teaKEY's got a Bar or two *Update*

OMG!

Freakin A!

Are you gonna make a mold..huh..huh..huh?

Sweetness!

McTiki

Go on......get back to work............really!

Actually, if I was going to make a mold, I wouldn't have done it the hard way, and go straight for the jugular with a one off mug.

but the design its not mine so my hands are clean of the blood. Maybe down the road I will make a mold if possible to make just Ben one.

But if you like this mug, there is always the Tikifarm mugs that Ben designed and that one sneaky eight legged Sculptor made. Maybe if I do good work long enough, Tikifarm will scoop me up and place me in their warm love nest.

Chow

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2006-12-13 20:56 ]

On 2006-12-13 19:52, teaKEY wrote:

What do you guys think?

Now I can actually see it I think it looks pretty good! Needs more forehead though...

Maybe if I do good work long enough, Tikifarm will scoop me up and place me in their warm love nest.

Dude! This is a family forum!

Piapo-

Now I can actually see it I think it looks pretty good! Needs more forehead though...

I know I know, Just wasn't there yet in that pic. Fixed the other eye, the forehead is there, and the ears are in place, but not fully shpaed and detailed. May other little changes here and there.

Still left- finish the ears, the Big Ben name of back, clean the bottom edge and sign the piece. And whatever clean up that is still needed.

For ther bottom

jordan designs
BenZart

DETRIOT

teaKEY
Date (something like that) Maybe my signnature somewhere

Another suggestion...seeing as you've only got the head, unless you're familiar with Benz style it might not come across as a moai to some folk...maybe you could put some birdmen or other Rapa Nui motifs on the back? He is looking really nice in these latest pics - you've definitely captured the feel of Benz's work.

Did I say this was my first....mug to look like a carving and first Moai mug.

Paipo-

Unless you're familiar with Benz style it might not come across as a moai to some folk.

I always liked the Moai without eyes. Maybe a little one material/ more known. But Moai are suppose to have eyes when they made it to their alter.

Benz Moai, looks to be human(what Moai represented) and alive, not died like the eyeless seem to be just now. Everything is where it is for a Moai- the long face, tight lipped, long ear, and heavy brow. So everyone here knows Benz style and what a Moai could and couldn't be.
And to my friends and family they wouldn't know what the back should have, I don't think the general public knows anything about the back of an "Easter Island Head" as I would say to the uninformed.

Most of all Adding birds would add weight, take more time(which is fine), take the space for the Big Ben logo, and feel uncomfortable in the hand. Actually the mug was better off without ears but The ears add a lot to the look and design.

I believe that the mug is 11" high. Perfect fit for my 11" inch high shelf. Beating out the U BAstard and Pele w/ top for tallest. It will shrink alittle over 10%.

It came to my attention that somewhere in my earlier post that I came off alittle strong in the confidence department. Too much prideful boasting? It was said by a friend that I sounded "cocky". Well, everything that I do in life, I know that there is someone better at doing it. Art is the only thing that I excel in more than the average person. ((Actually, anyone can do great art, most just never tried. Although between all the artist, there are better artists than others and all artist can be better than themselves)) I feel confident with art because I know all things are possible with art and that I "should" be able to do what the next guy is doing. I have never had a painting class but my second painting(and last) was a perfect forgery of a favorite Jeff Soto painting. And how did I do it, well, I painted what I saw, thats it. (I could talk art all day)

I said my mugs were the best in their small fields. I love that idea. I never said that my mugs were the best.
Then I was asked how do you know that they are the best then you don't know everything out there. I have seen ever tiki mug posted on TC, Ebay, and large parts of Goggle over the last two years. Nothing tiki has gotten past my eyes.
I said that I don't have to know to know. I said that I know for sure that I'm the only person in this house that likes tiki. I could say with 99.99% accuracy that I'm the only one that likes tiki in a five mile radius. I could say that I'm the only one in Michigan to have made a tiki mug. How do I know, because I have never heard of someone else doing one. So if thats true, I make the best tiki mug in Michigan. Why, cause I'm the only one to make a tiki mug in Michigan.

There the best cause there the only ones. I made the best upside down mug, cause, its the only upside mug. And then I say that I think my one mug is the best I've seen, thats my own personal preference. I like my mugs, one of one, huge, just the head of the tiki, and straight tops the best. If you can't find what you are looking for, make it. Its fun and rewarding too. But hell, no one got a raise out of what I said, anything! I want to just spark a conversation. And my last mug is a Benzarts design, So if I say its the best, I'm just saying how much I like Benzart. But people don't make many comments to my stuff.

I think that everyone has a best at something. Maybe its being the best parent for your child and only you could really know that.

But let my jot down some ideas and then I'm going underground.
Mugmakers, and I don't think of Tikifarm and Munktiki tiki fit into the individual classes just because they're companies that aren't one man doing it all.

TikiFarm- Best Cheap mug(cheap as in inexpensive), Most mugs sold, Most different art under one umbrella
Munktiki- Best mug crossover designs, Best Selection of styles by a single artist
Bosko-Best asymmetrical mugs, Best Vintage feel glaze (and isn't he like the Godfather of Modern mugs)
Tiki Diablo- Best use of mix media in a mug, Best multicolored mug
Tiki Tony- Best Cartoonish quality, Best packaging for mug, Best painted mugs
Crazy Al- Best mug from carving,
Gecko- Best glazes, Best bowls, Most expensive?
Rum Demon- Best fruit mugs, Best at doing different glaze for each mug
Vantiki- Best musical mug, Best sold hand-built mugs, Best use of mixed clays

Me, best upside mugs, best mugs to be ever made from his kitchen floor, Biggest cermanic Mug(the meaning of Alchemy), Best Action mug(you'll see)

And I'm the kind of guy that has a :D when I here at TikiCentral.

[ Edited by: GROG 2006-12-15 10:12 ]

[ Edited by: GROG 2006-12-15 10:12 ]

GROG guess then, GROG is the best Bamboo Ben comic artist out there because nobody else does a Bamboo Ben comic. There are craploads of better cartoonists out there, so as long as GROG can keep them from doing a Bamboo Ben comic, then GROG is best in his field. Maybe next time GROG draw it upside down, so GROG best in two fields. Best Bamboo Ben comic artist, and best upside down Bamboo Ben comic artist. Woohoo! :wink:

You're 6'10!!! Damn! You must bump your head often going thru doorways. If you walk on knuckles, like GROG you not have that problem. :)

[ Edited by: grog 2006-12-15 10:10 ]

On 2006-12-15 09:15, GROG wrote:
GROG guess then, GROG is the best Bamboo Ben comic artist out there because nobody else does a Bamboo Ben comic. There are craploads of better cartoonists out there, so as long as GROG can keep them from doing a Bamboo Ben comic, then GROG is best in his field. Maybe next time GROG draw it upside down, so GROG best in two fields. Best Bamboo Ben comic artist, and best upside down Bamboo Ben comic artist. Woohoo! :wink:

You're 6'10!!! Damn! You must bump your head often going thru doorways. If you walk on knuckles, like GROG you not have that problem. :)

[ Edited by: grog 2006-12-15 10:10 ]

GOT GROG?

where there is smoke there is fire and where there is Ben, there's Grog.

A study for Grogs next comic!

On 2006-12-15 22:08, RevBambooBen wrote:
A study for Grogs next comic!

Got Plumber?

On 2006-12-15 23:16, MakeDaMug wrote:

On 2006-12-15 22:08, RevBambooBen wrote:
A study for Grogs next comic!

Got Plumber?

maybe tikifram can make a christmas butt mug, just and idea, if you make one please send me one becasue it's my idea, and maybe a swizzle, thanks.

It's hard to read the tattoo without zooming in.

Okay, so the previous few posts are funny, but what do they have to do with "teaKEY's tiki?" Must you gentlemen hijack everything in sight?

Really nice "Moai" mug teaKEY!

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2006-12-16 13:20 ]

Thanks Jen, Alittle Hijacking is OK but did you really have to go there?

Hey TeaKEY -

Moai is looking good! And thanks for the (semi-weird) compliment on my mugs :)

Is the moai mug going to be fired as-is, or is this a master sculpt for molding?

VanTiki

VAn- "And thanks for the (semi-weird) compliment on my mugs".

Yeah, All compliments. There is nothing better than a tiki mug. I love them all. Little sculptures that you can use.
It seems that all good artists find their niche and we all do things differently (style). This can only be a good thing and the collectors benefit greatly.

"Van- Q: Is the moai mug going to be fired as-is, or is this a master sculpt for molding?"

Fired as is. One of one. BenZarts design, although there are slight differences that I'm noticing but still Ben essence, I hope. It will sit proudly as a highlight to my collection.

nice work teaKEY. great first effort. i hope you're gonna keep making more.

teaKEY, I am thoroughly Impressed!. So far, you have really captured the Benzart Essence in your mug. Here is a picture of both side by side so you can see how close you are:

I appreciate your asking first and I can't Wait to see how he turns out
There are some areas that could use slight tweaking, but it seems that you have it under control. Well Done so far. Thanks!!

Thanks BenZart,
I see now from this new picture of yours that there are a lot more differences that I couldn't see in the other pictures. I used a side view for the distance of the mouth, but now I see yours sticks out farther. Ofcourse, the nose is shorter on yours and the width changes quicker.

With the ear, I did even know you had the cuts go middle to edge with semicircle cuts and raise up before they drop out to the next cut and the middle has less material than the ends. I got them that way now.

I wanted it be a match as a tribute to your actual current Moai but what I got, I still love. Since I was just going off some pictures and have never seen your work in person, I felt like I was creating an Devinci work from hundreds of year old plans.

Gecko's necklace that you made for him with the headdress is such a powerful identity piece, meaning that he is the only one with that and if you saw the necklace apart from him, you who still think Gecko, that how this mug is now for me. And their both BenZart.

I added your name to the bottom of the mug. I hope that you are fine with that. You are half of this mug being that you are the designer. The Artist card will explain more.

The back is cool too. I took the whole survivor finally to cut the letters just right. I will send you pictures in the mail in the future and keep you updated.

I think that if I did it again, I could nail it, but thats never going to happen. I don't like to do the same thing twice.

Maybe we can leave that up to TikiFarm. Your other mugs aren't a Moai so it worth doing another one. This year, next year or in ten years as an anniversary mug for something. A shelf full of BenZart heads (or bodies) would be killer.

Okay teaKEYZart...whazzup with BenZmOaI mug??? Photos-photos-photos!!! Me wanna criteaKEY...Ooops dats anutta post :D !

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

I got a photo with a hat on it just like Benz but it would need a smaller hat to be right.

I was going to get peoples opinions whether or not to add wood grain to a clean stone finish, but I thought that to look like the original and do the extra steps, would be good. It should have a transparent honey like glaze over top. The eyes right now are stains. I love working with as much tricks as possible, stains, slips, and glazes. Brushed, dipped, and hopefully sprayed one of these days.

Its the only mug in my collection that looks alive. Hopefully it will still be that way after glazing or just looking like a poly wood, would be just dandy.

That's lookin' way life like Teakey. Not sure if I could sleep in the same room as that bugga. You have done a great job on it. Not an exact copy but close enough and it had some of your own style added in. You done good lad!
Next you will need to do a Bamboo Ben "bottoms up" mug. You already have photos on this thread for your reference

Chongolio

On 2006-12-22 16:22, Chongolio wrote:
Next you will need to do a Bamboo Ben "bottoms up" mug. You already have photos on this thread for your reference

Chongolio

hey that was my idea chognolio!

On 2006-12-23 03:28, Johnny Dollar wrote:

hey that was my idea chognolio!

So it was, so it was. My bad Johnny me boy. I am "behind" you all the way with the mug idea. Better get busy with it
TeaKey. JD ain't messin around. Come to think of it neither am I.

Chongolio

P.S. Chognolio? That's a new one.

I think it just winked at me.

Great job teaKEY!

Thanks guys for the feedback and you guys are in for a treat in the coming week. Most of my Christmas gifts were tiki and I couldn't have had a better C-mas or more tiki. Hell, I got a tikibar and anything to fill it just over the weekend.

So I got the best mugs that I could have gotten and I will leak them out over the next 7 days to give suspense. I had to wait months to see them so you can wait a few days.

I might do a Gallery posting later
But today, I will start you out with a never posted before showing of tiki Flasks that I did as an intro to tiki years ago.

Pm me if you know how to shrink the photos to shutterfly size.

SsweeetT teaKEY! Now you gotz some "show & tell" braddah, NICE! :D
A little Q&A please...

• When did you make these flasks and why? What was your artistic influence at the time?

• You have a primitive look to your designs, Why?

• What clay/'s do you prefer? Do you create or mix your own glazes?

• Do you fire yourself...KILN? :o

Smokin' clay goodies there big guy...I especially like the mottled colors in the glazes. The cuts and structure are somewhat Bosko-esque on these BUT that is by comparison to features. Perhaps after seeing more of your pottery, I will click with your style. Keep'em coming, luv to see more!

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Thanks Chongolio, that is what I think happen. Its a Ben alright. This mug will keep a watch over all the other mugs, like a shepherd. (don't go see the Good Shepherd)

Swampfire, check back to within the next week :)

Jonesy, Q: When did you make these flasks and why? A: I saw my first tiki mug in a window of a swanky shop. It was a Smokin Joe for $125? and I thought that I could make one since the price tag was too high. Flask are cool, you can get through a metal detector with these flasks
Q: You have a primitive look to your designs, Why? A: I think they look with Bosko, because Bosko creates with his hands first. Nothing is ever perfect but having it not perfect is perfect. A tree isn't perfect but to draw a exact copy, you would have to be perfect. I'm pretty sure that I saw Bosko's work early on and knew that there was two ways to do a mug. smoothed over or "shaky" . Both need to be done and are equal styles.
Since I didn't know what a tiki was by definition of faces, I mixed and matched the best parts from all different mugs. The white mug is a Smokin Joe from memory. The green one are parts of I believe Von Franco. Von Franco did a couple of nice tikis before I joined up to TC. I like the mouth though, I think this is what a figure 8 mouth should look like with the teeth attached to the bottom still. The brown Voodoo, I just wanted mean and the little cherry or heart shape feller I wanted for a one hitter (shot. The strange thing is it has a Mexican style to it but now I see it represented in other thing like the Coney Island man. But I love it. Maybe I will come back to it
Q:What clay/'s do you prefer? Do you create or mix your own glazes? A: There are good glazes for stoneware. I mixed two colors here and there on some of them. Some of it is on the back. Something I use is white slip to change the look of one glaze. more on that later.

Ok, so I will post one of four of my Christmas mugs. I will post thought about my dad in the next few days. But I would put him in my top ten artist list.

He knew nothing of tiki but from me. Never been on TC and probably never will be. I don't know if he will ever use the internet. JUst wanted to give me a tiki mug for Christmas, and you know how hard that is in Michigan. He couldn't have bought one if he wanted.
THe first is from Tiki Magazine One and the others are from TikiMAgazine with Crazy'Al on the cover. So its your guess as to what they are. Go through the Crazy Al issue and pick out the ones you would have liked made.

Ok, so this first one is a logo tiki from the greatest tiki film that never got produced....yet!
Its hard to film cause its black but then the flash lights up the shiny glaze creating light spots. but I got a pic.

its a full body tiki. I have never attempted a full body tiki using only hand-built methods. I think that my dad's the first. He cut the man parts but left the boys cause I knew that he wouldn't make out what they were. The whole mug leans back and very stable. So, now you all know it can be done. The drink even extends down into the flower.

Next mug clues it that its a carveing. Full body as well. Mug looks just killer in hand.

NICE SHOW & TELL! :D Mahaloz for for all the answers too...mystery is fun but a clue in each detail is important along the journey!! I look forward to seeing more of your finished workz and those in progress.

Now onward to your Xmas goodies...WHOA! :o You are quite discriptive of your father just messing around with clay and tiki...BUT GEEZUS! THAT's AWESOME!!! You definitely gotta be proud of that one, TOP SHELF for sure! What is the size of the Armchair Traveler?

Reeeally cool, you should approach the right peeps and pull a mold? Not to take away from your Dad's original (you will always have that!) but if produced in limited quantity (with approval of da copyright peeps) what a swanky item to have with the ?DVD release? of the documentary! I bet I know a talented artistic son that could whip up a 'primitive popcorn bowl' to add to the "ARMCHAIR TRAVELING BIG KAHUNA COLLECTORS EDITION"!!!

Great stuff teaKEY, I look forward to your posts...more photos & more photos! :D

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

I know that Creating Tiki is mostly a carver thing, and I don't carve and collecting tiki is more of a mass produced thing and I never have made a mold or print of anything but I would have thought that a couple more people would be into this.

Travelin- "You should approach the right peeps and pull a mold". That is a great idea. I would almost do that. I would certainly do the mold model for it but I don't know if I would be up to doing the pours. I would certainly do one with TikiFarm if The Right Peeps agreed. But you got me thinking about it. It should be done regaurdless who does it. I can't speak for him but I bet TikiDiablo would be interested.

Should have the next Photos up tonight.

AWESOME STUFF!! That Moai is fantastic and the flasks are a very unique idea.

I don't believe the CREATING forum is strictly craving - I enjoy seeing all aspects people's creativity. I started making tikis in clay before moving to wood. I thought wood would be cheaper (HA!) and cleaner (double HA!). Keep em coming

Aloha, I know that CREATING forum is not strictly craving but majority and people response to it more. And thanks fro the nice words.

So my dad is different from most artist you hear about. Maybe with that statement, he would be completely different seeing how no one has hear of him. He doesn't show his work other than people who step into the living room. Has been doing art for over twenty years just for fun and never sold a single piece. So, this is nothing more than true love for what he makes. Not for fame, never for money and I couldn't say that I know anyone else like this. Why, cause if I knew them, they would be family or never known..

So this next mug looks great in your hand. Very long (like a U Bastard) and the back of the mugs is super textile and glaze looks like oil. Bone through the nose that extends off. Its in the Crazy Al issue like the next mugs going to be shown. The first mug was a picture design this one a carving. Artist design unknown.

the next mug is from a great artist and one of my favorite items that he produced.

teaKEY

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2006-12-29 15:16 ]

Love the commits. These are the things that add to the piece. Plus I get to relive Christmas moments when I get to talk about these gifts.

It seems like I'm just sending information out into space and talking to myself, I going to just PM the pictures of the mugs to the people that have posted here in the last month. Yes, that even includes you Grog.

Very cool, TeaKey- Love those flasks!

[ Edited by: Sam Gambino 2007-01-02 21:59 ]

Thanks Sam, I'm just getting started. OH, and I just PMed you

So, of the four mugs, I will post the # four tomorrow for all to witness.

"I have to say that its the greatest mug of all time. It certainly transcends the realm of just a tiki mug and holds its own with all sculpture. I always say tiki mugs are sculpture cause they are three dimensional but this truly is something more"."Its the only one of its kind, made by hand, so the human quality is present throughout. It truly looks alive like no other mug that I have seen. And really symbolizes part of what tiki is in mug form".

The inspiration of the mug is found in Tiki Magazine in the first ten pages of the Crazy Al issue. Takes a guess as to what you think it is and then you will be amazed.

-teaKEY

On 2007-01-03 06:49, teaKEY wrote:
So, of the four mugs, I will post the # four tomorrow for all to witness.

"I have to say that its the greatest mug of all time. It certainly transcends the realm of just a tiki mug and holds its own with all sculpture.

the human quality is present throughout. And really symbolizes part of what tiki is in mug form".

Takes a guess as to what you think it is and then you will be amazed.

                                                 -teaKEY  

If it's anything other than this, GROG won't be amazed.

I'm scared to think of the appropriate drink for the bamboo ben Toilet Mug. TeaKey your dads mugs are very nice. It's always great to see artist who create just to create, there is no pretense behind it. (And I'm an artist, what would freud say?0

Those flasks are a cool rough style, I really like them. Keep up the work, I need more motivation.

Frostiki- "(And I'm an artist, what would freud say?)"

I don't know, what would Sigmund Freud Say?
And if you need anymore motivation you'll get more but with all the talent here on TC you might need a fire.
After my next project, I will tell you what got me moving again.

No one guessed which one it could be. I'll help you guys out, try between pages 1-6.

TeaKey I love how you are so diverse in your art styles, so free. Very nice. I think maybe you will be doing a moai of some kind, something special???

Ok, 9:00 my East coast time 6:00 your West coast time will be the showing

So here it is

Spawned from I think page 5 of the Tiki Magazine, its the only "tiki" mug that I didn't think of. But it turned out surprisingly fresh and I have a heighten respect for my dad's tiki mug making skills and the Artist that was the inspiration.

So the unlikely candidate is none other that the artist Doug "SwampFire" Horne

This mug is more beautiful in person. I got no photo skills. And the monkey has his own tiki mug that can be filled. Maybe 151 proof. The back has two holes for straws and the hat/lid lifts off. A true work of art.

Oh, and my dad thought that the monkey needed a right ear. Gives it that twisted Micky Mouse feel.

On 2006-12-29 10:11, teaKEY wrote:
I know that Creating Tiki is mostly a carver thing, and I don't carve and collecting tiki is more of a mass produced thing and I never have made a mold or print of anything but I would have thought that a couple more people would be into this.

On 2007-01-02 07:18, teaKEY wrote:
It seems like I'm just sending information out into space and talking to myself, I going to just PM the pictures of the mugs to the people that have posted here in the last month. Yes, that even includes you Grog.

Hey, I read all your stuff. It's one of the few threads that I keep up on regularly. Don't go by your # of comments, go by how many people view your thread. 14,000 views shows that you have some following...
Many may be just like me, silently enjoying your posts.
These xmas pieces are SWEET! I like the daily reveals.
This last one was extra sweet! Give your dad a "Hey pop, some dude you never heard of likes your mug" from me.
Keep it up (your work as well)

Buzzy