Wedding Favours - a technique using moulds

Those of you who follow my blog will know that a few months ago I was doing a special project which was the Wedding Favours for my son's wedding.

He and his bride to be had decided on a Lego theme for their wedding decorations...

This was my contribution:

There were several challenges along the way  - I hope you find this diary of the making of interest.

First of all was to agree on a design...

sorry for the sideways view... looks horizontal on the computer then posts vertically...

then I found a silicon icecube tray...

pressing the clay straight into the silicon mould was not satisfactory...

the detail was too rounded and they needed too much manipulation to remove

next I tried Casting Plaster poured into the tray...

this was a disaster as the working mould would not let go of the master pieces. Even though I went searching for special mould release when soft soap didn't appear to work.  So next I went searching for Potters Plaster.  All the pottery suppliers were on holidays.

Through the help of an Australian Facebook site for potters, "Help for Australian Potters, Tips and Advice"  I was given the name of a local gyprock/drywall/plasterer supplier and managed to buy his last bag... his new supplies hadn't arrived as it was still summer holiday time.

Again I tried pouring into the mould with similar results... I now realised the sides of the little master pieces were too straight sided.  OK for a silicon mould but not a plaster mould.

So I flipped the mould over and moulded the back.

In the meantime I purchased some lego pieces to be able to also make moulds of the hair and cap.

The first mould still had the indentations of the bracing between figures... when pressing in the clay, this caught and trapped the clay figures making it hard to remove them...

Next was to cut away the bracing and cast a second mould...

Now I was under way.

to be able to glaze them all over each figure has a pin of high fire wire in the top.  

Again finding a supplier during the summer holiday break was helped by my Facebook pottery friends and a local element maker was found to have the right size wire.

high fire wire bent into pins

 As I made a batch I recorded the numbers on my whiteboard...

some of the tools used - the components were kept in the ice-cream containers during assembly to stop them drying out

 for bisque firing they were laid flat on tiles with the wire over the side

For the glaze firings, each figure was suspended by a hook on a bead rack

I lost one in the first glaze firing when the hook stretched and allowed the figure to touch the base of the rack... the wire hooks were made shorter...

one or two figures had minor cracks where the hair or cap was joined...

Another lesson learned was that fettling the applied glaze can not be skipped... the result on one batch was this unsightly roughness.

Having completed the firings I wasn't happy with the look of the wire loops.  The wire had started to discolour at the high temperature causing it to look black... not really compatible with the white porcelain.

With the suggestion of a bead making friend I decided to use Gilders Paste to bring the wire back to a silver colour.

Gilders Paste comes in several colours and can be bought online 

showing dark colouration of the once silver wire

each wire was lightly sanded and wiped clean with a damp sponge

 The paste is easy to apply using the instructions that come with the jar.

 while time consuming the results were worth it...

The next decision was how to present them...

A key-ring was suggested... the circle had the little figures hugging together, sweet but awkward to display...

the internet was consulted and an apple shaped keyring and split rings were purchased

All pieces were then carefully wrapped for transport to Ireland... they suited the fun loving couple and their wonderful wedding.

May they live happily ever after.