Slip Casting and Mold Making
The Essential Guide to Mold Making & Slip Casting by Andrew Martin
Want to know something I’ve realized about myself? I enjoy the design process more than the production of pottery. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve decided to return to graduate school to finish a degree in landscape architecture that I dropped out of when my daughter was younger. I enjoy doing the research, design charrettes, and then creating proto-types but not necessarily producing 100+ of said item. But, my mind might be able to be wrap itself around molds.
That might sound sacrilegious to those of you (myself included) who sometimes enjoy working with wet clay more than the finishing aspect. I borrowed The Essential Guide to Mold Making & Slip Casting by Andrew Martin from the library and I’m truly impressed by its potential and all of the super delicious photographs of slip casted work that are included in the book.
It doesn’t hurt that I have a huge 50 lb. bag of pottery plaster sitting in my garagio right now – not to mention the minus 30 day deadline looming for the CPG show and sale. Tempting…
Meanwhile, today I had lunch with David Sprunt (a former classmate of mine from the graduate school of landscape architecture at University of Colorado at Denver) and met briefly with one of the faculty members. After visiting the school and seeing some current student’s work, I am really excited about returning to school this fall. In some ways August feels miles away, yet I also feel a sense of urgency to read for recreation and make some art before school begins again.
Later,
~Cynthia
Back to the studio
I ain't rolling no pie crust – excuse my poor grammar
We’re back home from our mini ski vacation and I am back in the studio in a last minute attempt to crank out work for the Colorado Potters Guild show opening April 30th. I’m starting with the more labor intensive, but popular hand-built items like mugs and boxes and will follow up with wheel thrown work next week – this should allow me enough time to bisque and glaze fire everything in time for the opening. Last fall, visitors were very sad that I didn’t bring more covered boxes. I guess that’s a good thing. 
Hand-building square bottomed mugs
I haven’t made any hand-built mugs in awhile, and decided to ease into production by making two mugs yesterday afternoon. I’m using lino-cuts that I fashioned in the shape of my paper templates to make these mugs. I have some ideas for more lino-cuts to expand the line a bit, but I’m not sure that I’ll have time this go around. That activity might have to wait till after the show. I do have 4 lino-cuts though and several soft textures to work with – what do you think – should I make 4-6 of each?
I worked on two at a time to get back into the swing of things
One of the tricky things (for me) in regards to hand-building mugs is to get nice almost seamless interiors and a smooth rim. I used a bit of plastic from a dry cleaning bag and some water to smooth the rim like I do when I throw in an attempt to compress and round the edges of the mugs so that they will be unobtrusive to the user. I also weight the mugs down with some wood boards to keep them from warping while they dry.
Mugs are finished
Voilá, handles are attached and the mugs are ready to begin the drying process. I used the exact same texture for the handles, just with different orientations – I’m not sure which one I like better. There are infinite possibilities just using the same template and textures depending on orientation for a mug or anything else for that matter.
View from the condo where we stayed in Steamboat
After an incredibly mild and fairly warm winter, Colorado has fortunately been graced with snow and lots of it these past 7 days which should help ease the impending summer drought fears just a little bit. While we were in Steamboat Springs for vacation last week, we experienced snowy gray days for all but our last day. Imagine our surprise when we woke up our final day and actually saw the view outside the condo we were staying at – gorgeous! Up until then, we hadn’t been able to see much past the cabin in the foreground. If you click on the enlarged photo,you can even get a peak of a hot air balloon in the distance that was making its way across the valley. We had a great time and the snow was terrific for skiing, but alas, there’s no place like home.
I’ve been on the computer way too long this morning after waking to snow again – but the sky is blue which means that it’s time for me to head to the garagio for the day.
Glad to be back,
~Cynthia
Posting from Steamboat Springs, CO
Me skiing in Steamboat – photo courtesy of my hubby
It’s spring break for Denver Public School families, so my family and I decided to take a trip into the heart of the Rocky Mountains to do a little skiing. Originally, I was going to attempt snow boarding, but chickened out at the last minute…maybe next time. I decided to err on the side of safety this time around and am using a helmet for the first time ever – and yes my actions are inspired by the recent tragic death of actress, Nastasha Richardson. I wear a seat belt in my car and a helmet when I ride my bike, so it makes sense to wear one on the slopes as well. I sort of like it. I’m not a huge fan of skiing in inclement conditions, but with the helmet on I feel drier and much more comfortable.
Gotta run, we’re headed out for the day,
~Cynthia
Rice Bowls & Show and Tell
Set of 2 rice bowls with chop stick rests
In my mind, there’s no better food than anything Asian – I could probably eat a derivative of the Asian food every day of the week as long as it contained rice. Maybe I just like eating food with chop sticks. 
I’ve been throwing a little bit more than usual as I reclaim clay and decided to turn some bowls into rice bowls – I’m not sure if they should be larger or not. What do you think? These probably hold about 2 – 3 cups of food and measure about 6″ wide at the rim and 3.5″ high.
Rice bowl
Do you know what I hate? When my chopsticks slide off the side of my bowl and hit the floor – so with that in mind, I added 2 little chopstick rests to each bowl. I contemplated adding a divot to the opposite side for the chopsticks, but after testing it out, the bowls don’t really need it. The chopsticks can rest either as shown, or inside the bowl in more of a vertical fashion. I might make a few sets of these to sell at the Colorado Potters Spring Show – I wonder if I could find some chopstick wholesale to include with the bowls if I look hard enough.
Next up, “Show and Tell” (though isn’t my blog all show and tell?):
Before – oval serving dish
Remember this little oval serving dish that I made about about a month or so ago? I decided it looked a little plain so I decided to add a decal to the piece which dresses it up nicely.
After – Oval serving dish with water lily decal
Much better! I’m also pleased to be getting a lot of mileage from my water lily sketch that I made using my Bamboo Fun Wacom Tablet. After assessing my studio glazes, I think I need to expand my glaze palette. I’ve found that a good contrast between glaze and the sepia tone of the decals works really well. I’d like to add a good matte white, maybe closer to bone/off white. Actually, what I’d really like is a nice reduction look off white with little crystals…probably more difficult to achieve in oxidation. But, I can still wish.
Porcelain pendants with laser toner decals
People reading this who know me in real life are probably laughing at me right now – I’m adding decals to everything in my studio, much like I “marbleized” everything in my home several years ago when I was really into faux painting. 
I can’t help it, everything that I make without a decal looks naked right now. Since taking this photo, I’ve added bails to the pendants and they’re now available in my Etsy Shop – or they will be after I write this post.
We’re headed up to Steamboat Springs tomorrow for a little spring skiing. I’m bringing my laptop because supposedly, the condo where we’re staying has wi-fi. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some photos of one of my favorite areas & a really gorgeous part of Colorado with you.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
