12x Your Pottery Production With This Plaster Mold

[@keithlightminder3005]

I thought of, but haven’t tried it out yet- A coat hangar wire with a short L bend at the tip Warm it up and sink it into the wax, let it cool Pull the glass up out of the hole with the wire. Thanks for your friendly sharing of your strategies to make pottery! And let the mold dry for two weeks before you use it if you will be using it 100-150 times.

[@OutpostPottery]

This is a great idea Keith! I'm going to try it when i do my next casts. Thanks for the idea. I'll let you know how it goes.

[@overlycranked8674]

Would the spilt waxes hinder with the process of casting? I imagine the wax should cause uneven water exchange from casting clay to the plaster mold.

[@OutpostPottery]

yes. I would try to keep the way away from the plaster. Since publishing this video, I actually found that shortening works better than wax as a filler. Cisco i think is what i picked up at walmart for about $5.

[@sneakersauction]

Hi @outpostpottery Thanks for your videos.. very helpful! I wanted to ask... where does the "thickness" of the "Shot glass" come from? So, I understand how you've made this mold... but, I'm trying to understand where the thickness of the "new shot glass" comes from? For instance, I have a cup that I want to make a mold from and the thickness of that cup is around 3/4 of an inch thick.. so, my question is, how is it possible that once I pour the slip into the newly created mold.. how and where does the new 3/4 of an inch come from with using the new mold to create the new cup? I hope that's clear.. just trying to understand where the "thickness" for the newly created cup comes from.. how does the slip that dries, that creates the new cup, know how to create the thickness. It seems like the thickness from the new cup would only be "paper thin" at best? What am I missing here? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Best, PodPrompts

[@OutpostPottery]

Hey PodPrompts. Sorry for my very late reply. The thinkness of your wall comes from how long you let the slip set in the mold. If you let it set for 15 minutes you'll have a thinner wall to your cup than if you let it set for 30minutes. Be sure you keep topping the slip off along the way though to keep your lip consistent. Let me know if you need additional clarification. Sorry i'm not on here as much as i used to. Happy Casting!

[@nangrey7262]

This is a great idea! Do you have any videos of finishing the rims on these after they are poured with slip?

[@OutpostPottery]

Not yet! I usually use a sponge to finish the rims though. Or you can use some wet dry stand paper from home depot and "sand" the rim to be level. Thanks for the encouragement Nan! -mj

[@levishepherd4387]

For pulling out the glass I wonder if it would help if you coated the end of a regular pair of pliers with silicone and then undid the bolt on the pliers and reversed them so that they will grab outward and you can pull the glass out

[@OutpostPottery]

That's a good idea! I'll try that next time. The gloves help too. I should have put those on sooner, but I'm glad it took a while to show people what might happen. Thanks Levi!

[@GrandpasPlace]

Just a quick question. A shot glass is 1.5oz. If you make a mold like this and slip cast it, the casting after firing can shrink as much as 10% in size. How do you compensate for those losses?

[@OutpostPottery]

Great point Grandpa's place. yes it does shrink a little more than 10%. HOWEVER, these shot glasses have a good deal of glass at teh bottom of the originals. It' makes it heavier but takes up a good bit of the volume of the original. I think the actual volume of the original glass shot glasses and my casts are roughly the same becuase of that variable - even though the originals are larger on the outside. Does that makes sense? Sorry if i'm not explaining it well :) -mj

[@GrandpasPlace]

@@OutpostPottery That makes sense. Ive been trying to figure out how to compensate for shrinkage on molds for things like plates, coffee cups, etc. Though I may be overthinking it. lol Thanks for the reply

[@theabristlebroom4378]

@@GrandpasPlace you might find a shrinkage ruler to be helpful.

[@watchingyoutubeat]

what kind of plaster used for mold ? pottery plaster or ordinary plaster of paris?

[@OutpostPottery]

number 1 pottery plaster

[@katiestruck2462]

How much plaster did you use? Love this video by the way. 😊

[@OutpostPottery]

Thanks Katie. I usually eyeball it but the technical ratio is 7:10::water:plaster. So 7 parts water to 10 parts plaster - by weight i think. It doesn't have to be an exact science though - there's some wiggle room.

[@cre2919]

Thanks for sharing God Bless

[@OutpostPottery]

Thank you Carl! I appreciate all your comments

[@samanthanicholson9015]

What kind of plaster is that?

[@OutpostPottery]

Hey Samantha! It's "number 1 pottery plaster" That's what it's called. -mj

[@amariahisrael3356]

When it dries for a longer time, does it last long? Because I heard they don’t last long.

[@OutpostPottery]

Hi Amariah. So glad you're here. I've found the longer they dry out, the better they suck out the water. But haven't heard anything about them lasting longer. Mine are still going strong after 3 years and hundreds of casts. I have'nt noticed any breakdown.

[@alexforget]

Why you don’t fill them with clay instead?

[@OutpostPottery]

Sometimes I do. I've generally kept clay I work with on molds separate from clay i work with on the wheel or slab building. So i haven't filled them with clay as much because I don't want to waste the clay. But I need to just have a full bag that I use for clay outs and filling models. I'll probably do more of that in the future. I like how I can recycle the wax and it usually helps me to get the models out. Thanks Alexandre. What does your process look like in your studio in Canada? I'm really interested how you do it.

[@samanthanicholson9015]

Do you sell stamps? If so how much. Thank you. Sam

[@OutpostPottery]

Hi Samantha. I do sell stamps. Here are some we are selling on Amazon right now. www.amazon.com/OUTPOST-POTTERY-Grateful-Stamps-Potters/dp/B09LRYVH58/ that's all i have on there right now. Thanks for asking Samantha! -mj

[@samanthanicholson9015]

@@OutpostPottery I'm looking to get one with our name on it for a lid or logo for planters, hoping the lid doubles as a water catch

[@lotfibouhedjeur]

Technically, wax doesn't dry... 😂

[@OutpostPottery]

haha. touché - agreed :) -mj