The Hunt for Wood and Recent Casting Activity

Yesterday I went to a wood yard I know in Wincheap which sells off-cuts.
My plan was to get some small pieces to do some tests on. However all the off-cuts were too thick so I asked about prices for the size I am most likely to want. It seemed a reasonable price so I bit the bullet, as it were, and bought enough for two shelves and supports: two 1'x4' and two 2'x4' in 6mm MDF. With a length of dowl it cost me £12 something. I decided I will be able to trim any unwanted wood away in college.
Drove straight to college with them and put them in my studio space.

I then parked my car in Aldi's for two hours and went into the ceramics room. There I removed the latest slip and fabric vessels which I cast the day before. They are very thin!! I think 1 is starting to crack. Its the nature of pushing this material as far as i can.
Hoping that out of the 9 I cast recently there will be at least one worth exhibiting!!! I decieded that I wanted to try further casting as I wasn't totally happy with the three I had made before, one was chipped, one cracked and the the lace didn't meet the end of the shape. What with casting in lumpy moulds I realised I was making extra work for myself when it came to trying to burnish them, too much handling just makes them weak.

Last week I wet sanded the insides of the moulds, but made a big mistake in casting in them before they had dried out properly. They took days before they came loose and then only because we put them in a warm kiln. Unfortunatly that dried them out a little too much!! I then tried a new experiment on them: sanding!! risky, not least because the dust is very bad for the lungs. It seemed to work although they did start to crumble a bit in places!! ahhhh this porcelain will be the death of me not least the stress of getting it right for the final show.

I also decided to make another muslin and slip because the other two don't actually have very much vulvis about them. I battled with a long piece of slip-soaked-muslin for ages, must have been nearly an hour.... and I think it won. Had to move the car so have left it to its fate, hoping it will turn out ok. Not to worry if not as the other two are intended for the show, at least one of them, anyway.