Post #744291 by danlovestikis on Fri, Jun 5, 2015 9:26 AM

elika-tiki your tubes and box is ingenious because you can use it for two piece molds over and over again. I'm looking forward to MadDogMike giving it a try.

The blocks save a lot of clay when doing multiple piece molds. They are worth the investment.

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Next steps in making the 5 piece mold for the Sacramento Crawl mug due in October 2015.

On top of the blocks I begin to cover the plastic blocks.

Now that I've covered it with a layer it's time to

slow down and add pieces close to the mug.

I decided that one mold line would run all the way around the bottom of the mug so that's how I covered it for the first mold piece.

Next I worked on one side placing the clay up to the where the next mold line would occur. Then I smoothed it with a brush and water.

Now I'm pressing clay up to the other side to the mold line.

Now that I've smoothed it I have pressed into the clay so that bumps or locks will be formed on this first mold piece.

To judge how much plaster I need to mix I count how many cups of water to start with using this (4 cup) measuring cup.

I decided on filling it 8 times (32 cups) and poured that many into this mixing barrel.

MASKS ON! It's 1 of water to 2 of plaster using my sizes of cup and scoop.

While Dan runs the mixer I slowly shake in the plaster. Grade #1.

We mix until we get out all the lumps.

Once you have the amount of water to use you just add plaster until the mix looks like this on your hand. It's called buttermilk.

I used my cup to start pouring on the plaster gently

trying to prevent air bubbles from forming.

After covering the mug we poured the rest in along the side.

Wash everything fast or the plaster will set and your mixer and cups etc. will have a hard to remove shell on them.

When the plaster has set I carve the name into the slab. Crawl 15 #6. This is the 6th year I've made the mug for the crawl.

Removing the box shows a fun patchwork of blocks.

This shows how much clay I didn't need to use.

I cleaned the edge of the slab so that it wouldn't be sharp to touch.

Dan is my muscle man. He lifted the slab being careful so that the mug didn't come loose and crash on the floor.

He turned it over on the table so

that I could start to remove the blocks and clay. He got to wash the blocks too.

blocks off.

Clay removed.

If you have questions about any of the steps, please ask.

More tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy