Now I have the very first hand-pressed clay from the new plaster mold out and drying, it took 50# of clay to press the design, and about 10# of that was removed during the final work on it.
Now it will set loosely under plastic to slowly, evenly dry out over the next week to 10 days, it will need to be 100% dry before it can be fired in the kiln. I plan to press a second one either in the same white clay, or the red clay.
The photos show the progression from start to finish, with the back of the sculpture being made exactly the same way the antique original 19th century architectural ornaments were made, not really required for my pieces, but mostly it’s done out of tradition and authenticity.
I also did one in the red clay today;
