This Frog is Singing the Blues

It's always very exciting for me to press brand new moulds. Today was the day to turn my plaster moulds into wet tiles. My ambition was to press 3 to 4 sets of my new three frog panel. If you don't know what the frogs are all about you can check my post about them here - FROGS!
And here - MORE FROGS!! And don't forget to listen to them sing!

I noticed that the moulds for the frogs on the left and right sides each had a slight rocking action to them as they sat on the table, and I thought to myself, "Drat, that's not right...I must not have leveled the framing very well before I poured the plasters." I decided that by pressing lightly it would be fine.....but no. There is a very distinctive sound that a plaster mould makes when it cracks under the pressure of my hand-press....and a deep sinking feeling follows, especially if it's the very first pressing of a brand new design.

I gently lifted the plaster mould out from under the press and very carefully set it onto the table, clay tile still attached underneath. I eased one half of the broken plaster off the clay, then the other piece. I felt some relief to see that the broken plaster line wasn't visible on the surface of the tile - at least I had one tile pressed. Thinking I might just push my luck and try for a second back-up tile I tried to hold the mould together as I tapped a wet slab onto the top of the the broken mould.......nice try, but never mind.

The broken mould....a heart breaking amphibian experience.

Second view of the plaster gone wrong.

Second try - pressing a tile with a broken mould never turns out very well....the center part of the image isn't fully detailed, and a piece of the plaster sticks to the clay. The thin line of the broken mould is also visible.

Here's the full set pressed and drying....crossing my fingers that the one good piece of the right frog tile makes it safely through the bisque and glaze kilns.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? That's right, pouring more plaster moulds!