near future. It is expensive to organize and reformat for video, but we will commit as soon as I can sort out the economics of it.
Plaster mixing... I kept it simple. Room temp water / 1 gallon to 11 pound #1 Pottery with 1 pound hydrocal. hydrocal extends mold life, but is not necessary. lay in dry plaster to water gradually..should not take more than 2 minutes to get in water bucket. Let slake/soak for three minutes and then power mix with disc for one minute max. Pour and you are gold. I will show on a video in the near future.
Thanks for joining in on the community...we are small but dedicated types! M
Wow this is so nice
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to watch and send a message. Have a great day, more to come! M