Post #772431 by danlovestikis on Wed, Jan 25, 2017 7:56 PM

hang10tiki I am always so thankful to find a comment. It's pretty lonely here when no one checks in. You are my rock! Thank you.

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Wish List #7 is for Lynn L. Bloom. She has me make something for her each year and this one was really special. Not at all easy either.

One of the Disneyland Tikis. Dan wants a set of all of them. After making this one I told him maybe next year.

Checking the photo of the mug I decided that this tube cast would work best. I cleaned it up. This mug took a week but you can't tell that from the photos.

I decided that with all the clay that had to be added I would put seal the top shut trapping air. That would make the sides not collapse when I pressed on the clay.

Looking at the photos I decided that I would start by building the top of the head. I cut some pieces and

put them together. I am very careful not to trap any air bubbles which would explode in the kiln.

I put them on the head and finished the design.

Now that the top was done I could work on the forehead and the cheeks.

I constantly check the photos to make sure I don't miss anything.

Then the bottom of the head.

Here's a trick. You can always make clay additions bigger than you need for easy handling. Then I take my lable scraper and cut it down to size.

This time it was the ear.

I copied all the designs on the sides of the tiki. It's a long way around this is a large mug.

Once it was dry enough I carved in all the designs and the cracks. Next I aged the entire mug with a wire brush.

All done and posing.

Every day for weeks the tiki was in and out of a plastic bag 1 hour at a time. Then one night I forgot to put it back and the bottom cracked.

The only way to fix it was to cut out all the clay on the bottom making sure that the crack didn't go up the side. It didn't.

I got out a piece of clay and cut out a bottom.

I made it larger so that as if dries and shrinks it will fit just right.

So now it's back to drying both of these but not put together.

I now have Dan ask me each night are all the drying tikis in their bags?

Cheers, Wendy