Big Bang Creations - new Yipwan Drum Mug pg 86

Thanks for the info and welcome Babalu! :)

Oh I'm not scared of getting muddy, I have a photo of myself at a billabong when I was around 10 absolutely COVERED in it!.. I'm pretty sure clay has been calling me for some time now :P

Liana.

I wanna try some more tests, too, but we should put those last ones on the computer before going into test #3...

And I might just cheat and buy some cheeso pre-baked bisque shapes (nobody does that here on TC, do they???) just for the glaze tests. It would be a much more exacting test.

Laytah, Babs! Keep the kiln warm! & Keep GROG away from the donuts!

On 2008-10-14 16:42, ravenne wrote:
I'm sure this has been asked/answered...But...
Can anyone suggest a brand of clay (maybe some other form of sculpy?) that's on the cheap side...that's a lot easier to sculpt with?
That's also strong enough that I don't need any wiring for the base?

Oh girl, if only! My life would be complete if such a thing existed! Sculpey is indeed a great pain to work with. It's too soft and won't stay put! Have you tried Fimo? It's another Sculpey type of clay but a bit more firm. It still needs to be built over a wire armature though, no getting around that. Another trick you can try is to bake your sculpture in stages, and keep adding to it. You can carve on it too after it's been baked. I made this figure of Red Cloud several years ago from Sculpey and lost count of how many times I had to bake it.

By the sculpting, baking, carving, sculpting, baking carving method you can get an incredible amount of detail. This figure is less than 5" tall. I don't use Sculpey or Fimo any more. I've been using Magic Sculpt, which is a two part epoxy putty....but that's another story. :)

Good luck!

Bowana

Babalu, answering all the comments on this thread could be a full time job for you! I don't plan on attending the NCECA, it's too hard for me to get out of town. On the IMPOSSIBLE chance that my kiln plug makes it to the top ten, I MIGHT consider it :D

Bowana, I think that Sculpty is an unappreciated art media. I love the translucency that you can't get from any other media (maybe high fired porcelain?), makes great faux stones like jade, carnelian, malachite, ivory, abalone, etc. You can sculpt it before it hardens or tool it after, you can 2000 grit wet-sand it to a mirror finish. It doesn't shrink when it cures. It's readily available in lots of colors and fairly inexpensive. I also like it for quick projects because it's done in 20 minutes and I'm an impatient kinda guy (ceramics is trying to teach me patience)

All true Maddog, but for small figurative work it ** SUCKS!** :)

*****AMAZING!

Babalouie's instruction and inspiration have driven me to stay up late and MAKE STUFF! Unrestrained from the chains of sculpting for production cast ceramics, I have seen the error of my ways and now repent wholeheartedly. Here ya go Baba... It's your fault!

Cool! What's the hole in the back for? Looks like two pieces; is this a mug with a really big lid, or a lamp, or a ...???

On 2008-10-18 11:59, LOL Tiki wrote:
Cool! What's the hole in the back for? Looks like two pieces; is this a mug with a really big lid, or a lamp, or a ...???

It's a mug with a huge lid, based on a PNG Elema body mask. About 15.25" tall!!! Guess I should've been more specific. I was way too excited and just wanted to post it.

That's huge! Looks like the lid is big enough to be a mug in its own right (or maybe a 151 repository for some creative flame effects).

Wow squid, that looks awesome :D Cant wait to see what ele you come up with!

Wow, what awesome work guys!

Looks like fun.

I think up different mug ideas all day long and was thinking about the snake mug and another one Babs did intensely just before he did them. Now one I saw the other day in the Book of Tiki and thought it would make a good wine type bottle and Squid did it. And beautifully I must say. Its cool to see these ideas actually come to life.

TEAkey, I was having the same problem - seems like we are channeling all of our great ideas to the Babalu School of Exceptional Artists and they get all the glory. Well, I for one, HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!! I have started wearing an aluminum foil hat anytime I think about mug designs. That way my ideas stay trapped in my head instead of leaking into the Great Tiki Mug Cosmic Awareness where Babs and his cronies sift them out with Kumeyaay Dream Catchers.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

DYAM SQUID!! That is one heck of a mug!! Man, you is soooo on a roll! This one is going to be fun to glaze.

Keep-um coming brother. You have 25.5 inches of height in my kiln to play with.
Kinny, gave me the piggy today, he looks killa too. I think I'm going to do another buisque (in the morning) before I do another glaze firing

Happy, happy, happy as Ben would say

On 2008-10-18 11:47, squid wrote:
Babalouie's instruction and inspiration have driven me to stay up late and MAKE STUFF! Unrestrained from the chains of sculpting for production cast ceramics, I have seen the error of my ways and now repent wholeheartedly. Here ya go Baba... It's your fault!

HALLELUJAH and AMEN to that, brother! It's a hard habit to kick.

Nice piece, Squid. :)

YAY SQUID!
YAY BABS!
YAY SOCAL CREATIVE COLLECTIVE!

awesome Squids....awesome!

so awesome i wrote you a poem....

Need help glazing?
You're freakin amazing!

:)

Oh wow! Squid! i'm so happy you free yourself!! That's an amazing mug indeed!! :)!!!

When does the glazing start? The bacon swizzle's gonna sizzle.

On 2008-10-18 22:49, Babalu wrote:
I think I'm going to do another bisque (in the morning) before I do another glaze firing

Ahhh, scratch that :up: ...I needed to make these extra test trees for that next firing. I will do the bisque firing in a day or so. Glaze fire shortly after.

Clysdalle is jumping into action....nice!

Eric the Red too...this will be a fun one to glaze Eric.

Buzzard...good job Buzzard! He will fire out fine.

Hey, Babs! When is your next firing.........I mean, when should I stop by and get mine all glazed in order to MAKE the next firing?

Rick, here's what you need for your Hona Bowl. It's pronounced ka-wa-ma for you non-Spanish speakers, pick it up at your local Henry's.

Little late on this one Billy...next one. You can come over and glaze anytime. Call.

Well, Got a few all glazed up and done...there was also a couple that need to be re-fired. Dang, It takes about as long to post these images as it does to build the darn mugs...here we go...

I wanted to glaze this #1 Cobra Fang Mug kind of conservatively...simple, more like the menu image. I took the part I least liked about the original mugs design, the fangs, and emphasized them...after all, the cocktail is called a "Cobra's Fang". This guy did develop a couple of small hairline cracks on the inside in dry out that don't go to the outside, and one rather nasty one on the bottom that did go through, however, all the cracks, including the one on the bottom glazed shut and it seems to hold liquid fine. Lucky.

Of my mugs in this firing, I think this little Cannibal Bunny turned out to be my favorite. Image heavy...sorry.

Lookie here!! Kinny has his 1st hand built mug done....He even signed it "LLT #1 Mug"...This ought to make some Kinny collector a very happy person :) The images are a little dark - sorry LLT.

GROG, You no longer have to carry that raw hide covered gourd around...now you can step out in style!!

Lastly, I think this Lapatiki #1 (based off my first Lapatiki carving) turned out purdy good. The matt finish juxtaposed to the gloss worked out on this one.

Well, that's it for this mini firing. Thanks for looking.

[ Edited by: Babalu 2008-10-24 21:20 ]

Heck yes Cannibal Bunny!!

It has been awesome seeing these creations from start to finish, well done!! :D

Liana.

Beautiful pieces! Grog, who knew a cavemen could craft with a delicate hand. Babs, that Lapatiki is rich! Thanks for sharing.

Cannibunny, cannibunny!!!

amazing stuff babs! you are the clay master

Yay!! Good stuff by all.

Great stuff! I still love Grig's stone Moai texture. Rick, is your cobra a plumber? 'Cuz he sure is showing a lot of crack! :lol: Glad to hear that the glaze sealed it, that would have been a good candidate for some calcined clay and glaze.

Wow! Amazin' glazes!

...for most of us anyways.
:)

Cannibunny is just the kind of thing that's pushing the boundaries of TIKI from kitch to fine art. Really amazing work!

YIPPEE!
what a great batch! that cobra's fang tuned out beautiful!
GROG-great job!
Thanks BABs!
You've turned us onto a medium
we would normally shrink away from!
get it/
Shrink away?
like when clay is fired...it shrinks?
hahahahaha!
:lol:

Liana, Cass, Squid, Thomas, Grog, Mad Doggie, Sir Bowie, LLT, thanks so much for bouncing in and keeping this thread so fun....Brad, what a wonderful thing to say - thank you.

I have to rush out the door to work, but I though you all might want to see an image of the bisque firing I pulled out of the kiln on Sunday....Everything fired out nicely. :)

The picture doesn't do this justice - this one looks killah-kool in person - it fired perfectly and the two-tone glazes are really classy when you pick it up. More amazing freakin' work from Babs.

Gotta get to work on a hat for the guy!

OMIGOSH!OMIGOSH!
Your PNG bird/Honu Bowl
Squid's KahluaPork and the SquidBai birdy tree!
Tai BOwana'sout of control KU with groupies!
and even that quickie collab (looks like you cleaned it up a bit...thanks!)
ALL turned out perfect and ready to glaze!
AMAZING BATCH!

you're the Wizard,man!!!!!

i just noticed that Lapatiki has a peeper!!!
!!!!
:o

all that bisque looks amazing. I really can't wait to see that PNG drum inspired mug finished. Nice batch of work everyone!

Those bisques look awesome. Killer stuff!!!!!

:o :o :o SENSATIONAL!!! :o :o :o

I want the one with the hula girls !!!!

The birdy on the palm tree and the porker.. gimme gimme gimme! :P

Hehe, all great work guys - really inspiring :) Hey, if I get some sculpts out soon I probably wouldn't need a kiln considering how hot it get's here in summer :P

Liana.

Yay! No visits from our old friend Mr. Crack!

So what's going on here...did I really make three mugs?

Nah, it's one mug with three babes, so there's one anyplace you look!

With all those girls and flowers and stuff, I've given it the name...

"THE GIRLY MUG"

...be sure to say it as Hans and Franz would. :)

Sir Bowie Wowie

That's a fine mug to be drinking girly tiki drinks out of. Good job B.

VERY sweeet! The detail is beautiful!

Perfect to drink like a "Lava Flow" outa!

Sir Bowana sure knows his way around the female body :blush:. Great toucan/woodpecker piece and Luau pig. "Babalu Clay Factory - The fount of all mugs tiki and the wellhead of all inspiration" (try to fit that on the bottom of a mug!)

Sir B,

Once again, I am blown away sir!

Folks, I just measured these figures on this mug at around 4 & 3/8 inches tall....the faces below the bangs are 3/8 of an inch tall...WTF! How the Hell?? Again, this is not an oil based clay you are looking at here...this is mud basically! Now it's one thing to make babes like these itty bitty, but to make the girls really cute too....that takes a Masters hands!

Your a rare breed Bowana!

I like it all! Very cool!

Wow, just check out the art in this shot - some AWESOME work right there. Cant wait for the glaze!

Holy Sh$%T!! :o :o :o

theres some awesome original ideas being done here at these clay-chops!! I wanna go!!

keep it up