How to make a single mould?

As I have been making moulds the last couple of days, I'd thought I'd share with you how to make them. Moulds are very useful for repetitive tasks for example if you work with polymer, paperclay, ceramic clay, papier maché,...
Making a mould is not difficult, it's just a bit messy so you better have everything you need prepared beforehand.

This is what you need: plaster, empty icecream containers, liquid beeswax, clay, scissors, knife, doublesided tape, tape, modelling materials (only if you mould claywork), paintbrush, water, towel. Be sure to protect your surface with a plastic tablecloth and wear an appron if you're messy.
I'm going to mould an existing bowl. A bowl is an easy thing to mould. That way I can make loads of bowls like this...
Put some doubleside tape on the edges.
Press the bowl onto the placemat so that it sits firmly. Now no plaster can go on the inside of the bowl.
Since you'll be putting plaster on the bowl, it will need to come loose afterwards. That's why you need to put some beeswax onto the entire bowl. If you use clay, you don't need to do that as clay is cellular and will come off easy.
I always safe empty ice cream containers as they come in very handy for moulding. Besides, it's a good excuse to eat icecream. :) Cut off the upper part of the container and place it over the bowl.
Take some clay and press the clay firmly around the container. This way, no plaster can escape.
Make the plaster ready to pour in the mould. The plaster is good if it has the same viscosity then yoghurt.
Place your hand above the bowl and pour the plaster via your hand into the container.
Let it set until it's hard.
Take away the clay and try to get the real bowl out of the mould. If this is hard, you can hold it underneath running water so that it's easier to get it out. Let the mould dry before using it.
If you have left over plaster, don't throw it away but poor it into a container and let it set. You can do fun mouldcarving like this.

Next time I'm going to show you how to make a double mould so stay tuned! :)

Third attempt... right but wrong

This is getting slightly embarrassing... My third attempt at the slippers failed again but I'm SO learning from my mistakes so it's good to hang in there and give it another try. This time, Tara from Mamachee, advised me to use four strands of yarn and hook number 7. It worked on the size: it's finally an adult size and I suppose the yarn I'm using is too thin to use as a single or double strand for these slippers.It looks OK though, but it's not and I know I'm probably messing up on the sole already as the heel doesn't seem to be in the right place. And since the heel isn't in the right place, the rest of the slipper is neither. By now, I must have done the sole five times and I really don't know what I'm doing wrong there. Its quite easy to follow the pattern but somehow I don't seem to end in the right place for the heel to start so all the stitches move a little bit and I get a crooked slipper.
I think I might need Tara's advise once more. She really should be charging more for her patterns with pupils like me! :)

Second attempt failed

After I posted the picture of my first crocheting attempt, I also send Tara from Mamachee a bit more info so she could probably figure out where I went wrong. She told me that I didn't do the soles right as I didn't have enough stitches to follow the pattern.
So, I unraveled the whole thing and started again... This is the result:As for me, the first attempt looked like I crocheted too loose, I used hook number 7 for that as the pattern states but somehow it seemed too floppy to me. So this time I used hook number 5 and it's much tighter but also much smaller - LOL - this is for a four year old I think! I did follow the pattern for size 9/10 though so either my yarn is too thin and I will definately need to change the hook back to number 7.
I did mess up again somewhere on the last row but I'm really happy that now it actually looks like a slipper! :)

First attempt at the slippers...

OK, don't laugh, this is my first attempt at the slippers. I bought this lovely pattern but my slippers don't look like 'em at all. However, Tara from Mamachee, has been so helpful giving me advise and explaining more crochet abbreviations. It's a weird language, I tell you. Actually, I typed all the abbreviations out in the pattern because otherwise I wouldn't be able to read it. I messed up tremendously but I won't give up. Tommorrow is a new day and I'll try again.
It's nice to have a little change from claying for a while. I hope to finish them sometime this week though... :)Excuse me for the bad quality of the picture but it's hard to photograph at night without lightbox...

I can do it!

Recently I saw these really cool crocheted slippers on Etsy and I ordered a pair of grey ones but the seller never replied after my first message so I still don't have cool slippers.
Then I told my friend Stephanie about it and she told me that she would knit some for me. You must know that she has been spoiling me to pieces with her beautiful knits and I'm a proud owner of a scarf, fingerless gloves, a bag and a cowl already. So sweet of her to offer but somehow I just I have the urge to learn to crochet myself. As a child I was tought how to do it in school but it is definately not like bikeriding, as I completely forgot.
So, yesterday, I searched for crocheting patterns for slippers and I found some which I thought would be quite easy... NOT! I was a bit frustrated not being able to do it...
I shouted on Twitter that I couldn't do it and people suggested that I would start easy so I picked up the hook again this afternoon and crocheted a little flower! :)
Yip, I can do it! Just need a bit more practice before I start on the slippers I think...
Was being a bit ambitious thinking I could do it from scratch! LOL :)
Thanks for the encouragement everyone! :)

I bought this pattern as I just love these slippers! :)

I found what I lost!

I carved this mould myself. It took me days and days and days. I have been looking for this mould for the past months and couldn't find it anywhere in the house. I'm so happy I found it back this morning...This is the result if you press a piece of clay into the mould. It looks fun doesn't it?
It's a great activity to do with children too - just pour a little bit of cast into a small container. Let it sit & dry for a while and then you can let children use nails or needles to carve out pieces out of the cast. If you press clay into it, the result is really neat! :)

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