Big Bang Creations - new Yipwan Drum Mug pg 86

I cannot put in words the degree of awesomeness this mug possesses.

oh wow I see the pork fever has reached the maximum level of insanity! are you ok? :) amazing skills you have!!

I see that the ruining continues! Nice job, Rick. Hope you make lots of dough!

Wow! Thank you all VERY much for the kind words :) Having the time to dive into the studio has truly been a blessing...

I've only got a quick moment to post so,

This 1933 Porkster with Babloon is all done - "Yay" finally! I came in just under the wire on it...but, hey, I'm now at the gate ready for the starting gun to go off on Squid's Show tonight at 6:00 pm :) This really should be a good show. I know that I am going to be pricing this here piggy to "MOVE". It was really cool to take a break from my drum focus and drop in this fun one. Again, have your fingers on the buttons at 6:00 pm on http://www.squidart.com - look at "all" those delicious piggies on Squid's Site there!!

Last night with Squid on the phone, I counted the glazes up I used on this guy, and I ended up using 21 different glaze colors, and close to 2 grams of white gold in order to come up with this final look for him.

I glazed in some ice in the drink there :)

Also, I started this thread on the Asmat People and their work over in General... http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=35504&forum=1&11
please take some time and poke around on some of those links listed there. Hopefully, you find the topic as interesting as I do...It's back to the hand built drum focus in the studio for me for a while. If you have a custom something, something ordered with me...thank you for your patience...I'm on it. - There are a couple of production mugs in the works right now as well.... Everyday is a clay day! :)

Thank for looking - more soon :)

[ Edited by: Babalu 2010-02-21 09:03 ]

Babalu, it is always a pleasure to come to this thread and look at your work. You always have something interesting to offer and your pieces are just perfect.

GROG need to change GROG name to start with a "B". Babalu, Bai, and Bowana---the three of you are just busting out the ceramic masterpieces.

that glaze on the Babaloon Porkster turned out KEEN-O-RIFFIC!

but i'm really really diggin that
Dream of the Asmat drum....
wowzas!

Beautiful, masterful, awesome work. The '33 Porkster is a masterpiece...love it, Babs!!

Wow Wow Wow, this is a terrific page with the pork and mug, wow.

(I'm speechless!)
PS - Everyday IS a clay day, even the days when you don't actually get to touch clay :)

Wow! Your Papua-Ooma-Mow-Mow mug is outstanding!!! Love the new drum mug too... Keep up the incredible work, Babalu! You are an inspiration to us all!!! Can't wait to see what you'll do next, but I know it will totally rock!

is that for drying clay sculptures from the ceiling,Bowie?

So what's with the noose? That's more craft than art. Back to Babalu. Wendy

Don't leave us hanging on whats next, I guess

The "porkster" is simply incredible...

On 2010-02-21 08:44, Babalu wrote:

Very nice reproduction, there really much to do with this fascinating art of the Asmat people ... Thank you for the carving link on General tiki!

BROG hello from me! :lol:

J.

Hey, thanks you guys!

Well, it's been a while since I last checked in. I'm still kickin' it over here...

This last month has been kind of a roller coaster of ups and downs in the studio - I guess the biggest 'up' was that I brought the shop a newer kiln :) Seems I have always wanted a new Skutt kiln, and about three weeks ago this kiln (left in pic) came up on Craig's List at a really, really good price...I jumped on it. I had to drive up past Grogs house to get it (2 hours away), but it was very worth it. Hell, it has only been fired a few times...plus, it even came with 3 complete sets of kiln shelves!! YAY!! It is a little smaller than 'ole blue' there, but that's a good thing for my needs...now I have both these kilns up and running. Hot Damn! (no pun).

On a down hill turn...as some might remember, I had made a nice mold of a Cobra Fang master sculpt I had done...while trying out a 'new' Babalu method of building a block and case for this mold, I thought I was going to be all tricky and try out this new time saving method which I had come up with...nope...shit...it didn't work. The castings that I am getting from these finished molds just aren't good enough for a production run in my opinion.

So now faced with re-building the mold, I thought, well...I might as well change up the master sculpt to something that I liked better while I'm at it. I wasn't very fond of the scales on the first snake, the hood on it, etc. So I took three castings from the bad mold and wiped the detail out on them and started experimenting with changing the scales...one scale at a time...these changes would better tell me how I wanted to change the master sculpt for the next mold go. (below pic)- I started with the one on the far left which has scales that look kind of like the scales on the recently found original Cobra fang mug...still not that fond of it...I wasn't happy until I did the scales and hood on the 3rd snake (far right).

Okay, so that done...I tested some color on them, and BAM! - my second downward turn on this coaster...I opened the peep holes on my new kiln too soon in the cooling down of this glaze firing (a problem I don't have with ole blue) and lost 2 of the 3 snakes :(

I do like the coloring on this 3rd one the best so far...

The day I opened this poorly fired kiln, I thought for sure that this Islander Cobra Fang mug design was CURSED!! The next day, I started hand building (hand carving) 3 more...one scale at a time

So, it looks like this roller coaster is going back in an upward climb...the 3 new ones are glazed and will be fired this week, the new master has been re-sculpted, and the new mold will be going together this week as well. Sorry folks, these 3 newer hand carved prototypes are already spoken for by a few folks who have been waiting a "long time" for this here muggy...The new 'castings' from the new molds will debut at this years Ohana "Luau at the lake" that starts on June 25th in NY...I can't wait for this - it's going to be sooooo FUN!!

Good night -

Nailed It!!!! Babalu the sculpts and glazes are perfect.

It doesnt get better than this!

If it looked anymore real, I'd be afraid to drink out of it :o

Welcome back Rick :) I think I've seen you more often in person lately than I have on TC.

Man the snake looks so real.

Your work is museum quality all the way!

WICKED!!!

BRAVO!

That's pretty damn cool!

I swear that snake was looking right at me and its intentions were not good. Perfect is not even good enough to describe these creations. Wendy

ps I just love seeing into your studio, my dream place

COBRA KING!
the eyes look so real!
Above and Beyond,Babs!
no stopping you,my friend!
the realism on this one is incredible!

Yay Babs!!

Absolutely incredible! You are a master... Thanks for sharing your process, both thought process and creative process, on these cobras. Sometimes I feel as if you pros just magically create everything dead-on crazy perfect every time you touch something :) It's encouraging to know you are still experimenting/perfecting as you go... but I guess that's what true art is all about, right?

One question as I was reading through your cobra process: What do you mean by sculpting a 'casting'? You tried out three different styles from castings you made of the first mold after wiping away the details... what exactly is this 'casting'? Thanks!

Peace,
Jason <

ssssssssssssssssssssSENSATIONAL!!!

I've run out of the appropriate words to describe your superlative art long ago, so I will go back to basics (Oh yeah, that Cobra thingie is all right...ga-ga goo-goo weee!)

Thanks for posting Mr. Babalu! G

Great stuff Babs!

I was doing a little late night carving last week and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw your mug on tv:

craig-ferguson-officially-has-the-most-badass-mug-in-the-history

You should do a run of those next. Out there somewhere, there are probably as many Craig Ferguson fans as there are fans of the Cobra fang mugs.
Here's where I razz you after all those others told you how great you are: I think you need to find a faster way to make the scales. A pile of plaster and 3 broken mugs in over a months time ain't much output. You should talk to Squid about how he does it; he seems to manage to put out a lot of product on a consistent basis. :wink:

Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2010-05-06 16:52 ]

Hey thank you all for chiming in!!

You should do a run of those next. Out there somewhere, there are probably as many Craig Ferguson fans as there are fans of the Cobra fang mugs.
Here's where I razz you after all those others told you how great you are: I think you need to find a faster way to make the scales. A pile of plaster and 3 broken mugs in over a months time ain't much output. You should talk to Squid about how he does it; he seems to manage to put out a lot of product on a consistent basis. :wink:

Buzzy Out!

And Buzzy, its always a pleasure to have you grace my thread with your presence. I think everyone should own one of those snake mugs that Craig Freguson has...in fact, everyone most likely can as there is probably a million of those mugs headed this way on a boat from China right now. Craig Freguson better act quick if he wants one of my Cobra mugs...I'm only going to make 30 or 40 of them before I throw out these new molds. Yes, Squid does work very fast...I've been trying to teach him the art of driveway standing, but he just doesn't get it. Don't worry about Babalu brother Buzz...he works as fast as he needs to. :wink:

[ Edited by: Babalu 2010-05-06 18:13 ]

Way cool cobras you got there, sir! Nice detail work on the scales. Now you know just how many scales a cobra has!
Bum deal about the cracked one.

Bowie

Mad Doggie - your muggy fired out fine...you want me to mail him out to you, or you planning a drive by?

leleliz - Why thank you for you nice comment...that's very kind.

Mashuka - YEAH! :)

JONEsEY!! - Glad you like'um...the brown one in below pics is yours brother.

Thank you Swizzle...I should have several more done soon.

Wendy - Thanks kid...you and Dan need to come down and see the studio...You should stop by when your down for Oasis.

LLT - Thanks buddy. I'm planning on putting the final touches on our platter done for the show/sale the at Oasis if that's cool?

GROG - Yay GROG!!!

Absolutely incredible! You are a master... Thanks for sharing your process, both thought process and creative process, on these cobras. Sometimes I feel as if you pros just magically create everything dead-on crazy perfect every time you touch something :) It's encouraging to know you are still experimenting/perfecting as you go... but I guess that's what true art is all about, right?

One question as I was reading through your cobra process: What do you mean by sculpting a 'casting'? You tried out three different styles from castings you made of the first mold after wiping away the details... what exactly is this 'casting'? Thanks!

Thanks Jason - A casting is what you would get after pouring slip (liquid clay) in to a plaster mold. My first attempts at this Cobra mugs plaster master mold were unsuccessful in that I lost quite a bit of the detail from the original sculpt in the mold. So as a quick fix...I wiped clean all trace of the scales from the bad castings and re-carved them back in...a little better look I think too. I spent some time reworking the master sculpt (scales and such), and have since re-done a few new molds on it...it looks like they will be fine. They are drying out now...

And yes...In my opinion, if any artist, at what ever level of experience in their chosen craft, never produces something they are not happy with, or might consider unsuccessful, they are not trying hard enough. We learn from our failures in art, and in every other aspect of life as well.

Mike - Hope you can make it to Lake George this year. Thanks man...

G - ga-ga goo-goo weee! - should be the name of a band :)

Hank - Thanks for popping in brother.

Buzzy - I think your new mug fired out nicely - good job. Now, go polish your log :lol:

Sir B - I've got some work ahead of me if I ever even want to think about giving you a 'what fer' - you the boss... Hey, I have your clay over here ready for pick up.

Okay, on with things...I have lots happening over here...helping Master Squids with a few things, and getting ready for Lake George and Oasis, but here are those replacement snakes all done...they turned out fine this time around :)

more soon...

[ Edited by: Babalu 2010-05-12 10:23 ]

Man, Babs, those are beautiful. WANT!!

Fantastic.

Those glazes are AMAZING, the sculpt is shockingly lifelike, and the crisp-and-clean molds appear to have been crafted by a very precise robot. You are a clay wizard! I cant WAIT to finally meet you at Oasis :)

M

[ Edited by poptiki on 2022-10-12 03:33:08 ]

yeah, what VanTiki said.

Very Nice!! Love the detail you put into your sculpts!

[ Edited by: Meheadhunter 2010-05-27 22:20 ]

definatelly one of my favorite mug!!!! I love that snake!!!!!

Now that's the to do it ! Awesome as usual!

Hey, thank you all :up: :)

Well, I know I haven't posted in a while...it has been busy in the studio though. I've had a few other (not mentioned below) projects that I have been doing for other folks that has taken up my some of my time over here, but hey, it's paying the bills :)

Here is some progress stuff on some of the things that I can mention.

First up: Wendy (Dan loves tiki) asked me if I would help her out molding up one of her designs. It's a 3 sided, "Eat, Drink, & Be Merry mug. Wendy and Dan have been wonderful supporters of mine, and I wanted to help out with this one project...Wendy can tell you more about it, but I know the concept was taken from another crypto design that I have seen in Tiki Quest. It really is a nice mug Wendy. I am only going to do a run of 20 of these mugs....Wendy will be glazing up a few customs in addition. After that, no more... I will post in Market Place when I get this run finished. They will be glazed similar to the first Papua Omma Mow Mows. Test glazing later this week. YAY!

Next: look at this...Amy (Queen K) passed off her Squid colab that she started over here to Buzzy to pass of to me to fire. Amy tells me this muggy has traveled around in the trunk of her car for months, and some un-godly number of miles. The fact that it survived is AMAZING to me...good job Amy! The first firing is done on it...time to come over and glaze it :)

Next, next: I made a little mold up of a shape I found in the wild. I'm not quite sure yet what intrigues me so much about this shape, but I made the mold with 2 end pieces so that I could make 2 different shaped vessels 'clay canvas' out of one mold. The below picture shows a bit of playing around with it...

Lastly, The new molds (with the new snake scales) for the Cobra Fang Mugs worked out purdy good...I've finished 10 of them which I am going to drag along with me to the Ohana event in Lake George, NY in a couple of weeks. My main goal for this Event is not to sell a ton of stuff, but more over to have a GOOD TIME :) I like this Cobra Fang mug, however, it is a hard one to clean and glaze....I going to limit the run on this mug to smaller numbers as well. The next run after these will be available at Oasis.

Most importantly is the Silent Auction that is taking place at Ohana for Tiki Kate. My offering for this auction is this 2nd casting from my new Cobra molds here...This is my favorite one, and it is the "only" Albino, or White Cobra that I will be doing. Please check out this thread http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=36809&forum=15&3

More soon...thanks for stopping in!

The Eat Drink and Be Merry Babalu mug came about because of Dan's collection. For 14 years we tried to locate and buy one of the Lanai San Mateo mugs. Once it came up on eBay but it was EdgeofTexas1's birthday so none of his friends bid for it. Years passed and one with a crack came up on eBay, another friend wanted it because he went there as a child so again we didn't try for it and he got it. Then we met Mike of TikiRoom.net. He had a mint one that was a birthday present from his sister. I begged to buy it. He said, "Wendy you will never get my mug. When I die I'll be cremated and buried in it."
Here's a photo of his mug.

Here is a photo of Mike holding the original and my clay sculpt.

I decided to give up the search and to make a similar mug for Dan's collection.
I used Hawaiian words that were as close to Eat Drink and Be Merry as I could find. Babalu is such a wonderful friend to have, he molded and is making the mug. Here are some photos of the sculpt.



Thank you for checking it out. Thank you Babalu for making my dream come true, Wendy

Someone get a freakin' rope! :)

Nicely done, Sir! No wonder you haven't posted lately.

Bowie

It's always worth the wait to see what you post next Babalu - stellar! Have a great time in NY!

Wendy, that mug is gonna be awesome! I had seen the master sculpt and anxiously await a chance to see a finished product.

Thank you Mike, I'm super lucky to have Babalu turn it into a real mug. I sure wish I could be at Ohana, have a wonderful time Babalu and Squid. I hope you take photos, Wendy

SIR B!!! - wait till these folks get a load of these secret pieces you have over here!...you the man, fo-sure!

Thank you Mad Doggies...time for another visit brother.

Wendy, lookie at what Babalu has for you...the first few tests...need to re-fire one of these guys...hummm?

A couple of dead mullet headed Maori dudes....heh...

I want to thank my neighbors the "Podmakers" for helping me with the little cards for my Cobras fang mug -- You two ROCK! It says 50 on there, I may not do that many, we'll see....

Sneak peek at part of my next production mug :)

I'm off to NY to party down!! More soon...