The story of the cone

This is a photograph of ten molds for the ceramic cone drying in the backyard of our studio.
And that is not at all what we planned.

We planned to have the cones made in China, where they're great with ceramics and can easily produce large amounts of ... well... anything.
After sending a package containing several ceramic cones + a mothershape to cast a mold around to the manufacturer we had been in touch with, we were confident nothing could go wrong.

Photographs of the first batch of samples we received
read about it here

The first batch we received was not quite there yet, but promising nevertheless (remember), so Thomas made a lovely sheet to communicate the adjustments we were looking for (thinner walls, different glaze-heigths, darker and redder terracotta a.o.), which we e-mailed to the manufacturer that same week.

We didn't hear anything for a little while, but weren't alarmed, thinking that -after the adjustments were made- we were pretty much ready to order a first batch.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we received this photograph:

photograph we got from the manufacturer

Slightly baffled, we immediately replied with a new sheet with adjustments, stressing the parts that were most important to us.  
And that's the last we heard of this manufacturer.

Having no time to start this process again with a new manufacturer before the first Waterworks batch is due, we decided to take matters into our own hands and set up an in-house production-line.

So that's where we stand: we're waiting for the molds to dry so we can start casting the first cones soon.
There is one plus to this whole situation: The money saved on shipment is now used instead to buy a kiln that can hopefully be put to good use for many future House of Thol projects.