J Lutz on tue 11 jan 05
When I do slab pieces that I put into a mold of some sort I do the following:
When the slab is of the general size I want and still on the slab roller I
take a piece of knit fabric - t-shirt fabric is great - and lay it
carefully onto the clay and smooth out all wrinkles and lightly press the
fabric onto the clay.
Then I sandwich the clay between two pieces of dry wall and flip it. Remove
the top piece of dry wall.
You then have your clay laying on the fabric and since the fabric extends
beyond the edges of the clay you have built in handles to use to carefully
pick it up and place it into your mold.
The fabric allows the clay to slide easier into corners and edges AND wicks
some moisture away from the bottom of the clay.
Once it's shaped and the edges trimmed I wrap the piece in the excess
fabric and use more if needed and cover lightly with plastic.
Once the piece is set it can be easily removed from the mold by simply
lifting on the fabric edges.
Fine knit fabric doesn't leave any unsightly impression in the clay.
Jean Lutz
Prescott, AZ
Floods all around but we're high and dry - so far.
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