If you re interested in exploring the world of making plaster molds for slip casting or handbuilding ceramic mold making techniques.
How to make a ceramic hand.
I learned to make ceramic bowls on a potter s wheel in school.
How to make a slump mold for ceramic hand building.
The slump mold is a great way to make bowls without using a pottery wheel or using the pinch pot method.
Pull off a small piece of clay to work with and roll it into a ball then pinch pull and roll the clay to warm it up in your hands.
If you want to make ceramics by hand choose a clay that you can bake in the oven or air dry unless you have access to a kiln.
I typically throw off the hump which is a method of using a large amount of clay 15 lbs to make multiple pieces from the one amount of clay.
Slab pots tend to be a bit tougher to produce technically speaking than those created using other techniques.
Tips for making plaster molds and slip casting clay is a great place to start.
Figure sculpting is not an area of ceramics that i have explored much probably because it seems like such an overwhelming endeavor.
Ceramic mold making is not as difficult as you might imagine.
The molds are super super easy to make and well worth the time.
But watching melisa cadell s video figure sculpting in clay made me want to give it a try her tutorial on how to sculpt a hand out of clay really seemed like an easy and straightforward way to get started.
It also tauget me to be confident.
In this video learn how artisans create hand painted decorative tiles.
Below you can see a photo of myself centering some porcelain on the wheel.