Expert: Leisha Hiester - 11/27/2010

Question
I have 2 related questions...first..I have poured the same small chef molds three times...every time the hat has dents in it when I take it out of the mold. The hat is at the bottom of the mold..all 3 chef molds have done that...one had neve been poured before and I used baby powder for earier release...no good....everything else I pour is great..what am I doing wrong?...
The second question is a recipe box mold that has a huge opening at the top...when I take it out of the mold it is all distorted...what is going on?....
I have been pouring with the same clay..mixing it the same way and pouring about 16 things at a time. These are the only ones that mess up....HELP!!!

Answer
Dear Jo,

Molds can be finicky. When I owned molds and poured I often found two molds from the same company, same design poured and released differently. I made notes on the molds like, "needs extra time" or "trim after release" and more. I found this really helpful after I hired someone to help me pour. But, it took finding out each molds nuance first.

Are the hats collapsing in the same spot each time? Are the molds being moved at all after pouring? This may sound backwards, but try pouring the chef mold a little thinner. Sometimes the design of the opening can be suctioning as you pour out the remaining slip. When I had a design like this I'd use a chop stick while pouring slip out of the mold. Allowing the slip to flow over the stick broke the flow and the suction at the same time.

Try a few of these things and see if they don't help. Feel free to write again. I'd like to know either way.

Leisha