Kidney Catchall

Capability Put colour through the body of a piece

An organic outline with a considered curve — and the make where you put colour through the material for the first time.

You will end up with: A small everyday tray with one soft curve, in a colour you chose and can repeat.
Time: An afternoon, plus drying
Steps: 6

Before you start

What you need.

Plus accurate scales and water. Commerce sits here, once, at the moment it is genuinely useful — and not again.

The one number

Total mix for your mouldg

Powder

Water

The make

Tick a step as you go and this page remembers where you were — no percentages, no scoring.

Cast a colour tile first
Before the piece you care about, mix a small amount with pigment and cast a flat tile. Label it with the pigment and the amount.
Why not go straight to the tray
Wet mix is not a preview of dry colour — mineral materials lighten as they dry. The tile is how you find that out cheaply.
The colour lesson
Set up, and measure the mould
Same as the first make: flat protected surface, mould in position, water method to find the total mix.
Disperse pigment into the water
Pigment goes into the measured water and gets mixed through before any powder arrives.
This is the whole trick
Adding pigment to a mix that has already come together is the most common cause of streaked, uneven colour.
Add the powder and mix to even colour
Keep going until the colour is genuinely uniform — then stop. Extra mixing is extra air.
Pour, tap, and leave it
Low thin stream into the lowest point, firm taps to release air, then a level surface and no interference.
Demould, dry, finish
Peel the rim back, invert, and let it come out under its own weight. Finish the edge once the piece is fully dry.
Compare it to your tile
Put the finished tray next to the colour tile you cast first. Same pigment, different thickness — that difference is worth understanding before you make a set.

While it sets

Colour depth against thickness: The same pigment reads differently in a thin tile and a thicker tray. This is why a set of matching objects needs matching sections.
The curve: An organic outline shows sanding errors that a circle hides. Work along the edge rather than into it.

If it did not work

Nothing here is wasted — a failed cast is terrazzo chips and a piece of information about your process.

When you have made it

Work through the steps at your own pace, then mark the piece made.

Make it again, differently

Make the pair

The same tray in two colours from the same palette is the point where objects start to look like a collection.

Try terrazzo

Your failed casts and offcuts become chips. Nothing here is wasted.

One next step, never three

A broad, softly sculpted tray. One open mould, one mix, no colour — the make that teaches you the material.