Post #722238 by TikiRootsRocka on Fri, Jul 11, 2014 8:53 AM

Happy Aloha Friday everyone!!!

Hi Hiltiki, thanks for stopping by! The coconut planters are lots of fun. I was taking a wheel throwing class and learned how to make fully enclosed vessels, and figured, I make coconut mugs, why not some planters, lidded jars, etc?

Hey TikiAno, great getting to meet in person! Thank you for stopping by and introducing yourself, it was great getting a chance to talk clay. Anytime you have a moment to post a pic of the mug, that would be awesome! Mahalo for the support! If I don't see you roaming around on Friday, at Oasis, I'll be vending at the car show on Saturday and Sunday.

So, a long time ago, six months maybe, haha, I sculpted a Maori warrior bust. In May, I broke down and had the professional mold makers at Laguna Clay, make me a 5 piece mold, for this monster of a mug, vase, sculpture, whatever you want to call it. Here are a few different samples. They're 10" inches tall, but about 7.5" inches wide. They hold 75 ounces, haha.

The big mold, in front, is the professionally made one from Laguna. The rest are mine and the space in back is my clean-up are for casting, with a spot for green ware to dry.

The molds hold just under two gallons of casting slip, and the they weigh about 60 pounds, so they're lots of fun to empty, when they're full of slip. They actually weighed closer to 100 pounds when I got them back from Laguna. I picked them up the day after they were made, so they were still full of water. Obviously, I didn't have the patience for the water to evaporate out of the plaster, so the first few rounds of pouring were really fun.

This is a bowl from the potter's wheel. It started as 8 pounds of clay. I think it measures about 10" inches across the top. I like how the area around the designs is recessed, but it warped a little, which kinda bums me out.

Well, have a great weekends and thank you for stopping by!