Dear Khandro la,
I am hoping you have any advice about making tsa tsas? I have the practice from Lama Zopa's work and a brass mold but have found difficulty in doing it.
So, I am having trouble getting the actual clay out. When I stamped the image it just sticks to the mold and the the image is ruined and I have to start over.
I am using air dry clay and was using Windex as a release solution but it doesn't work so I am curious how old Tibetans do this and how you were able to do the one of Vajrayogini as it appeared they were clay stamped too. I am unsure if I need to prepare it differently or may be need it to be cold or something?
Thank you for any help.
Cameron, Osel Nyingpo
What/Who is the mold that you're making one of? .. I never thought to make one, but now I'm inspired by your venture!
It sounds like a matter of what kind of clay and texture of clay you use. Back in the old days in India and Nepal, I, like Tibetans, used mud clay (that was the only thing available anyway) which worked very well to make hundreds of tsa tsa, no problem. We didn’t need to use anything like Windex to release a tsa tsa from the mold. I’m not familiar with the air-dry clay you are using. Is that what FPMT recommends? I wonder if it may be too soft. Can you get mud clay somewhere and try it out? Make sure it is not too wet, though.
Hi Cameron - i have made Tsa Tsa - its a lot of fun as well as deep ritual. I used a terracotta clay body I bought from an art supply shop. I experimented a bit and used the large size mold ( fist size). I painted the inside of the mold with olive oil first using a small paintbrush to help with the release. I found it easiest to make the approximate shape of the mold in my hands first and then press that into the mold. The clay not too wet. (I watched some youtube where the clay was very wet - this did not work for me :) Then simply work the middle out towards the edges to make sure you pick up all the surface details.I banged it a few times on the narrow end too. I placed offerings into the clay while it was in the mold and then finally banged it out, with a little drawing from the edges to get it moving at first. The amount of oil you use is maybe the key to release. I would not use Windex :) I was able to release them without waiting any time to dry.I hope this helps.
Pics of my Tsa Tsa's here too :) I left mine raw - but you can paint them once dried out. Mine took about a week to dry out. PS. i may have added things incorrectly through ignorance - please excuse this.