MadDog Mike's Platterful of Pupule - El Tiki/Ben Wilson Wall Finished

On 2009-06-15 22:28, MadDogMike wrote:
Bill, WHERE'S MY PICTURE!!!???

Ahhmm, I forgot? :D
So now you get FOUR pics!

Back in the early 90s, before I knew Tiki, I was drawn to African tribal art.
(I now see a LOT of similarities to Tiki.)
This was my first mask ever, in any medium! It's stoneware with beige-ish glaze highlights, raku fired. All the "black" areas are bare clay. All these pieces were first bisque fired, then refired ala raku.

Left mask was fully glazed, right mask same as above, plus a little green.

Left mask is my fav, the one I'm most proud of. It's bare clay with some iron(?) oxide wash on the hair and scarifications.
Mask on right also has the oxide, and the rest of it was burnished with a spoon when leather-hard. This made it tougher for the carbon to penetrate during raku.

Two more that to me show hints of tiki.
Unknown glaze on the right one, but I loved how it resembled lichen on a rock.

Maybe what I was doing wasn't strict raku, since I wasn't going for crazing glaze, but it was the same technique.

Maybe at Babs's next clayjam, he'll let us raku!

I MISS THESE!!! :(

Bowana & Squid, thanks for the expert advice

PDrake, you've been doing some really cool stuff. A swap would be awesome, especially since my base material is mud and yours is precious metal :D

Bill, love those masks. You are quite a ceramicist, why are you wasting your time over there in the carving forum :lol: (just kidding, you're doing some great carvings). Those masks are very close to what I'm trying for with slight glaze decoration and large unglazed areas to pick up smoke. I am trying to get reds and browns instead of blacks and grays. I have been burnishing my stuff, I didn't realize that it interferes with the smoke pick-up. You're right about the one with the scars, it's definitely a stand-out.

Lennieguys, I miss them too (I guess :) )

Now for the math tutor. I just finished 2 projects that needed to account for shrinkage. My little Moai bottle needed to shrink enough that the spout would fit snuggly and I made a tissue box cover that needed to fit a box of Kleenex. I added 13% to my measurements for shrinkage, but as Murphy's Law would dictate, the bottle neck came out a little too big and the tissue cover came out a little too small.

The tissue cover is hard-edge slab formed, rolled over a woven textured plaster bat. The tissue box fits snuggly inside but the cover is a bit short.

The mini Moai is molded. It turned out a bit smaller than I had intended, holds about 8 ounces. The neck is just a little too big for spout but I have a plan; I am molding another one right now, I'll make it a little thicker to the inside diameter of the neck is smaller. If your are interesting in some mini Moai bottles, PM me - I have a mold and I work cheap :) Can be glazed to your taste and personalized with the contents or your lounge name.

I can't wait til you launch the new secret art project on TC - they are going to flip!! :)

:D

Cool tissue box! Thanks for the math lesson.
Secret art project! Rock on Mike! :)

Thank you Jason

Good folk of TC, thanks to YOU I have a new bedroom. It's tropical, but not tiki (yet :D sometimes these things take time). Our last bedroom was Moroccan themed, exotic and dark. But we had it several years and it was time for a change - something light and airy. Didn't really want a dark, matting covered tiki bar atmosphere, after all, this is where the mojo happens! I stole YOUR ideas - burned wood picture frames and outlet covers, bamboo shades, lighted parasols, tied fishing float accent lights, tropical fan, tiki torches retrofitted with flicker bulbs. Will have to sneak some tiki items in when the wife isn't looking :wink: Hopefully some cool art from the Art Swap.

Nice beginning,MDM!
is there any way I can convince you to trade is your white walls for maybe a nice warm antique,or bamboo gold? if so, take somthing that has that tone,(like some old bamboo, or something like it), to your local home depot, and give it to the paint magicians...for not alot of money, you might come up with a really yummy color!that's what I did when I picked the backround golden tone for "the Poi Dog Paradise".

Thank you Palapala. The walls are actually tan, you can see the contrast with the white trim. The walls were a rich faux glaze gold before we painted them tan, not my choice :)

I've posted this crack repair technique before but it bears repeating. I had a small piece that cracked all the way through while it was drying, this is no surface crack.

I took the same clay I was working with, dried it, powdered it and screened it very fine (like flour). I put it in an unglazed bowl and bisque fired it. After it was cool, I screened it again and mixed it with glaze to make a thin putty. The putty was worked into the crack from both sides using fingers, tools, brush, etc. Allowed to dry, given 3 coats of glaze on both sides and glaze fired.

It sealed tight. The crack is still visible only because I used clear glaze, would be a lot less noticeable with an opaque glaze.

Of course, this won't work for every crack but it's worth a shot.

I made a couple of Moai Bowls. No, not that kind of Moai Bowl. I added bowls to the top of Moais that I made from my mold. They a small, about 6-7 inches tall, and made as serving bowls for condiments. Used them for MaiTai Sherbet at Hank's Lagoon Chop

I tried something new, woven clay. I cut the clay into strips and wove it into a lotion dispenser cover. Kinda a pain in the arse! It has some intentional gaps between the strips, it would make a good candle holder

Dig the Moai condiment bowls. Also liked how you shot them
outside ala Rapa Nui style. Cool woven candle holder.
Does look like it must have been a lot of work!

Hey Mike! Love the Moai bowls and the syrup containers. The Mai Tai Sundae was quite good as well, although I think it could have used some kind of rum or rum syrup in it - but that's mostly just the rum lover in me. :)

Great job on the bedroom - that's one of our next projects as well. :)

GOOD GOD! You're a machine. You migth just out-create Kenny.

You could, completely alone, TIKI THE WORLD!!

Thank you Jason, Mieko, & Robb. Mieko, good seeing you again Sunday - I think you're right about the rum, I was just concerned about the liquor law as I wasn't sure where the food would be set up. Robb, I will never "out-create" Kinny :D

OK, here it is the PENIS GOURD MUG! We have 50 years worth of Tiki mug history, it's getting harder to come up with something that hasn't been done before. But I don't think I'm ever seen a Penis Gourd Mug :lol: Blame it on Kinny, I found this while researching PNG material for the Art Swap!

It's made of marbled tan clay to look like a natural gourd, clear glazed on the inside and the outer lip. The outside tan clay is unglazed and given a coat of paste wax for a more natural finish. It has a stand to hold it since it won't stand on it's own.

And now it's NO FEAR - NO DOUBT - ALL IN - BALLS OUT!
All the mugs I've done up to this point have basically been a clay cylinder with clay embellishment added to it. It's time for me to stretch my boundaries and step outside of my comfort zone with a truly sculptural piece. It's something that's been rattling around in my head for a year but I didn't have the courage to try it - an arm holding a shrunken head. The wrist will serve as the handle and you will drink out of the open end of the arm.

Very rough sculpt at this point. Hopefully, it will be balanced when done.
What the hell did I get myself into!!!???

HAHAHA!!! Penis Gourd...You should have cast this one so that we would all have something to wear at Oasis ;-) Do they come in magnum size?

Great start on the head mug master mike!...spank that baby!

GROG definitely NOT going to be drinking out of the Penis Guord mug.

On 2009-07-03 09:06, Babalu wrote:
Do they come in magnum size?

lmao...wishful thinking Babalu ?

:wink:

Oh my Gourd!
OK, now I've seen it all! :lol:

Rick & Jason - Thanks
Grog & Leleiz - :)

This is crazy!
So here's the plan, you sculpt your masterpiece (or non-masterpiece as the case may be)

Then you chop your baby into pieces to hollow it out and pray to all things tiki that you have the skills to put it back together!

Is this some sort of torture for artists? Who invented this method, Torquemada? The Marquis de Sade? :lol:

So far, so good.

We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
And watch the world die.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2009-07-06 06:51 ]

the Tiki Inquisition!
:lol:

severed head with severed arm mug!?!?!

be careful you don't go too far
we may not have enough twine to reel ya back!

the penis gourd turned out rad!
Don't drink out of it!
Bowana and i were trying it on at the CHOP!

Thanks LLT

"severed arm with severed head", I think in will be entitled "The Hunter Becomes The Hunted"

Did the gourd fit?
:lol:

I'm starting to have a glimmer of hope that I might actually pull this off :)

I couldn't sleep this morning so I got up at 4 AM and reconstructed my head mug. Put the hollowed out pieces back together and added a bottom. Started adding details like fingernails, creases, veins, and holes for the lip ties. Needs plenty more clean-up. The "fear-of-cracking:drying-time" ratio indicates that I will dry it slowly, like by next winter. Need to make some test tiles to dial in glazes for grubby hands and fingernails. Yes, he's bald (looks a little like 4WDTiki :lol: ) - I'm working on a backstory to cover that.

Some research done too late reveals the classic Jivaro shrunken head has an upturned nose, but mine does not. Could someone tell me again why the grisly trophies of a South American tribe are considered "Tiki"?

Bravo Mad Doggie! You gots this stuff nailed....next?

On 2009-07-07 21:13, MadDogMike wrote:
Yes, he's bald (looks a little like 4WDTiki :lol: )

I'll take that as a compliment! :D

Thanks Babalu and 4WD. The Armless Headhunter is drying for about an hour a day, then back in the bag for the moisture to "equilibrate". I wanted to name him "Gimme Head" but my wife said NO!

Yes, you read that right - SEMI success. I made a couple of new "Vanuatu Jungle Fowl" test plates, this time out of Soldate 60 clay. S60 is a high fire clay suitable for Raku, has better thermal shock properties than the low fire white I used before. Both survived the Pit of Despair without breaking :) Better than the 1 out of 10 with the other clay.

The square plate was coated with a natural red slip and the design carved down the light-colored clay beneath (sgraffito). The fronts of both plates had some dark deposits that I don't care for. With so many variables in a pit fire, it's hard to tell exactly what caused the deposits. May have been pitch in the pinecones, or maybe the few handfuls of salt I threw on the fire. At any rate, the back of the plates turned out so much better than the fronts. The round one is the plate back, that's the look I was going for with the brown & grey swirls & flashes. The front of the plates were burnished and the backs weren't, maybe your theory is right Bill?

So back to the slab roller for more test plates. Ralph Nader said "Your best teacher is your last mistake"

oh, no, eric the red (mr. noname) and i started the penis gourd joke. i want one of those!!

saaaweeeet!

PNG Kundu Drum, inspired by Babalu's Birdman drum (but not executed nearly as well :) )

This is the piece that fired my smoking madness. I had originally planned to glaze the inside of this mug and the incised lines on the outside, then smoke fire it. But the lowfire clay I made the mug out of wasn't up to the stress of smoke firing. So I ended up with some Courtyard matte glazes on the outside instead. Not the look I was after but it will have to do. The feather ornament is connected with a magnetic clasp to allow quick disconnect for washing. (If indeed, you do wash your tiki mug. Some would say it destroys the fine rum patina)

I think the PNG drum mug turned out great!
In fact, I think it's one of my favorites that you've
done along with the 2nd baining mask mug.

On 2009-07-12 15:29, Iokona Ki'i wrote:
I think the PNG drum mug turned out great!
In fact, I think it's one of my favorites that you've
done along with the 2nd baining mask mug.

I agree 100% !!! :D

Very cool mug...and I'm diggin' the smoke fire process!!!

Thank you Jason, Blacksandz and Meheadhunter :) Meheadhunter, here's something that should be right up your alley, but first you have to wade through my attempt at creative writing :lol:

Kopu sat on a log by the river and looked at the green severed head in his hands, he reflected back on the morning's activities. Kopu had seen 13 summer festivals, now he was a man and this was his first headhunting party. They had attacked the neighboring Huambisa tribe in a foggy pre-dawn raid and they had been successful! Last night, the head he now held in his hands had been attached to a Huambisa warrior much older than him. Strong, bronze and with a mane of thick black hair.

After many hours of travel through the jungle, they had camped here by the river. Using his flint knife Kopu carefully removed the skull from the head and placed it in the river as an offering to Pani, the anaconda. He boiled the head with leaves to start the shrinking and preserving process but in his inexperience, Kopu boiled it too long and all the hair fell out. Now he would have a bald tsantsa, the older warriors had made fun of him but his trophy would still have powerful tsarutama.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the camp. A detachment of Spanish soldiers had found them, the hunters had become the hunted. The Jivaro warriors scattered, Kopu picked up the head and his blow-gun and ran into the dense jungle. Out of nowhere, a bearded man with a rusted helmet and breastplate blocked his escape. There was a flashing arc of steel as the soldier swung his halberd. Kopu dodged right but felt a searing pain in his left arm as he crashed through the intertwined vines. As he ran, Kopu glanced down at his left hand. It was gone, as was his precious new tsanta - the chief was not going to be happy.

7 inches tall, holds about 16 ounces.

Thank you LLT and Cammo for your writing inspiration. Thank you Babalu for answering my endless questions :D

continuing on:
No, the chief wasn't happy, but you will be, with this limited edition mug. Memorializing Kopu's grisly lost hand and trophy, the mug is seven inches high and holds 16 ounces. Exclusively from J. Peterman.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2009-07-22 06:13 ]

Cool story and super cool mug!!
Great job!!

Thank you Limbo Lizard and MeHeadHunter. I had to look up J Peterman, now I remember him. Very interesting story here about how the real J Peterman and the actor who played J Peterman are now in business together.

I decided I wanted try some bone carving - the real kind, not the fake April Fool's kind :D I bought a chunk of bone at Petco, took a Dremel to it and this is what I ended up with

About 2 inches across. I know, it's not an original design but it was good practice. The tail is off center, I may try to make a better one. Bone is cool to work with- hard & strong, no grain issues to deal with, nice color, and polishes up beautifully

Mike!
Te severed head /hand mug and the drum turned out great!
and a bone carving!?!?!?
you are going off,my friend!

Mike, lots of good stuff!

[ Edited by: Queen Kamehameha 2009-07-23 11:29 ]

Very cool stingray...
I've always liked anything related to stingrays
Scuba diving with them is an awesome experience
Keep up the good work!!

Love how the severed head/hand mug came out.
Cool glazing on it. And the bone stingray
looks pretty sweet!

MAD DOG MCGUYVER!!

Kinny, Amy, MHH (hey don't swim too close to those rays!), Jason & Robb - Thank you all very much.

Thanks also for indulging my bone carving here in the "Other Crafts" forum instead of the "Carving" forum - it's just that I don't have the talent to maintain 2 separate threads :)

Working on a new bone carving - the classic 3/4 profile Aku-Aku moai. This bas relief thing is difficult for me, not quite 3D. I'm having trouble figuring out which direction some of the planes should slope. About 3 inches tall.

(not finished yet)

I think it looks really nice!!

I like the carvings, especially the top one. Very sleek.

Frig, I love the manta ray. And the shrunken head and hand (didn't see the title) shows your usual knockout originality Mike.

I'm really glad you're here on TC to remind me of how fresh and original an artist can keep his work. It inspires me when the same ideas keep popping up in my head and I think that I'm out of new ones. Thanks.

MHH and nuKKe, thank you for the words of encouragement

Robb, you are too kind. I think it's a lot easier for me to keep it fresh and original, I've only been at it for a year. I can see that could be a challenge for an established artist - you want to stay true to your style but yet still do new things. A dilemma for sure.

I am experimenting with a version of the Black Pearl Dessert. I decided to use a shell plate on the bottom instead of a cookie so I made a few simple shells. I'm afraid God gets the credit for the sculpt instead of me; I bought a Lion's Paw shell ($2 at Michael's) and used it as a form. The shell on the left has Mother of Pearl luster over the pink glaze, has a nice iridescence.

wow, cool!

what size are they Mike?

About 5 inches across nuKKe

New Test Tile System - I just can't remember what "Harvest Plains" looks like. Is it lighter that "Saffron Silk". I need test tiles of all my glazes but where do you put them so they are out of the limited workspace but still readily available? Then something short-circuited in my brain and I had an idea! Round test tiles to be glued to the top of my glaze bottles. I dug through the kitchen and found a cookie cutter just the right size. I'll keep you posted.
(EDIT) I'm thinkin' a spot of silicon will stick them to the plastic lid yet be removable when it's time for a new jar)

Since I'm not "burdened" with having to make stuff to sell for Oasis :D , I'm working on my Menu Art Swap piece, the Skipper Kent's Polynesian Genie. Seems to be turning out OK.

The menu art is lighted from below, but a mug usually isn't. So I'll have try to glaze highlights and shadows using 3 shade monochrome scheme. I made up a quick 6 inch "test tile" to try it out.

We'll see :)

We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
And watch the world die.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2009-08-03 06:23 ]