In my last post I mentioned that I was going to pour some plaster molds to make square rice bowls. I found a really cool square bowl in the after-Christmas sales and thought, “Hmm. That would make a great rice bowl,” so I picked one up and brought it home. I spent a couple of days making the molds and documenting the process in pictures, and here it is!

	First, I gathered the supplies. This is very important because once the plaster is mixed, there is no going back! It will set up while I’m searching for things. Here you see the bottom and side boards (called casting boards) for the mold, clamps, the square bowl, clay, buckets, mold soap (really Murphy’s Oil Soap), and a paintbrush.
	I clamped the casting boards together using the square bowl as a guide. I left about 1.25 inches of space around the bowl.
	The next step was to seal the corners of the mold. I pressed coils of clay into the side and bottom corners. Without this seal, plaster leaks out of the mold and makes a huge mess. I’m wearing latex gloves here because experience has taught me that plaster destroys my hands. It sucks all the moisture out and leaves them dry and cracked.
	After all of the corners were sealed, I applied mold soap to the casting boards. This makes for an easy release of the boards when the plaster has set up. No need to soap the bottom board since it’s formica and the non-porous surface will release from the plaster easily.
	See the writing on the plaster bag? It says breathing plaster is BAD FOR YOU. That stuff settles into your lungs and doesn’t come out. Same with powdered clay particles. That’s why it is important to have the right type of particle filtration mask. I wear it anytime I’m messing with the plaster bag or pouring dry plaster into the bucket for mixing.
	The dry plaster was added to water, then mixed by hand until it reached the consistency of thick cream. I mixed slowly to try to avoid bubbles. The bubbles that you can see on the top of the bucket were scraped off and dumped in the trash.*
	Next, the plaster was carefully poured into the mold. I use a smaller container to scoop and pour the plaster, and pour it over my hand to try to reduce bubbles. Once I had filled the mold, I set the bowl into it at an angle and bounced it up and down gently. Again, this was to try to get any big air bubbles to rise to the top.
	I weighed the bowl down until the top was at the level of the plaster. I let it sit for 40 minutes or so, then removed the bowl and the boards. Plaster gets hot while curing, so I wait until I feel it starting to cool down before I remove the casting boards.
	The mold after the boards and bowl have been removed. It’s ready to be cleaned up and set on a rack to dry.
	I use a fettling knife to knock off all of the sharp edges. A word of warning - don’t leave damp plaster on your tools! It will set up hard as a rock and is hard to clean off. Speaking from experience here. The final cleanup was a wipe-down with a damp sponge.

One step I didn’t photograph was the cleanup. I have a small bucket with a plastic bag liner and as soon as I poured the plaster, I scraped the rest of it into that trash bucket. Then I gave my mixing bucket a quick wipe with a sopping wet sponge and poured that water into the trash bucket too. If you let the mixing bucket sit, the plaster will set up and be impossible to remove. The key is to have everything set up and to work fast.

*NEVER pour plaster or plaster water down the sink drain!! You’ll be sorry. And you’ll have an expensive plumber bill.

Altogether I made three molds and am happy with two of them. They’ll need to dry for a couple of days, then I’ll make some bowls and post the results right here. Stay tuned!

I can’t seem to get away from them. I’ve come back full circle to the desire to make colorful, festively patterned pieces. So, that’s what I’ve been working on. Why fight the urge? The pictures in this post are pre-fired. That’s why the colors are pastel; once fired and glazed, the colors will be brilliant and saturated.

My time in the studio has been limited what with school and work and life, but I’m sneaking in an hour here and there. I’m playing with some new color combinations and patterns, along with some old standbys. My mantra this year is “Don’t stress. Just do what comes naturally and work when you can.” Last year’s stressful run up to the holiday shows took a lot of joy out of my favorite indoor pastime, and I’m going to do everything I can to not let that happen this year.

The clay that I had in stock from the Christmas season is a little bit dry and firm, but still good for working on the slab soap dishes (see previous post) and little spoon rests. I also made a few dip bowls. I guess I have about twenty five pounds of the old clay left that I’ll try to get to this weekend, then it will be into the nice, soft, fresh stuff. That’s reserved for bigger pots.

This afternoon, I’m going to pour another plaster mold - this time for a square rice bowl. I was at a local department store in the after Christmas sales and came across this bowl and thought, “Aha! - I could make a press mold out of this!” and that was that. The sale bowl was in my basket and it’s been on the shelf since then. Stay tuned for results!

I’ve been having fun making soap dishes out of slabs of clay. A couple weekends ago, I poured some plaster slump molds using a cake pan and a stainless mixing bowl. I mixed the plaster, then poured it into the square baking pan. Next, I put the bowl into the plaster and weighed it down with some stones, until the bottom of the bowl was submerged into the plaster about 1.5 inches. 45 minutes later, the plaster was cured and set up. I removed the bowl and turned the cake pan upside down. Pressing on the bottom popped the mold out of the pan. The final step was to let the plaster dry for a few days on a rack. I repeated the process and ended up with five molds.

To make a soap dish, I roll a slab of clay out 1/4″ thick. For a square dish, I cut out the shape I want, impress the clay with a wooden tool, then lay it into the mold and gently press it in with a damp sponge. The round dish starts out larger and gets trimmed in the mold. The next day, the clay is dry enough to hold its shape. I can then remove it from the mold and round any sharp edges with a wooden tool and a damp sponge.

I love working on the potters wheel, but working with slabs gives me the freedom to be less strict with the forms. I really love handbuilding pots, as much as working on the wheel.