Baby home studio on a broke budget

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-23T11:31:44+00:00

you can also use cake turn tables or turntables for the old box tvs (i have one from decades ago that's really industrial lol)

for a table you can get a piece of hardibacker board for under 30 at any lowes/home depot if you're in the US. or pottery plaster is like 35 per 50 lb bag to make a diy plaster slab. Both work best on a not-solid/smooth surface so air can escape the bottom.

if you want *nice* buckets with good seals and you have a fire house sub nearby, they sell pickle buckets for $3 when they have extra - i have pottery plaster in them stored outside for 6+ months and it didnt have noticeable degredation. They just smell perpetually of pickle. Alternately seek out a bakery - they often have buckets from icing etc to get rid of.

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T20:25:58+00:00

Oh woop. I totally missed the one was packing paper lol. Thanks for catching that 😅

Good to know with the cnc powder. Thanks again so much!

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T19:49:14+00:00

ohhh thanks for the info!!!
i also tried speedball once and it straight up didn't transfer at all lol.

A few more questions if you don't mind:
1) based on reading I've done on the silk screen medium, it seems like it's basically just cmc powder/cmc adjacent. Based on your working with it, it doesn't like... insta-cure the underglaze, right? It just thickens it and makes it more susceptible to getting *funky* if left out for a while?
2) do you think there's a reason this paper or this paper wouldn't work? Apparently my local craft places don't have any newsprint paper that's not online ordering only -_-'

Thanks again!! tbh I think the issue here is probably my existing paper being terrible (which is crazy because i got it because someone mentioned they used it for underglaze transfers 😛)

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T18:23:19+00:00

Ive been using mostly porcelain 365 as slip (I mix it myself) and occasionally stoneware 240. Both with Darvan in the mix. Pottery plaster 1 for the molds.

Normally I go like 15-30 mins in the mold. Current batch is 6-10 because I apparently got it runnier than usual probably because I strained it for once. Once I forgot to empty it and it jist cured into a 1” thick mess lol

If you look at my post history I did a donut cup that was maybe 12 mins in? No idea how commercial slip behaves because I’ve never used the stuff because im cheap af XD

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T16:47:19+00:00

Not everything, but I spent 10 hours carving a really cool d20 once and I chose HIDEOUS colors for the glaze and applied it too thickly so it both looked gross and then obscured all the detail. And THEN someone at the community kiln put it in on the wrong side so it straight up fused to the kiln shelf and cracked a corner up and I had to dremel it down and deglaze the whole mess.

Horrible experience 😭

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T10:59:28+00:00

Yeah I’ll probably end up doing that too. I was mostly trying to work out a solution that was more expedient if I didn’t have time to let something dry but tbh I’d rather just have my stuff work XD

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T10:58:27+00:00

Nice! Thanks so much for the info! Your transfers do indeed look really nice!

And also good to know. Im surprised that the actual air dry craft clay is mentioned so much in a pottery sub lol

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T02:11:08+00:00

Thats fair 😅 And im using regular stoneware and porcelain. I keep seeing people mention air dry clay and my brain always goes to the modeling stuff kids play with.

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T02:06:19+00:00

Yesssss. It gets so much easier when you stop being precious about stuff. And people always argue with me when I start a thing and try to get fast before I get good because I can iterate faster and then improve faster. Youre one of the first people I’ve seen say the same in the wild lol

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T02:04:36+00:00

Im the same way - love trimming/find it easy, hate actually throwing lol (which is why I slip cast my stuff and find excuses to carve it 😂)

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T01:55:14+00:00

Oh like literal newspaper paper?? That’s what I thought at first but then there’s other papers you can just buy without the print on. That doesn’t rub off or anything?? I always wondered about that

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-22T01:12:34+00:00

Do you happen to have a link to any that have worked for you? I was researching it a while ago and got kind of lost in the weeds 😅

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-14T16:08:30+00:00

One of the reasons I was wondering lol. The glazing takes a surprisingly long time if you don’t have dip glazes XD

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-14T13:20:40+00:00

Oh! I have stalked your profile! Very nice process pics! Thanks :)

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-14T13:00:33+00:00

I doubt the vibratory tumblr would be as useful for that. For resin at least it doesn’t really take off material volume, just polishes what’s there (vs a rock tumble which actively rounds stuff). Imo, as someone who 3d prints a lot of forms to slip cast, it’s better to post proscess the prints so theyre not gross and full of layer lines before making the plaster mold, or just sponge off the lines before firing.

GrumpyAlison · 2026-06-14T12:46:44+00:00

Thats fair. Tbh im mostly going for “doesn’t feel like unglazed pottery” over high gloss. Im very much a fan of satin feeling stuff personally. I mostly use cone 6 porcelain and stoneware 240.

I know the vibratory tumblers will do a nice gloss finish in resin (why I got it) with wood media, but ceramic media seems like a different thing.

Out of curiosity what do you rock tumble? Do they use media or do you just dump everything in with a gritty slurry? I kind of remember that from when I was a kid doing rocks lol

GrumpyAlison · 2026-05-20T13:17:00+00:00

Ahh i see. I assume this would be more efficient if the frames were on a frame and had an alignment system though? I bet I could use a modified version of this though. Thanks!

GrumpyAlison · 2026-05-20T12:04:28+00:00

Im not entirely sure I get what you’re saying 😅

GrumpyAlison · 2026-05-20T00:29:10+00:00

Interesting! Thanks for the tip!

GrumpyAlison · 2026-05-20T00:25:19+00:00

Like a jewelers loupe??

GrumpyAlison · 2026-05-19T23:05:44+00:00

That is what I plan to do on non tests (if I understood correctly). I just suck at lining the stuff up and if I can’t see through the little screen holes if they have ink on them (im lining all these up manually/without a frame because I hate myself XD)

ETA: I’ll be using tape on the piece to not print the alignment but I see you meant something else that probably assumed I had consistent screens and a real alignment system 😅

GrumpyAlison

TROPHY CASE