One of the challenges I faced while making ceramics over the past several years is how to re-create something as it was the first time. Someone will say— “Oooh, I love that!” and want the same thing. This is where molds and stamps come in handy so that I can duplicate one of my original designs.
Stamps can be carved or sculpted from any hard material that can withstand repeated pressure into clay— and doesn’t stick. The simplest to make are small tools which can repeat the same texture or design. Popsicle sticks are useful ends for carving simple shapes. I like to also flatten and file shapes into the tip of a copper wire or some other piece of workable soft metal. Occasionally, I find some random object that creates an interesting design when pressed into clay. Experimenting is fun and can produce interesting results.
For more complex stamps I like to make my own from clay (see crest stamps above) which I can then fire to hardness for repeated use. One drawback is that the dried and fired design will shrink a bit from your original design. And then of course, after the design is pressed into wet clay, that clay shrinks in drying and firing so what you get at the very end is something that’s a bit smaller than what you originally carved. That’s a good thing if you like the ending size.
Another way to create a repeatable design is to sculpt your original protoype (a Cicada tile example below) and then while it’s still a damp piece of clay, it’s then cast in plaster:
A Cicada tile, fresh out of the plaster mold. The positive and its cast reverse. (Apprx 12” x 7”.) 2020.
The prototype is placed inside a welled box and plaster is poured right on top of the wet tile. The photo-video below documents the steps. The trick is to know when to remove the plaster mold—definitely after the the plaster has set up and hardened but before the clay has any chance of drying out too much. This can vary depending on the humidity of your days, the ratio of water-to-plaster, and how large the tile is.
Simpler shapes can be made in oven-cured polymers like Sculpey— which can then be used to create textures in Sculpey:
A variety of fern stamps I made from Sculpey makes adding repeatable textures to clay fast and easy. I sometimes use these on Monsterpots.
Creating ways to make your artistic work-flow faster is more satisfying when you can use your own designs!