What's The best plaster to work with?

[bluebrush]

Hello there!
Does anybody know what's the best plaster to work with? And where I can find it? I work with wood and plaster. Usually I get the plaster from school, but the bags do not have any label. I tried home depot but it doesn't work. Besides their employees do not know the difference between plaster and steel! I would appreciate your help immensely.
Rick

[GlennT]

Our man from plaster, Landseer, will be able to provide a better answer, but in the meantime, what I have used with no worries for the last 20 years is called molding plaster and I get it in 50 or 90 lb bags from a building supply store. That is, a place that mainly sells directly to the construction tradesman, specializing in drywall, brick, and concrete products.

[Tlouis]

You might consider pottery plaster made by US gypsum. It's good for modeling and casting. If you Google Christopher Parnell you will get a boat load of information on all aspects of plaster. I'd give you the web address but I can't locate it.
Lou

[Alfred]

If you're here in the L.A. area you can take a short trip to Santa Ana and visit Aardvark Clay Supplies. Not only can you get just about any type of water based clay there (except for WED), but you can get plaster as well. I recomend the No. 1 Pottery Plaster, it comes in a 90lb sack for about $17.00 bucks. It's great for mold making and casting.

Here is a link to a google maps page with all their info.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&um=1&q=aardvark+clay+supply&near=Santa+Ana,+CA&fb=1&view=text&latlng=33724869,-117851915,2688535019223489683

Good Luck

Alfred

[manic]

In my experience #1 pottery plaster by US Gypsum is a good choice and fairly easy to come by at art houses and ceramic distributors. I like #1 casting plaster the best however. They quit selling it around here though. I am currently looking for a comparable product in the area. The biggest question is, "what are you doing with it." Moulding plaster is porous and not the prime choice for casting and detail work and it is softer. Casting plaster is the densest, hardest of the "soft" plasters. Hard plasters are like a pourable stone like hydrostone used by many in fine art applications. Many plasters like DAP from big box stores I find are virtually worthless even for mother molds. However, with any good plaster, the key is water to plaster ratio and the mixing and settling technique. Go back and ask your instuctor, he should be able to give the heads up on the brand and type the school carried.