Post #222921 by VanTiki on Fri, Mar 24, 2006 6:16 PM

Aloha Everyone!

First off let me say that this is the best forum ever - so much wonderful information and talent!

I am an artist living in Hawaii who stumbled into tiki culture rather late in life (2002). Ever since being bitten by the Exotica bug I've been making tiki mugs. Not to sell, mind you, just to give a bit of "ambiance" to my studio. A small pile of them has grown on my shelves through the years, and friends have been constantly telling me that I ought to try and sell a few. I was reluctant at first, but after lots of encouragement I decided to gauge interest here on the forums. Here is a shot of some small mugs on the ol' sculpting block circa 2004 (some other mugs in various stages of production are visible in the background):

The thing is... my mugs are a bit different - I make each one by hand using no molds. This lets me get away with deep undercuts and the like that would be difficult/impossible with slip casting. This also means that the mugs are a bit, well.... different than other mugs that are out there. They have thick walls, and feel great in the hand. They have odd edges that require the use of a straw (or some very careful sipping). I make them out of stoneware and fire to cone 6 (I REALLY loved reading Rum Demon's thread on glaze problems. Man, I feel your pain. Ruined over 10 mugs with glaze mishaps - now I have a wall covered with glaze test strips!). Each mug in a series is unique due to the hand-building process and I mark every mug on the bottom with the day it was "born".

I made a few mugs this week specifically as a test batch for selling. They are from my "seed pod","Trepanning Skull", and "log" series (temporary names subject to change!). They still need to get fired and glazed, but here are some shots of them "in progress":

What I'd love to know from you guys and gals is: do you think there would be any interest in hand-built (no-molds) mugs? Do these mugs look OK to you folks (be honest - I can take it)? If so - what would you feel like paying for something like this (I know it is hard to say without seeing the finished glazed pieces)?

A huge mahalo in advance for any advice/wisdom/criticism you pass my way. And thank you for such a great forum.

Aloha,
VanTiki

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-05-23 14:14 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-06-05 12:32 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-07-11 14:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-07-13 11:09 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-07-25 11:15 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-07-28 11:46 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-07-30 19:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-08-22 11:19 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-10-19 19:16 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-10-26 15:20 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-10-28 11:36 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-11-08 11:38 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-11-15 17:10 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-11-21 11:16 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-11-24 16:43 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2006-11-26 14:21 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-05-29 16:35 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-05-29 16:36 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-05-31 11:25 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-02 18:04 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-07 11:41 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-10 20:20 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-14 11:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-16 15:37 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-17 21:01 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-21 11:41 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-23 19:00 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-28 11:23 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-30 16:52 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-02 11:35 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-13 12:31 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-13 13:15 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-20 12:52 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-20 17:26 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-23 19:17 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-24 16:12 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-07-28 19:04 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-09-27 13:32 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-09-28 20:00 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-10-04 16:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-10-16 20:29 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-10-18 11:59 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-10-20 14:59 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-02 20:29 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-08 10:53 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-12 14:58 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-13 12:36 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-20 18:06 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-11-25 12:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-12-06 11:50 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-12-09 16:57 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-12-19 17:21 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-01-20 22:20 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-01-22 14:47 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-01-24 17:53 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-01-25 15:32 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-01-26 16:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-02-01 10:46 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-02-13 23:26 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-02-15 11:43 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-02-18 12:19 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-02-26 11:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-03-07 17:11 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-03-20 14:56 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-03-21 13:38 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-03-23 20:40 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-03-25 17:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-04-16 17:12 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-04-23 20:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-04-24 19:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-04-25 20:07 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-15 15:07 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-17 19:57 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-19 11:24 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-22 13:35 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-26 13:04 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-05-30 13:20 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-06-04 17:25 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-06-12 18:10 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-09-16 19:08 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-09-18 21:13 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-10-09 18:29 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-12-09 10:48 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-01-06 14:47 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-01-13 19:35 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-01-15 11:49 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-01-22 15:51 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-01-23 18:37 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-02-14 10:09 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-02-22 10:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-02-25 18:09 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-03-03 12:49 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-03-06 13:10 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-04-22 12:09 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-04-29 12:35 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-05-04 11:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-05-11 21:36 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-05-26 12:25 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-05-29 13:14 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-06-08 19:01 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-06-14 14:12 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-06-16 13:50 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-06-16 17:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-09-06 18:14 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-09-11 19:09 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-10-06 14:43 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2009-12-07 13:47 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-04-04 18:10 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-05-03 12:03 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-05-17 12:43 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-05-31 10:33 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-06-05 19:19 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-08-02 14:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-08-10 12:42 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-10-15 20:00 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2010-11-27 14:14 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-05-31 13:38 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-06-02 12:18 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-07-14 14:18 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-07-19 13:14 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-07-22 14:39 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-07-24 11:11 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-08-05 18:56 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-08-10 12:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-08-15 18:07 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-09-06 16:48 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2011-11-07 13:34 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-02-14 21:46 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-03-23 12:27 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-03-29 15:48 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-10-17 12:54 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-11-15 13:43 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-11-17 17:41 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2012-12-05 14:47 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2013-06-18 11:28 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2014-03-18 18:29 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2014-04-07 14:34 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2014-08-18 16:05 ]