Making a hump mould - nibbles dish

Today we had a demo in making Hump Moulds.

You create a form either from handbuilding or throwing, make a plaster cast of it, and from the plaster mould you can reproduce many dishes the same by using slabs of clay that are coaxed into the mould with a damp sponge.

But first the mould………

I decided I would like a kind of pear shaped nibbles dish, that would sit in an almost flower shape when in multiples.  So I formed a solid lump of clay into the shape I wanted.

 Next I put my shape on an acrylic board and built a little wall of clay around it so I could judge where the plaster would go.

Time to mix up the plaster mix….

Plaster Recipe for hump mould:  (to be measured up as required)

• ·       1.5lb plaster powder
• ·       1 pint water

I built up the plaster in layers by hand – I didn’t want the mould to be super heavy, so I added an even layer around the clay but not too much.

Once the plaster was set it was time to flip it over and scoop out the clay.

A quick wash and brush up later and the mould is now ready to go……