Day 2 of Mold-Making class at the Pottery Workshop Education Center, Spring 2018
During my years in Jingdezhen, China, where local craftspeople specialize in a specific part of the ceramic process, I found myself questioning, “if I were only able to choose one process, what one would I be most interested in doing daily?” I continue to be captivated by and admire the problem solving skills, investigation and overall craft needed to create a beautiful mold, so for me, that one skill or daily practice would be mold-making.
Mold-Making Class Graduation, Spring 2018
Adding to our growing list of instructional videos for the Sam Fox School shops at Washington University, during the Spring 2021 semester I made a 30-minute video about plaster mold-making, specific to the ceramic process. In the shops that I manage there is a room dedicated to plaster work, equipped with vibrating tables, a vacuum casting pump, a bandsaw for cutting molds, engineered ventilation, etc. Most students using the space do not have previous experience working with plaster and, because it has the potential to be corrosive and messy, I decided to create a detailed video giving those using the space a foundation in plaster work and mold-making. What I didn’t realize was that the video would also find a large outside audience with the same interests as me! Just a few months after posting this 30 minute video, it had over 30K views! Now, this video has over 230K views! While this video was created for our students and has been extremely helpful in keeping a clean, productive work space, it also feels great to know that is was so well received by so many others in and outside of the field!