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I've been experimenting with using slip cast shapes inside my slip castings but I'm getting bleeding and it's not crisp. I make sure it's moist and I prep my molds. Anyone do this and have some tips to share?

I'm new to the whole slip casting technique and trying to learn. I'm trying to source slip for slip casting and see a lot of places offer dry slip casting bodies, but what separates those bodies from normal dry clay you can buy? I understand you add chemicals, including a deflocculant, to the dry slip, but beyond that what's the difference and why couldn't you just do that to a normal dry clay body? Are there certain properties of the casting body that make it better suited to casting?

My question is how does copyright impact slip casting? My grandmother past a way not to long ago and I now have many of her slip casting molds. Some of these molds have the manufacture name and copyright logo etc. I also know that these can also be purchased online. How does this process work? Once you own the mold you can do as you wish with it? Create plates, cups, bowels etc and then sell them? or is the process of selling them not allowed with the copyright? I'm a little confused on how this might impact me as an artist or a future business with selling online slip-cast items. Thanks for any help. Stormy

Hi, I am a total newbie to ceramics, but my daughter and I are excited to be starting this new adventure together! So please bear with me if my topic is showing such a lack of even the most basic understanding of how things work. We are planning on creating artistic 'flat' ornaments.. We do plan to 'bisque fire' & then 'glaze fire' our ornaments. (You'll probably hear from me again when we get to working with our Kiln!) I have been playing around with creating a few ornaments, and now have created a couple of plaster molds of my ornaments... I poured my slip (premixed & purchased from Dick Blick's) into one of my molds. But, as the slip dried, there was such shrinkage of the slip, that the center of the item somewhat collapses & one even cracked, leaving me with a 'bowled ' back of the ornament when what I really want is flat... The castings are between 1/4" thick to a very max of 1/2" thick with a maximum diameter of 2"-3". I have purchased bisque items where they are that thick (with a flat back), so I assumed one can pour slip that thick.. ?? I'd be so grateful for any guidance such as: 1) Suggestions on informative books or videos to educate myself on the basics of ceramics. Probably a very good step to move forward! I have searched YouTube and not found any useful videos dealing with one-piece molds such as what I'm trying to do.. but would so appreciate a highly recommended 'learning the basics of ceramics" book/course/video. 2) Should I be using a specific type of plaster for my molds - maybe what I used to create my mold is absorbing the moisture too fast? 3) Should I be using a specific type of slip? or is Slip even the right material for what we are trying to do?? 4) What might be an expected shrinkage %? 5) Do you pour the slip in thin layers before each prior layer is dry? 6) Any general suggestions (other than telling me I might not belong in the ceramic world)? :-) We all started somewhere! Thank you in advance. Nancy