Moulds for Slip casting

[Momo]

Hi all, 

I'd like to have a go at slip casting but wondered if I could use a piece of bisque ware as a mould instead of making a plaster mould? Bisque ware is porous so I thought it might work too. Has anybody tried this and if so, was it successful?

 Thank you in advance. 

[Tyler Miller]

Bisque molds were/are used all the time—with a history back to bronze age Crete in Europe.  I’ve worked at a not-for-profit recently where they used bisque molds instead of plaster because bisque was a little more robust and easier to replace if broken.

Plaster is preferrable, but bisque molds have been used for literally thousands of years.

[Momo]

5 minutes ago, Tyler Miller said:

Bisque molds were/are used all the time—with a history back to bronze age Crete in Europe.  I’ve worked at a not-for-profit recently where they used bisque molds instead of plaster because bisque was a little more robust and easier to replace if broken.

Plaster is preferrable, but bisque molds have been used for literally thousands of years.

Thank you. That's great to know. 

[Viking Potter]

One reason that the plaster molds are so popular is that they do not shrink appreciably so the product is nearly the same size as the original form.  Making a multi piece  plaster mold from a form is relatively easy, not sure how easy it is to get multiple pieces of bisque to fit properly.  Slip Casting usually means pouring liquid clay into a hollow mold made of multiple parts.  Making a hollow bisque mold of multiple parts may be somewhat of a challenge because the clay shrinks as it dries.  if you leave the original form in the clay as it dries it may cause cracks as things shrink.   If you remove the form, you wont get it to fit back into the bisque to make the rest of the mold parts.  This would only be an issue for 3d hollow mold casting.  If you are just making a flat piece with a design or imprint on one side  that would be a whole lot easier.