Beachbumz Ceramic Tiki Creations From Maui (aka Tikipop)

All the books I've read on the firing process say let the kiln cool until the temperature is 130 or less. You should be able to hold the mug in your hand comfortably at that temperature. I'm with Grog I have let the kiln cool 24 hours after it fires and I've never had anything crack. I have had explosions due to air bubbles but that is a whole other problem.

Hey I'm so bummed that I didn't win your two tiki bowl on eBay. Congratulations on a good auction. Will you have more bowls going on there? I need to win one before May 27th. I think MauiTiki has one he is making for me. I need one from each of you, Wendy

This mug was room temp by the time Rob and I took them out of the kiln. I heard it "pinging" a few times afterwards but when I returned home after work I found it cracked.. I think it was the slip possibly used for that batch, it was extra thin, possibly the cause.. Oh well, fun learning..
I'm going to try and get a few more Troffs started this coming week, starting to slow down at work so hopefully.. Once the kidz go to sleep daddy plays with the clay..:)

We finally won a super expensive mug on eBay. Weeks later we were standing in the tiki hut where he has hundreds of mugs and we heard a ping. We looked at each other and said Nawww not that mug, pulled it off the shelf and sure enough a long hairline. Sometimes it's just the change from and air conditioner or heater vent reaching the mug. Slip I don't know about that. I hope it never happens to you again. Playing with clay is very relaxing, good night, Wendy

I've had this happen, too - always with mugs at room temperature. I've been wondering if it's related to washing mugs (which I do), is some are porous enough that they absorb water in the process.

Hey guys,

I've had this happen before too. Glaze will continue to cure long after it has been fired. Dunting could be the cause when you see long vertical cracks like this. I have seen where this will happen when there is a thicker layer of glaze on the bottom inside of the mug than are on the inside walls. Anyway the below is a short explanation that I pulled off of the Internet:

Dunting
This is a special type of crack which occurs from stresses caused during firing and cooling.
This stress primarily occurs during two critical points of firing called silica inversions which occur at 1063¢ª F or 573¢ª C and 439¢ª F or 226¢ª C.
At these inversion points, the structure of the silica molecules rearranges.
It is important to fire slowly through these two temperatures and electronic kiln profiles often do this for you automatically while they are heating.
Most dunting however is caused during cooling.
These cracks appear as long, clean, body cracks with sharp edges.
If the pottery or ceramic is glazed, the glaze edges are sharp.
They can be vertical, horizontal or spiral.

There are three main reasons why cooling dunts occur.
The first occurs as you cool through the first silica inversion at 1063¢ª F.
At this inversion the body contracts suddenly.
The more silica, quartz, in the body, the more contraction.
Since different parts of the pottery or ceramic reach this temperature at different times, it doesn't all contract together and that causes stress which can crack.
Take for example a tall pot.
The top will cool much faster than the bottom, because the bottom has the whole temperature of the kiln shelf keeping it warm.
The top will cool faster than the bottom, causing a crack around the bottom wall.

The second occurs as you cool through the 439¢ª F inversion.
A similar thing happens as above.
But, pottery and ceramic artists sometimes like to open their kilns at about this temperature to see their pieces and this will make it much worse.

The third type of cooling dunt occurs months or even years after firing.
Sometimes the pottery or ceramic might split right in half after three months.
This is usually the result of thermal shock.
In this case the clay and glaze expand at different rates when exposed to temperature variations and this change causes the object to crack.
To be more specific, the body contracts more than the glaze.
If the glaze is weaker it will shiver.
If the clay is weaker the object will crack.

Babalu, thanks for the info and the new vocabulary word :)

"These cracks appear as long, clean, body cracks with sharp edges.
If the pottery or ceramic is glazed, the glaze edges are sharp."
Mahalo's for that info Babalu, That sounds like it.. The bottom of my mug is much thicker than the sidewalls, I think I'll let them get a little thicker and make sure to drain the slip all out from the bottom better, that may be my problem.. I think the firing and cooling process is alright because it only seems to be happening to a few of my mugs, my friends mugs that I fire with are usually okay..

Wendy look what I've been making.. Finally got around tho making a better mold for the Troff's legs, hopefully I'll have a couple done this week and ready to fire..

Tongo asked me to make him some hands so he could release his inner Shaka, not done yet but there coming together..

Aloha

Thanks, Babs - although my head hurts now!

New Jungle Brown glazed Tongo, Mahalo Rob! :wink:

My bowl! Thank you, Wendy

Wendy I would never forget you!!! Your Troff-Bowl is hopefully sitting at my friends house were Rob and I fire our mugs. As soon as he gets back from his trip It's getting some color put on.. Here's a sneak peak before it got fired..:wink:

And Two other guys waiting for fire as well patiently......

[ Edited by: Beachbumz 2011-05-06 00:04 ]

Super beautiful already! Your mug has shipped I'm PMing your tracking number. Thank you so much, Wendy

Wendy, I love my new mug..... or Crate that is.. :wink: It's Awesome!!

So I was finally able to get my mugs glazed and fired and just got them back this week(Thanks again Will and Rob). I tried messing with a few new glazes and for the most part pretty stoked with how they came out. Pictures aren't to good, they really do look better in person.. no really! :wink:

Here's "Lava Tongo", a one-off marquesan shot, and another
shot I'll be making more of I call "Little Big Shot" getting glazed..
and out of the oven...






and Shaka Tongo


and Regular Tongo in a Driftwood glaze with blue ocean inside..



Ok, back to getting my hands dirty..

ANY NEWS? WE JUST GOT BACK FROM OREGON. YOUR MUGS ARE WONDERFUL, WENDY

WOW!

LOVE that blue/grey Marquesan with the Orange inside!!!! Just AWESOME!!!!

Nice batch o' mugs ... I love Little Big Shot. For some reason the Lava Tongo makes me want to watch The Simpsons ... :wink:

Mahalo's Wendy, bowls are pau! Pictures coming your way in a.m. .
Caroline,mahalo's too! He was fun to do andi liked the way the glaze came out, got lucky..
Eric, I'm taking that comment as a good thing! :D Simpsons rock!!! Should have a few Little Big Shots done next week...
Hopefully buying a new/ used kiln tomorrow, fingers are crossed.
Aloha

I think the driftwood glaze is great, very effective! Good luck on the kiln :D

Great pieces!

Thanks for the luck MadDog!
Got'Em... it's a small one but should be fine...

Here's a couple Tiki Troff's I just got back..



Happy Aloha Friday!

Nice stuff. Yay! GROG like.

I really REALLY like the wood grain/driftwood pieces...great detail/style!

Super Terrific ceramics. I'm so happy you have a kiln. (: Wendy

Love the stark contrast of the black & white.

CONGRATS ON THE KILN!!!! Looks like small one. Mine is a little one (11x9 inches) and it's GREAT. It will hold several mugs when you need to and it's cheap enough to fire for just one piece. Sometimes I'll fire mine several times in a week :D FIRE AT WILL!!!

I like the yellow-orange flame like effect glaze in the righthand trough. Greaat job on the lava rock texture and glaze on the outside, ditto what Mike said about the B&W tikis, really sets off the details. Congratulations on your new kiln too.

Bear

GroG, Sneakytiki, Mike, Wendy, Brada Bear, Mahalo's!
Rob and I are loving our new kiln, bisque fired and glaze fired already... Unfortunately two of my shots cracked down the side when I glaze fired, kinda sharp on the edges so I'm thinking maybe it cooled to quickly or glaze was on to thick.. not really sure again.. Oh well..
I really like the size though, Mike your right it's small enough to fire whenever and hopefully not worry about a huge electric bill..
Here's a couple pieces from the first firing we did, Rob's are missing but are unreal.. Mine I wasn't too happy with my glaze choice on a few but hopefully now I can do some glaze tests..

love,love,LOVE 'em!

I like the new shot glass Scott. As i'm not a fan of red they're the only ones i could see you wouldn't be happy with :P but i think the others look great.

[ Edited by: swizzle 2011-06-29 01:06 ]

Are you gonna vend at the Mai Tai festival on Aug. 13th?

Mahalo Zerotiki, Swizzle, ya man for some reason I just really love the red glaze with the brown, I always have liked red though for some reason..
Brice, Not sure brada, Rob and I were talking about catching a plane over... Sounds like a blast, I'd love to come see Okolemaluna and you guys.. I'll let you know if it's going to happen..

Just opened OUR new kiln.. love to say that.. :wink: and happily pulled out a family of Tiki's and Shots.. Nothing cracked this time! Yay!!

Dan is loving the trough so much that now I need one of your triangular bowls for Christmas. Is that possible? Cheers, Wendy

Wait a minute!... Your only giving me 4 1/2 months notice Wendy?? :wink:

I better get off my Okole and get busy..

Very nice!! Your starting to gel into some nice coloring. Hope to see you again at Oasis this year.

Yes you must get off it and produce another beautiful bowl for us. I like all the colors for the triangular bowl. When you are ready to glaze it get back to me. Right now I just can't choose they all look so good. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-08-02 13:49 ]

Thanks Babalu, definitely learning each time..I think the ones I like the best are normally not even close to what I was going after.. :wink:
Ok Wendy.. Sllloooowwwwlllyyyyy getting up now..:) I'll talk to you soon..

Here's a couple of the regulars almost ready to get baked after some more playing..

[ Edited by: Beachbumz 2011-08-04 14:01 ]

Here is another one of Scott's Tongo mugs that was a 1/1 custom made for me. We made a deal to make one another a custom mug for trade. You can see the mug i made for Scott here towards the bottom of the page.

Mahalo Scott, great mug.

Mahalo Swizzle for posting those pictures brada!

I decided to try a couple new glazes and unfortunately had some crack.. Here's the first two in a salt glaze that cracked, I liked the glaze on a sample I did but I may have put it on too thick..



and a new color shot.. two of these with the exact same crack and I made sure to dump the excess glaze out of the bottoms.. I don't think that was it..

And here's the
ones that made it...


Kaoha Shot glasses

Little BIG Shot and Kaoha's shots..

Check Out Da Website...www.beachbumz.com

[ Edited by: beachbumz 2011-08-12 14:39 ]

What a shame about the salt glaze ones cracking. That's a really great finish. Congrats on all the other ones that worked, they look great, especially the Tongos. Good colour combinations.

I have to ask this. I've never had a cracked mug. I have always used the slow ramp how about you guys? You know on the Tiki Crates I used every glaze combination and most were a mix of Duncan and Mayco. Wendy

PS I forgot to add how terrific all those glazes are on the mugs_______________

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-08-12 08:26 ]

You may have to take up mosaic just so you can use up all those cool ceramic pieces :) Sorry about the mishaps, I sure hope you guys get it figured out - I'm sure this is very frustrating. Do you have access to another brand of slip? This seems rather obvious and I may have already asked, but are you sure you have 04 slip and not 4 slip? I made that mistake in the first jug I bought, not realizing there was a difference.

Mahalo's Robbie, I need to do some glaze testing with the salt glaze but hopefully I can get it to work more evenly and without cracking. I was stoked on all the other glazes that made it though, I thought they came out pretty good too..

Hi Wendy, I haven't yet tried the ramp setting on our kiln, I've just been doing the basic med setting cone 06 mode.. I think I'll look into the ramp see if that helps.. weird thing is it's only my stuff cracking, Rob hasn't had a single piece crack!! Maybe Rob is setting me up?? :lol:

Hey Mike , The slip I'm using is the right type I believe, sometimes it's thinner than normal and sometimes thicker than other times, not sure if that factors inn much.. Rob and I use use the same slip and he's not having any breaks.. it's just me...
Great idea on the mosaic, at the rate I'm going I should have a enough to make a wall of shame somewhere.. Actually thought they would make a great bar topper under glass or a clear coat.. My kids wanna use them for BB gun practice,Dang Kidz.. I'm holding off on that still.!
ttyal, aloha

Howzit Ohana...
Haven't posted in awhile so thought I'd show off a couple things I'm working on..
Mahalo's to Mauitiki for the AWESOME print you gave me for my Bday of Doug Horne's Tropicana Lanes..

VERY COOL... :wink: I wanted a tiki style frame that would kinda go with the print and since I already have lots of bamboo already I thought I'd try making one.. This was my first attempt at ever at using a router and luckily I made it without loosing any fingers.. I think I'm going to invest in a small table top table saw because the cuts I made in the corners were way off but it came out okay after a little sanding and gluing.. Just need a piece of glass now..

Here's a One-Off Tongo I carved also that will be fired soon too.

K-Den, Aloha

Wow and Wow. The frame is perfect. That's super fun that you changed your tiki to match the print, good job. Are you working on my bowl??? Wendy

Aloha and Mahalo Wendy, Your bowl has legs just no bowl yet...:roll: I think that's the next project when I get some time off..
Got around today to getting some plexi glass cut and finding a backing for the frame..

That frame turned out great, I missed it last time.

Thanks Mike.. If I had a table saw to cut the 90 degree angles It would have been nice. I won't show you the backside.. :wink:
Got the last batch out of the kiln the other day, The guy with the float is one-off named,"Tongo Da Beachcomber". I was worried the float glaze would run down the float but came out ok..

and a couple of his Brada's...

Check Out Da Website...www.beachbumz.com

[ Edited by: Beachbumz 2011-09-25 12:01 ]

That looks great, love the float in his hands, Wendy

Wendy, Your bowl just fit in our little kiln..:wink:

Just a couple pieces I'm working on..
Choppped Tongo..


Tongo Da Beachcomber #2, little bigger float on this one..



Aloha