Learning to Slip Cast a Tile

Here are some photos from the last day of the workshop where I learned to slip cast a tile. I learned so much and I'm really excited to slip cast some of my own tiles once my molds are seasoned. This will allow me to reproduce my tiles instead of carving each one individually. Slip casting will allow me to get a lot of the detail from my tiles - as opposed to pressing a tile with soft clay.

I am so glad I took this workshop. It will change the way I make my tiles.


Pouring the slip into the plaster mold.

Cleaning up the plaster mold while it's drying.

Pouring off the excess slip from the mold.

Leather hard tile after it's removed from the mold.

Plaster mold just after the leather hard tile was removed.

Waiting

I'm patiently waiting for my latest pot load to be fired. Here are some photos of the pots after they were glazed. It's amazing how muted the glaze colors are before the pots are fired - lots of pinks, faint greens and greys. After being heated to around 2200* F (cone 6) they will look completely different. I'm excited to see the results as I'm trying out all new glazes.

Who Does She Think She Is?

I've been wanting to see the documentary Who Does She Think She Is? after I read about it in an e-zine called "Literary Mama". They are looking for an outlet to show their film in the Seattle area so I sent a message to some people at the Kirkland Art Center. The Development Director called me back this morning and we talked about it. It sounds hopeful that they might host a local screening. Janis Mars Wunderlich, is one of the artists featured in the film. She is a ceramic artist whose work I've admired and followed for a number of years now.

I'd love to see this film, so I'm hoping it works out.

Carving Plaster Molds with Brand Spankin' New Tools

I've been working on cleaning up undercuts and adding additional work to the plaster molds that I poured last weekend. I picked up some new carving tools that are making this work a lot easier to do. Now I just need to see if my Dad has some old dental tools up in his attic that could take on a new life in my studio.

Sequoia the studio dog

Everyone needs a dog as great as Sequoia Boya. He's the best companion in the studio. Now if I could just get him to talk, I'd be all set. Here he is pictured in his favorite place - his bed in the studio. He never wants to come in.

Plaster Mold Making

Carving the original tile to use for casting the plaster mold.

Sealing up the coddle seams with clay.

Pouring the plaster on top of the leather hard tile.

Covering the tile in plaster.

Removing the coddle after an hour.

Carefully removing the clay from the plaster to reveal the image in the negative. Now it's ready to carve.

Here are some photos from the workshop I took this weekend. I am so excited about what I learned about mold making, working in the negative and tile making. I can't wait to incorporate what I learned into my work!

Kick in the pants

Today I'm giving myself that kick in the pants to set up my blog for Shoot The Moon Ceramics. I spent all morning on the phone/computer with Verizon tech support after yet another Woodinville power outage.

I'm going to cram in a little carving work on the damp plaster tile molds that I made this past weekend at the Kirkland Art Center. I'm really excited to have taken a wonderful class from Debra Bacianga. She has an incredible depth of knowledge and shared so many great ideas and techniques. I'm itching to get in my studio space and work on them.

Better get to work!