Post #757395 by 2n on Sat, Jan 16, 2016 9:13 PM

Hello all!,

This is my first time posting, but I've been visiting the site for a while for all the great tutorials and tips.

A few month back, a buddy of mine had asked me to make him Tiki mug. Finally getting some free time during the holidays, I was able to spend some time working on it. It was also around the time of the new Star Wars movie hype. Drawing inspiration from that, I decided to do a mashup of these two great themes.

Here are some pictures from this fun little project.

Sketch of the idea.

Started the sculpting process:

Almost finish: The designed evolved as I was working on it.

Finished piece: Greenware

I've been doing ceramic for a few years now, so I'm pretty comfortable working with clay. However, I have never done mold making or slipcasting so that was a new experience for me. Thanks to Wendy Cevola, Bowanana and Babalu, and TikiTonie, and everyone else for the great tutorials!

It took me a while to decide whether to mold the piece in greenware (dried clay) or bisque. I decided on molding the greenware so I have a higher chance of de-molding it from the plaster mold.

I don't have any picture from the making of my mold, but I will say it was somewhat disastrous. Because of all the detailed on the mug and some of the undercuts I had, I decided to make a 5 piece mold. It was probably overly ambitious for my first time mold making. Even with the mistakes, I was luckily able to salvage the plaster mold I made.

Finished Mold:

Next part, SlipCasting fun! Made some mistakes on the first two mugs. First one was too thin, and second one was too thick. Had to figure out the wait time.

Removed from the mold. Lots of seams on the piece.

Vader with Hair!

Spend about an hour to clean up all the seams and fixed the details lost.

I think if I had plan the seams better on the mold, I would have less cleanup and fixes to do on the final piece. Overall it's been a great learning experience.

I'm currently eagerly waiting for the final glazed piece to come out of the kiln.

[ Edited by: 2n 2016-01-17 18:55 ]