Steve Van Cleave on thu 4 aug 05
Hi all,
It's been a while since I've participated on this list--took a hiatus to
raise a couple kids to school age--so I might as well act the newbie =
roll.
On second thought, I think that roll has/will always genuinely fit me.
It takes so much time to make basic structural elements for series using
coils and slabs. I want to try slip/slush casting with a cone 5-6 =
sculpture
body that I can mix and use as necessary. I want to cast structural and
support elements to which hand-built elements will be added/attached.
Construction can take days to months, so the clay needs to remain =
workable.
The scale is *fairly* large. I have to work in parts as the whole is
usually too heavy to manipulate. I currently must use un-vented =
electric
kilns inside so can't incorporate fiber.
I've had a good slog through the archive and found some near misses, but =
no
cigar. Any experience on this list with such? Opinions? Best guesses?
Local clay vendors suggest it can't be done. Their reasons reflect mass
production kinds of concerns and deflocculating issues with large =
particles.
I'm not sure such necessarily apply here.
Any suggestion or comment will be much appreciated, on or off-list
(triboca@cox.net).
Steve Van Cleave
"Edible - Good to eat and wholesome to digest,
as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake
to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm."
- Ambrose Bierce
Snail Scott on fri 5 aug 05
At 11:52 AM 8/4/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>...I want to try slip/slush casting with a cone 5-6 sculpture
>body that I can mix and use as necessary. I want to cast structural and
>support elements to which hand-built elements will be added/attached.
Casting large stuff can be tricky. You said
'fairly large', but is that a foot high,
four feet high, or ten feet high? (Presumably
not the latter.) In any case, it can also
be tricky to modify and attach to a cast body,
unless using other cast elements, and casting
clay can be difficult to model and modify
except by cutting and attaching. Forming,
stretching, pinching and shaping are not easy
using a casting body.
I prefer to use press molds for repeated
elements. Since the molding can be done with
your standard handbuilding body, the learning
curve will be short, and you can combine the
result with your other handbuilding methods.
Press molds are less finicky than slip molds
regarding plaster mix and moisture levels.
(They'll be faster to make, too.) And, since
you are generally only handling an open-face
mold, handling and weight of the molds are
less of an issue.
Press molds can still be multi-part; they just
aren't 'in the round', so don't cross them off
the list if your form is complex. With practice,
the surface can be as refined as a slip casting,
too.
-Snail
steve on fri 5 aug 05
Thank you, Snail.
Max height so far is 4', hollow with inner support matrix when necessary. Am
*attempting* 2' spherical forms currently...we'll see.
I did not consider multi-part press molds. That is a particularly fruitful
suggestion! Thanks again.
On Friday 05 August 2005 07:44 am, Snail Scott wrote:
> At 11:52 AM 8/4/2005 -0700, you wrote:
> >...I want to try slip/slush casting with a cone 5-6 sculpture
> >body that I can mix and use as necessary. I want to cast structural and
> >support elements to which hand-built elements will be added/attached.
>
> Casting large stuff can be tricky. You said
> 'fairly large', but is that a foot high,
> four feet high, or ten feet high? (Presumably
> not the latter.) In any case, it can also
> be tricky to modify and attach to a cast body,
> unless using other cast elements, and casting
> clay can be difficult to model and modify
> except by cutting and attaching. Forming,
> stretching, pinching and shaping are not easy
> using a casting body.
>
> I prefer to use press molds for repeated
> elements. Since the molding can be done with
> your standard handbuilding body, the learning
> curve will be short, and you can combine the
> result with your other handbuilding methods.
> Press molds are less finicky than slip molds
> regarding plaster mix and moisture levels.
> (They'll be faster to make, too.) And, since
> you are generally only handling an open-face
> mold, handling and weight of the molds are
> less of an issue.
>
> Press molds can still be multi-part; they just
> aren't 'in the round', so don't cross them off
> the list if your form is complex. With practice,
> the surface can be as refined as a slip casting,
> too.
>
> -Snail
>
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