Dan's
World "Each of us
bears his own Hell."
Virgil pg2
Opening
the Door to Plaster Purgatory
So you think
you want to be a plaster master
There
should be a sign over the door that reads, "Abandon hope all ye
who enter." At the very least you should make
passionate pleas to the patron saint of lost causes for the
preservation of your soul. Should you decide to disregard
this warning you will discover as have I that you are hopelessly
hooked on this most innocent appearing white powder called plaster.
I'm not complaining mind you. I have been hooked on the
white powder for over 35 years now. I just feel obliged to warn
others about to embark on the same pristine white path, that plaster
casting can and will consume you like a white tornado filling every
corner of your life with the dust of gypsum.
The rest of the world will fade into a dim gray memory as you are swept up in
the magic and mystique of this most fascinating occupation.
I don't think a day has
gone by that I haven't had my hands in this miraculous white flour like
substance.
My daughter was so used to seeing me covered
in white plaster that her first words were "pla pla" (her sound for
plaster).
When my wife placed a bowl of oatmeal down in
front of her for the first time, my one year old looked up at her with big blue
eyes opened wide and asked quizzically "pla pla?" That's how
much a part of our lives it is.
You would think after all this time that
it would have become humdrum, just another day at the job but the magic still fascinates
me. You mix this powder into some water, pour the white slurry into a mold and 20 minutes later a
beautiful solid casting emerges. That's the part that traps you, the
feeling of power, the
feeling that you're doing magic. For those few moments you're a god.
That's why so many plaster casters stay with it, as they would say in the
modern vernacular " Like forever"
Look,
Ma! It's Not Just for Statues Anymore
Plaster
is a relatively harmless mineral that is mined from the earth.
It
is less trouble to dispose of than radioactive nuclear waste.
(Just kidding, it is a lot easier to dispose of than radioactive
nuclear waste.) Gypsum is less hazardous than other casting
materials such as resin.
It is
used in such diverse products as toothpaste and animal feed.
It also has wide use in the pharmaceutical industry. Gypsum is
an excellent soil conditioner. I have grown fine tomato crops
in soil amended with Gypsum.
So my
daughter's apprehension in consuming bowls of white food-like
substances may not be well founded. Gypsum is a benign,
natural product. It has a pH reading of 7.0 which is why it
is used in gardens to neutralize adverse soil conditions.
Though
it is not hazardous, it should be disposed of properly.
When I
was just a young buck starting out on this plaster odyssey, I did my
sculpting and mold work in a small one bedroom apartment. A
walk-in closet was my studio. After pouring a mold or
figurine, I would wash the mixing bucket out and flush the plaster
water down the toilet. There were only small amounts of
plaster in the water each time. The toilet was white and the
plaster was white so I never noticed that it was building up in the
bowl.
After a
while the toilet didn't work so well; In fact, it didn't work at
all. A call to the landlord would mean an inspection of the
apartment. Even if the inspection were only cursory it could
lead to trouble. I had no choice so I made the call. While I
was waiting, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, contemplating where
I would live next and looking into my sorry clogged toilet, I
noticed that there was a fine gray line around the middle of
the bowl. I poked at it and a chunk of plaster, the exact
contour of the toilet bowl, was liberated from its porcelain mold.
Mama
always says there's something to be learned from every bad
experience.
Great!
Now I know how to make a mold of the inside of a toilet.
My call
to the landlord to inform him that I was mistaken about the toilet
being clogged was met with some disconcerted questioning.
LESSON
#1: DON'T DUMP PLASTER DOWN THE TOILET. This goes for sinks, floor
drains or bathtubs. (No, I never tried dumping plaster in my
bathtub. I'm strange but not that strange.)
Nothing will dissolve plaster from the pipes! Don't do it. Dump your
waste water into a tub. The clear water will rise to the top. Pour
the clear water off then scoop out the plaster muck into a sturdy
cardboard box or an empty plaster bag. Then dispose of it properly.
So now
what you have to decide is: Are you really sure you want to
start a plaster casting business? It takes a strong constitution to
face the plaster mess day after day. Scraping it off your
clothes and shoes is a constant chore. Aprons and coveralls
can help. Spray your tools and work shoes with PAM vegetable spray
to make cleaning them easier. Change your shoes before getting
into your car or coming into the house or you'll catch hell for
tracking plaster all over the place. I know.
Emptying
out sloppy plaster buckets isn't all as glamorous as it sounds
either. I've been in a whole passel of mold making and casting
shops and one thing they all have in common is the headache of
cleaning up and disposing of the plaster waste.
You're
probably thinking, "boy, this all sounds too good to be
true." (I know I tend to romanticize things that I am involved
in.) I've got the feeling you're still going to go ahead with
it anyway, aren't you?
You
think you can make it.
You
must be one of those stubborn die hards that forges ahead when they
think they have a good idea.
You are probably one of those people who doesn't get discouraged the
first time someone tells you that you can't do it.
You
would be one of those people that makes lemonade when life hands you
those puckery, sour, yellow things.
Hmmm.
Now that you mention it, you probably will make it. I'm going
to get some lemonade.
Selecting
a suitable workspace:
Look
for a place where a mess won't get you in a whole heap of trouble.
Basements, barns and sheds have worked well for me. An area
with a concrete floor would be ideal. (Wood floors are a
bugger to keep clean.) One way to ease the chore of cleaning
up would be to roll out tar paper on the floor in between the
tables. Cardboard works equally well in catching spills.
I've
been in shops where they have thousands of square feet of floor
covered with tar paper. When it becomes too encrusted to live
with any longer, they roll the whole kit and caboodle up and throw
it in the dumpster. An ice scrapper that is used for sidewalks
is what most places use to scrape up stubborn spots. If you
set up in a basement you may have the advantage of heat from the
furnace. That will be good when it comes time to dry your castings.
A few
years ago, a large costume company called me in to help set up
a plaster mold room. When I arrived, workmen were installing
an extensive floor drainage system, with fancy pumping devices to
empty the drains. They were going to have the mold makers
dump the plaster waste water down the floor drains. It would
then be pumped to God knows where, all in an effort to
construct the ultimate high tech mold shop.
I
called the owner and told him the bad news. His dream to
produce a mold maker's paradise wasn't going to work. The
drains and fancy pumps would be a huge waste of money. He
would not see it my way. After about an hour of heated
discussion, I got him to hold off on the drainage pumps. He
would not relinquish on the underground piping system. It
would go ahead as planned. Well I don't have to tell you what
happened, pardner. Yup, the drains stopped working quicker
than a jackrabbit in love.
A much
meeker company owner apologized and admitted that the drains were a
bad idea. I set up a couple of large garbage cans for
them to dump the waste water in. It's a simple system that
works.
Boy! Some people ... they'd probably dump plaster water down the
toilet if you didn't tell them not to.
Companies
with high production requirements reduce their plaster waste by
using automatic pumping machinery. These machines eliminate the need
to mix in small batches. They save time and eliminate the
waste of hand mixing. With the machines, the plaster slurry
is automatically mixed and pumped through a hose. The mold
maker directs a nozzle into a mold and fills it with mixed plaster.
He then moves onto the next mold and fills it. The
plaster sets up much more rapidly than by hand mixing. That is due
to the turbulent mixing conditions within the machine.
If you
have enough molds you can pour all day and have almost no waste.
It is a very efficient way to mass produce plaster items.
These automatic pouring machines start at about $35,000 and go up
from there. For companies with the need and wherewithal, this
is the way to go. Alas, I'll have to be content with the old
bucket and mixer method. At least I can dream.
This page has been excerpted from the Dan Does It! series. To
read the rest of this article click on Dan
Does It ! 2
Next
let's see what it would take to get a product of yours
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Dan
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Dan Kijak
4308 Shankweiler Rd. Orefield PA 18069
610-391-9277
Other
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Dan
Does It! Archives / Work At Home / Making a blanket
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The History of
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How Plaster is
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