Master Plaster with the Plaster Master! Ceramic Casting and Decorating with Helen Johannessen.

Elevate the Everyday: Dive into Ceramic Reproduction and Unlock Your Artistic Potential

Have you ever wondered how to convert an everyday object into a glazed and decorated ceramic one? Think how much fun it would be to be able to use something you’ve made yourself in your home or create a gift. In this case, I’ve used a pineapple, all fruits have such character, texture and colour, I thought this was a good way to show you something a little more complex so you can believe anything is possible.

Helen Johannessen Ceramics studio has enjoyed doing this over decades – for my personal designs I sold through my brand Yoyo Ceramics until 2015. I’ve also brought client ideas to life - from sketches/technical drawings. I’ve also loved teaching for over 20 years- to many students in schools, colleges and universities – from teens to retirees – there are NO limits. I’m also proud to say that I’ve converted those who didn’t think they had the technical ability, into avid fans of plaster, mould making and casting.

If you’re an enthusiast who wants to push themselves in understanding how to mix plaster, what I call ‘properly’(!) and yes, I have been doing this all long enough to call myself a Master (it’s 10,000 hours plus when you can do this btw) it’s unbelievably rewarding and satisfying – ok, it’s messy so be prepared, but you can’t make an omelette without breaking an egg as they say….

I’ve prepared some resources within this course for you to look at Shapes for Mould making – explaining the principles which I hope will make things easier before you start. If you done a little of this sort of thing before or if you’re a total newbie then my Top 10 Tips for mixing plaster can be downloaded – I suggest printing out and putting up on the wall where you’re working as a constant reminder.

It’s a long course to follow (so great value then yes?!) Anything worth doing takes time and having patience for making things by hand always pays off. You might make some mistakes here and there, I still do, but this is when I think we learn the most and push ourselves to get even better at something.

Learn the full process and magic of moulds, casting, glazing, decorating and firing by purchasing my course "Mould Creation for Ceramic Reproduction" – you’ll feel confident enough to get started. I even show how to add a bit of real gold to glaze – fancy!

Having a mould means you can repeat and have fun as many times as you like. Within this course I explain how you can start to adapt your thinking aswell, using the mould as a starting point – chop, change, add, subtract - you will end up with something you may never have even thought of. That’s the best bit about learning in my view.

Ceramics is full of surprises – and since time began people have been inventing and extending ideas of clay into objects which will last forever – there’s no other material quite like it.

Enjoy!