Wendy Cevola - We visited Munktiki and Dead Man's Isle in Astoria, Oregon 9/27/24.

Wow
Lots of work
Can't wait to see what's inside...

OPEN! OPEN! OPEN! I want to see what's inside!!! :D

Fettered anticipation!!!

Wow, I better get to it, like NOW!!!

First I just wanted to show the size difference between the Bumatay centerpiece and the seahorse. All the shells and sea-life will be small so that there will be room for the chunks too.

Yesterday I said after you plug a leak with clay put a piece of plastic over it before you turn you mold upright. Otherwise the clay will pull out if you slide or lift the mold. This is what I meant as shown in the photos.

Did the molds work? YES! I have around 1 hour of clean up and specials additions for each mug before I can let them dry. I hope I showed most of the steps here. One I left out was showing how I removed clay from the opening before removing the top mold piece. If not done correctly the top will be messed up.

Cut it out.

Clean out the mold.

The top looks like this. The flame sits here.

For those of us with small muscles slide the mold out to remove the straps.

The rest is shown in photos. The mold is opened and all the clean up begins. I also had to add an earring, flower etc to each.

Shows some leakage, no problem.

Add slip under any clay addition to keep out air bubbles.

She required a flower, hands and arm sculpting. A bellybutton and better nipples!
A high maintenance chick!

Two down a lot more to be done.

Molds set out to dry for the rest of the day. Before nightfall they will come back in the garage and have a fan blow on them until the next pour.

When the cast is dry there is more fine tuning to areas like her nose and his eyes. They is a lot of sanding to do. I'll have photos of every step of the way.

How did we do??? Wendy and Dan

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-01-15 14:02 ]

Wow! What a lot of work, but they look fantastic! I certainly didn't realize there was that much clean-up work to be done one each mug out of the mold...

Can't wait to see the next steps!

Glad your molds turned out Wendy, gonna be great!

Beautiful Wendy, that really came out great! I love your steps, We all seem to do it a little different..ya? I don't think I have made a mug yet that hasn't required at least two hours cleanup... I'm hoping to pour a new mold this coming week If I can find some extra hours and pray it will come out half as good as yours.. :wink:
Aloha

[ Edited by: beachbumz 2012-01-16 00:03 ]

Wendy,
Your 'step by steps' are fascinating! They really show how much work is required for each object. Before seeing these, I did not understand how much time it takes for each one. I am truly impressed & in awe!
~kele

Truly amazing lil lady, I can't wait to put mine on my Wendy shelf...
:D

Magnificent . . .

Thanks Wendy, That's a crazy amount of work you put into it, but the quality really shines threw!

The best part of making mugs are reading the comments, each is a gift.

MikeyTiki I always choose to make hard designs that require a lot of clean up. I have the need to make something that I personally like so it is worth it.

MDM thank you so much. I'm looking forward to your next clay project.

Beachbumz you are so right. One hour to clean it up now and one hour to sand and fine tune the detail top to bottom. It looks good now but I can make it even better. You do a wonderful job of detailing on your mugs.

Kele there are so many steps. There are no shortcuts other than less detail. This is why even mass produced mugs are a work of art. We think that Tiki Farm puts out quality mugs for prices so low it is a miracle.

hang10tiki I love that you have a Wendy shelf!

The Blue Kahuna thank you I'm looking forward to seeing you at Matt's.

Chuck Tatum is Tiki its always good to hear from you, thank you.

More helpful hints. I let any pieces of slip dry before removing because they pop off when dry. So before I start I get rid of clay that might not let the mold seat right or spoil detail in the mug.

A master mold maker told me to always wet the mold with a spray before starting. He said this begins a capillary action that will make the water pull out of the slip better and you will have good detail.

Try as hard as you can to make molds without lumps in your plaster. Those dry lumps will make weak spots. I'm not sure if that is what happened here but a piece in an important area broke off. To repair it I soaked the piece and sprayed the mold. I added some plaster dust and pressed hard. It glued it in place. I will add a bit more to fill the crack that shows and hope for the best.

I have two molds to open today. If that piece fell off then one mug will be ruined and I'll have to make a new mold piece. That is why I keep my original sculpt in-tacked until the project is finished.

Thank you all for taking this journey with me. Cheers, Wendy

nice work- you sure can sculpt some nice boobies too !!

amaaaaaazing, generous process documentation Wendy. MAHALO!!!!!!

Hi Tipsy, thank you. Dan's a boob man so I have to get them right to keep him happy.

BigToe, I love posting photos so its nice to hear they are appreciated, thank you. I hope to see you at Oasis in 2012.

I think I have the Bumatay done for the Sea Life Lamp that Roge is planning to make in the future. I added fins to make the Bumatay look like the fish he was before he became a mug. I am still sculpting more for this project.

I decided yesterday that the garage was too cold to sit in so I brought my work indoors. As long as the clay is wet I can clean up and not worry about clay dust in the house. It worked out really well. These mugs, three and four are drying now.
Today we will pour five and six.

We were about to leave and I told Dan we need to open these and get the molds drying outside.

I didn't want the mugs to dry before I did the fine tuning so I wrapped them in bags.

In the house I looked at the work ahead of me. I put on the Golden Globes as keep me company noise and got to work.

After I finished I cleaned up and put the two into the garage to dry.
Another good day, cheers, Wendy

Looking good Wendy! Love the Bumatay.

Best,
Chris

More great stuff from CevolaLand! YAY!

Every time I look at the Bumatay, I think it's perfect, and then you make it better (more perfect-er, if you will). The zombie mug is stunning; I love to look at it but I'm pretty sure I'd blush every time I handled it. With that in mind, I'd like to express my appreciation to Tipsy McStagger for saying what needed to be said.

Wendy! you added fins to the Bumatay!
EXCELLENT!

and the Zombie Torches are moving along!
You are my constant....
Hugs!

Hi Friends.

WestADad I'm so glad that the Bumatay has passed muster. I'm super excited about the new lamp, thank you.
ZeroTiki it is so good to hear from you, keep it coming.
Professor G just think of all those "male" tikis out there, this has been overdue. No blushing here but its a compliment that I did her well enough to affect you.
Little Lost Tiki, always a pleasure to read what you write. I spent a long time on your thread last night ogling and reading your stories and descriptions.

Thank you all so very much, Wendy

Just a few photos.
Just to remind new ceramicists. If the pour hole is small use a gas siphon to remove most of the slip.

Use a flashlight to watch the opening while another person tips the mold.

Make sure the opening never closes. Air needs to go in or the glug glug factor will suck in the sides and collapse your cast.

Only when it's all out does the mold completely turn upside down and go on the
2 x 4's to dry out.

I now have made a second sea horse, the male. I have not yet decided on the texture. Today I'll work on the sea turtle.

I used the first seahorse as a template.

This worked well because I wanted the male a little larger.

I used a huge knife to cut off the excess.

All done.

This time I started with a thicker clay block so instead of using scraps to build my ridges I was able to carve away clay to make them.

I did add clay to make the face and eye.

Fins are started.

All done except for texture.

I took apart one of the molds today and found the mug too soft to lift out of the last piece. Winter cold is making it really hard to dry out both the molds and the casts. I'm using a fan non-stop but I'll have to spread the days apart further. I've left the second mug to dry out the rest of the day. I even have the fan on the molds when they are strapped together so that the outter dryness will pull water from the inside.

I could put the pieces in a box with a light bulb to heat them so they'll dry faster but today we spend with mom so there's no time to improvise. Tomorrow is another day. Gotta go. Cheers, Wendy

On 2012-01-18 10:45, danlovestikis wrote:

Professor G just think of all those "male" tikis out there, this has been overdue. No blushing here but its a compliment that I did her well enough to affect you.

Honestly, Wendy, I had the same problem with Benihana's geisha mugs; I was shy about where to put my straw. I want you to know that this thread, by showing me how much effort goes into even a single work, has made my mugs (I don't have many, but they are beautiful) much more valuable to me. It's also made me much kinder to one of the waitresses who is majoring in ceramics.

Outstanding as usual

hang10tiki you always make me smile.

Professor G I was super shy when I was younger. I took speech classes in college and since then I've been able to give speeches with hundreds in attendance. I also took a potter's wheel class where I never got the hang of centering. I would love to have taken a ceramics class. I would love to know more about you. Send me a PM again when you have time. Wendy

Step by steps.

I have morphed the land turtle into a sea turtle and now that the shape is done I'll be able to carve in the detail in the shell and skin this weekend.

I have also finished the detailing for now on mugs #5 and #6. We hope to pour 2 more tomorrow. I'm watching to see if any develop cracks while drying, so far none have.

Now THAT'S a sea turtle! :D

The honu is off to a good start...

Eye popping wonderousness, Wendy!
And as always, so gracious to let us in on the intricacies of the process....Especially for those of us who will, someday, finally get around to making something for the kiln...

It's so nice to hear from three handsome men at once. So thank you MadDogMike and hang10tiki and ZeroTiki. I've pretty much finished the honu, thanks for the Hawaiian name hang10. As of today this is what I have for the next lamp that Roge will make.

Today we poured Zombie Torch #7 and #8. They are drying in the molds. The rain is here and heavy so my molds will take more time to dry between. Even with the fan running 24 hours a day it takes a day or two extra.

Dan is shaking up the slip before pouring through the screen.

Cheers, Wendy

That Honu turned out great Wendy and I love the texture on the Bumatay

AAAAAAAAAAAY!
a turtle and shells will be accompanying the seahorse and Bumatay!
this is soooo wonderful! That lamp is gonna be a STUNNER!!!
i proclaim you TIKI ART QUEEN of the DAY!
Thanks for sharing with us all soooooo much!
Such a struggle and a joy,these projects are....
And and all lovingly and honestly documented
allowing us all to be there with you
during creation-time!
Thank you so much,Wendy!
you are SUCH an inspiration!
big HUG!
:)

Dan
U must be getting quite the workout these days,
That's alot of slip shakin

U 2 make a great team...

Thanks MadDogMike, can't wait for your next step on the trailer project.
Hey Kenny I just saw the mug you and Big Toe did together on Marketplace. Looks crazy good. Thank you for all your kind words.
hang10Tiki Dan always has music playing while we work in the garage so he is shaking to the beat.

#7 and #8 are out of the molds. One had a large air bubble. Even though I pound the sides with a rubber mallet sometimes a bubble just sticks. It's an easy fix and her are the steps.

The bubble at the top.

I always throw pieces of clay cut off poured mugs into a bag with extra slip. It makes good repair material.

I keep small jars of slip to use for top offs and repairs.

I shake up the jar and then use the lid for dipping. If it starts to dry the lid goes back on and I shake it up again and then its ready to use. I take pieces of the clay and dip it in the slip.

I add it into the area with the slip so that I won't have any air bubbles.

Dip and add until I have overfilled the hole.

This repair clay is not as dry as the mug. It will shrink as it drys so make the repair larger than the hole.

When you have spots that are not as dry as the rest you put a bag over the project so they can equalize and become the same.

So I'll wait an extra day before I fine tune these two mugs.

Cheers, Wendy

Tiki work slowed down for a couple of days with Dan's mom in the hospital. She's back home and is doing really well. At 2 am last night we had trouble keeping her in bed, she wanted to party!

I take clay with me wherever we go and make shells and sea life for the next lamp. Yesterday I made a starfish and a shell. I'm starting to get a good sized assortment. Last night Roge asked if I would make tiny mermaids about the size of the seahorses.

I start by roughing out the design and then I keep adding back clay to make the completed shape.

I made a little tool by covering the sharp end of the pin.

Each of these dents points straight up so that the clay will pull out of a mold. These are for a rubber mold and there is some "give".

I worked out the shape of the shell and carved the grooves.

The clay sticks to the table. One of my favorite clay tools is an old fashions sticker remover.

Here's the group as of last night.

Thanks for looking at what I'm up too. I hope to clean the last two mugs poured today. Cheers, Wendy

Is that a sperm on the left? I guess that could be considered sealife :lol:

Great little starfish, can't wait to see what you do with the mermaids. This is gonna be some lamp!

Progress Report. Yesterday I did clean up #7 and #8
First off I found a riser (cake container) so that I didn't have to bend over so far to work.

To really be able to work clay this is how short I keep my nails at all times.

One side done.

The other side done.

8 Zombie Torch mugs drying on the shelf.

#9 and #10 are in the molds drying for a day. Cheers, Wendy

In the picture of the drying mugs, is the difference in shading based on the moisture content?

I want
I want
I want

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

Super awesome wendy extravaGANZAAAAAAA!!!

Hi Guys, you make me feel so good. Yes Professor G they start out dark when full of water. As they dry they shrink and become lighter. Then when they are bisque fired they shrink a second time and turn very white. I'll keep posting all the steps.

Progress Report: Bumtay light has two more sculpts finished as shown below.
Octopus

Simple Hawaiian fish

The group so far

Progress Report: Zombie Torch
#9 and #10 have been fine tuned and are on the shelf to dry.

The fan really speeds this up.

Tuesday I turned the molds on their sides and had the fan blow air into the mug. That helped dry them out faster so that I was able to open the molds yesterday and to clean up the mugs sooner. Cheers, Wendy

You do such fantastalicious work! The sea creatures are awesome! I have made a place in my display for the mug too! Can't wait!

Best,
Chris

Wendy, that octopus has so much character! There won't be room for any chunks on this light, it will be all sealife.

Everything is so beautiful! Especially the Octopus and those shells. Amazing stuff!

I can't wait for the glaze stage,what are you planning on?

Progress Report: I'm having a blast making all these sea creatures. Since there are four panels to a lamp each side will be different except for the Bumatay centerpiece. Well that's how I'd make it. Roge will make the lamp as desired by the buyer. That makes each one unique.

Here's what I made yesterday.
Angel fish

Float

Puffer

Just in case it might look good Roge asked for a tail fin for the Bumatay as shown here.

The hard part is not making undercuts so they can be molded. I've started an anchor!

WestADad I sure wish the process were faster. We plan to pour #11 and #12 today. Thank you for holding a space for one. I should go measure the height. This is a very tall mug with the flame.

MDM I sure hope Roge can mold everything I've made. I'm allowed tiny undercuts. I'm so happy you like the Octopus.

zerostreet thank you always for stopping by to cheer me on.

Chuck Tatum is Tiki I've been thinking about how I would do these and came up with a three tiered plan.

1. The common tiki brown that shows detail so well with the bright flame on top.
   Or a solid color of the buyers choice as long as I have it in stock.

2. The same as number one but I would hand paint the Zombie and Girl with enamel
   and bake it to set.

3. The entire mug hand painted with three layers of underglaze and fired in buff like the old peanut mugs or glazed over with clear.

The cost would go higher with the amount of labor. What do you think of these choices? I will have examples of these before each person on the list decides what they want theirs to be.

Cheers, Wendy

Every single piece is beautiful.

Brilliant! Whatever the cost it'll be worth every penny. Can't wait to see the finished product. Cheers! G

Wendy
Wendy
Wendy

Wow
Wow
Wow

I don't want to influence your creative process Wendy
But I would chose option 1 or 2, looking great!

love the mug progress Wendy.....