Pouring Plaster Molds

During my last show, I realized that several of my pieces could be slipcast because they had no undercuts. Most of my work was created by the East Asian Wedged Coil technique, but it is a painstaking process that yields only one sculpture. This creates a problem for me because one of my weakest skills is glazing. I often find myself paralyzed with indecision about how to finish a sculpture, because a poor choice would mean ruining weeks or months of work.

For my graduate certificate show, I chose two coiled sculptures and slipcast them. Rather, I created a new solid model of each sculpture (and took the opportunity to improve it) and created a 2-part plaster mold of it. Then I slipcast each one about three times, and glazed each one differently. The freedom of being able to experiment was wonderful, and those pieces were some of the best in the show.

Recently I have been casting a couple tile designs, but it was only today that I summoned the energy to tackle more 2-part molds. The concept is simple, but I'd forgotten how involved the actual process was. At the end of the day I was exhausted but I had plaster molds for two of my smaller sculptures (the sculptures are about 10 inches high). I can't wait to start slipcasting them and experimenting with glazing!

How do you decide on glazing-- do you have a set of glazes you usually stick to, or do you try out different glazes for each new piece?