VanTiki Mugs: Octopus Time Lapse

Oh Henrik, so sorry to hear about the clay problems. :( Those pieces are all really incredible and the coloring on them is amazing.

Man I wish I could make a mistake as good as those. Those are amazing sculpts no matter what.

Oh man - what can I say? You guys are da best! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement - it means a lot to me!

Tiki-Kate: Mahalo! I'm always happy to share my failures with the hopes that it will keep others from making similar mistakes. That is the great thing about the creating tiki threads - so much shared knowledge!

OceaOtica: you are totally right about sending a mug for a second round in the kiln. I don't regret it, though, as it was full of those sharp little bubbles in the glaze. I bet the crack had already started, and I just hadn't seen it (too distracted by the zillions of terrible bubbles!).

Mr. Jones: Words of wisdom!

Hewey - A big mahalo! Once I got over the initial shock, I realized it was a good lesson learned (thank god I didn't sculpt the next series of mugs as well before firing) and I do get some cool looking "failed vessels" for my shelves. You are right - the odds of kiln survival are still in my favor (knock on kiln).

Cheeky Half - Mahalo! Yes - I am sorta glad I get to hang onto the flaming eye mug...

Greentikipat - Mahalo! It slowed me down for a bit - but I am back on the clay horse (See rest of post) :)

teaKey - I am with you on my "Indy" mug - I found that having a dark base is really nice for glazing purposes. I am looking into getting an alternate dark-body clay this week (with a lot more grog) so I can replicate the glaze effects on future mugs. Besides - I already set up a "dark clay" work area - it would be a shame for it to go to waste!

Meiko & Kahu - a big mahalo!

Ok - like I said, I am back in the clay. I really liked the idea behind the Idol's Hand mugs (a mug you flip to drink out of) and I have had tentacles on the brain lately - so here is what I've been cooking up (keep in mind these are bad cellphone cam shots of works-in-progress) - the Tentacular Spectaular!

As you can see - these are tentacle mugs that appear to be looming out of the deep dark sea that is your bartop. I did (well, am doing) 4, and will sell them in 2 sets of 2. Yellow porcelain suckers (that take freaking forever to stick on)! I'll post better shots when the sculpts are finished.

Mahalo for peeking (and your amazing support!)
Henrik "VanTiki"

Tentacle mugs are awesome mate. Now you just need to do a top third of a head with some creepy eyes, so it looks like the octopus is watching goings on above the surface, waiting for an opportune moment to strike...

These are fab, love the idea that the bar is the ocean and the tentacles are about to pull you in. I'll be keeping my eye on these babies.

Glad you like the tentacles!

Hewey - that is a great idea! I was also pondering making a tentacle wrapped around a crushed ship or something... Perhaps a skull? Can never have too many skulls!

TikiRacer - yeah - I was totally into this vision of the bar top as uncharted waters in which a monster (or two) may be lurking...

Finished up the sculpts yesterday - 4 tentacles of various sizes. Here are 2 angles of the 4 sculpts:

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

those are awesome!! love the texture and 'nubs' toward the base.
are you checking your p.m.'s?

Cool, unique stuff Van Tiki... These have a Ray Harryhausen feel to them. I can see them moving....

Hey VanTiki,

Very sorry to see the new clay didn't work out.
Keep that imagination flowing, your ideas are refreshing and I am always checking for updates to your work.
The new tentacles bring back memories of my first sushi experience, the little suckers of the octopus tentacle sticking to you tongue and teeth. It looking like once you grab those mug you may never be able to set it back down, even once the drink is gone!?!? Lol, Love 'em!

Awesome! Yep, they look like they are squirming! Really imaginative work! Wow!

Creepy and cool! Fabulous detail.

Aloha everyone -

I am gonna jump on the "Post your studio Pics" bandwagon! Here is a glimpse of my workspace. I work out of my house - and let me say right off the bat that is is a beater that we bought at a foreclosure sale and we are currently several years into fixing it up. My work spaces are low on the fix-it list - so they are kinda ratty! :) First up is my office - we converted 2 of the house's 3 bedrooms into offices (one for me, one for Ms. VanTiki). This is where I plug away at my "day job" and do all the VanTiki web stuff:

The bookshelves will eventually continue all the way to the door, the whole room will get paneled, oh - lots of work to be done! Let's move on to the studio. The house had a huge walled-in lanai attached to the back that instantly sold us. We realized it would make a great workshop/studio space that we could use as a base of operations for filing the rest of the house. It also serves as a laundry room, as you can see! :)

Speaking of studios - I'll be heading in there now to glaze up the tentacles. Been really busy drawing stuff for the past few weeks - I gotta get back into the clay!

Mahalo!

Henrik "VanTiki"

The most unique mugs I've ever seen. Very nice.

But why the electric chair in your office? Wouldn't a Mai Tai be a more pleasant way to reduce stress?

On 2008-04-16 17:40, bamboo stu wrote:
But why the electric chair in your office? Wouldn't a Mai Tai be a more pleasant way to reduce stress?

Mahalo Stu! stoked you like my mugs. As far as the Electric Chair - it is really an ejection seat I picked up at a garage sale in Austin, Texas. Nothing like a Texas garage sale! I don't even want to talk about how much it cost to bring it out to Hawaii.....

On the clay front, I unloaded some bisqueware this morning - the Tentacular Spectacular mugs, a TikiTile order, and a ahndfull of my micro tiki tile "coins" for geocaching. Glazed up the smaller tiles, and will be dipping the lage ones tomorrow (as soon as I pick up some more wax resist). As for the tentacles.... still thinking about colors... . .

Mahalo,
Henrik "VanTiki"

I just can't get over how freaking cool the tentacles are!

Mahalo Stu! stoked you like my mugs. As far as the Electric Chair - it is really an ejection seat I picked up at a garage sale in Austin, Texas.

Wow, an ejection seat indeed! Perfect for Mothers-in-law and overstayed houseguests! I'll need to check out some of those garage sales.

Aloha Folks -

As you may have noticed, things kinda slowed down on the clay front over here. It was due to several factors - day job stuff, some tile orders, and the geocaching tiles I was making. A big factor was getting over the shock of losing so many mugs a few weeks ago - it was a big hit for my self confidence and it has been rather slow in coming back! :(
Happy to report that I did get a replacement brown clay a few days ago and am back in mug land. 2 mugs are taking shape in the studio - one skull eating tiki to make up for the leaky one, and one that I am calling "Mug of The Monkey God" - here are pics of the ROUGH sculpt - much more detail will be added as the clay firms up. And yep, that is one of my micro tiles in the mouth! :)

sorry about the low light cellphone pics - I'll take good ones once the sculpt is done.

Mahalo for peeking! (and for the tentacle compliments!)
Henrik "VanTiki"

please save the monkey god mug for me. thank you.

I do really hope to own of your works of sculpture someday!

Good luck Van! :D Hope the tiki gods bring you good kiln-ing! :lol:

Killer shop Henrik!! To have such a nice work space on the island must be a dream come true. The work is looking great as always...You can spot a Vantiki anywhere. The hiding of the coins is perhaps one of the coolest things I've read about on TC....your a nut :)

May the clay gods always smile your way....

Babalu - Mahalo! I do love my workspace - it was 90% of what we liked about the house!

Hewey - thanks, man - my fingers are triple crossed every time I tun on the kiln nowadays!

Kahu - I hope you score a mug too! I'll be rooting for you.

pdrake - I take it you like the monkey god! :)

Here is the finished sculpt - really happy with this one. The clay has a lot of sand in it - so the surface is rather rough (in a good way)! Tried something new on this one (once again- inspired by Indiana Jones - specifically that scull that Indy drinks the mind control elixir out of in Temple Of Doom). I liked the "mouthpiece" that came out of the skull's mouth - and I added something like that on the back rim of this mug. It has a little groove on the inside to aid the potent rums on their migration to your mouth. Hope it works! At least it looks cool. Here go the photos:

A bit overcast this afternoon so the photos are a tad dark - sorry!

Mahalo for peeking. I'm off to Skull Eater #2 (hopefully crack free this time around)

Henrik "VanTiki"

I'd never heard of geocaching before, but looked it up after reading your thread. Interesting stuff. Pity I dont own a GPS. Ah well.

Keep up the interesting designs - totally original and out there! I love it! so much detail in each piece. Do you only ever make one of each? So much time must go into each one?!?

cheers,
harro.

Those ears look great for handles - I can just see someone picking up this bad boy with both hands and slamming down a massive cocktail :D

dude... your work is always so amazing but this monkey god is just INTENSE......

very nice

Harro - Happy to hear you checked out geocaching! its a lot of fun - great if you do a lot of traveling, as it always takes you to neat places well off the beaten path. Anyone planning a Hawaii vacation should buy a GPS receiver and hit some of the top rated caches out here - places that are not in any tour book! As far as making one of each mug - yep, that is the way I roll. I will do similar mugs (like the stone mugs), but each will be slightly different. Think of it as wood carving in clay :)

Hewey - You are right - the ears are in perfect alignment to the top spout!

MonkyMan - a big mahalo!

Started an odd (well, odder than usual) mug last night. Wanted to do a vampire bat mug. Is it working? I dunno. Will post photos after I detail the critter :)

Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "Vantiki"

All these would make AWESOME rat rod shift knobs just down sized :D

Mahalo Pawel - I agree! If only I could get a hold of a shrinking ray....

Okey Dokey - Got a new sculpt done today that continues the animal god theme - may I present: The Jug Of the Vampire Bat!

It is my understanding that the Natives of VanTiki Island fill this big baby with rum and tropical juices and leave it at the mouth of the vampire bats' cave in an elaborate ceremony every year to avoid being attacked in their sleep by the thirsty critters. It is carved from stone and adorned with the teeth of lost livestock, mysterious blue stones found deep in VanTiki Bay, and the skull of Sir Thomas Smiddly who succumbed to the vapors after being thoroughly drained one night by the bats. Good times!

Sorry for the picture quality - really rainy and dark day in Kailua, so I had to take the shots in studio (and do my best to keep the camera from shaking).

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Wow, that is sooooooooooo great! AND with a great back story!
I find it hard to express my sense of wonder at seeing your magnificent work.

Very nice VanTiki!
Your mugs are insane, I will really have to save up some cash to bid on one of them one day. Keep up the great work! I have been battling glazes in my Art Center's cone 10 reduction kiln, with painful results. Just chalking it up to a learning curve. You fire at cone 5-6 right?

Take care,
BGreen

Wicked! Like the bat.

Your stuff continually blows me away. It's all got a weird Evil Dead 1 feel. (That's a compliment). One day I'm gonna get my hands on one....one day.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers.

Yeah- That's a Baaaad mug!

WOW!!! I am very impressed by all of your recent stuff, well really all of your works. These are great. I can't believe how intricate these mugs are, and I can't wait to see the next one.

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I peeked at your thread!

The new mugs look great, I honestly don't think you've made anything that wasn't something I wanted.

I'll keep bidding on them and hopefully get my hands on something someday.

Keep up the awesome.

The more I look at the side view of the Monkey mug the more it has a "Creatures of the Black Lagoon" feel to it. I like that one a LOT.

[ Edited by: Flat Black 2008-05-07 09:18 ]

awesome stuff, henrik! sorry it's been a while, but i've been dealing with virus problems, and have been without computer offand on for some time; but i'm ready for those tiles, and need a total(including s/h),so shoot me an email, and i'll get with you! can't wait!! -pat

Aloha Folks!

Time for an update - first off, mahalo for the comments! I'll do my best here to reply:

TikiShark - Yowza! Thank you so much! It means a lot coming from you - I check your thread like 10 times a day for updates! You must bring your amazing mug designs into the 3D realm!

BGreen - Mahalo! Yep, I fire at cone 5-6. I occasionally fire cone 10 when I join up with the Hawaii Potter's Guild. Cone 10 gave me some neat results - but it is hard to get bright color at those temperatures. Also, it really shortens the lifespan of an electric kiln (I use electric not gas in my studio)

Kahu - I am a fan of the bat as well. He is drying nicely (knockonwoodfingerscrossed)

Matt - Evil Dead! Too funny. Love the film, and when I was in LA I worked for the shop that did all the deadites for Evil Dead 3 (before I got there). Had a bunch slowly rotting away on the walls watching us while we worked.

Mr. Gambino - ohboyohboyohboy Sam-freaking-Gambino likes my mug! :) Mahalo!

Frostiki - Thank you! Yeah, they have been getting rather intricate. Ms. VanTiki always comes home, looks at the new mug and rolls her eyes. I say, "what?" and she replies, "geez - how much bigger can they get?"

Flat Black - Stoked you like the Monkey Mug - it is one of my all-time favorites!

GreenTikiPat - Thanks for posting. Your tiles are in a holding pattern in the studio - and I'll take them in for a landing (by dipping them in glaze) this weekend.

Okay! So, I have a bunch of sketches that I am dying to turn into clay and have set aside the entire weekend for sculpting. Can't wait! Expect a lot of photos Monday! In the meantime, Fired up a bunch of spooky skull tiles last night (along with some test chips) and finally got around to getting some glaze on the tentacles. Proceeded to run out of the glaze and will have to finish them up tonight after hitting the clay store this afternoon. A post of the first coat: the orange underbelly -

Thanks again for all the comments and encouragement - it really fuels the artistic fire! (wow - sorry if that is corny!)

Henrik "VanTiki"

Very Sweet Henrik!! I know they are mugs, but it would be cool to see a mega bunch of these hanging down from a ceiling somewhere
:)

What are you using the WD-40 and the torch for??

Totally wicked mug. When I look at them I get chills because they look so real, and yet I cant stop staring at them. Cant wait to see how they come out with the final colors. Keep up the good work!

They look great already!

Something about the color combination already looks good.. like a creamsicle.

The tentacles are so awesome.

Mmmmmmmm... Tentacle creamsicle......

Mahalo everyone! Babalu - The torch is for firming up clay while I am working on it. I usually use it to harden the porcelain bits-and-pieces before pressing them into the mugs or to firm up a structural piece. The WD-40 is the release agent for my brass clay stamp - helps to keep the clay from sticking.

Was up late last night sculpting 2 small-ish "hollow log" mugs. Will post shots of them later today after I finish them. Kiln has been going non-stop. I bisque fired the Monkey God and VamPire Bat mugs (opening the kiln shortly - if they have cracked I will die a little bit inside!), glaze fired a slew of tiles (cone 6) and will fire the tentacles and a few more tiles today (cone 5) followed by a final low fire gold-glaze experiment. Whew! We've been having a hard time sleeping because the studio is right next to the bedroom, and the kiln is so HOT.

Henrik "VanTiki"

Can't wait to see the tenticle mugs, they look amazing.

Thanks for posting all the photos.

Aloha Folks!

I'm happy to present the Hollow Log Brothers - Witch Doctors in Ordinary to the Chief of VanTiki Island. How can a roughly hewn pair of logs be witch doctors, you ask? Well, the Chief had a regular run-of-the-mill W.D. for some time, but grew tired of constantly hearing, "Your Greatness, perhaps you've had enough roast pig for one night" or, "You know, O Mighty One, that your liver will have its revenge one day." One day the Chief had his W.D. marooned on nearby Skull Rock, and set about crafting these vessels out of some nearby hollow logs. "You see," said the Chief, "These Witch Doctors are even better than my last one. They never say a word, but when I am feeling nervous before a great battle they can fill me with liquid courage - and they are a lot of fun at parties."

These roughly-carved Medicine Men dispense their magic elixirs though their uppermost branch. If you look closely in the photos you can see that I made it hollow - think of it as a natural wooden straw!

Here are the photos of the finished sculpts - they will be relaxing on the drying rack for a few weeks:

I like how you did the teeth on these guys. Set in like that.

Mahalo teakey. Yep - wanted to give them an under-bite and a bit of depth with the teeth, so I made some "gums" - stuck in the teeth, and then built the face planes over that with slabs. Looked terrible at first (with just the gums) and they almost ended up in the Trash Can Of Failure.

OK - yet another update (you can tell it is a studio week for me!). Just laded up the kiln for a cone 5 glaze firing.

First floor: Tiles.

The two in the center will (fingers crossed) be gloss black - they will be pained with gold after firing and jump right back into the kiln for a nice gloss gold finish (if all goes well - which is rather rare around here). You can also see a few of my clay tiki-coins (discussed on my tile thread).

Second Floor: Creature From The Depths

Oh man. Got a bad feeling about these guys. I am really worried about the glaze on the inside - it may drip. I HATE GLAZING! Whew. Ok. Had to vent. They'll make a nice conversation piece if the interior glaze fails and you can't drink out of them.

Babalu - a HUGE thanks for the grog/sand hint. Worked like a charm on the Mug of the Monkey God and the Mug of the Vampire Bat. Speaking of which, here is a scale photo of the bisqued pieces:

Yessir - quite hefty!

Mahalo for peeking!

Henrik "will chew off all his fingernails this afternoon while the kiln is going" VanTiki

WOW! That full kiln sure is a pretty sight! I love seeing these action shots...

You sir are one prolific individual...There is just nothing better than the feel of a hand made mug is there. It's also very cool to see that you are hanging out with folks at your local potters guild over there too. I really should be doing the same here in San Diego.

It's so much fun when your in a room full of people who are of the same ilk. When I was living in Denver several years ago I use to get the opportunity (a few times a year) to be part of the firing off of John Balisteri's Anagama. Talk about fun!...there just nothing finer than staying up all night stoking an Anagama with wood. If you ever get the chance...man, you have to be a part of a big wood firing like this. Check out John's Site... http://johnbalistreriartist.com/ cruise through the early years area to see his Anagama. This dude has really gone places since the last time I was over at his house...The guy is getting as big as Peter Volkus was these days.

I see after doing a quick online search that there is an Anagama in Hawaii owned by an artist named Clayton Amemiya http://www.dahawaiistore.com/tsuhaanagama.html ...I don't know much about this guy but he sure looks like he's been around. You should give him a call and see if you can be part of one of his wood firings sometime...tell him you'll just cut wood, or whatever he wants you to do just to be able come over to watch and learn. It's one of those things as a ceramicist you just have to experience. Glaze from ash is a beautiful thing :)

And hey, thank you for the WD-40 tip...I'll have to try this. I've always used veggie oil or Pam spray, but I can see where WD-40 could work too...sure.

MR. BALI HAI - PLEASE REMAIN CALM - AVOID SUDDEN MOVEMENTS - THEY CAN SENSE YOUR FEAR