Making Bleuette Part 1 - Pouring the Molds

From the very beginning, conception as I call it, you mix the porcelain slip, then strain it, so no particles get into it, and ruin your doll's face.

Then you pour the slip into the molds and wait about 3 minutes, then drain the mold, and let it set up for an hour or so.

Then you open the mold and cut the eyes out, if you want earrings now is when you make the little holes in the ears. You also open the back of the head, and any other openings you may want.

Then the pieces have to sit out in the open air for 3 or 5 days depending on the weather, if it is raining daily it takes longer for the porcelain to dry.

After it is dry you need to soft fire it in the kiln. This is a china firing of 018, so the piece is a little sturdier to clean.

You can only pour molds once a day. I need 6 heads, so If all goes right and the end of a week I will have what I need.

But as we all know, not all things go as planned, as you can see I dropped a piece, the mold took out a piece when I opened it to soon, and the last mistake was a bad emptying and the head pulled away from the mold before it set up enough to be fully molded. That means if I still need 6 I have to pour an extra day for the mistakes.

For this week this is all that will get done. So for this week that is it, I will be cleaning the green ware next week and will post photo's of that process.