Well I knew it was ambitious. The boat mould cracked even before it got to the kiln so now it is smashed up in a bag ready to be used as luto or grog (filler material). So undeterred I then made up seven moulds slightly smaller and measured the Hydrocal and Silica very carefully. Success I thought as they air dried perfectly! But they cracked when being cured in the kiln even though it was only fired to 400 deg C. They have been smashed into another luto bag. Don't you just love recycling?!
I have two more boat moulds made and am thinking of binding them with stainless steel wire and just firing them with glass in to see what happens. I suspect, inevitably, they will go into a third bag or the garbage can. Next step will be to actually make a boat with earthenware or porcelain clay, fire it and then use as a mould. Next update in about a month on my mouldy progress.
To cheer myself up I made the above platter which will be a raffle prize at my son's school in late October. Can't get a mould to work but my fusing and slumping is improving all the time.
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