Repair Of Cast Greenware How To Smooth

[Viking Potter]

I am new new new.  decades ago I helped my grandmother do casting at her studio, and I have started making my own projects, including casting and hand building.  I initially had some difficulty with adheison with my slip and scoring until I learned about the paper/slip mixtures.  Now things seem firmly affixed, but when I have some material push out of a joint, or in one case I used the mix to fix a crack that developed, I find that the slip mixture is really tough compared to the surrounding greenware and a little hard to smooth, reshape or otherise clean up the stuff that has pushed out.  Tips?

[neilestrick]

If the clay body is smooth, just use a sponge. Or scrape it down with a fettling knife first. Best to scrape on moist clay to avoid making a lot of dust.

[Viking Potter]

The trouble I am having is the transition between the two areas, the paper/mix is so much tougher that the clay body comes away at a much faster rate.  I am having difficulty blending the areas because of the difference.  Partly because of my lack of experience and partly because i am used to working in concrete,  I seem to be using more slip than probably necessary to afix handles and I am having to blend the joint.  THis may all be moot becuase I have not yet seen the outcome under glaze.  Maybe the glaze covers more of the blemishes than I think.  To be honest here, I nearly cried with joy when, after about 6 tries with the previous method, I finally got a handle to stick with the paper slip. 

[Denice]

I don't know if this will work on regular  slipware but if I have an area that I am having trouble smoothing I will bisque fire it and then smooth it with a stone bit on my dremel tool.  I have used this technique with porcelain slipware, it's more work but the seems are invisible. Denice