Hand Building Project: Lace Imprint Casserole

Steps to creating a lace imprint casserole dish:

• I took a Pyrex style glass casserole dish and created a plaster mold from it. Be prepared that due to shrinking in the kiln, the piece you end up creating from a plaster mold will be smaller than the original piece it is cast from.

• I rolled out a slab of clay with a rolling pin, then draped the clay over the mold and used a combination of patting with my hand and stroking with a damp sponge to shape it around the corners without creating folds in the clay. 
• I trimmed off the excess clay with a needle tool and softened up the edges with the damp sponge.
• After positioning a crochet lace doily exactly where I wanted it, I pressed it into the clay with a pony roller, making sure not to get wrinkles in the doily and then carefully lifted the doily off the clay.

• I attached handles and let the clay firm up before attempting to remove it from the mold and smooth out edges. If I take a piece off too soon, I’m likely to warp the bottom. 

• After bisque firing the piece, I brushed on watered down under glaze over the imprint and use a wet rag to wipe off the flat surface so that color only remains in the imprint. 
• I then brushed on celadon glaze. 
• I propped up the piece on kiln stilts to fire it. A pair of straight line kiln stilts works best as it keeps the bottom flat. I may have used little tripods for this piece as it had some wobble after the glaze firing.

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