Post #815698 by swizzle on Thu, May 22, 2025 5:09 AM

Swiz like that GROG like. Does Grog still like?

I had been thinking of adding the extra bamboo trim before i posted the above piece but didn't decide to actually do it until a little while later but i'm glad i did as i think it makes it look much better. It helps separate the colour between the frame and the background and adds some extra detail.

While i'm talking about frames, here's another one i made for a beautiful nguzu nguzu wall hanging i found which i felt was far too nice to be hung up as is and needed a nice frame for it, and this is what i came up with.

Going back to the first frame, and more specifically the PNG style mask, i made a silicone mold from the master so i could pour some in epoxy resin. The first attempt didn't go so well as the finish on the master was not perfectly smooth and the silicone picked up all of those flaws which came as a bit of a surprise to me as i didn't realize just how bad it was until i poured a couple of resin pieces (which i scrapped), so i started over by trying to get the smoothest finish i could on the master and poured another silicone mold. There's a tiny spot on the far left near the bottom (looking at the pic) which is a weird spot on the silicone that leaves that spot with the resin looking different. I have absolutely no idea what caused the blemish on the silicone, maybe just some oil from my skin on the master, but there's nothing i can do about it other than pouring another silicone mold, which is unlikely as that stuff is expensive. Other than that i'm super happy with them. The little air bubbles suck but you can only see them close up with the light behind them. I don't have a pressure pot to remove them before poring the resin so i'm just going to have to live with them. I also will add some paua shell dots to the eyes for these.

I only have pics of these two colours at the moment but i have poured some other ones.

I bought a cheap bunch of stains/dyes off ebay, 24 colours in total, but the problem i've found is knowing how many drops of the stuff to add to the resin to get good colour saturation. I made a blue one, which does look fine, but because i'm pouring the piece in layers and each layer has a different amount of resin, even though i used different shades of blue dyes they kinda look the same with light behind them, so i'm pouring another blue one which i'm hoping i can get looking even better. As i said, the first one turned out fine and i can use that for another piece but i want to try and improve on it for what i have planned. As for the warm coloured one (red/orange/yellow etc.), that's given me nothing but grief. All i'll say about it is that i can use pour #3 but i'm hoping pour #5 will be the charm. And for the record, i'm planning on using these in a lamp which i'll obviously post pics of when done.

Whilst we're on the PNG mask, here's a fog cutter shaped mug with that mask on it, and each mask has real paua shell eyes. This piece is FOR SALE if anyone is interested, just send me a message for details.

Here's a few new lamps. This first one i initially made with the pith helmet shaped hat but i personally don't like it. I don't think it suits the shape of the lamp. I think i'll use the hat for some thing else.

And a couple in a drum style i haven't made before. Identical other than the base and one being slightly smaller. The blue base contains crushed glass but it's glass used for fire pits (it was the only cheap stuff i could find to experiment with) and is mirrored on one side. Without the light on it kinda looks blue overall but on some angles you really notice some of the mirrored pieces. If i use the stuff again, unfortunately i'm going to have to spend a lot of tedious time flipping all the pieces with tweezers so that the mirrored side is on the inside of the lamp before i pour the resin. And i have to say i don't recall what coloured globe i used to take the pictures of these and the one above but obviously a colour changing globe would make them look completely different.

And last but not least, a 'kinda' new mug, and one old one. This Tangata Manu i made well over a year ago but i was never happy with the glaze. I had planned on a particular green but must have grabbed the wrong one by mistake, so when i was back doing ceramics this summer i went over with another green glaze and re-fired it but all it did was make it darker so i went over it a second time, for a third firing, and this time i nailed it. I absolutely love how this turned out. This guy is FOR SALE also, so again, message me if you're interested in it.

And the 'kinda' new mug is a modified version of my Gin Palace moai. I love this design and the original is huge so i decided to decapitate it and make it a bit more practical to use, so now, as it's just the head, it's become "Da Noggin'". Only 10 of these made so far and i have 4 left FOR SALE (the last four pictured). You know what you need to do if you want one.

So that's it until who knows when. Until the next time.

Cheers

swiz

[ Edited by swizzle on 2025-05-22 05:21:35 ]