Post #679067 by danlovestikis on Thu, May 23, 2013 8:11 AM

WaikikianMoeKele wonderful, I will love a photo of you with the head. It is a strange thing to want but I've been there.

lunavideogames as we passed the flames we could see how close they were to homes and businesses, we did a lot of praying for those people and firefighters.

Back to work feels good. I really miss posting and reading comments here, its an important part of my day.

LoriLovesTiki that's how I feel when I see the Hukilau and Luau by the Lake photos. It was a wonderful time to visit with friends.

Woodtiki I've added you to the Crawl mug list. Are you in Woodland, CA? Here is the link to the crawl. It is found under California Events and the author is VampiressRN. It is an event of 3 days and taking a day off work is worth it. This is the best site for tiki that exists. Enjoy!
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=44787&forum=17&start=0&37

TikiAno it would be fun to have that happen again after glazing. We will be pouring every day that we are home from now until I have enough done.

mp (Got to get crackin on our new trade!) - no cracking or hairlines just work hard!

Progress Report:

Last summer as I worked my cat was bombarded by a bird couple. They became so bold that they flew into the garage to attack her at the door into the house. Well they are back. Sherry was in the backyard and one was after her.


She moved to the front of the house and then both of them were after her. They squawk really loud. But thanks to the birds I always know where my cat is located.

We opened the molds. I am super happy they both worked. The bad mold requires a lot more clean up but when I finished Dan couldn't tell which one came from which mold. Here's the progress.

Opening the mold.

For a multi piece mold it is important to figure out the order to remove the sections. For this one I started with the bottom. After the first one was apart I decided that it should all be taken apart with the mold on its side.

Mold #2. On each mug's bottom I will carve Sac Ohana Crawl c 2013.

Freed from the mold I found that I had chosen where to make each piece very well. I'm a happy mold maker. You can see where the bad mold left excess clay that will be removed.

A brush is great for smoothing.

I couldn't make the nostril in the mold so now I will carve them into each tiki nose.

MadDogMike, I keep tubs of the clay I cut off the casts and on this clay I have poured more slip. It is a mushy mix and I add it to casts to thicken thin parts. I do this to the rim of most mugs.

Before and After.

The mug is 12 1/4th inches tall. It will shrink 10% as it dries and is bisque fired. It is big and heavy.

Where the part broke off from the mold there is more clay on the cast. So first I whittled it down with my label scraper.
Next I carved the detail back into the mug.

I still need to make the jewel shape on each block but that can wait until it is firmer.

Here's where I left off. I will still fine tune these and sand them. So more imperfections will be smoothed out before firing.

Last night we poured #3 and #4. This photo is Dan pouring out what's left after sitting for 2 hours.

Twice a day Dan has clean up chores from pouring. He's working for tikis.

I may have set a record for the number of moldy posted photos! Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-05-23 09:09 ]