Post #645911 by danlovestikis on Sat, Jul 28, 2012 8:33 AM

Thank you Matt and Nelson, I've added your names. Wendy

Progress Report:

Yesterday while the kiln fired we worked on making two molds of the Sacramento Ohana crawl mug due in October.

I took a short cut using the blank mold to hold the bisque hardened master mug.

Next after deciding where the widest point of the mug was and drawing a line I built up the clay to that line and added mold locks. I extended the end to the top of the mold.

I put the box on and added the clay to all the seams to prevent leaks. Then I used mold soap so that the mold will come off.

After the first piece hardened it was removed. Now I took off the clay and the plastic wrap that protected the back side.

At this point the front had a mold piece on it and we have done the back side. We took it off and prepared to start on the second mold.

Mold number two. We now molded the back for a second time.

We took it apart to see how it was going. Three pieces down one more front piece to make. We are very happy because no matter what we have one good mold. We are soooo tired.

It was all downhill after that. First Dan says it's leaking but didn't put the bucket back to catch it so we had to fix the leak and mix another batch.

Then I remembered that I hadn't used the mold soap before we poured in the plaster. Would there be enough left from the last pour? It was stuck. I trimmed the sides trying to get it out.

That didn't work so I just hit it with the rubber mallet. I should have had Dan catch the mug but I didn't so it crashed on the floor.

The good news is that I only lost a couple of letters that I can carve back in on each mug.

We ended up with two good molds that are now drying in the sun.

It was a good day after all. Thanks for taking the journey with us. Now I need to find my maniac...man and get to work.

Cheers, Wendy

PS Dan did a good job mopping but I forgot to take a photo_______________