The Orb Trio and Duo was created initially from clay with two profile boards as a template. We wanted the stem to flow seamlessly from front to back so to do this a "hands on" approach was needed. After sculpting and we created a two part mold with plaster which created the negative of the form. From negative we went back to positive by casting a plaster solid mold which we smoothed and refined further. This form was then used to make a master mold from which all the Orbs are now cast.
The Orb shape was a challenge especially when the shrinkage when cast in porcelain was between 10-13%. With this much shrinkage lots of warping was happening in the rim when cast right side up. We eventually started firing upside down with a support.
Released 2015
Role
- Sculpt stem region
- Cast plaster positive / negative / master mold
- Make in-house porcelain slip to specs desired for translucency (intial concept)
- Maintain slip specific gravity / viscosity
- Cast low fire (opaque) slip
- Maintain quality control
- Troubleshoot imperfections
- Clean up part lines
- Prepare green-ware for kiln (sanding, cutting holes for cordset)
- Prepare kiln shelves
- Load kiln
- Fire kiln
