Chili Bottles and Pottery Molds

Last week I went to make chili, and about half way through that process I went to the pantry to get the chili powder, and it wasn't there. It was at that moment I remembered watching the Sweetie drop and break the chili bottle, spilling the contents mixed with broken glass all over the floor about a month or so earlier. I had never replaced the chili powder.
For years we had a lot of bags and packages of various spices thrown into a box in a cupboard, because invariably when you buy a bag or package of spice it won't all go into the tiny spice bottles that come in the standard spice rack. Then one day I discovered little flip lid bottles at the Dollarama. They are perfect size to hold an entire spice package, which means I can eliminate the box of extra stuff in the cupboard. I bought about 30 of them, 2 for $1. Once I bought emergency chili powder for the chili I was making, I realized I didn't have any extra bottles in the pantry. Off I went this week to the Dollarama for more bottles.
Anyone who has visited a dollar store or similar establishment will understand when I say that I cannot leave there without buying more than I planned. I'm sure they rearrange the store so you always have to hunt for what you came to buy. While you are hunting, you invariably find loads of things you didn't know you needed. While I was hunting for spice bottles, several items leapt into my arms. (I never take a basket because I'm only there for one thing, which of course results in me dropping the arm load of stuff I'm carrying around the store while still looking for the thing I came for.)
Dollar stores are great places to find pottery stuff, because the best pottery stuff is cheap kitchen supplies. This week, in addition to spice bottles (this time 3 for $1) I bought several plastic and glass serving platters to use as molds in the studio. So far I have tried four of these with varied success.
One small square plate worked perfectly the first time. One larger square plate cracked as it dried too much before I took it off the mould. Twice. One round plate worked OK but it was pretty boring to look at. One oval platter got stuck on when I forgot to dust the clay with cornstarch beforehand, and then the same oval platter stuck again even though I remembered the cornstarch the second time. I still have two more bowls and two more platters I haven't yet attempted, but I think I will stop trying to use any of them directly and make plaster molds first.
Still, where else can you get a weekend of fun for under $20?