1963 Duncan Tiki mold in action

Some may consider this a form of sacrilege, but I'm using a mold I recently bought at an estate sale to cast a couple-dozen mugs. I knew almost nothing about doing this when I started but am learning a LOT as I go along. I'm able to get two mugs per 24-hour period cast easily. 30 minutes of slip in the mold seems to give me the proper wall thickness. I'll be cleaning these up before firing of course, and I have a food-safe glaze selected already. These won't be award winning mugs by any stretch, but they're fun to do and I may get the itch to design and mold my own mugs down the road. Any tips and tricks others have learned along this path would be VERY welcome!

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[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 00:28 ]

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 17:27 ]

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 17:29 ]

and I thought they just made yoyos. They look pretty good to me. Nice work.

On 2008-02-20 10:51, SilverLine wrote:
Some may consider this a form of sacrilege, but I'm using a mold I recently bought at an estate sale to cast a couple-dozen mugs.

Using a mug mold to make mugs? Unspeakable! :lol:
Seriously, I'm not too sure what you meant there...do you mean to say its collectible value might outweigh the functionality? I would kill for some sort of vintage mug mold, and you better believe I'd be pumping out my own army in double-time and building little ahu all over my house! I've seen 3 or 4 other TCers using vintage Duncan molds they've scored with some very nice results. Looking forward to the final product!

I don't know what the hard-core "muggers" (can I say that) are going to think but I think these are great.

Keep us updated in how they turn out, I might want to get my hands on one.

as devo would say " it's time to go beyond the normal thing, and do the super thing!!

which basically means...kick it up a notch after you do the mugs and make some salt and pepper shakers, some ceramic lamp bases and whatever the hell else you can with it...

most folks are content to just make mugs and leave it at that...it gets real stale, real quick. use your imagination to squeeze the maximum yield out of that mold and continue your good work....

those mugs look nice....i hope you make some with a flat glaze like munktiki.

On 2008-02-20 11:52, Tipsy McStagger wrote:

kick it up a notch after you do the mugs and make some salt and pepper shakers, some ceramic lamp bases and whatever the hell else you can with it...

Hmmm . . and I need a couple lamps. Good thinking!

To infinity .. and BEYOND!

Those look great!

On 2008-02-20 11:10, pappythesailor wrote:
and I thought they just made yoyos. They look pretty good to me. Nice work.

good eye !

The Moai army is nearly ready for battle in the fiery kiln! Here are 18 cleaned and ready to go after Jennifer makes the final Quality-Control check. The other six have yet to be cleaned up, but that will happen today and tomorrow. First firing to commence later this week. Hopefully the army suffers few losses in battle.

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[ Edited by: silverline 2015-07-07 00:25 ]

On 2008-02-24 08:34, SilverLine wrote:
The Moai army is nearly ready for battle in the fiery kiln!

yeah, you don't want to be around moai once they get fired up! (ugh...sorry).

Great work and good luck - those mugs look like they are going to be winners.

[ Edited by: leisure master 2008-02-24 09:50 ]

That is a REALLY nice looking mold! Go easy on it - let it dry out every few days and maybe don't pull two-a-day, or it'll start getting crumbly.

Hey, and I'd suggest going crazy with glazes. I got a big gallon bottle of clear glaze for the inside (pour it in, count to 10, pour it back out) and painted the outsides wild colors and textures. You can get Duncan colors in little 4-oz bottles.

There are those flat, stone-colored glazes that have hardly been experimented with around TC, go to it brah!

Please - just don't glaze 'em all honey brown!

Hey, and I'd suggest going crazy with glazes. I got a big gallon bottle of clear glaze for the inside (pour it in, count to 10, pour it back out) and painted the outsides wild colors and textures. You can get Duncan colors in little 4-oz bottles.

There are those flat, stone-colored glazes that have hardly been experimented with around TC, go to it brah!

Please - just don't glaze 'em all honey brown!

I agree, have some fun with the colors. It's a nice simple design so some fun with the colors will would really add some flair to them.

Along the mold-preservation line . . I'm thinking of trying to cast a master to make more molds from. It would need to be a sand-able material, maybe some kind of resin, so I could work out the imperfections that have developed over time. Does anybody know what would work well for this without (maybe) destroying THIS mold?

M

[ Edited by poptiki on 2022-10-12 03:50:17 ]

On 2008-03-02 08:50, poptiki wrote:
One way to get a master out of the original is to mold soap the inside real well and pour molding plaster in it as if you were pouring slip. Let the plaster set and remove. You can do all the repair, and detail work in the plaster master and pour a new mold from it.

Thanks for the tip Poptiki. I think this is what I'm going to end up doing.

Update time: The army has returned from the kiln without a single casualty! These little dudes are TOUGH!

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[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 00:30 ]

Awesome!!! That's a formidable looking army.

Can't wait to see em all with their war paint on!

They look great for sure.

Simply awesome Silverline!

LED Tiki

You know I'm thinking what you're thinking so I don't even have to type it do I? :D

Let me know if you want some help glazin'. Oh, think of the possibilities when you put your "heads" together. :lol:

Way To Go Brad!
Who knows? You may just have to give up photography for a livin' and become the Mid-West's Munktiki!

Great One! I used this mug look for the bases of my F-O-M mug, I started from scratch and came up with this, My sculpt is a lot more narrow, But much alike, My Master Sculpt:

Finished Mugs:

Keep up the Great work, Have Fun! Mahalo! Gogo

[ Edited by: GO TIKI 2008-03-13 23:17 ]

On 2008-02-24 09:47, Cammo wrote:
Please - just don't glaze 'em all honey brown!

Not, not all brown.

Just ONE brown.

For Me.

For my Moai Army! Bwahhahhaa haaa haaaa!

Seriously! One brown one for me.... how much do you want and can I send it via paypal?

WOW Go Tiki! I want one of those FOM mugs! Those are WAY cool!

Thanks for the encouragement everybody. Much like carving, I really don't know what I'm doing here, but it's FUN!

Here are the Moai Generals leading their respective divisions to the final fiery glaze of glory. I know it's all just chemistry (and old hat to those who've done this before), but it's interesting to me how the pre-fire glazes look SO different from what they'll look like after firing,

Left to right is: Royal Purple, Teal Tweed, Caramel, and Sand Bar. Keep your fingers crossed that these colors are what I actually get!

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[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 17:26 ]

Great color choices Silverline, especially the teal.

LED Tiki

[ Edited by: La Esquina Del Tiki! 2008-03-27 09:53 ]

let me buy some unglazed greenware f.o.m. mugs from you so i can get going on making some special lamps for this years hula hop to sell!!! (or use for prizes!!).....providing of course i can strike a deal with the f.o.m. guys to make a small exclusive run of these hand painted ultra cool lamps that i have in mind.....

"operation chaos is in effect!! RUSH the vote 2008!!"

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-03-27 09:56 ]

Love this stuff, great test color choices. Really want to see what they look like after the burn. They never come out exactly like the little test chips - it depends on heat, bumpiness and how thick you put it on. (We still can't find a bright red that works.)

Excellent job, you get A++++++.

Great color choices! I'm so glad you are doing a couple different ones.

I look forward to seeing how they look done.

Well, it's been a while and a lot has happened with these guys. Long story short, it's been determined that they were not fired hot enough or long enough in the first (bisque) firing to get all the moisture out. As a result, steam and moisture erupts the glaze as it's melting causing glaze-craters and burst bubbles. Highly unattractive! All were affected, to greater or lesser degrees. We tried a second glaze firing to see if it would settle out; some improved, some got worse. I'm very disappointed with the results, but may try again before long. I've been considering buying my own kiln so I'll have only myself to blame for mistakes like this in the future. Just don't know if this is really something I have the time and money for.

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[ Edited by: SilverLine 2008-05-06 08:50 ]

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 17:30 ]

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2015-07-07 17:31 ]

I think the first two look great. :)

Agreed.

yowch!

Sorry about the glaze bubbles - now you can understand why I hate glazing! :) What kind of "hold time" are you allowing while firing? And are you using cones in the kiln? I'm thinking that you may be firing too hot? I get bubbles if I fire too hot or apply the glaze too thick. If this is a painful subject feel free to ignore this post - I don't want to add salt to your wounds! I am always tortured when I open the kiln, witness a disaster, silently cry for a bit, spend a few hours trying to figure out what went wrong, come up with a solution, get over my pain and loss, then have to revisit the whole dang thing when my Dad stops by and wants to know why the glaze failed! :)

Love the glaze on the far left! Mahalo for sharing -

Henrik "VanTiki"

You could always pass them off as pubescent teen Moai...? I don't think they look bad at all, especially being a first working with molds. That mold is really close to the Danny Balsz Tikis moai....only small difference with earlobe and nose tip.Cool stuff.....

On 2008-05-06 12:15, VanTiki wrote:

What kind of "hold time" are you allowing while firing? And are you using cones in the kiln? I'm thinking that you may be firing too hot?

I believe she was putting them on low overnight then cranking them up by late morning. Cones in the kiln and the switch. The second glaze firing was at cone 05 (the first was cone 06). The overall finish was far better at one level hotter than Duncan specified (Duncan glazes).

I get bubbles if I fire too hot or apply the glaze too thick.

That's a possibility. I had three coats on the green guys and four on the other colors. The green came out better overall than the others.

Love the glaze on the far left!

Thankfully that was what I used on the majority of them. Better, but not great.

On 2008-05-06 12:43, Tom Slick wrote:
You could always pass them off as pubescent teen Moai...?

That's what I was thinking! Easter Island ads for Clearasil!

Despite them not turning out perfect, it shows that the color choices are great.

Hope you figure out what to do to fix this.

Hey Silverline,

Hope you decide to stick with it. I posted this basic glaze troubleshooting link on another thread. I hope it helps.

http://www.ceramicartspace.com/firing&glazes.php

Best,

Here's an application for your mold I never would have thought of! They used the image from page one of this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqTZvMakwUo