AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 14, 2020 Report Share Posted September 14, 2020 Hi wise ones! I'm making a large egg-shaped vessel from slabs pressed into two bowl shaped bisque molds. The slabs I will be slumping will be quite large and heavy. I am concerned about it stretching and buckling when I slump it into the mold. Any clever tips from the more experienced makers out there? Thanks, Kristine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted September 15, 2020 Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 How are you making your slabs? How big? Can cut a template in paper and cut out necessary sections i.e. pieces of clay which would develop into a fold when placed in slump mold. If slab on board, the mold can be placed onto it and whole caboodle flipped. Otherwise roll on material and transfer into mold on the material. Depends how big. The template cutting greatly reduces the amount of clay to be lifted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorcery Posted September 15, 2020 Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 Mean Ass! Love it! Use the right type of clay. Definitely not short reclaim. If your outside smoothing skills are good, you could patchwork em and not use large slabs. Airtight rounds are rather easy to smooth. Are they functional? I am curious how you will connect them. Sorce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted September 15, 2020 Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 Look up the work of Ann Van Hoey, she slab builds large vessels then alters them. She uses patterns and joins clay slabs in the mold, joining and ribbing the seams smooth. Not sure if you can open it but an Pottery Making Illustrated article from her here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Sorcery said: Mean Ass! Love it! Use the right type of clay. Definitely not short reclaim. If your outside smoothing skills are good, you could patchwork em and not use large slabs. Airtight rounds are rather easy to smooth. Are they functional? I am curious how you will connect them. Sorce If you met the donkey you would understand, lol. They are functional, I will be adding a neck at the end. I'm planning to press mold the two halves together either in the bisque molds. If that proves too unwieldy I will join the two halves outside the mold when they are leather hard. When I cut the neck out I can get inside add a coil and smooth the inside seam. We'll see how it all goes. Patchwork seems like a good idea. Thanks Sorce! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 23 minutes ago, Min said: Look up the work of Ann Van Hoey, she slab builds large vessels then alters them. She uses patterns and joins clay slabs in the mold, joining and ribbing the seams smooth. Not sure if you can open it but an Pottery Making Illustrated article from her here. Great suggestion. Thanks Min! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 11 hours ago, Babs said: How are you making your slabs? How big? Can cut a template in paper and cut out necessary sections i.e. pieces of clay which would develop into a fold when placed in slump mold. If slab on board, the mold can be placed onto it and whole caboodle flipped. Otherwise roll on material and transfer into mold on the material. Depends how big. The template cutting greatly reduces the amount of clay to be lifted. Hi Babs, Finished form is to be 9 wide by 12 tall. I will try a template. I was thinking about using material too, but didn't want it to crinkle in the mold. Thanks for the suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorcery Posted September 15, 2020 Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 1 hour ago, AngryDonkeyPottery said: If you met the donkey you would understand, lol. They are functional, I will be adding a neck at the end. I'm planning to press mold the two halves together either in the bisque molds. If that proves too unwieldy I will join the two halves outside the mold when they are leather hard. When I cut the neck out I can get inside add a coil and smooth the inside seam. We'll see how it all goes. Patchwork seems like a good idea. Thanks Sorce! Will you use a tool to smooth or get your whole hand in? I made a teapot like this once and, well, inside seams drive me nuts! Looking for fixes! There is a YouTube video, I wanna say Tom Coleman, making a tongue and groove on 2 sections to better seal 2 halves. If you're good with a gouge that may help join em. Thanks! Sorce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted September 15, 2020 Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 Guess your molds are made bu t if not you can key the molds. If clay is slightly higher than mold score and slip edges and squish.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 I will be able to get my hand in, and was thinking of putting a small coil alongside the one edge before joining them (so the coil would be in place and not have to be inserted) but I really like the idea of the tongue and groove! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryDonkeyPottery Posted September 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2020 36 minutes ago, Babs said: Guess your molds are made bu t if not you can key the molds. If clay is slightly higher than mold score and slip edges and squish.... Yes keying would have been a good idea, I was planning to "squish". But all an experiment at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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