Official Introductions Thread. New Members, Post your introduction here... - General Tiki

R rumflip Member Washington, DC Joined: Feb 12, 2015 Posts: 1	R rumflip Posted posted on Thu, Feb 12, 2015 8:47 AM Hi all: I've been lurking for a few weeks. I'm a San Diego native who now resides in Washington DC. Many of my family members have lived in Hawaii, so I grew up shoving hula costumes, tiki/mugs, gourds, and other island paraphernalia out of the way in order to make room for my toys and books. It's taken almost 40yrs for the tiki bug to catch, which it did only by way of the craft cocktail movement. Weary of bourbon and rye, I'm moving on to rum-based cocktails and quickly decided that I needed "just a few" tiki mugs to serve them in. Hah! After several days of looking at the staggering variety of tiki mugs on ooga-mooga, pinterest, and ebay, I slowly began to consider dusting off the ole pottery skillz to see if I could make a few serviceable mugs for our home bar :) 12hrs later I applied for artist-in-residence status at a local ceramics studio. Shortly thereafter, my bf announced he would sign up for a beginning pottery class at the same studio, and just last night, I decided that I want to try and teach myself mold making and slip casting so we can have our own "house" tiki mug that friends can take home with them. Our friends' reactions have ranged from skepticism that we'll follow through, to immediately asking for custom mugs for their own home bars. Admittedly, when I slow down to think about what I'm taking on, it seems naively optimistic and more than a bit daunting. I am blown away by this community's willingness to share knowledge and am slowly making my way through all of the ceramicists' posts. I don't know how much I'll be posting, but thought an introductory post here would be useful.

Hi all:

I've been lurking for a few weeks. I'm a San Diego native who now resides in Washington DC. Many of my family members have lived in Hawaii, so I grew up shoving hula costumes, tiki/mugs, gourds, and other island paraphernalia out of the way in order to make room for my toys and books. It's taken almost 40yrs for the tiki bug to catch, which it did only by way of the craft cocktail movement. Weary of bourbon and rye, I'm moving on to rum-based cocktails and quickly decided that I needed "just a few" tiki mugs to serve them in. Hah!

After several days of looking at the staggering variety of tiki mugs on ooga-mooga, pinterest, and ebay, I slowly began to consider dusting off the ole pottery skillz to see if I could make a few serviceable mugs for our home bar :) 12hrs later I applied for artist-in-residence status at a local ceramics studio. Shortly thereafter, my bf announced he would sign up for a beginning pottery class at the same studio, and just last night, I decided that I want to try and teach myself mold making and slip casting so we can have our own "house" tiki mug that friends can take home with them. Our friends' reactions have ranged from skepticism that we'll follow through, to immediately asking for custom mugs for their own home bars. Admittedly, when I slow down to think about what I'm taking on, it seems naively optimistic and more than a bit daunting.

I am blown away by this community's willingness to share knowledge and am slowly making my way through all of the ceramicists' posts. I don't know how much I'll be posting, but thought an introductory post here would be useful.

Post #737229 by rumflip on Thu, Feb 12, 2015 8:47 AM