HI Beth,<br>That sounds like a good system to me.
With the cards, you could tape pictures of the piece
to the card and it would help the customer know if
that's the piece they want. I love it when someone ask
for a "Santa". I think, right we have 270 santas pick
one. We try to keep just picture books, but that is
very time comsuming.<br>Tom

Years ago I took a class from Wilma Mars she
owned quite a few places in Louisana called Wilmars.
She told us to use a card system(pre computers). We
gave each catagory a number such as 100 series..dishes
200 series animals 300 series fruit and so on then
number your molds 101 was a(maybe) duncan plate 102
Jamar plate and so on when you got to 199 in your dish
series you went to 1101 do you get the drift. When I
sold that shop and about 3 years laped I went into a
shop about 50miles from where I lived and there was my
molds on shelves still in their numering system and I
could tell you what they were just from the first
letter of all the numbers. In my shop I put all the 100
series together and the 200 series together and so
forth. To me it was a good system and I would probably
do it again but now keep the records on a computer
not on cards in a 3x5 card box. I used a large 3x5
card box.

Hi Doug!  :0)

....we have got this many members in such a short time.Everyone please contact
every one you know that might be interested.

Tom. when this dream becomes a reality we all want in on it big time.

Just received order from Mike's Molds and they
are going out of business. They have been overwelhmed
with orders and will be shipping molds until the end
of September. Not sure if they are selling blocks to
anyone in USA. get your orders in.<br>Mike's Ceramic
Molds<br>5217 8th Ave. S.<br>St. Petersburg, FL 33707<br>(813)
321-3725<br><br>Just thought you'd like to know

I have a number of photos available. They will be
posted as soon as I figure out how to do it. But until
then you can e-mail me for pictures of how to build a
slip mixer, using heat from your kiln to dry molds &
greenware without totally frying them, modifiying nozzle
with valve to make it possible to pour even the
smallest mold with your pump. DougBisque@...

Wow I want One too!...<br>My pouring room is small and when built 2 years ago
was ment to be "clutter"free HaHa...<br>With soo many molds "I must have" it too
has a pathway to the pouring table .....

hi, should that dream come true I would like to see it in person. My pouring
room is no where like that one.Birds plants & Things

Since hind sight is 20/20, I now know what my
pouring room should look like. It would be an old Purdue
chicken house, 40' wide and 300' long. <br><br>I would
build a small room in the middle of the warehouse and
set up the tables, work benchs, and shelves. The
small room would be 20' x 20' and insulated so we could
control the climate. The outside walls of the small room
will be shelves, to set drying greenware. The garage
door of the warehouse will be right in front of the
pouring room, so we can back up the truck and move
greenware to the shop.<br><br> The molds would be on the
thousands of shelves (that I've already built)in rows so
that the furtherest mold from the pouring table is 150
feet. Cement floor with carts to transport
molds.<br><br>! ! POP ! !<br>Oh well I better stop here, before I
get to the part about dancing girls.

My DH (dear hubby) did the same thing in my shop and boy is it ever a hassle to
pull out the molds!  Two feet deep against a wall is a very good suggestion! 
Take heed people.......

An additional thought on this one. If you are
just setting up your casting room you may want to
consider not making your mold shelves too deep. We made
the mistake of creating mold shelves that are 4 ft.
deep against the wall. Have to move half the world to
find what you want. Disaster. My new shelves are 2
ft.deep unless they have access from 2 sides and those
are only 3 ft. deep. It is not fun to move 3 rows of
molds to find the one in the back. Save yourself the
headache if you can.

We want this message board to be of value to
every one conected with hobby ceramics. I don't know
all the answers but I will do my best to answer any
questions on pouring or slip. Please ask all your friends
to join so we can make this board a credit to the
ceramic industry.

Thanks to all our new members:<br>BarbaraH48346,
Betterbisque, bw_mn, Creations63, decotres, donnamazat,
EastCoastCeramics, Jaxrita, kayharlan, lambselot, mudnme,
starbrightceramics, the_huntress3, ware_to-paint, Periwinklepig,
Sugar76036<br><br>We’re very happy all of you joined the club. This club
is not my club, it’s your club, and what makes it
worthwhile is your input. Thank you for your input. If you
have a web site or home page, feel free to add it to
the "Links’. If you have Photos you would like to
share with the club, please create an album if you
don’t see one you would like to add it to. <br><br>If
you see a message posted and you have something to
say, say it. Most everyone here has opinions, express
yours. Try not to run down anyone and hurt someone’s
feelings. <br><br>Please no vulgar language or nude
pictures. Self promotion is allowed here, if you don’t blow
your horn, no one will hear it. They say we can’t post
advertisements here, but I think you can provide information to
members. Make it look like information
please.<br><br>Please don’t rely on me to provide all the answers to
questions, I only have a limited amount of answers. But if I
feel I can help, I will, You do the same.<br><br>Use
the Chat room to meet members, It’s your chat room.
This is your CLUB.<br><br>Thanks again for taking
part.<br><br>Tom Horton

Oops, I hit the post button too soon. My name is Elsa. My ID is what it is
because it seems everything else was taken.

We started out trying to keep like molds
together, all Christmas, Thanksgiving etc. But pretty soon
we ran out of room in the designated areas. It was
either rearrange all the molds to make room in a section
or do something different. Now we just number the
shelves and put the molds where ever they will fit. We
keep track of the molds on each shelf through the
computer. We list the mold #, shelf #, description,
company, original purchase price and discount %. We added
a couple of extra fields for additional sorting
purposes. Now if I want to see where all my Christmas molds
are located, I can extract that info. Or if I want
Chrismas, Santa or Christmas, Snowman I can get that too. I
keep a current printout in the mold pouring area all
the time. But, if you don't put things back where
they belong or don't keep the computer updated you
still can't find anything.

For Beginners, Vol. 2<br><br>Now that you know
basically how our room is set up, lets pour the mold.
<br><br>The mold is basically in two pieces (some molds have
3 or more pieces, depends on the mold design) These
two pieces are fitted so the sides go together
tightly. If the mold has been setting up for some time,
open it and be sure it is clean inside. The surfaces
that fit together should be clean (no dried slip on
the surface) We use a sponge or the fingers to clean.
Some folks use old nylon stockings. If there is trash
on this surface the mold may not fit together well
and this will cause the mold to leak.
<br><br><br>Band the mold using rubber bands or if the mold is
medium to large, use straps. Make sure the mold is held
together tightly. Remember you are going to fill this mold
with slip that is as heavy as water. The weight of the
slip will cause the mold to separate and leak if it is
not banded tightly. If the mold is a flat piece
(plates, bowls, wreaths, etc.) and the only seam is
horizontal to the table, you only need the band tight enough
to keep the top part of the mold from floating.
Vertical seams are the ones that must be good and tight to
keep from separating. Here's where we use the Buckle
Buster. It is a special tool designed to operate strap
buckles and keep the buckle from hurting your hand. I am
biased on this subject (I invented the tool), but I do
know that you can band a mold using a strap, much
tighter than you can by hand. We use straps on smaller
molds than most ceramist do, because of the advantage
of the Buckle Buster. Pulling on rubber bands all
day is tough work. I have heard of a new pourer
getting a mold and slip and no banding material. They let
their kid hold the mold together till the it was ready
to pour off. Makes a bad impression on the
Kid.<br><br>With the mold banded tight, you can start to fill the
mold with slip. Different opinions on this. I fill the
mold with slip to the top of the pour hold. There may
be a lip at the bottom of the greenware piece, but
that doesn't mean stop the slip their. In my opinion
the extra slip cures more problems, by allowing the
extra slip to force slip into the crevices and through
air holes the mold may have. When you start to put
the slip in the mold DON'T STOP, until the mold is
full. Stopping and starting may cause rings around the
greenware. Check the mold periodically, may need to top off
the mold until you determine the piece is thick
enough. Many things can effect to slip setting up in the
mold. Humidity, weather, how your room is ventilated,
(fans make things set too fast for us) the viscosity of
the slip. You will learn to look at the pour hole to
determine the thickness of the piece. Some pieces need to
be thicker that others. Some people pour heavy, some
people pour thin. We pour from medium to heavy. Seems
each mold has its own characteristics, and you will
learn them as you gain experience. <br><br>Continued in
Vol. 3

I organize my molds similar to Tom. I have my
shelves numbered and put that number in a circle on the
mold. I number the molds C for Christmas, T for
Thanksgiving, E for Easter, I for Indian, and I have nothing
but Indians on one shelf, but even further, nothing
but Kimple Indians on one shelf. Having the shelf
number on the mold makes it easier for hubby to deal
with them. But we still spent a year looking for my
graduates. The mold looked like my duncan nativity and there
it was, up with nativities. Go figure.

Tom,<br>I know I will enjoy coming to your site and reading all the interesting
and helpful information.  Thanks for creating another ceramics learning center.

Hi decotres and Welcome to the club. <br><br>We
made up a coded system for mold id. A=Bears, B=Birds,
HC=Holiday Christmas, HCS=Santas. Then we ust the mold
number. (A-113 is a bear with mold number 113) But this
just lets you quickly id the mold if you are looking
in the right shelf location. We found that if you
need the mold real bad, you can't find it. The most
important part is haveing the shelves marked and make a
list in your computer as to which mold is in what
location. But then the computer just tell you what you tell
it. If you dont put it back in the proper location it
wont be there the next time. It takes a lot of space
to store molds. We log molds into the computer by
ID#, Discription, Mold mfg, Mold #,
Location.<br><br>Tom

I'm just wondering how you all organize your molds.  Do you number them by
holidays, animals, and etc.?  I'm getting to the point where I can't find some
that I need.

Perhaps you already new this one, but I just
discovered it so thought Id share. The rolling texture tool,
the one you use to put the fur back on the bears
after you sand it off, has always been a problem for me
in terms of cleanup. Seems like its always full of
dry clay. Guess what? One quick puff of air from the
compressor and its clean!! Now why didnt I find this out 2
years ago when all I was selling were bears?

For beginners,<br><br>This is how we are set up
to pour ceramics. Doesn't mean this is the right,
best, or only way, it's just the way we do
it.<br><br>We have a building separte from the shop just for
pouring. All the dust and mud stays there rather than in
the shop. Shop generates it's own dust and dirt,
doesn't need help from the pouring room. The room is 20'
X 24' and is sectioned off for mold storage in the
back 20' X 10'. Only store the most frequently poured
molds here. Of course the pieces that are ordered are
never their. Lots of people seem to want what you don't
have the most.<br><br>We use a 30 gal slip tank w/
pump, on a six foot pouring table. We have an eight
foot table next to that for sliding the poured molds
on, til they are ready to take the piece out. We have
to Benches in the room with shelves on each side of
the bench to set filled molds, until the piece comes
out. One wall is solid shelves, to set the greenware
on when it does come out. <br><br> We use a air
compressor for many things, one is help release mostly flat
pieces (bowls, plates, wreaths, etc.) Most pieces don't
need air but it's nice to have. pumps up tires too. We
have quick disconnects to interchange different air
fittings. Janet uses the same compressor the hook up her
air brush. Doesn't do a lot of that, but it's there
when she needs it.<br><br>We use Priemer Slip form
North Carolina Ceramic Supply (Linwood, NC). They
deliver slip to our shop as we need it. Usally 300 - 500
gallons at a time. We sell their slip
also.<br><br>Materials & Tools to pour:<br>Trimming knife (plastic),
Rubber mallet, Exacto knife, Cut of water with brushes
(different sizes for addons), Cleaning tool, Rubber bands
(4", 5". 6", 8") Straps (1"), and Buckle
Buster.<br><br>continued in Vol 2

Hi, If you wish to access the live ceramic chat that is held nightly at Enscoe's
Ceramics, go to <a href=http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/2785
target=new>http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/2785</a> my site at 9pm EST

Welcome to the Club Joyce, Not sure if we are
going to have a scheduled Chat, but will post on the
calendar if we do. For now we will probablly use the chat
feature to make appointment with other members by email
and meet in the chat room to talk.<br><br>Tom

Hope this takes off, what time does chat start?

Totally agree, this is the friendliess Chat room for ceramist. Thanks for
joining the Club and posting your Link.<br><br>Tom

I would like to invite everyone to join us for live ceramic chat every evening
from 9pm - ? EST at <a href=http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/2785
target=new>http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/2785</a> click on ceramic chat.

This club is established for all that pour molds,
but is not excluded to slip dippers. If you know
someone that is a Slip Dipper, and want to find out
something helpful for them, Join. If you are looking for a
special mold, Post a message. We will try to help. Visit
often and if you're not learning anything - teach us
something. If you don't know the answer, it's not a dumb
question. We have the answers, just hope it matches you
question.<br><br>Tom

Welcome, This is the Yahoo! Message Board for Slip Dippers Ceramics community.