Big Bang Creations - new Yipwan Drum Mug pg 86

Ba-ba-Babalu
where are you?
We got some work to do now...

When you gettin home?

Hey Babs, Antonio rocks! Did you use my hairline as a template for the opening?

LLT - Just back! YAY! I'm getin busy brother... Artist's Alley! are we gonna have fun or what! I'll post some stupid skinny pics on your thread laters on.

Sam - I sure you can make Oasis this year? I would love to kick it with you for a spell...

Mad Doggie - I like your new mug man: Don't use that electric kiln of yours to fire raku. Raku kilns are easy to build, and you gots more room than you know what to do with out there in the boondocks...let's have a raku party! Read up...

Pops - I am going to put that Clay Jam together in Denver end of June...I'll pounce a pm to you as we get closer.

Master Squid - Why, yeeesss... How'ed you know?

Ok,ok...I'm back in the saddle again after that month hiatus...take my boss - PLEASE! The work around TC these days is just damn amazing. Ain't this fun!!!

Next up: For the past year I have found myself turning to page 154 in Big bro's EPIC "Book of Tiki"...I just love the PNG Drum he shows on this page. BB explains how this museum image was used by many in the Golden Age as a stepping stone. I've done a Ogga Moggaing to check the mugs (made back in the day) off of this image too....nice! Well, I figured I might as well toss out a short run on a Babalu version on my rendition on this image too...I jumped into oil for a minute. Oasis bound for this lot. Here is a little tastie of the start of the sculpt...tricky mold work instore.

Damn, you finally did it. I have been wanting to do that one for years now, maybe three and thought this summer was finally going to be it. I know I 'm big time lazy. Even thought about submitting something like that for the TikiFarm mug contest but wanted to do it on my own. Between Bai's Kava Moai and You, I don't have an original idea left.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABS!
Welcome Home!
We missed ya!
you hit American soil and already have a masterpiece starting!
Artist Alley!
:)

Very fine work thus far on that drum Babalu! Welcome back too!

May the mold gods be with you Baba...

heheh, babalu, you keep pushing the clay envelope. you probably have more extreme clay pieces than anyone i know. it makes me think now that i have a kiln. gotta keep my head on track, though. you keep the extreme, clay flame burning!

too few people know the extent of your talent like i do. you're starting to show it. just a leeeetle . . . . .

I WANT IT!!!!! :) :) even from the start it's already very nice! I'm sure this one will be just incredible!!

Holy Crap, the mug sculptors are kickin' some ass right now. Everybody's just raised their art another notch or two. The wood carvers , and painters are going to have to kick it in gear, 'cause the clay guys are kickin' some serious booty!

Very cool..

Babalu, Very beautiful. I hope I can get one.
Thanks for inspiring us!

Just a quick drive by tonight...I really didn't want to post anything on this one till it was done. Lately, I have only had a short time after work to play on this guy. As you can see, I'm still blocking stuff in on it...I then have to go back and fix undercuts, smooth, slice it up, etc, etc. I fear I might need to take a week off at the 9 to 5 before Oasis in order to catch up...that sounds fun! Anyway, I wanted to thank all you guys - LLT, Sam, Master Squids, Perry, Bai, Grog, Clarita, Mike...Thank you for bouncing in here. You all keep me motivated and headed into that studio at nights when I come home tired.

Teaks, I really wanted to speak to you in this post. Please don't feel like you have to give up on your drum mug idea using this museum image as a starting point...this is not my image. I'm sure that your rendition of it and mine will be totally different from each other. Like all the artists before me who have used this image as a jumping point, the only thing that has made it "original" in each of these works is the personal choice in design changes that each artist has brought to the table. If you take a look at the picture below you can see many changes on mine...first, I have shortened the work and thrown the proportions off to the original in the photo image. I think this will help make it a better drinking vessel...not so tall - not so narrow. I am also making the carved line work deeper and somewhat different in areas as I want the glaze I'm thinking about using to look purdy in the recessed areas...There are many more things I am going to change from the original image in order to make it more my own and in my style. So don't pull your mug out of your fish bowl of ideas yet. I would love to see what you come up with. Keep on slinging that mud brother teaks.

Good night all.

[ Edited by: Babalu 2009-06-04 07:18 ]

Evening peoples...

Hey, I set the drum aside this weekend and started sculpting on a new Cobra mug oil master. I am hoping to run 25 of both the drum and the snake before I smash the molds. I have to start my 2nd round of traveling for the man soon, but I think I can pull these runs off (or most of them) for Oasis.

Anyway, I am hoping to get a little feedback from some of you TC muggers out there...I am trying to make this cobra a little more like the menu image than snakes I have done in the past. Of course, I haven't textured this guy yet. Anyway, the image on the menu is a little confusing to me, and (as you all know) there is no found cobra mug to view...all I have is this image. The image appears to me to have a little bulge where the hood of a cobra might be, except it is not rendered well, or shaded correctly? I'm wondering about putting a hood on my version of the cobra with a little cobra scull on the back like a king cobra would have...what say you? Yay or nay? Anything else I should change on this guy before I move into final on it and finish the head and the reat of the detailing? Speak up...what am I not seeing that you would like to?

Thanks for your help you guys...

GROG like hood on your cobra. No circumsize your snake, Babalu.

Your drum is the best yet. Snake too

Keep da hood!

Its what's under the hood that reeeally counts! :wink:

I vote for the hood, it's what makes a cobra a cobra. But Jonesy has a point, a 427 under the hood sure don't hurt!

Oh babalu you're so cool the greatest #1 best master sculpting mug space hippy nice guy and I love how you turn mud into gold every time!

With that...

The only thing my eye doesn't like is the bulk of the hood:

To me, it looks like the snake on the mug is in a relaxed state, like this guy:

Once again, to me, it looks like the one you made is in a more excited state like this guy:

I still love you, but...
maybe circumcize the hood a little on the snake?

That's what she said!

Buzzy Out!

Babalu, your on the right track man, it looks good. The menu image looks like
he just dropped a mouse back. I think Buzzys right about the attitude though, you got too
crawl inside cobras mind and check his mood. Whether you scale him back or not
It will look great. Hope I can snake one at Oasissssssss!

Whatever you do with the cobra will be the right thing to do! And the
png drum is really gonna be awesome.
You, Babs, are a treasure :)

Hood Hood Hood!

Whichever direction you decide to take it, Babalu, make sure your design is mold-friendy. (nudge nudge, wink wink)
:)

Bo

Quick post before heading off to the grind this morning.

Thank you folks for coming on and responding on the hood no hood question...I really have been torn on what to do with it. And a HUGE thanks for you upbeat words all...they really do keep a fella motivated.

Buzzy - I'm tempted to make him a "limp" cobra just because of all the fancy things you said about me, however, to solve the problem, I think I'll just finish him out with the "hard hood on" and see what he looks like done. The great thing about using this oil clay is that I can go back and change stuff on a whim. So limp cobra is not out of the picture yet. Those snake pictures are some scary stuff - I hate snakes!!

Sir B - I'm trying, I'm trying...get your boss face on...I'm almost ready for you to come over and give me a hard once over on them :)

Yesterday I threw together a little metal base to use as an armature for a 3rd mug. I thought I should throw at least one design in the lot that is really my own. I've added clay to it and have started the big carve...hummm, whats it gonna be? More soon!

Hood!
Cobra! Drum! Mystery Date!
Sai Baba-you are the Master!
Sheer Awesomeness!

On 2009-06-09 01:47, mp wrote:
...Whether you scale him back or not...

HAR HAR HAR!

On 2009-06-09 07:31, Babalu wrote:
...hummm, whats it gonna be?

PNG Yipwan feet guys for a footed mug or scorpion bowl?

Whatever it is, I thought of it first.
Buzzy Out!

It's a candle holder! Use coconut scented wax!

Don't listen to Buzzy, he's always talking about some time machine he invented that will travel back to 1951 so he can scratch "Made by Buzzy" on all the Tiki mugs and carvings of the era. So far, lets just say I ain't seen his Time Machine, savvy boss-man? (Unless its that tar-encrusted thing in his kitchen that looks kind of like a Mr. Coffee from 1975.) And who feeds the dog when he's on these jaunts?

NICE FREKIN' WORK!

PNG Yipwan feet guys for a footed mug or scorpion bowl?

Whatever it is, I thought of it first.
Buzzy Out!

How does he do that?? Well your almost had it Buzz - you didn't catch the part where I am going to put a haunted Tiki idol figure on the side of it...I remeber seeing this on a tv show a long time ago...hummm - I think it was on the Brady Bunch.

Bunch of Awesome stuff on this table, i have Lots of catching up to do. I gotta get out more often.

Why, thank you for stopping in Sir Ben!!

OK, I've been kickin' this mug for a week now...I'm calling this oil sculpt done! On to building the plaster molds tomorrow...

I have a new appreciation for what Squid and Bowana do. This oil has taken me a minute to get use to...that white "Roma #2" clay I started with sucks - do not buy that - too soft. Bowana gave me some of his coveted Chinese mystery brown clay to play with. I really like it.

The below Yipwan Drum Mug will be molded in two parts...as you can see the top is separate from the base. Either end on this oil base will be built up with shit clay so that I can make the mold a 3 part mold (lot-o-clean up on this one). The top will also be a 3 part mold. When the slip castings are pulled from the molds, the 2 ends will be trimmed away on the base, and the other top part then slip attached before the 1st firing. I designed it this way so that the bottom would be like the opening on the bottom of a drum - up inside the drum bottom edge will be the rounded under side/bottom of the drinking area. Hope I'm not speaking Greek here?

Anywho - I'm only going to pull 25 of these drum mugs and 1 AP and that's it...after that, its hammer time for the plaster mold. I hope to have them all done in time for Oasis, we'll see...

Thanks for stopping in :)

PS the little tongues on the faces will be removed before building the molds - then added back to slip casts.

[ Edited by: Babalu 2009-06-20 17:02 ]

All I can say is HOLY CRAP!!! :o :o :o

Hey now! Getting all fancy schmancy on us I see! That mug would look good with a two tone glaze sorta like the colors of the clay.
Nice one, Babalu. Now git on that moldmaking!!

Bo

Yay!!

Daaaaaang! Savagely sophisticated... BABALUWARE :D I'm hooked!! :D

Wow Wee! That's one heck of a sculpt my friend! Very Cool! Great Job! That bar You, Bia, and Vantiki set, Gets harder and harder to hurdle! Cheers! To You, Gogo

[ Edited by: GO TIKI 2009-06-21 19:36 ]

Holy Yipwan Stuff BatMan, Look what happens when I go away for a short bit. HappyHappyHappy to see you've been busy playing hard, with a bunch of great things too.

two thumbs up Babs!
loooooks greeeeeeeeeeat!
those 25 will go fast!

"Yipee"!

that's really, really great babalu. you've outdone yourself on that baby.

Damn man, that is super cool A #1

Hey Mad Doggie...have fun at the CHOP!!!

Sir B...I've learned so much from you - thank you brother!

Master GROG...us bald headed brothers gots to stick together...some day we will rule the world!

Capt. JoneSey..."Babaluware" - I have to remember that one :)

GoGo - Why thank you Sir!! We'll see you at Oasis!

I love you BenZ!!!

I love you too Kinny!!

Cammo - Glad to see I got you started burning cheese puffs....fun huh.

Perry - Got your pm...thank you for your interest in this new mug. Your doing some killa work yourself these days - keep it up!

Thick - Thanks for bouncing in...I love that name..."THICK" yup, yup...

Well, I've been have fun the last couple of days putting this mold together. I poured the last part tonight. It takes a few days to dry these molds out before you can use them, I'm bummed - I really want to pull a casting now.

Fun weekend coming up; on Sunday I'm having a Clay Jam in Denver with some old class mates of mine that I haven't seen in over 10 years - will take pictures. And Sunday night...Sunday night will be the 2nd annual Babalu Family Pie Fight!!! Yeah baby!...I kid you not, this is a full on anything goes family pie fight...old Uncle Don is getting it this year!

oh yeah...coming soon - ClayJams.com

[ Edited by: Babalu 2009-06-25 06:51 ]

haha, i was close, man. that's a great mug, but pretty much everything you've made is special and spectacular. check the PMs again when you get a momont.

absolutely stunning!

ClayJam in Denver
then a PieFight!?!?!?

your kin is too cool!

LOVIN the new mug Babs! u guys have a great time sunday...i will be there in spirit...no really, i will be astrally projecting down!

i am missing my zany moai...maybe kinny can mule it up to me???

alohas, uncle toesy

yipwan drum It's so interesting, the design and the two tone clay work perfect togheter and what a complicated mold, glad you manage to make it!

Rock on BABS! Patience Little Grasshopper :) Hope the mold works out for for without too much clean up and modification.