Do you know why your bowls failed? Was it a problem with the mix? Until you know I wouldn't reuse the mix.

Good point, Billie, and no, I don't yet know why they failed. I will mix up a brand new batch today and try again.
My mix was 1 Perlite, 1 Peat, 1 Portland. The first attempt was to mold on the outside of a Sterilite plastic bowl as the mold. In retrospect molding on the outside was probably a bad idea for a beginner; I also thought maybe that mix wasn't we enough. When I disassembled it, I did remix the "stuff" with more water and a bit more peat and try to use the inside of the same mold. Sheesh. That one broke when I had to turn the mold upside down and bang on it to get it to release....also broke the mold.

Okay, today I will try to begin like a beginner and do a smallish trough. Since I don't know if it was my mix or not, I will use the same ratio, and send the debris from my failed one to a walk somewhere....

Susan

Susan - I have found it more difficult to make a pot on the outside of a mold then the inside - esp when I first started doing hypertufa. How long did you let your piece set up before you unmolded it? How thick were your walls? Did you do the fingernail test before you unmolded it. I often don't unmold my pots for 2 days after I make them. I usually line the mold with a plastic bag and they come out really easily so there's no banging involved. Some people don't like the marks made by the bag, but it sure makes it easy to unmold. Good luck on your pots. It becomes an addiction...The other day I counted all my hypertufa pots/troughs, etc, and not counting all the ones I've given away I had between 60-70 pots! I was amazed!

Thanks dizadner. I didn't do a "fingernail test". I think I was expecting it to fail because I had read (after I molded it on the outside) that it was iffier, and that it was likely to need to be unmolded earlier to avoid cracking due to shrinkage. For whatever reason, I just thought it was gonna fail and so....it did. The second try -- on the inside of the same mold -- I made with the reconstituted remains of the first batch, which was probably a mistake, and then I still did not add a plastic bag. My next attempt (hopefully today, but at least this weekend) will be in a cardboard box lined with plastic so I can both lift the pot out and cut the cardboard if necessary. And I will start with a brand new batch of mix (1-1-1) I appreciate all the hand holding and will let you know if/as/when I get a success under my belt.
Susan