Abstract: A light-weight yet sturdy ceramic article, is manufactured by initially forming at least one fugitive core including a main portion and at least one holding portion projecting from the main portion and then positioning the fugitive core in a mold cavity bounded by a multitude of bounding surfaces so that the holding portion holds the main portion at predetermined spacings from all of the bounding surfaces. This is followed by filling the mold cavity around the fugitive core with a dense slip constituted by ceramic or metal particles in mixture with a liquid medium to form a ceramic or metal preform embedding the fugitive core in its interior and freezing the ceramic or metal preform, then the fugitive core is dissolved and escapes from the interior of the frozen ceramic or metal preform and finally the ceramic preform is converted into the ceramic article.