Post #678123 by SandraDee on Tue, May 14, 2013 8:53 PM

On my most recent birthday I got to cross two "firsts" off my list...I finally visited Oahu and I got to make a "tiki" mug...with my good friend VanTiki.

I couldn't of asked for a better way to spend my birthday then spending time with VanTiki and his wife and the icing on the trip was getting to create any type of mug I wanted with a master mug maker.

Van let me choose whatever I wanted to as the mug design (this was more intimidating than one may think when you are in his studio btw!) and after some debating we decided on skulls with pompadours so we could use them at Tiki Oasis this year for the Hulabilly theme (don't steal our idea people!)

Sure skulls aren't "tiki" but considering I plan to drink rum out of it once its finished that works for me!

Here are a few views of the mugs we made prior to glazing--which Van is going to take care of and surprise me with the finished piece when I see him in August .

I thought I would share the before glaze photos and i hope to add the completed pics once Oasis is over.

I didn't take as many photos as Wendy does when she makes her clay masterpieces but you can get the idea :

Van's is on the left and mine is on the right


He cleaned mine up a bit and made the curl tighter so it didn't have so much space inside it

Henrik is an amazing teacher and making a mug with him was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Thanks again Henrik for making my birthday such a memorable one and thank you again for being so willing to share your mug making skills with me.

I am so glad we are friends! It seriously was the best birthday I ever had :)