Post #799462 by danlovestikis on Sat, Dec 21, 2019 8:31 AM

To start, we had some plain yogurt that wasn't going to be eaten so we put it out in our backyard. When I checked to see if it was gone I saw a big possum! We knew our neighbors had spotted one but now we know it also comes into our backyard.

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I had plans. Retire from the Sacramento crawl mug so I could concentrate on the Wish List #8. While casting the crawl mugs for 2019 I also cast parts for Hot Tub Hula Girls so that as I did the custom pieces I could do a HTHG here and there. I have a long list of people who have wished for one so I needed to make a whole bunch of them. I also cast Tiki Bob's because they are my fun and relaxing hobby.

In preparation for working Dan tears loose lots of rolls of paper towels for me. I'm lucky he still helps. I used to pay him in tiki art but he no longer collects tikis and has downsized. Now he does it because he loves me. I'm a lucky woman.

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Here is where my schedule changed drastically. I was in the garage and picked up a bag with a coconut cast in it. When I checked it out it was completely dry. OH NO, are they all dry?

Dan helped me bring them all into the house so I could go through them one by one.

I found that casting a YEAR in advance was just too long. I had many that were dry or to dry to use for the HTHG mugs. I didn't want to lose all the work it takes to cast and clean the molds so I went to work.

I used clay tools to carve into the dry clay

to cut the tops off.

I cleaned this one up and set it aside for a friend who is coming over to learn about carving clay.

Then I started going through the rest. One by one they broke when

I tried to see if I could use them

for the Hot Tub Hula Girl Mugs.

Now I got smarter and began to spray the mugs inside and out with water. Once I got them pretty wet I was able to cut one down so I could

carve a small tapa bowl. Peanuts?

Then one broke even though it was wet.

I just broke it all the way around and then I carved it with

sea creatures and then roughed it up.

Just playing here to save anything fast.

All done. I hope it will be worth glazing. Oh well

onto the next one.

Green coconut worked out. I am now spraying the casts with lots of water before I try to cut them. Duhhhh I should have done this sooner. Another Oh Well!

Then I did another one.

The water being sprayed on is soaking in well. Not good enough for the HTHG's but OK for these.

I always choosing the lightest casts to work with. I can tell they are drier than the heavier casts.

I cut the tops off and clean up the mold lines

Each one is then hand carved so no two alike.

I like to rough them up.

In the end this is how many I made into something else. The rest of the coconuts will be fine for the HTHG's and I'll recast more to make up for these.

All the rest were thicker casts and while drier than I wanted them to be they would work for the HTHG mugs as long as I get right on it. So that's the big change. I am now working on nothing but all the Hot Tub Hula Girl mugs. I won't start custom pieces until they and all the Tiki Bob's I've cast have been sculpted and are slowly drying.

I just do these projects as I can, the best I can. I'm sad that some people have waited years for me to get to them, some I may never get to because one day I will stop this wonderful art.

Happy Holidays, Wendy