VanTiki Mugs: Octopus Time Lapse

Van, I know you'll pull that mug through surgery! You dah man. Your hand-builts are incredible. I think you should be pimping these and making molds or getting someone to mass produce them because they are truly top tier by anyone's standards. I know reproductions wouldn't look quite as good or be quite as special but you could still sell the OG's too!
That angry tiki is so F'n fantastic. I love the chisel marked areas and contrasting wood grain spaces. It's like peanut mugs were supposed to be but never achieved the real chizel look.
That Moai is really nice too, reminds me of the Kahiki and Tiki Gardens moai a bit. The porcelain teeth take me back to the 80's for several reasons. I luvs em.
Snickle Tickle

Mahalo Sneaky Tiki for the compliments!
I hope you are right about me pulling the Ku #2 back together. That darn crack keeps sneaking back!

The good news is I finished the Stone King sculpt today. I am pleased to present the Lordly Lost King of the Jungle:

Cross your fingers for a smooth and happy drying process! :)

Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "VanTiki"

Aloha Folks -

Well, last night's Tiki Mug sculpt was a disaster. After wrestling with an ungainly form for a few hours I ended up tossing the mug-to-be

In my excitement I had built up a form that wasn't self supportive, and had to bail out. As you may have noticed - my mugs have been getting rather large, and this one wasn't gonna make it unless the clay was held up until it reached the leather hard state. Soooooo frustrating! To keep the ol' Tiki Thursday ball rolling I am gonna return to the studio tonight - this time armed with a supportive form to hold the clay in shape till it is leather hard. Photos of the (fingers crossed) successful mug tomorrow!

Henrik "VanTiki"

Keep at it Henrik!!

The last few have been absoultely incredible (Stone King came out very very cool)! I cant wait to see whats next.

Keep aiming high. The small setbacks make the finished product all the more satisfying. And with the results you've been getting....too cool man, too cool.

it was all for the greater good of the whole

Henrik,

These are by far some of the best mugs I have ever seen. Your style really rocks this house!!

That is an impressive lump of clay there, all of my ceramic stuff ended up looking like that in college. I love the stone mugs that you have been making.

Mahalo Bargoyle, teaKEY, Babalu, and frostiki for the compliments and encouragement!
Yes, frostiki, it was a big lump of clay! I felt terrible chucking it - as I am down to my last bag of clay and I don't want to run out "mid-mug".
Was able to finally get that mug prototype put together. I've been wanting to do a light-up tiki mug for a while now, and have been hoarding these flickering candle LED circuits I ripped out of holiday decorations I bought on discount last December. The problem with putting the scavenged LED flicker circuits in mugs was I only had 4 of them, and if the mugs turn out cool I'd like to make more than just 4! So I was stoked to stumble upon an easy-to-wire LED project that produced a great flame flicker effect. Problem was - how to get it in a mug? That is where this guy comes in. I put this guy together as a test-piece to see how to hide batteries, wiring, etc. and still have something you can drink out of. He is big - and he kinda looks a bit too much like HellBoy (hope the stone texturing tones down the resemblance down a bit - not that I don't like HellBoy!). Still a rough sculpt - needs to firm up a bit before I can do final textures. It will be another "Stone God" type mug (But with flaming interior shining thru the eyes, nose, and mouth!):

And as an added bonus we have a Pickled Head mug fresh from the bisque firing:

Mahalo for Peeking -
Henrik VanTiki

Sculpture Finished!

I love his porcelain "earrings"!

Its gonna rest on the drying rack for a spell while I wire up the flickering flame LED magic :o !

Mahalo for Peeking -

Henrik "VanTiki"

That'll look cool with flickering eyes! How about pressing stones into the wet clay to give it even more texture? That might look cool, but not sure how it would go with glaze?

:o OOOF!...thump!!! :o

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

On 2007-06-18 07:40, TravelingJones wrote:
:o OOOF!...thump!!! :o

I do believe Mr. Traveling Jones may be in need of medical assistance!

Another innovative masterpiece from the VanT studio! I can't wait for the one that blows smoke rings while playing "Quiet Village"!
I'm looking forward to seeing how you incorporate the circuitry too. I originally wanted something along those lines in my "robotiki" pendant, but put it in the too-hard basket.

On 2007-06-18 13:03, Paipo wrote:
I can't wait for the one that blows smoke rings while playing "Quiet Village"!

Oh man - that killed me. Too good! Mahalo for the kind words - I hope the LEDs won't be too hard to wire up - I'll post a step-by-step once I get going on them.

For today's Tiki Thursday I decided to re-visit one of my first mug ideas. Set the WayBack machine for 2002 when a Henrik with more hair on his head thought it would be cool to do a tiki lantern:

yessir. It is an oldie so be kind :) As you can see - it turned out rather small for holding a candle (we could only fit a little "tea" candle in there and they don't last long at all). Also - he slumped while I was sculpting him since I cut out all the holes too early and to top it all off the "lid" got WICKED hot when the candle was alight. Soooo - neat idea, but needs work. So last night I looked at my old light-up friend, did some doodles, and put together a new version of the concept. Keep in mind, this is a rough unfinished sculpture! Allow me to present Mt. MonkeyBusiness:

This is a dual-purpose Mountain, as this precise schematic will illustrate:

The top of the cinder cone is a removable mug - and the mountain's base is a lantern with a glowing face and magma cracks lit up by ancient geothermal forces (ok - a set of flickering LEDs)

More photos when its done!

Mahalo for peeking -

Henrik "VanTiki"

WOW - WOW - WOW!!!!!!!
That is excellent. I have been a fan of your stuff for a while. That is VERY cool.

Mahalo Aloha Station!

Here is the finished Mt. MonkeyBusiness sculpt - the top of the mountain is a mug that you can remove and drink from, the bottom is a magma lantern (aka led flickering light showing through cut-out bits):

The Stone God #1 and #2 mega-mugs (see p12 of this thread) are currently in the kiln getting their bisque-firing. Lets all cross our fingers and hope for no explosions!

Mahalo,
Henrik "VanTiki"

:o UuunghH!...thump!!! :o

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Wow man, that is totally wild! Great idea, and really well executed. Can't wait to see it glazed up :D

Van The Man!

Killer piece for sure!

How big is this guy...14" or so? Are you throwing and altering these shapes, or is this a slab construction, or both? What type of clay are you using? Sorry for all the questions, I can't help it...

Sweetness!

On 2007-06-25 11:03, Babalu wrote:
How big is this guy...14" or so? Are you throwing and altering these shapes, or is this a slab construction, or both? What type of clay

Mahalo Babalu!

I'll do my best to answer the questions:

He isn't too big - 14" would be nuts! Even my big Stone God #1 is just over 12" tall. Mt. MonkeyBusiness is around 9" tall - and he'll be shrinking a bit more during firing. As I mentioned earlier I've been worrying that my mugs are getting too big. Sure, they look cool - but I don't want people to avoid them due to shipping costs! Here is a shot with the Official Mug Of Scale:

I'm slab building all these mugs, as I don't own a wheel. I have been playing around with altered wheel-thrown forms such as the pickled heads

but for the most part I am hand-builder as I came into ceramics after learning to sculpt with oil-based clays.

As far as the clay I am using - I have stuck with Laguna's cone 5 Calico clay for a while now and I really like it. Nice off-white color when fired and it has a neat iron oxide stipple that comes thru the glazes. For the Tiles I use a white cone 6 body from Laguna. The pickled head was thrown with a cone 10 clay called "robsbot" or something crazy like that (I'm sure you clay folks will know it - I bought it from a club so I never saw the name in print - I only heard it spoken in mumbles :) ). Everything (except the cone 10 head) gets fired in my home studio L&L Electric kiln. I just pulled Stone God #1 and #2 out of the kiln yesterday and they look great. Now I gotta glaze them!

Hey Van,

Thanks for the response. It's funny, for me it's just the opposite...I come from a hand building ceramics background, but have just started to play with the oil clay for a minute.

Still, wet clay is my first choice...there is just something about the leather hard feel of the clay that turns me on. This Calico Clay your using looks almost like oil clay in the pictures here...very smooth stuff...you must have to dry these out relatively slow. Lot's of work in these one of a kinds.

I don't know about the rest of TC, but I like the larger mugs...Brother, I think you should get a hold of a little grittier clay and go for a run on 6 foot mugs!

Peace.

Howzit, Van? All your designs are soo unique. They're Great! I REALLY am diggin that Pickled Head Mug. Whats the height on that, and r u gonna do a few of 'em?

On 2007-06-25 15:22, Babalu wrote:
I don't know about the rest of TC, but I like the larger mugs...Brother, I think you should get a hold of a little grittier clay and go for a run on 6 foot mugs!

You got it!

I have enjoyed watching the mugs get bigger and bigger - but the drying process has become rather long and delicate. Someday I'd love to get a slabroller for the studio then I could go crazy big!

FreddieBallsomic - glad you like the pickled head! I really enjoyed making that guy. Mr. Traveling Jones has expressed a desire for one as well. I am keeping the first two I made (I need to save something for my shelves!) and am planning on making a few more in bell glass display cases with crusty museum tags in time for Halloween. I can't remember how big the guy in the photo is - I think he is slightly shorter (but fatter) than Mr. Bali Hai.

Mahalo for the compliments!

Henrik "VanTiki"

If you can put one of the Halloween pickled heads aside for fBalls, it would be greatly appreciated. Maholla Back! Balls Out!

I see that gorilla mug and think how bad he needs some chapstick. As for bigger mugs, I think as big as you can get after shrinking to fit on your selves is the right stuff. But you go bigger than tradition mugs anyways. I guess that hand-made mugs should usually be bigger cause that adds to the impressiveness and you might have to fit your hand to there, its hand built.

TeaKEY - it is true, I do love a big-ol-anchor-like mega mug for adding an impressive look to a shelf. As far as getting my hand into the mugs - it is rather rough. My mitts are too big to fit in almost any of the mugs I make - and it can be a real challenge sometimes (like when closing up the ultra tall Stone God #1). I end up using a lot of sticks and dowels to provide support on the inside when I attach clay bits.

Here is a shot of this morning's Drying Shelf with the Official Mug-Of-Scale snuggling up with the big boys. Hope this give everyone a better idea of the size (big and small) of this group of mugs:

The Stone "Fire Idol" light-up mug on the far right is (for me) the most massive feeling - it is VERY wide at the base, and is currently alarmingly heavy! :o

Mt. MonkeyBusiness is lurking under a plasic bag behind the tall sotne god on the back left. Also note that the two first stone gods on the far left have been bisque fired and are ready for glaze.

Mahalo for peeking!

Henrik "VanTiki"

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-26 13:18 ]

And once again it is Tiki Thursday at VanTiki Studio!

Last night I was supposed to make 2 small mugs that would be a wedding gift for a friend of mine that is tying the knot. I wanted to do a "His and Hers" theme, but the mugs ended up a bit bigger (they are the same scale as my old Pongo Log mugs) than planned! I decided that these (when finished) will be a bit too much for the couple, and I will do smaller versions for them this Saturday. I'd hate to give some elaborate mugs to a non-tiki couple and have them get hidden away in a cabinet somewhere (I don't want to relive the Tiki Dog Dish episode!). Sooooo.. Here is the rough sculpt - the finishing details will be added Saturday morning. You will no doubt see a whimsical Enchanted Tiki flavor in these fellows. Which is "His and which is "Hers"? Well.... I think it is variable - depends on many factors - time of day, amount of rum consumed, amount of dirty dishes in sink, etc..

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

edit - Ok - I've decided sculpting two smaller mugs for them would make me a terrible person - I'll give these to my friend as planned (and take the gamble that they may not like 'em). I can always make more for me and TC later. Whew. I feel better now :)

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2007-06-28 16:15 ]

Okey-Dokey! The "His & Hers" wedding mugs are done! Quite the whimsical ying-and-yang pair. Ms. VanTiki isn't too sold on the concept, but I keep telling her all will be well when I slap some crazy glaze colors on these guys. In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room! :)

Mind blowing!! Fantastic, lucky couple!

Cool Couple Van!....bro, going mondo has advantages....groupies!

Hiphipahula - thank you so much! Always a treat to hear your compliments! I think the Wedding Couple will like the mugs if they are not tiki people. The mugs still have a lot of whimsy and charm. At least that's what I keep telling myself :)

Babalu - that photo is classic! I'm a tad disturbed by the squatting fellow holding up the ladder and staring angrily out into space!

Got Pickled Head #2 back from the Hawaii Potter's Guild kiln last night. REALLY stoked with him. Totally looks like old stained leather. Truly one for the Cabinet Of Curiosities! Let me be quick to say that this guy is staying with me (several folks have shown interest). If you want a Pickled Head of your own fret not - I'll be making one or two for sale at a later date.

Mahalo for Peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

That's Paul Soldner there under the ladder there....a major player in the world of clay...he does a poster every year for NCECA...always naked. Nice guy. Ugly as hell.

Nice high fire on the pickled dude!

:D :roll: Pfffttt...thump! :roll: :D

On 2007-07-02 11:34, VanTiki wrote:
Let me be quick to say that this guy is staying with me (several folks have shown interest). If you want a Pickled Head of your own fret not - I'll be making one or two for sale at a later date.

The pickled head looks great! I'd love to see one with some green for that ultimate shrunken head look :D

Welp - took the 4th off so sad to say I have no new mugs to report this week. Today the remainder of the stone-style mugs are getting bisque fired, and I hope to get them all glazed next week! All I can offer this week is a shot of Mr. Pickled Head #2 in his new home :)

Henrik

Got some goodies out of the kiln this morning! Lots of photos to edit. Here is a look at the Stone Idol #3: THe Stone King. I'll post photos of Stone Idol 2 shortly. Hope to have the website updated today (fingers crossed).

Mahalo for Peeking!

Henrik "VanTiki"

And as promised the shots of Stone God - he demands a sacrifice of rum!

Mahalo for viewing these lost stone gods! I'm going to work on the website today and they will eventually make their way to the marketplace forum.

Henrik "VanTiki"

:D AAAUUUGGGHHH... :D

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

inscription on the rock
It reads, "Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Aramathia. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the holy grail in the Castle of Aaauuuggghhh...”

King Arthur: What?
Brother Maynard: "The Castle of Aaaauuuggghhhh"
Sir Bedevere: What is that?
Brother Maynard: He must have died while carving it.
King Arthur: Oh come on!
Brother Maynard: Well, that's what it says.
King Arthur: Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't have bothered to carve 'Aaaauuuggghhhh'. He'd just say it.
Sir Galahad: Maybe he was dictating it.
King Arthur: Oh shut up!
Sir Robin: Well does it say anything else?
Brother Maynard: No, just "Aaaaauuuugggghhh".
[knights making groaning sounds]
Sir Bedevere: Do you think he could have mean, 'Camaaaauuuuggghhhh'?
Sir Galahad: Where's that?
Sir Bedevere: France, I think.
Sir Lancelot: Isn't there a Saint "Aaaaavvvveeeesss" in Cornwall?
King Arthur: No that's Saint "Ives".
Sir Lancelot: Oh, yes. "Iiiiiivvvveeessss"!
[All knights saying, "Iiiiiivvvveeessss"]
Sir Bedevere: Whooooouuuuaaa!
Sir Lancelot: No no no, it's "Aaaaauuuugggghhhh" from the back of the throat.
Sir Bedevere: No I mean, "Whoooouuuuaaa!" as in surprise and alarm.
Sir Lancelot: Oh, you mean like, "AAAHH!"
Sir Bedevere: Yes, that's it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

:D YES that's it Vantiki, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SSsweeetTT!!! :D

Awesome stuff as always, VT!

But I jus' LOVES me dat Pickle Face! He reminds me so much of the old "Rumph" ceramics from the early 70's.

Wonderful!

all hand built man, that is crazy! beautiful work. Lee, i remember the mugs you are talking about from the 70's, pickled has that feel.

Perfect job on the stone glaze VanT! Just curious - did you look at some of the Rapa Nui or Tahitian stone structures (ahu/marae) when you designed these?

Mahalo for the compliments everyone!

Jonsey - an extra mahalo for the first bid :)

Tiki Lee - Stoked you like the pickled head - he is one of my favorites! I gotta see some of these Rumph ceramics! Did a google-look-see and most of the goods took me to long-ended auctions for his work.

OceaOtica - Yep - hand building is crazy. Crazy like a fox! A crazy fox that loves tikis I mean. And clay. And, um... never mind!

Paipo - So happy to hear you (the all-time stone expert) likes my stone glaze! I had a lot more green on them, but the black really bloomed during the firing. I may add a bit more "moss" on the next few stone fellows. As for research - I'm afraid I didn't really base it on moai photos. I kinda went with a mix of what I always wanted to find in the jungle after seeing Indiana Jones when I was a kid :) I was going to pattern the stones off of Hawaiian rock - but it would end up all black, so I opted for a lighter weathered stone. I was sweating bullets when I opened the kiln door! I may try a Hawaiian bassalt type mug in the future...

Henrik "VanTiki"

Van you da man! Nice work! These things are freaking huge :D

Okay folks - Got some finished mugs out of the kiln this morning - and you may want to grab a hankey and a comforting drink because I have a very sad story to tell...

First off - the good news! The Mr. Happy Ms. Angry/Mr. Angry Ms. Happy mugs are all ready for the wedding this Sunday (I'm stoked because the wedding is at the Waikiki Aquarium! I get to look at the fishes!). Here are the goods. I suppose this is a good time to warn everyone that this is an image-intensive post:

Next up we have the sad news - I call it "The Ku That Couldn't Hold His Liquor (in 3-D)". Yep - the big ol' prickly Ku that I sculpted a month or so ago that developed the nasty crack in his bottom didn't make it. Sure, it looks great on the shelf - but god help your floor if you try and fill this fellow up with any fluids. If I started him really low on eBay would there be any interest in a mug that looks neat but is a teetotaler? If interest is low he'll spend the rest of his days high-and-dry on my office shelf:

So that is the update - I also wanna let everyone know my computer conked out yesterday so I am currently on our laptop-backup. What does this mean you to guys? Well, I dunno if I am gonna get the Stone God #2 auction started tomorrow as planned. May have to wait till later in the week (We'll see when I get my partner in crime back from the shop).

Mahalo for peeking!

Henrik VanTiki

Hey Van

Could still be the greatest toothbrush holder in a great tiki bathroom

Well, that's not as bad as I expected...I was expecting maybe a shattered mug or a fire in the studio!
I'm sure you'll still get plenty of interest. I doubt I would ever use one of these for drinks even if it was functional- it would be too precious. I only have about 6 mugs that are "drinkers" - the rest are considered part of my art collection. I think most people would buy them for their sculptural qualities foremost!

Paipo - I think you are right. He would be a bit hefty for drinking out of anyways! I'll offer up the Ku #2 in a "scratch-n-dent" auction. TeaKey - you may be onto something with the toothbrush holder. If I wasn't a sonicare guy I'd be all over that! (I do plan on sculpting a few ceramic tiki shelves for the bathroom project.. ).

Spent the morning getting the wedding gift tiki mugs wrapped. A trip to the craft store for 4$ worth of goodies and TA DA!

and that is how you wrap a tiki mug set wedding gift! :)

Yep - I expect some strange looks when I plop these fellows on the ol' gift table.

Henrik VanTiki

Ladies and Gents -
here you see the rough sculpt for the "Octo-Hat" - the "Nautical Themed" tiki mug I'm putting together for the summer tiki-swap over on the carving thread. I'm bending a lot of rules on this guy (I really hope all his little suckers don't fall off!) and I am still kinda winging it on how it is gonna open. Needs to dry out a bit before I add wood texture and detail to the tiki and wrinkly-fun on the octo-guy:

Yes - for the ultra-observant out there, that is really more of a hepta-pus crouching on the tiki's head, as he has only 7 legs (I kinda ran out of room).

Should have this guy detailed and finished up Wed night!

Henrik "VanTiki"