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Pouring Ceramic Green ware Items We Learned About Pouring When is your mold is dry enough to pour? by Dolores Swaldi [c] 2004 Have you, or have you ever wanted to try making your own ceramic item from beginning to end? A lot of us have and quite frankly it’s a lot of fun. In this article we will cover some of the lessons we have learned while pouring items at our warehouse. Just a few tips to help you with some of the more common situations we have encountered. Well, you have just received a new mold from your supplier and like all of us are very anxious to pour and remove the first piece. But before we can do this we must ensure the mold is dry enough to use. Most ceramic mold companies do not stock a large number of any one mold. They keep expenses down by keeping inventories to a minimum, and usually will not produce the molds until after the order is placed. This means you will most likely receive a mold that must dry completely before you can start producing any items. The best way to check to see if the mold is to wet to pour is by using a moisture meter, a reading of under 12% is desirable. These meters are readily available through many wood working suppliers and specialty shops. If you do not have a moisture meter, you can estimate the moisture level with practice (although not as accurately), by using your hands to feel the texture and the temperature of the mold. A very wet mold will feel slick and cold, while a mold that is ready to be poured will feel dry and warm. When using the latter method experience is the best teacher, the more you pour the better you will become at judging when it is time to let a mold sit and dry to avoid damage. It is very important to never over produce from any mold. It is best to set limits on how many items you will consecutively produce from an individual mold before its next use. We have a general rule to never pour the same mold more than five times in a row without letting it dry thoroughly. This enables us to increase its life span, and lowers our costs since the molds last much longer keeping their details for a longer amount of time before needing to be replaced. Some of you are probably wondering how can a mold being to moist lead to damage? The simplest way to explain this is to have you take a dry piece of plaster with small details engraved and lightly run your finger over the surface. You will see little or no plaster on your finger and no noticeable change to the surface. But if you take the same piece of plaster and soak it in water until it is saturated and again rub your finger lightly over the surface. You will see the details disappear before your eyes and your finger will be covered in plaster paste. This is why we never want our molds to become over saturated, because once they do even the simple action of pouring slip into the mold can wash away some to the finer details. Because of the amount of items we produce on a weekly basis, we have been forced to adapt to this problem in several ways. For the most requested items we always purchase several molds so when one hits its allotted use, we can switch to the other that has had ample time to fully dry. We have also installed a drying booth which is nothing more than a closed room with sturdy shelving and several dehumidifiers to expedite the drying process. This substantially reduces the drying time and allows us to produce more items in less time with less overhead. So there you are: We just about beat this subject to death. For those of you who would like to begin pouring green-ware we have listed links to a few ceramic mold suppliers above. Please check back for future articles on the ceramic craft or sign up for our free newsletter and never miss an article.
Dolly & Ernie Ceramics is a proud sponsor of this venerable craft. You may link to, or publish this article in parts or in its entirety. Our only stipulation is that an emboldened link to our web site be placed into the copied material. Click here for the html code that will provide a link to our site. About the Author: Dolly Swaldi is the proprietor of this web site and has been involved in the ceramic craft for over 28 years.
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