RODNEY SHAW
Mr. Shaw’s terracotta’s are bigger than the typical Greek figurine, more complicated (the backs are detailed as the fronts, you will note), more subtly colored and a great deal cheaper.
He begins by making a solid clay figure, ten to twenty percent bigger than the desired final piece. This takes several months to two years. Then a “skin mold” of liquid molding rubber is applied about an eighth of an inch thick, reinforced with cheese cloth, over the entire piece. After the skin has set and is no longer sticky, a ‘mother mold’ of plaster is formed right on top of the rubber skin (which is right on the wet clay of course). The mother mold is divided in pieces for easy removal—a front and a back; or a front and sides and top; as many as necessary. As the mother mold is removed the skin mold is cut into corresponding pieces, and these are peeled off the original and laid back in the pieces of the mother mold.
To get a cast, soft clay is pressed into each piece of the mold and allowed to harden a bit. Next, all the pieces have their edges coated with slip (liquid clay) and are quickly reassembled. After the clay has hardened some more, the mother mold is carefully prised off, the skin mold peeled off, and we get to the hard parts of the process.
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