Post #170450 by Rum Demon on Fri, Jul 8, 2005 1:26 PM

For the past few months I've been busily sketching, sculpting, and researching what it takes to make a run of my very own tiki mugs.

Searching through the TC forums for "how to make your own mug" I see that the general consensus is: get a book. Good advice. I'm lucky enough to have a smattering of pottery experience and a wife who is one of the best mold-makers in the business. Of course, she wouldn't make the mold FOR me, but... teach a man to fish as they say...

The original sculpt was Van Aiken oil-based clay, because I' used to it and had some laying around. I'd include a picture, but the mold making procedure didn't leave it looking too pretty, which was unfortunately a sign of things to come.

Here's a shot of the finished mold

If I were a professional of any kind I'd have run a MASTER out of silicone. But I'm a lazy sod and wanted to get right into the clay and muck.

I bought my slip premixed from the local pottery store. The more I learn about pottery the more I realize it's like sailing. A weekend to learn, a lifetime to master. So, not wanting to get myself in too deep I let the experts mix the slip for me.
My first pour was by the book, and didn't work too well. Undercuts in my sculpt and mold did a number on the piece as I tried to extract it from it's plaster prison. That and I didn't let the slip sit long enough, so the mug was very thin-walled. So I tossed it into my reclamation bucket and took a dremel and exacto knife to the mold, to minimize some of my undercutting.
The 2nd pull went a bit better, but still required more time in the mold than I gave it. Also, more scraping of the mold itself. I cleaned up this pull and kept it for future glaze testing.
The 3rd pull was good enough to clean up and mark L(for low fire) #1/50. I decided on 50 because of the amount of work that needs to go into cleaning up each pull, which I hope to minimize NEXT time. I only hope the mold lives long enough to give me 50 mugs. I've since cleaned up #2, and poured #3:

Here's the first two (darker, still drying) mugs and my 2nd pull (center w/chip) waiting for their eventual bisque firing:

There are two other sculpts almost ready to mold. But due to lessons learned on the first mug, I keep going back to trim them down, smoothe out potential trouble spots, etc. My wife has become inspired as well. Her first sculpt is nearly done and puts my work to shame.
I'll keep you all updated as to progress with glazes, etc. Hopefully this will all work out for the best and I can keep getting these ideas out of my head and into my collection.

-Joe

[ Edited by: Rum Demon 2008-01-31 09:53 ]

[ Edited by: Rum Demon 2008-08-23 18:40 ]