Slip Casting/ Ceramic Sculpture

WHAT IS SLIP border? Slip mold is a process of creating ceramic forms by casting liquid clay ( creep) into smear molds. This process is most manipulationful when you moti alrightss to devil multiples of a form. The molds en adequate you to create identical copies. In the tell apartroom, slip cast multiples can be used to. -create multiples of a students ceramic artwork (for gift giving or a young sculpture of multiples) -create identical starting forms that students pass on manipulate to create their receive unique artwork try out different glaze techniques on allow experimentation without the fear of ruining the artworkMaterials All you need for slip casting poultice mold, Clay slip, kiln Necessary items if you involve to make your molds five gallon bucket, plasticene ( non hardening clay), Vaseline /liquid soap, hammer , chisel/screwdriver, adhesive plaster and slip are available at most ceramic supplement centers. I listed some local suppliers on the resources pag e in this packet. Plaster gains in a couple different types. Pottery plaster is the bar and readily available at ceramic supply stores. clay sculpture plaster is only necessary if you want to make extremely detailed numbers. I go with the cheapest and it works fine for classwork.Just asclay comes in many forms, so does slip. The texture and chemical content of the slip prescribe what type of clay body it forms. Clay slip bodies range from fine delicate porcelain to coarse strong stoneware. Your firing temperature depends on the content of your slip. For blueprint classroom use I use low fire blank casting slip. It is available in premixed 2gallon bags from most ceramic supply stores. It unremarkably runs about 8 dollars a bag. Four gallons is enough for a class of twelve to make at least two ten edge hollow forms. HOW EXACTLY do you CAST SLIP? First, you need a mold made of plaster.It must be plaster because the plaster absorbs the pee from the slip. Fill the mold with sli p. As the mold absorbs the weewee, the level of the slip in the mold will go down requiring you to top off the mold. You want the slip to stay level with the horizontal surface of the mold. If you want a hollow form , you have to dump out the excess slip. retard for an eighth of an inch skin of slip to form on the edges of the serviceman before you dump the slip. That skin is nowadays the wall of your hollow piece. For thin pieces, it only takes about five minutes before you are able to dump out the excess slip.If you issue a mold fill up with slip too long, the ceramic piece will be dull and heavy. Which doesnt really matter, but it wastes a lot of slip. If you dont leave it in long enough, it will tear as it comes out of the mold and be useless. You can pour solid. Usually this practice is used for plates, bowls, and other good items. To pour solid, just keep filling the mold with slip until it lucre sucking up slip. pic HOW DO YOU get the piece OUT OF the sour? After you have dumped the excess slip, the mold has to sit and prohibitionist. The mold pulls the water out of the clay and dries the piece out.To speed up the drying you can use a fan, blowing across the molds, or put your molds on top of a hot kiln. The larger the piece the longer it will take to dry. If you leave a piece in the mold too long, it will dry out too much and crack. If you dont leave it in long enough, it wont come out easily and will tear. You can tell if a piece is ready to come out of the mold if it has pulled away from the sides of the mold/pour hole. When the casting is dry enough to take out, gently pull your casting, now more like leatherhard clay, out of the mold. It should release easily, if the piece is dry enough. strain to pull the piece straight out of the mold to keep from garble its shape. When the piece comes out of the mold it will be a gloomy gray. Once out of the mold it will continue to dry and will turn fainthearted gray. After the piece has dried t o a light gray almost white, it is ready to fire in the kiln. Adapted from http//www. rykerstudios. com/ceramics/articles/slipcasting. htm RESOURCES Casting Slip Available in Atlanta from Davens Ceramic relate http//davensceramiccenter. com/ 5076 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30341 Fax 770-455-7012 4805. Atlanta Area 770-451-2105 emailprotected om Casting Supplies ONLINE Axner Ceramic grant http//www. axner. com/axner/supplies/slip-casting. php mold making and casting materials http//www. smooth-on. com/ How to Resources Trouble shooting guide- http//aardvarkclay. com/pdf/technical/ basic principle%20of%20slip%20casting. pdf Short History of slip casting- http//www. lindawilsonceramics. co. za/3. html Deflocculation of slip-(make your own) http//ceramic-materials. com/cermat/education/213. html Videos- YouTube Video- http//www. youtube. com/ watch out? v=8u_SABU_8d0 Advanced mold making video demos- http//www. smooth-on. com/media. php