Sticking

Yesterday I poured a two-part plaster mold for one of my double-owl designs. When I went to separate the two sides after pouring the second one, it wouldn't come apart. I don't know if I was in more of a hurry than usual and didn't give the mold soap enough time to dry after the last layer, but they were stuck. Normally I can just pull them apart or pry them apart with a metal rib.

I did eventually get them apart, thankfully! It took me several screwdrivers and metal ribs, but I finally leveraged them apart without breaking the mold. My biggest problem was that the plaster kept crumbling and chipping when I was trying to pry it apart (I insert a screwdriver/butter knife/metal rib into the seam and pivot it to push up one side and break the seal), far more than usual. It must have been because of the way I mixed it, but the mixing had actually gone really well this time. My proportion of plaster to water was 10 lbs plaster to 6.6 lbs water. In the past I have mixed it thicker (more plaster) but this time I kept to the directions. I will have to see how the plaster performs in the slipcasting.

If any of you use plaster, what proportion of plaster to water do you use?