Are Tiki Farm mugs prone to crazing?

I received a Tiki Farm's Trader Vic kava bowl last Christmas, and bought an Enchanted Tiki Room Pele mug at Disneyland this summer. Both of items were new and in pristine condition when I got them.

However, I recently noticed both pieces developed crazing. The crazing wasn't there when I first got them, but they sure are there now. The mugs have been sitting on a shelf for almost the entire time, and were never used for anything but for show.

On the other hand, I have two Tiki Farm Cheeseburger-At-The-Oasis mugs, and both show no sign of crazing. These pieces are smaller than the kava bowl or the Pele mug.

Has anybody noticed crazing developing on their Tiki Farm items? Could the crazing be caused by the size of the kava bowl and Pele mug? It certainly cannot be caused by age. Hmmmmmm.

Most of my Tiki Farm items have been fine with no crazing, but I do have one bowl - the one with the faces of shag, etc. on the side that was crazed alrady when I took it out of the box the first time. So I think maybe it's an occasional thing?

Perhaps [email protected] might answer some of the ?'s you might have about crazing. Bummer to know bigg makers are screwing up on such a simple pre-firing fixable problem. As long as I've played w/clay nothings been said as to fixing a post firing problem like crazing. Good luck - Scaryo

It's strange that those pieces are crazing. The brown Pele glaze in particular... we've probably produced over 25,000 pieces with that glaze and have never had a single mug have an issue with crazing. Especially strange w/the Kava Bowl as there are multiple glaze elements involved and no 2 glazes react the same. Is the crazing on that piece all over or just isolated to a color?
Mahaloz,
Holden

On 2005-12-01 21:43, smogbreather wrote:
It's strange that those pieces are crazing. The brown Pele glaze in particular... we've probably produced over 25,000 pieces with that glaze and have never had a single mug have an issue with crazing. Especially strange w/the Kava Bowl as there are multiple glaze elements involved and no 2 glazes react the same. Is the crazing on that piece all over or just isolated to a color?
Mahaloz,
Holden

The Kava Bowl has some mild crazing inside. So in this case, it does appear to affect primarily the white paint inside of the bowl. Also, I just found out that the wahine was using it as a flower vase(!), and had some water in it for a few days. I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

The Pele mug has long, vertical crazing in the body of the mug. Interestingly, the crazing does not appear to be very horizontal in nature, so it does not have a real spiderwebby appearance. But you can clearly see the lines that run from head to toe. The lid/hat also has crazing, particularly on the inside.

I checked my other Tiki Farm pieces, including a new Mr. Bali Hai mug, and none of them appear to be affected. But with that said, I want to say that I love Tiki Farm. You guys do great work! It is just that I love my Pele mug! snif :)

My Mystery Bowl has some crazing as well, very large lines, which is kind of sad on such a big item. However I feel that it doesn't detract from the overall piece. Since lead isn't used these days I don't have to worry when drinking from it.

I love the crazing on my old mugs, I think it really gives them character and helps to date them.

Speaking of crazing, has anyone else heard it? I can actually hear the glaze ping in my living room.

Interesting. I haven't had any problems with any of my Tiki Farm stuff crazing at all. I also have the Kava bowl and Pele and they're doing great. Could it be conditions in your house? Maybe extreme heat in the Summer time? Just a thought.

On 2005-12-02 10:49, Tikiwahine wrote:
Speaking of crazing, has anyone else heard it? I can actually hear the glaze ping in my living room.

Wow TW. You are very in tune with your mugs. :wink:

On 2005-12-02 10:49, Tikiwahine wrote:
Speaking of crazing, has anyone else heard it? I can actually hear the glaze ping in my living room.

I found a green Harvey's mug at a thrify store and when I brought it to my office I could hear it too. I thought I was crazy hearing my mugs. It stopped making any noise after a few days.

My Mai Kai Mystery bowl (from Tiki Farm) has also developed a lot of crazing. I have used the bowl as a flower vase for a few tiki parties, filling it with water and using a padded, steel "pin frog" to keep the flowers standing. I have also used it for drinks, and filled the "guys" up with dry ice and water, so it will smoke into the bowl. I figured, even though this was the original feature of the Mystery bowl, the change of temperatures caused the crazing. The bowl wasn't cheap to purchase, but I do get the joy of using it instead of it sitting on my shelf collecting dust. I am sure the crazing will affect the resell value of the bowl, but it will probably get chipped or broken long before I offer it up for sell.

Huh, I haven't had the chance to use my Mystery bowl yet, so it's never been filled with anything. It had the crazing when I received it in the mail.

I love the thought of filling it with flowers, and dry ice in the tikis, I'll have to try that sometime.

I thought I was crazy hearing my mugs. It stopped making any noise after a few days.

Not crazy at all, and I know crazy. Serious pathological psychosis. I mean shave my head and climb a clock tower loopy, take as many with me as possible goofy. The crackling of my mugs is nothing compared to the cacophony of voices screamin' in my head at any given moment, like right now. Just wish I could understand Latvian.

I hear it all the time with my collection. Whenever I hear one "go" I just find it and put in the pile to sell it on eBay to some sucker, ummm.....err, valued customer!

Not crazy...just otherly dispositioned, mental-wise.

I'm crazed... "ping!"
midnite

I also have a Mystery Bowl with significant crazing, but it was like that when I picked it up off the shelf at the Mai-Kai Back in October.

But for the life of me, I can't seem to make myself care that it was. I love it and even popped the bottom platform out of it so it can hold more.

My Pele is crazing too. All my other TikiFarm mugs are craze free.

Most of my mugs are okay. I've even got a Kava Bowl that I drank out of, no problem. The one exception is my Wahaku Warrior mug. I've never even put a drink in him, but he's got two lines on his, well, I guess it would be his left butt cheek.
He mostly just sits in the china cabinet, looking fierce and guarding the china, so it wasn't abuse. Oh well. It doesn't really bother me. I figured it gave him a little personality.
My brother got one of those guys, too, but I think his is still okay, no crazing at all. Go figure.
Whatever. Tiki Farm still rocks. I'd rather have a mug with a little crazing than no mug at all!
Go Holden et al.!!!