Here we are, in the final steps of creating Viola’s fridge magnets. The pieces have been molded and dried. Next, the colors are painted onto the fragile greenware with underglaze colors.

I don’t have a set order for applying the colors. I pick a color and put it onto everything that needs it, then I move on to a new color. The first picture below shows the logo magnets before the green vines were applied, the second shows the finished magnets before they were put into the kiln.

The pieces were fired to bisque cone 04. Not all of them were painted with underglaze colors. Some of them were stained with a dark clay which was then wiped off. This technique leaves the dark color in the recessed areas. The final step was to spray all of the pieces with clear acrylic spray. This really made the colors pop.

The pieces were left to dry for 24 hours, then magnets were glued to the back. Another 24 hours and they were wrapped up and delivered to the customer.

Whew! This was a fun and educational experience. If you like these, stop by Viola’s Flower Garden at 2654 E. Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona and pick one up!

Now it’s time to make the magnets. Finally! It has taken a lot of preparation to get here, but now that the molds are made, I can get into production mode.

	The first thing I have to do is roll out a slab of clay. I do that with my handy-dandy Brent SRC Mini slab roller that I recently acquired.
	See how nice the slab turned out? It sure beats using a rolling pin! Let me tell ya. I did that for too many years.
	Since the clay gets rolled out between two pieces of canvas, it’s heavily textured. I use a specialized tool, in this case an old hotel key card that I found in my purse, to smooth out the surface. I don’t always smooth the surface when making things out of clay slabs, but it’s necessary for this application.
	I cut the slab to the approximate size that I want to press into the mold.
	As the name “press mold” implies, the clay has to be pressed into it. That’s what I’m doing here. I press firmly yet gently, and straight down. If I put sideways pressure on the clay, it shifts in the mold and I end up with a double impression. That’s not good.
	I want a smooth back on the magnet, so I use another specialized tool to cut the excess clay off the mold. Note that I start the cut from the center - this prevents the clay from shifting in the mold. I do two cuts - from the center to each end.
Funny how I’ve learned over the years that everyday gadgets make some of the best clay tools. If I ever come to visit at your house, don’t let me into your kitchen gadget drawer. You’ve had fair warning!
	Final smoothing is done with a wet sponge.
	The plaster pulls moisture out of the clay, causing it to shrink. When I see a gap between the edge of the clay and the mold, I know it’s ready to release. You can see the gap in this photo. Here, I’m stamping my signature into the piece before removing it from the mold.
	Turning it upside down drops the piece out of the mold. I trim the edges and smooth them with a sponge, then put it under loose plastic to dry.

The next post will show the final steps taken in making these fridge magnets.

This post demonstrates how the plaster press molds were made for the fridge magnets that were started in the last post. When we left off, I had just finished making the models that I wanted to mold.

	First things first. I stuck the models that I wanted to mold to a piece of plastic coated MDF. Then, I rolled out some clay coils and flattened them with a small roller. These were wrapped around the models to form walls, leaving about 1/2″ of space between the model and the coil walls.
Note that the board is wet where I’m sticking the coils down. Pressing the flattened coils onto the wet board gave a nice, firm seal to prevent plaster from leaking out the bottom.The clay was left to firm up for about an hour.
	Mixing the plaster. The plaster powder was added to the water and allowed to sit for about 15 minutes, then gently stirred by hand until it was the consistency of thick cream. Mmmm… yummy.
I don’t have the picture here, but as I’ve said before - successful plaster work requires preparation! I had my plaster cleanup bucket, a plastic-bag lined container, and sponge right there, for a quick cleanup after pouring.
	The plaster was gently poured into the casting forms. Pouring gently helps prevent annoying and evil air bubbles from forming on the surface of the mold.
Next - a fast cleanup! I had my plaster wash bucket on the table and when the pouring was finished, everything was cleaned up right away. It doesn’t take long for plaster to set up and ruin your stuff, so be prepared!
	The molds were allowed to set up for about an hour.
	Once set up, the clay forms were removed from around the plaster molds. It was as simple as pulling the coils off the edges, and gently knocking the molds to loosen them from the board.
	Here’s the mold turned over. You can see that the mold is the reverse impression of the model that was carved in the last post.
	I used a rasp to clean up the edges, then sponged the mold out with clean water.
	The molds will be completely dry and ready to use in about 24 hours.

In the next post, I’ll demonstrate using the press molds to make the magnets.

A while back, some friends and local business owners asked if I could make some fridge magnets with their store logo on it. We talked about a few ideas, then I went to work. My next few posts will detail the steps that I took to make these custom creations.

The first step in the process was to make a plaster press mold for each magnet design. This required making one of each design for casting.

I had to figure out the size for the fridge magnets. I resized the logo graphic on the computer until it looked good, then printed it out. I rolled out a thin slab of clay and let it sit out and firm up for a while. Then, I placed the logo onto the clay and used a ball-point needle tool to impress the outlines of the logo onto the clay. The next step was to gently start carving, leaving the logo raised. I concentrated on the main letters and flower on the logo in the beginning.

Once the rough carving was finished, I went back over the piece to smooth out the high spots. Then I cleaned up and softened the edges with a sponge.

Next, the finer parts of the design were needed. Vines, leaves and lettering were added with a syringe fitted with a fine tip. The additions were sharpened with a carving tool, and the cast was finished.

I also made a couple of simpler designs with daisies and the business name in freehand. The daisies came from the sprig molds that I made a while back, in this post.

In the next post, I’ll demonstrate pouring the plaster and casting the molds for the magnets.

I have to admit, I am thrilled with the way this piece turned out! The depth of color and the glaze finish are impressive. Will I ever be able to duplicate it? Hmm. That’s a good question. Take a high-fire clay body, a low-fire raku glaze, velvet underglazes and a clear top coat… then fire in oxidation with a load of greenware, cross my fingers and see what happens.

Yay for fish! This guy will hang on my kiln house for years to come, I hope. I love it when an experiment turns out.