TikiKirby - Mele Kalikimaka TC

I've always enjoyed sculpting and inspired by the wealth of ceramic awesomeness going on here, I decided to take the opportunity of being in Michigan to take a class at Pewabic. Pewabic is a real cool ceramic company that has been in the city of Detroit since 1903. It's always inspirational to see the works of some of the most talented ceramic artists in the country on display here and the work they do as a company with their glazes is beyond words. Its also cool to see the huge old machines and the variety of kilns they still use to make clay and their wares. If ever in the city, it's definitely worth a trip, but I digress...

Anyway, never working with this type of clay before has been quite a learning experience, and glazing has soo many variables it is truly an art in itself. I have so far only done a few pieces (with varying levels of detail) and have decided to limit my glazing to only a few of my favorites to try and not overwhelm myself with options and just do as many as possible... So the very first one is kind've a "tribute" mug of one of the Hukilau mugs (by Kevin Kidney I believe). I'm not trying to produce anything like this, I just really love the design and was unable to get one myself soo... It was a cool exercise, and I learned a lesson about drying time. I ran out of time (and didn't cover my clay) so I wasn't able to attach a base..

Sorry about the crappy photos, the flash really kills the look of the glaze, it's definitely not perfect but much better than in the pics...

"professional" just means you get paid to learn...

[ Edited by: TikiKIrby 2011-04-15 09:39 ]

[ Edited by: TikiKIrby 2011-12-18 11:15 ]

You will probably notice that I'm a huge fan of the Tangaroa, and if you haven't seen my shower design, this will help confirm my sickness. http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=25728&forum=18&hilite=tangaroa But I do have several other favorites I plan to explore...

Anyway, number 2 is my favorite of the bunch so far, I plan to cast this one once I refine the design a bit. Now that I see how the glaze is affected..

On number 3 I basically simplified the tang design to make it easier to cast. I planned on giving these out as christmas gifts, I just ran out of time. I did make a 3 piece mold of it which messed up this original a bit but I wanted to glaze it anyway for experience... This will be the first design I will cast (I guess for next christmas!!)

I know I have a lot to learn so please any suggestions/ constructive crits would really be appreciated !!!

The first three done (glazed in the same kiln load)!!

Those look great. I really like the full body sculpt...but they're all cool.

Great work Kirby - beatiful glaze. I had seen the shower before but it was good to see it again - hilarious faucet placement :lol:

Great work, Kirby. I'll take one of each when you're ready!

And welcome back to the mainland.

Sorry Guys, this isn't Kirby. This is "TIKIKIRBY", a different person. He didn't just get back from Hawaii, so no need to welcome him back to the mainland.

Good job TIKIKIRBY. Good to see you back posting, since you moved out-of-state.

GROG love the Tangaroan, but you forgot his penis!

On 2011-01-14 11:28, Tobor64 wrote:
And welcome back to the mainland.

(oops, my mistake! Well, KIRBY should start makin' more mugs with you anyway, Grog.)

And once again, nice work TikiKirby. Sorry about the mix up.

Thanx for clearing that up Grog. I did just go on a trip to Hawaii before I started this class, but I didn't think I posted about it... Yeah I'm a different Kirby, since it is my name I'm not unused to hearing it
used... :D Thanx for the nice comments. MDM and Grog, you guys are setting the bar high, I'm really diggin' the new stuff.

Anyway, I plan to do some tribute mugs of some Michigan tikis. First is my wip of Mauna Loa... PS. if anyone has a Mauna Loa mug, I'd love to see a side shot of it..

Aloha TikiKIrby!
Wow I love your mugs, the penis-less tangaroa is awesome... :wink:
Here's a few shots of the mauna loa...

Wow, Mahalo nui loa Beachbumz !!!

I was kinda close.... :D

Awesome mugs,love the Mauna Loa tribute mug. Do you plan to do any more Mauna Loa mugs like the drum mug or the pigeon mug and are you going to glaze it in Pewabic style glaze. Keep up the good work.

droooooooool

That's far better than the original. You are now like Bai - perfect. Wendy

Now Danlovetiki has gone too far! Him really good---the boy showing some major skills, but comparing Tikikirby to Bai?!! You take that back!!! This is BAI we're talking about!! Sure Tikikirby displaying some impressive skills as a beginning ceramicist, but to compare Tikikirby to Bai is like comparing Little Lost Tiki to Rembrandt. Sure they both sling some paint,but Rembrandt was a MASTER artist, and Ruzic....well he's Ruzic. Hell, if Ruzic had half the talent of BigToe, we might even be able to call LLT an artist instead of a craftsperson. Danlovestikis can't just throw out compliments so carelessly. It's irresponsible and dangerous. Now you've put a lot of pressure on poor Tikikirby to keep creating awesome ceramics. What if it was just a fluke---beginner's luck that his stuff is looking so great already? All of a sudden the rest of the stuff he produces looks like turds. Then him start feeling inadequate and his confidence is shattered. He starts producing less and less art and starts drinking. It starts affecting his professional and private life. The harder he tries, the worse it gets and he starts drinking even more heavily. Next thing you know, he's lost his job, his wife files for divorce and he becomes a hermit. All he does is sit around in his underwear, drink beer and watch reruns of Cops on TV. Him not bathe for weeks, and never cleans the house. Rubbish starts piling up and the neighbors complain about the smell. He eventually gets kicked out for not paying the mortgage because he has no income, and next thing you know he's standing on a street corner panhandling for change. You wouldn't want that would you?! So you be more careful when handing out compliments.

Nice job Tikikirby, GROG looking forward to seeing more.

See? Now that how it done. Complimentary, but not TOO complimentary, and encouraging the artist to continue to make more without adding too much pressure to perform at too high of a level to maintain or surpass.

[ Edited by: GROG 2011-01-15 14:11 ]

Mudbone, Michigan Mahalos... I do plan to do other ML mugs, but my main goal right now is just trying to do something different each time just to learn the best ways to create these shapes. I do love the pewabic glazes they are so rich looking.. That is part two of my reason to take these classes. I plan to learn as much as I can about how to create these.. And I do think it would be cool these iconic MI tikis glazed pewabic style.. Originally I was thinking of replicating the original finish for this mug, but it may be kinda cool to go more pewabic... hmm...

Zerotiki and Danlovestiki, Mahalos!! This is a lot of fun... So many ideas, so.. little... time....:D

? Grog, thanx for taking the time to ... what ever that was. I'm sorry but I missed the reference your talking about. I take DLT's comment as a nice compliment... I'm always my worst critc, and I work hard to always do better so I don't think there is any worry about me striving to raise my own bar, it's in my nature.

While I am new to ceramics, I have been sculpting maquettes for years. Grog you may have seen some of them when we worked at DW together. Do you remember Cindy from TFA? She was the person who inspired me to start sculpting. She was truly a master and very helpful... I have been sculpting with SS and chavant ever since... As for ceramic clay, there are several people here with more experience that are truly inspirational and I'll be the first to acknowledge I have a lot to learn but, thanx for taking the time to point that out...

Here's some vertical glaze tests I did to see how much they run... Most of these glazes are put on too thick for these small sculpts, but you get the idea... What do you guys think about the colors???

Very cool glazes and I've always been a fan of Pewabic tiles and pottery. Are those tiles that your working on.

On 2011-01-16 09:32, TikiKIrby wrote:

? Grog, thanx for taking the time to ... what ever that was. I'm sorry but I missed the reference your talking about.

GROG just razzing Wendy (Danlovestiki) :) As fa ras the referencegoes , check out Bai's ceramics on TC, she's awesome!!

Sweet! :wink:

It's all about the glaze testing...Too Thick, too thin... layers and mixing. Your tests look great! I haven't advanced to vertical glaze tests yet. Keep up the great work and keep posting photos!

Next time you are in Hawaii be sure to come visit us on Maui!

TikiKirby, don't worry about GROG - he has cerebral cysticercosis from eating uncooked meat (he hasn't discovered fire yet) :lol: :P

My favorites are the 2 uber-breaking ones on the left rear

Here's my newest sculpt, a little wahine... It's my first "human" figure with this clay, you have to work a lot different than with the chavant that I'm used to. Too wet or too dry and the clay doesn't work very well, "leather hard" is when it's best to work. Then there is the drying period, too fast and it may crack.... The Moai started as something else and morphed into this, but did give me an idea for my next sculpt.... Not sure how I'll glaze her, any suggetions??

Anyway, I'm learnin a lot here, mahalo TCer's for all the help and inspiration.. :D

Mahalo for looking....

I also did a mug inspired by the Mauna Loa S&P shakers... I really dig this shape, I think it's perfect for a mug, it fits perfectly in the hand.

Nowhere near as awesome as Babalu's Mauna Loa drum, but a fun project none the less... :wink: It dried too quickly on me and I wasn't able to add the texture I wanted to. Oh well, next time..

The two Mauna Loa's together..

Mahalos

Great work, TikiKirby! What if you fused the Wahine to the Moai, much like in the position you have them in your photo?

And when are you going into production with these, huh?

Mahalo Tabor64, that was my original plan to have a wahine resting against a tiki, but then I figured it would be better to keep them separate so I could "test" them with different glazes... I still have a lot of experimenting to do with glazes. At some point I will definitely incorporate tikis and wahines, I love the two together :D. I will cast one next month, just hot sure which one yet, and they'll probably be proofs for glaze tezting... As for production, hopefully in the spring..

Absolutely beautiful wahine sculpt - Bravo!

The sculpts look great and the Wahine is super cute. GROG like. Good luck with the glazing, and as Babalu says---always do tests.

Mahalo for the support MDM and Grog!!!

Grog, I'm very nervous about the whole glaze thing, there are so many variables, one wrong decision and I'll have an ugly paper weight.. I have a half a dozen or so ideas on how to finish these that I plan to test, hopefully it won't be a complete disaster!! I also plan to cast one of the simple sculpts so I can do larger tests, there is just so much to learn...

Nice stuffs TK!! Really like the figurative work. Good luck with the tests. I hope you nail something that you like.

Mahalo Babalu, that means a lot... Your work is truly inspirational, I've learned a lot from you.

As for glazing, I have kind of a love hate thing going at the moment, but I'm learning.... :D

WOW! Your mugs are amazing. Can't wait to see more.

P.S.: No offense, but you really should come up with a different name. Maybe something that emphasizes your mug-making prowess, cuz right now, you're confusing the hell out of people.

Mahalo Big Kahuna, it's been a lot of fun doing these...

I'm actually an illustrator/ painter who also carves and sculpts... This is my first time making mugs, I don't really consider myself a mug maker yet and not sure how long I'd be doing this, I'm just having a lot of fun with it... One thing that does cover me and my work as an artist is my REAL name, that's also how I sign my work so that actually works best but mahalo for the suggestion.
As for confusing "the hell out of people", it's not Tolstoy and people here are pretty intelligent... Have you ever considered changing your name so as not to be confused with basement kahuna? :D

I just started at the beginning again to read the comments and look at all the great art. Kirby I need your help. What clay are you using to do your sculpts? It's all so perfect and crisp. I recently started sculpting with Romo clay but it looks different than yours the other artists. Help! Wendy

WOW! I'm in love!

Mahalo Atomicchick, that's very kind of you..

Wendy, if you're going to cast (like you have been) I'd recommend chavant (NSP or reg) I like the hard (insert Grog comment here :D), but there is a slight "getting used to" period with this. I think the oil based clays that are softer out of the box are way too much work for this sort of thing. If you can leave an impression with your finger, I think it's too soft. With the harder clays, you nuke em to soften them up and block out your piece, then as it cools you add the sharper details.. I'm guessing the roma is a bit soft (I've never used it)..

As for water based clays (what I used on these) I have no clue what's good.. Babalu would be the man to ask.. I used rovin ceramics RO-14 on these (I don't know if that's a local or national brand)... I'm using it to learn and they gave us 50 pounds of it for class so I gotta use it. I am learning to really enjoy it's limitations, I'll have a better idea when I do a few more... I do spend a good amount of time smoothing it out though, I'm not sure if I'm working the most efficient way at the moment...

Hope that helps... Btw your tiki bob looks smooth to me...

You're giving me way too much credit. I'm really not that bright! I do really dig your work, though.

TikiKirby, Babalu told me to use Romo number 4 and it's hard as wood unless heated up. I've made four items with it but it is very hard. Your clay looks water based to me like you have to let it dry and then fine tune what you have made by carving. Is it like that or like the Romo?

I appreciate your help. Thank you, Wendy

Big Kahuna, mahalo I really appreciate the compliment...

Wendy, like I said I'm not sure I've ever tried roma, but it sounds similar to what I use normally. I use chavant http://www.chavant.com/new_site/files/pdf/products-2006.pdf it's what we use in animation and I really like it. They also use it for car design, in fact I just picked up a 50 pound box (see pic) of it from a car designer off craigslist for $10 and I can't wait to use it!! These oil based clays (roma and chavant) seem to be better to use for casting and you can get a lot more detail from them than a water based stoneware.. You can smooth this clay like you can a water based clay with isopropyl alcohol (90% or higher) or wd-40. Try that as a final step, it should smooth out nicely..

But sorry if I wasn't clear, I am using a water based stoneware clay (RO-14) on the sculpts in this post. I'm trying to learn how to use this clay and I have 50 pounds of it to use!!! (I'm trying to see how far I can push this clay.. ) But for the production work you are doing I think if you can get used to the hard oil based clays you'll be happier in the long run. :D

Kirby, Thank you so much for all this information.I will be making art that is not a production line in the future so knowing a number of alternative methods is a huge help. Cheers, Wendy

These mugs are fantastic! I'd love to buy them if you ever choose to produce them.

A while later I realize that I was a bit fast on the trigger with my reply. Still, the mugs are amazing and I still like to have them in my collection. Super duper! :)

[ Edited by: Flamingo 2011-02-12 09:20 ]

Mahalo Flamingo, I'm in the process of casting and I'm learning a lot... Here is my first pass at the 1st Mauna Loa mug... It's a interesting lesson learned here about shrinkage... The clay I'm using shrinks about 10% plus a little more going to bisque. It seems it will be a shot glass when I'm finished.. I may re-sculpt this a little bigger in oil clay, I kinda liked the size closer to the original.. The smaller one is still wet and will shrink more, the larger one is the bisque of the original (about 10% smaller than the original sculpt :D)...

This next one is probably the Tiki that started my love affair with Tiki's, we know it as one of the Tangaroa babies.. I can't wait to cast this and try to replicate the paint design with glaze. It will be fun... I don't plan to sell these for obvious reasons, I just always wanted a mug like this.. The small one is a basswood sculpt I did when I went to california recently for a job.. I couldn't travel with clay, so I used the next best thing.. I wanted to try and work out the design and at the time I only had front and back pics (and my Kevin Kidney tiki baby is in storage (somewhere). That's why the head is different, my memory isn't the best... Anyway, I changed the design a bit (bigger head,etc.) to make it more mug friendly, but I think it turned out pretty good, hopefully the cast will be a good size..

I am so impressed. It's great to have so many tiki artists to admire, you are one of them. I want on your list of those waiting to buy one of these last two projects. Wendy

looking fantastic Kirby! new the ceramic bug would eventually get you

Really really clean work, TikiKirby. I love all the throw back to vintage stuff you're doing. Keep up the good work, cuz I know you will!

Mahalo nui loa everyone for the compliments, it helps when the inevitable frustrations with working in clay come into play..! :D

Well this guy was inspired by the big Tiki Bob show, but it looks like I won't be able to clone him in time... Anyway, I always thought of Tiki Bob as a Hirschfeld-esc design so I thought I'd try to make a TB mug of my favorite Bob with my attempt at adding a little Al.. My apologies to any and all offended. Here's my Tiki Bob, Hollywood.. :D