About a week ago I placed my "Hedgie" mold in the laundry room to dry. It's very toasty warm in there and I was happy to discover that the plaster mold had dried already.
This morning I decided to pour the first mold. The first one always gets thrown away. That copy is normally filled with plaster chips and doesn't necessarily want to come out of the mold too easily. I usually paw the first ones out cause I know that until the mold is used a handful of times there is always a slight struggle with the clay. I don't like to waste time.
Today I really struggled. The problem I suspected with "Hedgie's" mold came to fruition. It was molded incorrectly. Good lesson learned here. It should have been cut horizontally not vertically. One half of "Hedgie" came apart from the plaster smoothly, the other didn't want to budge. It was literally suctioned in there. So, I took a hacksaw to the mold!
Even though the hacking damaged a small portion of the actual plaster, it worked. I can get "Hedgie" out more easily now. Unfortunately, I fear that a porcelain "Hedgie" may not be a reality. There is just too much pushing and pulling of the clay for me to use clay as finicky as porcelain. One move in the wrong direction and that clay apparently stays the way it was pushed. No worries though, I believe "Hedgie" will be really spectacular in earthenware. There will be quite a bit of clean up since the seams are pretty wonkin' on him. I also lost a bit of detail on his left hand side. Im not sure why. It looks as if the wax melted as the plaster was drying. That is very odd. I think for larger pieces that are full of detail Ill really need to take a silicone mold first. All of these factors are actually making "Hedgie's" run a very limited run now. Maybe Ill pour 10? I don't really know. Ill see if he can hold my interest that long.
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