FreeShip- Paper Clay Slip, Mid-Range English Grolleg, Cone 4 to 6- (Prompt rebate on orders with 3 or more FreeShip items!)

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This is a paper clay slip in a mid-range, cone 4 to cone 6. If you have a kiln this is your chance to try slip casting without spending much money. We are selling relatively small amounts of 3 slips, this paper clay one and two others. All you need is the slip and a Pottery Plaster mold. For learning experience you might try making a hand built small flat plaque (a mask?) out of clay laid on a work table surface, a one sided flat on the back single piece mold. A flat object will use a lot less plaster than a bulbous pot shape. Build clay walls around it to hold the plaster in. Make it 2" or 3" thick. Just cast a flat slab of plaster the same size as your front mold half and use it for the back (no detail) and you've got a 2 piece mold. While the plaster is still soft, carve out a pouring spout and reservoir for pouring the slip into the mold on both halves. Dry out the mold halves by putting them in a 125 F oven for a couple of days, they need to be absolutely dry so they'll absorb the water from the liquid slip. You'll use big rubber bands or wire to hold the two mold halves together. If you don't want to make a mold, another route is buying a ready made small plaster mold from an online supplier, lower prices are about $25 to $30 shipped. Start with something small, around 3", it will save you money on materials for your first efforts. If you change your mind and decide to make a mold, here's a quick tutorial for making a mold of a small bowl (using more plaster): { https://www.instructables.com/Plaster-Mold-for-Slipcasting-a-Bowl/ }

In case you're a beginner and haven't yet run across what slip casting is all about, you've come to the right place. Slip is clay in a liquid form, made that way by the use of deflocculants, which make the lowest possible viscosities with the least added water. You pour the slip into a two piece absorbent dry plaster mold till it's full and wait a while. The porous plaster sucks up water from the slip. Let it absorb water for the correct amount of time (perhaps 15 to 30 minutes) and then dump out the excess slip. Put the mold upside down over a container to allow the clay left in the mold to dry out a little more (depending on thickness 30 minutes to several hours). If you've waited long enough the wall thickness of the clay will be enough to make a strong clay object that will hold its shape when the two piece plaster mold is taken apart. Clay (and especially clay slip) shrinks a little when it loses water, so your clay casting will be somewhat smaller in size and should release with relative ease from the mold if you've let the slip dry enough (until it's "leather hard"). Trim the pouring spout/reservoir off. Let the casting completely dry and bisque fire it.
That's a rough outline of how it goes. Read some online tutorials or watch some good videos, for the details.
Here's a simple tutorial without much detail (just to get warmed up):
https://www.thecrucible.org/slip-casting-in-five-steps/
Here's a more advanced tutorial in pdf form so you can download and have some hard copy instructions to refer to:
http://ceramics.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Slip-Casting-Lesson-111.pdf
Here's yet another more detailed article on slip casting: http://www.americanceramics.com/html/maycoceramicmoldshowtopour.html
Here's an overview of slip casting from Wikipedia (which doesn't tell you how to do it but gives you background information):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_casting

"Slip casting...is a ceramic forming technique for pottery and other ceramics, especially for shapes not easily made on a wheel. In this method, a liquid clay body slip (usually mixed in a blunger) is poured into plaster moulds and allowed to form a layer, the cast, on the inside walls of the mould. The process usually takes at least 24 hours per piece {24 hours! They must mean from liquid slip to fired ceramic}. It gives very precise and consistent shapes, and is now the most common technique used for commercial mass-produced pottery, although it began as a technique for fine pottery, especially porcelain.
In a solid cast mould, ceramic objects such as handles and plates are surrounded by plaster on all sides with a reservoir for slip, and are removed when the solid piece is held within. For a hollow cast mould, for objects such as vases and cups, once the plaster has absorbed most of the liquid from the outside layer of clay the remaining slip is poured off for later use. After a period for further absorption of water, the cast piece is removed from the mould once it is leather-hard, that is, firm enough to handle without losing its shape. It is then "fettled" (trimmed neatly) and allowed to dry out further, usually overnight or for several hours. This produces a greenware piece which is then ready to be decorated, glazed and fired in a kiln.
The technique is suited to the production of complex shapes, especially if with relief decoration and thin walls. Much modern fine factory porcelain is made by the technique, very often the entire production. It is also commonly used for sanitaryware, such as toilets and basins, and smaller pieces like figurines and teapots. The technique can also be used for small-scale production runs or to produce limited edition, one off objects, especially reproductions of antique dolls and modern porcelain doll-making.
An additive with deflocculant properties, such as sodium silicate, can be added to the slip to disperse the raw material particles. This allows a higher solid content to be used, or allows a fluid slip to be produced with a minimum of water so that drying shrinkage is minimised, which is important during slip casting.
Slip cast ware should not be confused with slipware, which is pottery formed by any technique that is decorated using slip. The French for slip is barbotine (coulée en barbotine means slip casting), and "barbotine pottery" is sometimes used for 19th century French and American pottery with added slip cast decoration, as well as (confusingly) being the English term for a variety of slipware that is decorated with thick blobs of slip."