Mass Production on a Small Scale

A couple weeks ago I wrote a little post/essay thing about mass production. And I do mean I wrote it...on paper...with a pencil. That concept would probably be foreign to most kids today. They would probably say that it was too much work to physically write something and give up before they even started. But I digress. I wrote the post...then lost it. To the best of my recollection it went something like this.

I recently got a comission to make a number of magnets for a local living history museum type thing (Saxon Luthern Memorial...check it out, good stuff). This year is the memorial's 50th anniversary and they wanted to "celebrate" it by giving away commemorative magnets at their major events. Since I already have some work in their gift shop (including magnets) and since my mom is the curator, they asked if I would be able to come up with something. Yay for nepotism!

So how many magnets do they plan on giving away? Over the course of the year they estimated 2000-3000. Whoa. That's a lot of magnets. Being the agreeable chap that I am, though, I said I would take a run at it. I started out doing some sketches and carving up a prototype. After that got the ok I made a plaster mold.

Plaster press molds for magnets

Now this was the first time I had ever made a plaster mold, so I was delving into new territory. It didn't seem too complicated, though, and I think the first mold turned out pretty good. I have since made six more to speed production, but they didn't turn out as well. I think the plaster was too thick. They work, though; the casts that come out of them just require a little more cleaning up.

Cast of the commemorative magnets...fancy.

Thus far I have finished 150 magnets. The glaze did not turn out anything like it was supposed to, so I am not going to post a picture of that. Suffice it to say that it was supposed to turn out gold, and silvery black is not the same thing as gold. But I have quite a few left to make, so I will get it worked out.

Later I will post more about the actual production part of it. How exactly does one man make that many magnets by himself? Is he Superman? Tune in next time to find out!

The biggest thing I've ever thrown...

Here it is...the biggest thing I have ever thrown. Sure it does not look that big in the picture, but I assure you it is huge, at least by my standards. Which means it is really not all that big. This here is going to be a flour keg. It is roughly 13 inches across and 11 inches tall, with the lid adding another couple inches. I know this is pretty small potatoes for some folks, but considering the average size of my work is probably around 6 inches in any direction this is a pretty big achievement for me.
I went with the coil and throw method to make this guy. For those of you unfamiliar with this method, this is how I did it (that is not to say that this is the proper way of doing this technique, though). I started by throwing a flat base as wide as I wanted my jar. To this I added a thick coil around the edge and pulled it up to start the wall, leaving extra clay on the rim. After that had set up for a bit I added another thick coil and pulled, etc, etc. Today I will make sure the lid fits and try trimming. Hopefully it does not completely fall apart as it dries.

This is some other work I finished up yesterday. Flower baskets in the back and a couple of teapots up front. I was not really satisfied with how the teapots turned out. It has been quite a while since I have made teapots and, especially now looking at the picture, I am not happy with the proportions. Oh well; something else to work on I guess.

A wine set I threw yesterday. It consists of a ice bucket/bottle chiller and a few small cups. Not sure how many I am going to include when it is all said and done. My wife does not think this item will sell very well, at least not with the cups. "Who drinks wine out of cups," she says. I decided not to remind her that she has drunk wine out of cups on many occasions while sitting around a camp fire.
Besides, I am not a fancy wine person. I know stemmed wine glasses serve there purpose for people who want to be fancy and talk about clarity and legs and bouquet. I am more of a homemade wine kind of guy, though. I just want my wine to taste good; and if I can drink it out of a nice piece of pottery all the better.

This is a tile mold I am working on. I made an original a while back and let it dry out (that is what is in the middle), then packed wet clay around it to make the mold. I know I could have done the same thing with plaster a little easier, but I am not especially fond of working with plaster, probably because I just have not worked with it much. Bisque molds work just as well, and you don't have to worry about plaster chips working their way into your clay.

And finally, another installation of rattle sculptures. You cannot see very well from this picture, but I really like the gesture on this guy. He is leaning forward quite a bit and looking down. Rather menacing, especially with his horns. I think I am going to try making this a regular thing; maybe make one or two a week and post the results. Until then...tschus.

-Rob