Gold Star Distributors for 2005 Dogwood Ceramic Supply is one of only 11 distributors in North America to meet the performance and customer service standards for Creative Paradise's Gold Star Program for Distributor Excellence.

    Sculpting or handbuilding clay is often necessary in order to achieve shapes or designs that could not otherwise be accomplished with the pottery wheel.  To assist the clay artist, Creative Paradise has developed and entire line of plaster forms and tools to create imaginative and unique clay pieces.

    Sprig Molds, also known as press molds or one piece clay molds or pottery molds, are highly detailed plaster molds that have many uses for potters, ceramists, and clay jewelry artists.  Clay is depressed into the mold, the absorbent plaster evenly draws moisture from the clay body which limits cracking and sticking, and when the clay has dried to the leather hard stage, the design is removed for further drying or attaching to other clay objects.

    Plaster molds are often used in forming clay shapes that are consistent in size and shape, or for making complex designs that could not be easily accomplished on the pottery wheel, or to firmly hold leather hard clay while adding decorative embellishments.  These molds are collectively called slump, hump or drape molds depending upon the design and purpose of the mold.
    Convex plaster forms are known as "hump molds" or "drape molds", while concave plaster forms are known as "slump molds".  The difference between a hump mold and a drape mold is the degree of slope of the shape.  Drape molds have a shallower slope than hump molds.
    To select between a hump and a slump mold of the same shape, the artist must decide whether access to the inside surface (available with a slump) or the outside surface (available with a hump or drape) is most important. Hump molds give the advantage of adding feet and handles to the outer surface of the piece. One must be sure to remove drying clay from a hump mold precisely at the leather-hard stage due to potential cracks from shrinkage strain. Slump molds allow the clay piece to dry with a limited risk of cracking because the clay is able to shrink away from the plaster wall.

    Creative Paradise Clay Stamps, also known as ceramic stamps, are used to press designs into leather hard clay surfaces.  Clay Stamps are in sets of 3 individual clay stamps of a specific theme. All Clay Stamp Sets are $24.00, and the detail on each individual stamp is approximately 1" in size.

Clay Rolling Pin

Hardwood Rolling Pin for use with moist clay.
18" x 2.75" rolling surface.
Top quality yellow birch.
$50.00

Handbuilding Video

71 Minute Handbuilding DVD "Handbuilding with Plaster Forms" featuring Daniel Gegen M.F.A.  $21.95

Handbuilding Catalog

Handbuilding catalog includes handbuilding tool information along with how-to information on several projects. $2.00