New things from an old plaster cast

We emptied a new kiln at my studio today, which is always a little bit like Christmas! These tea light holders were a bit of an experiment - they are cast from a plaster cast I made a while back. It was originally made to make small espresso cups, but they did not shrink as much as I hoped for, so they are a little bit too big for that. I also had a bit of an accident while making the plaster cast, which made the top edge very uneven. So then what to make from it? Apparently tea light holders could work!

The porcelain is a bit translucent, so if I make them thin enough, they give off a beautiful orange glow. You can kind of see it in this picture, although my camera really does not do them justice...

...also notice the view from my window on the first picture: All snow and fog. Absolutely no sign of spring here yet... *Sigh*

'Ah, all things come to those who wait,'

(I say these words to make me glad),

But something answers soft and sad,

'They come, but often come too late.'

:)

Little horned ducklings

Some more antler-ducks fresh out of the kiln (...although the one to the back left looks more like he has grown mittens :) ). They are a bit naff, I know, but I do love making them.

Shaping up

When I first started making these porcelain bowls they would consistently come out warped and deformed. Great fun sometimes, but mostly very frustrating, and most of them ended their life in the bin. But lately they have been holding their shape a lot better, so now I can start consentrating on how to decorate them. This should be great fun!!



Cast ceramic bowl

The first bowls made from my own plaster cast are finally through the final firing. They were not a complete success - three out of the four of them had glaze issues, one had a crack and all four had a surprisingly warped shape....they looked like they were trying to do the figure eight! They were perfectly round and smooth inside when I finished them, so I think it must be a case of the infamous clay memory at work here. Will have to do a bit of a science experiment on the next ones I make, to see if I can figure out what makes the most difference. Could it be the way I pour the liquid porcelain into or out of the mould? How long I let it drip off or how long I let it dry in the mould before taking it out? The clean-up afterwards? The porcelain type?... I think the list might get very long before I truly figure it out...

And here I thought casting would let me churn out perfect replicas, conveyer belt-style. Not quite the case, or at least not yet. And to be honest I’m quite pleased to find that there is still so much that goes into it before you get it right, so that it still feels like a 'proper' handmade object.

The duclings keep turning out ok though...

Spoon frustrations

Sometimes the distance from initial idea to finished product is longer than anticipated.

I had visions of making a white porcelain spoon, wafer thin and elegant. A few weeks ago I went to work making a plaster cast from a spoon found at my grandparents. It is pretty thin and delicate, so I added clay to the back of it to make it a bit thicker. In the last couple of weeks I have been trying to cast the spoon, but it has proved to be a tough nut to crack - they keep breaking at the ‘neck’! I think the profile of the spoon I picked is just too curvy, so that the weight of it creates a weak spot right there. I have tried pouring and pressing, drying on its belly and on its back, drying in the mould and building small scaffoldings underneath it, but after eight broken ones I am about to throw the whole thing at the wall. So in an attempt to try and get at least one spoon through both firings, I press molded a very crude one in sturdy stoneware. And ta-da! Here it is: one finished spoon! Not at all what I set out to make, but still - a spoon in one piece! Will keep trying on the porcelain one, and eventually I’m sure I’ll get there. But in the mean time I’ll enjoy this small victory.

Viruses, Holidays and Shrinkage

I’m back! You might not have known I was gone, but last week I got a nasty virus on my laptop, so for the last five days I have been without a computer. It has really brought home to me how many parts of my daily life involves being online. How do you find a computer-repair-man in a hurry without doing a quick search online? And when I found one, how I wished I could have searched for the address on a map to find their offices out in an unfamiliar suburb. And that was just within the first five minutes ... But of course there are upsides to it as well. Without a computer I had to postpone some of the work I was planning on doing, and could go here for a few days ..

Today I also picked up the first ducks made using my new plaster casts. I have tried out two different types of porcelain clay, and if you look closely you might see that they are slightly different in color. They have also shrunk a lot in firing, so now they look like little ducklings next to the original duck.

Making plaster casts

This weekend we had a plaster cast workshop at the pottery studio, held by plaster-caster-extraordinare Kjersti Lunde. Great fun, and a lot more to it than what I in my ignorance had thought. Pictures of my evolving projects below.

The finished production, which now has to dry out for about a week or so before I can start using them. Can't wait!