tamie
New Member
Posts: 11
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Post by tamie on Jan 3, 2016 13:24:30 GMT -8
I'm planning to make molds of one of my dolls this year for casting air dry slip and than hopefully porcelain. I have read that you need a special plaster for doll molds, but can't seem to find anywhere what that special stuff is! Here is a list of options I found at Dick Blick; www.dickblick.com/categories/moldingcasting/plastergypsum/details/Does anyone have recomandations? Also, I would like recomendations for a kiln. THank you
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Post by EarthShine Doll on Jan 3, 2016 18:35:10 GMT -8
Hi Tamie! I use the no. 1 pottery plaster from dick blick, and have had no trouble with it. I keep it in a big plastic storage tub with a tight lid so it stays fresh as long as possible. Also, I use a Manuel Cress kiln I bought at a garage sale, lol! It's works great for now, but eventually I would like a fancy automatic kiln, so I don't have to babysit during firing as much. I think any of the main brands are going to work great...Cress, Skutt, Paragon all have rave reviews. I myself was looking at getting a medium size Skutt in the future. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps! Feel free to ask tons of questions during your process, there are a few of us who just recently finished our own dolls, and I know there are always a million questions that come up!
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Hasel
Senior Member
Posts: 220
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Post by Hasel on Jan 4, 2016 1:15:27 GMT -8
I've used 3 different kinds of plaster and all three worked fine, one was the plaster from the building-market, the other 2 were from ceramic material shops. One was specially for making plaster molds for porcelain slip casting and the other is standard mold making plaster. I have not experienced any big differences between any of them ^.^'' The special plaster maybe 'sucks' a bit better then the stuff of the building-market but in the end they both cast just fine, with one I just need to let it sit a minute or 2 longer. As long as you mix the plaster correctly I don't think you really have a NEED for the special stuff 
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tamie
New Member
Posts: 11
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Post by tamie on Jan 4, 2016 16:36:46 GMT -8
Thank you both for the advice!
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Post by kellys on Nov 11, 2016 16:39:53 GMT -8
I have an automatic Skutt and Olympic Kilns, I like them both. I don't have the freedom to babysit a kiln! The Olympic doll kiln is small but does the job! There are soooo many different things to learn and so many materials to hunt dowm, experiment with, and master with doll making!!!
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Post by caracal on Nov 12, 2016 0:37:31 GMT -8
About kilns; I have quite a big one (well, not really..) it's 45litres and it is great for firing the doll pieces -but I wish I also had smaller one for the painting! Because sometimes I only have few pieces that need more painting and it is so stuped to fire only those pieces in the big kiln. So my wishing list includes small kiln for paint firing. 
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Dina
Senior Member
Posts: 354
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Post by Dina on Nov 12, 2016 14:16:21 GMT -8
I used to have a manual Paragon, then I moved up a size to an automatic Skutt ... loved it! I sold that a few years ago when I closed my studio but I would never go back to manual kiln again. Hopefully I will buy another small one again soon.
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Post by amandap on Nov 17, 2016 16:21:40 GMT -8
If I could do one thing over again it would be to buy a kiln with a lid on top instead of on the side, the cold spots don't seem to be as drastic in a top loader 
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