Saturday, 9 April 2011

Continuing the Casting Process

Trimming the cast after it has stood for about 10 minutes

The day after casting the piece is dry and can be removed from the mould. the cast has released completely from the mould.

Inverting the mould and releasing it onto my hand

Free of the mould

The cast is flipped

And ready for bisque firing

Bisque fired pieces ready for sanding

Wet sanding the bisque fired work. The sanded pieces are dried overnight before decorating.

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

My Casting Process

Here I am showing the casting process I use to make my Bone China vessels which are later decorated with soluble salts before being fired to vitrification. Thanks to Eugene Hon for the images.

All my moulds are one piece drain moulds made from a paperplaster mix. Instead of the conventional Plaster of Paris spare I use a wide adhesive tape which I place around each mould before casting

Before each session of casting the slip is well stirred and then passed through a small sieve to remove any lumps and to ensure thorough mixing

The slip is then poured, again through the small sieve into the moulds, where it is left to cast for 60 - 90 seconds
 Once the cast has sat for the required time the mould is emptied

And the adhesive tape removed. After draining inverted for about 10 minutes the mould is set upright and the top is trimmed after a further 10 minutes. The pieces are left in the mould overnight and removed the following day.