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

Congrats Mike! Neither a tater tot nor a peanut... with your shaping and molding, more like a little pineapple or coconut (knowing you the latter). :wink: Kinda surprised I didn't already see a tiki themed milk bottle in there. :P

This little fellah is in for a treat with such a cool paw-paw!
Congratulations Mike!
:)

Congrats Mike! Judging from that pic you're already cracking him up! :D

Mike you are a lucky man. Congratulations. It is time to teach he and his brother tiki art so they can take over in the future. See you soon, Wendy and Dan

Thank you all very much for you kind comments. I can't wait 'til he is a year or two old so we can start having some fun!

He now has an official name (besides my "Tater Tot" nickname): Tanner Wesley David Middleton. My daughter was torn between Tanner and Wesley so she chose both! :lol: I think it has a nice ring to it.

Congrats Mike! So happy for you and your family!

Yep, definitely related the the Mad Dog

A zerostreet birthmark, this is a chosen child. He rocks already! Wendy

Congratulations on the birth of Tanner, Poppi!

You look too young to be a grandfather x 2. :wink:

Thanks for all the well-wishes :) Mom and baby are doing fine. Jon, I showed mom that cool tattoo and she said absolutely not! Big brother Goober was elated to finally meet his little Tater Tot but by now I'm sure he's wondering when that noisy little thing is going to go back where he came from :lol:

I'm not so good at furniture or architecture designs, I guess this would be considered Danish Modern? Colonial Spanish? Post-Modern Egyptian?

Whatever it is, I saw a Polynesian A-Frame and it inspired me for a patio tiki lamp design.

I don't need one right now but I thought I might as well post the design and maybe someone could use it. Then I thought "Hey, this would make a good mug shelf!" Then I thought "If it would make such a good mug shelf I bet someone already thought of it".

Well, here it is anyway

Could be made out of 2x6 for patio use, or pine 1x8 or 1x10 for indoor use. Could be tall and skinny with just a bottom crossmember for a light stand, or wider with lots of mug shelves. If it were loaded with mugs, it might not need the little "outrigger" feet to keep it from tipping over. For an patio light stand, a tumbled concrete garden wall-building stone on the bottom shelf would keep it balanced and still look organic. For patio use, a shelf extending out at 2 feet high would make a nice chair-side drink holder. Could router some designs in the sides. Burn, stain, varnish, etc. It would require some mitered cuts, but nothing that couldn't be done with a Skil saw.

Just a thought.

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music" Friedrich Nietzsche

Edit - picture of inspiration lamp added

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-06-09 12:06 ]

If you think of it, It will soon be reality,That's just how you roll Mike.

Mike, that looks like a great project for you. Then you'll have to fill it with your mugs. Wendy

Always thinking, that MDM. I like it.

Lance, Wendy, Greg - you are probably right - I will end up making a patio lamp like like just 'cuz. I added a picture above of the original lamp that inspired me too.

I am working on a design for a highly impractical tiki mug – it won’t stand up by itself, the opening is too small for large ice cubes, it would need to be filled with a funnel or a steady hand, it doesn’t hold very much, it can only be used with a straw, it has the potential to get you arrested or killed, and because it has to be glazed all the way around it will have stilt marks on one side. But I just couldn’t resist the call of Exotic Espionage!

Loosely based on James Bond’s Walther PPK, but 007 was never cool enough to have Tiki grips :lol: This master is made from snips & snails & puppy dog tails – well actually wood scraps, PVC pipe, sculpty clay, and lots of glue. It’s a little larger than the regulation issue PPK just so you can squeeze in a few more rounds of rum. Just the thing for some poolside undercover work at Tiki Oasis 12

It may not be such a great idea. For better or for worse, we live in a very gun-sensitive culture. And while the 2nd Amendment still makes “open carry” legal in theory, in practice it will bring you plenty of hassle. Taking your favorite legal firearm to the mall will almost guarantee a free trip downtown and a complimentary cavity search. An orange muzzle on the mug would help but that would make it ugly!

Now that's just crazy, Insane Super cool! Mike-O
looks great too.

U rock

I love guns and that is the coolest gun ever. I was lucky enough to make the TNT for Sandra Dee and I bet she'd love to have this too. But you are right it could get someone hurt, that's how good it looks. Super cool. MadDogMike you are so genius. Wendy

Congrats on the new addition to your family Mike. Hopefully your grand kids will inherit your mad Tiki skills!!!

That's pretty risky, MDM. Not the combination of firearms and hard liquor . . . we dig that here in the Tiki Wastelands, but in using the term "Spanish Colonial" on TC. You might as well have said "Caribbean" or "Plastic Mug." Livin' on the Edge, MadDog-style.

I like the mug. It's a straight shooter by any number of definitions.

Mike, its been a while since I have had time to catch your posts, but Congrats on the new Grand Baby! Great family picture too!

Now, Love the lamp, Love the shelf, really love the gun...amazing as always! you never seize to amaze me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\

Amy

Very cool Mike! Nice work!

Jeez I've been missing good stuff around here. Great pictures and a great plan for the A Frame shelf unit.

Awesome!

For a moment I thought I was on the swap thread that MadDogMike is running. I'm moving the photos right now. Thanks for the kind words and sorry Mike, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-06-12 10:20 ]

Impressive work Wendy! now back to your own thread pronto!

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2012-06-11 22:56 ]

Very cool Wendy - great sculpt and great choice on that black and grey glaze

Agent Mad Dog-
Brilliant obfuscation. Those S>O>B>E>R> agents will never believe it's a gun now......
-Agent Double ZeroTiki

ATP, H10T, Wendy, Greg, Amy, Robert, ZT - thank you so much. I haven't worked on molding that gun yet but I may pick up some wood today and start working on that lamp :D
Vamp, can't wait to finally meet you at Oasis!

I am helping a friend Mayafy his backyard (remember the Jade Jaguar tiles from a while back?) So I'm leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks in Mexico to research Cancun, Tulum, and Chichen Itla - the sacrifices I make for my art :lol: I doubt I'll have much internet access down there so carry on without me.

Here's one of my recent Mayan inspired pieces, a gold Olmec head mug.

MadDogMike, enjoy Mexico and learn some words to share. We will miss you. 2 weeks is far to long to be away from here.

Your Olmec head turned out wonderfully. That's a great glaze. Wendy

MDM

Be very careful down there,
I saw on CNN that this guy just escaped from some institution,
and that he's armed and dangerous...

Have a good trip Mike!!!!

LOVE the Olmec mug! I've been yearning to do a BIG (like, basketball sized) Olmec bowl for a whole table of revelers to sip from. Very nicely done!

Henrik

The PPK is fantastic as well!. As far as stilting it, perhaps you could

A) use a red slip for casting it, and glaze just the" metal" parts of the gun. Leave the grips "au natural" and stilt the piece on the grips. Perhaps the tip of the gun could be left natural if a tip stilt is needed. THis is assuming the gun is fired lying on it side

B) Use normal (white) casting slip, and only use underglazes on the grips and tip. Underglaze supposedly will not stick to stilts (when used in moderation).

Just thinking. I love a good glaze puzzle! :)

Henrik

Mad Dog,

What's up, thought u would have made a computer out of a cheese enchilada,
hooked it to a wi-fi burrito and given us an update on the trip...

UNO mas Beer por favor

Hi Mike we are all missing you. This has been quite a dry spell for MDM fans.

Remember the traveling plaque that you made and that people have taken around the world??? Here is the latest update on its progress.

The plaque has been to many countries while in Rugby Matt's hands. He should list where it has been. Really this plaque needs its own thread under traveling.

Your idea was for someone to take it on trips and then to pass it on to another person to carry on the tradition. Here's RugbyMatt at ??? Ohana by the Lake.

Since he has taken it as far as Germany??? he is shown here passing it on to
Princes Pupule. Where it will travel too next is any ones guess. Good job Matt.

Miss you Mike, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-06-25 08:42 ]

I{m still alive but short on time, will get back you later. Thanks for thinking of me

Henrik, great idea! Headed for the glaze store tomorrow to see what I can find.
Wendy, H10T and ATP ~ thanks.

My brother and his family graciously invited me with them on a 2 week trip to Mexico and we got back today. I was a little apprehensive about traveling to Mex in light of current events but it turned out great. I didn't take very many "scenic" pictures, there are plenty on the internet better than I could take. I did take some pictures of "unusual" things, more on them later :D

We spent 5 days in Cancun first, it was very nice - wet but warm. Of course the Caribbean beaches and turquoise waters are stunning. The jungle was lush and green but not as tall as I had envisioned, the tallest trees were only about 20 feet tall. It was also very invasive- it didn't take the jungle long to reclaim even uninhabited houses. It was awe-inspiring to stand in the plaza at Chichen Itza, to touch the stones carved by the Mayans so many centuries ago! Public transportation was great in Cancun and there was lots of public art in the form of sculptures in the road medians and Mayan inspired stained glass.

Next we went to the state of Michoacan, the winter home of 250 million Monarch Butterflies What a beautiful area, not at all like the rocks and cactus of Northern Mexico I'm accustomed to. The people were all very friendly, even the 16 year old Federales with machine guns at the checkpoints and roaming the highways in pickups. The people may be poor but they seem content. We drove 800 miles in Michoacan and the roads were all in good repair. It's mountainous country with pines and live oaks. Plenty of rain in fertile valleys growing corn, strawberries, squash, avocados, and pastures full of cows, horses, and burros.

With Purepero as our base, we checked out the state. The 1870s church of Tlazazalca. The crystal clear spring-fed lake of Camecuaro surrounded by cypress trees. The island of Janitzio in Lake Patzcuado when we climbed up into the arm of the 130 foot tall statue. The ruins of Tzintzuntzan are located on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro ~ more primitive than Chichen Itza but still impressive, especially when seen in a thunderstorm. Here's one tourist shot of me at the Parque Nacional Barranca de Cupatitzio in Uraupan, just to prove I was there (that really is me, I shaved off my mustache and goatee for the trip so my snorkel mask would fit :D )

Overall a great trip, but not for the faint of heart - there was a paramedic assassinated in Uruapan a couple of days before we visited. I've got some pictures of "That's not Tiki!" projects that I'll post this week along with some interesting things that make Mexico a world away.

Shaving has uncovered a really young Mike. The photo is beautiful, that includes you. I'm so happy you are home safe. When you are rested more photos will be appreciated. Wendy

Welcome home Buddy!

Glad u are back safe broski

Thanks friends.

Not to make fun of our southern neighbors, but 4th of July seems a good day to realize how good we have it here in the US. Here are some interesting things I noticed on my recent trip to Mexico.

Driving - There don't seem to be any real enforced driving laws in Mexico - I saw a motorcycle make a left turn on a red light right in front of a police and nothing happened, try THAT in California! There is no minimum driving age, you don't need lights to drive at night, you are allowed to drink & drive. People will pass several cars on a blink curve! On the other hand, the drivers (at least in the rural areas) are rather courteous. If someone passes on a blind curve and a car comes around the corner, everyone just moves over a little and 3 cars fit in 2 lanes - no honking or finger flipping. If you need to block a single lane street while you unload, people just wait patiently until you are done. They do have some creative uses for vehicles; I saw 13 people in a Datsun pick-up and the average family sedan is a moped - it was not uncommon to see 4 people on one. I saw a man carrying 8 foot boards crossways on the floor of his moped, liked like an airplane!

Employment - they don't seem to automate many things and as a result employ more people. Our hotel in Cancun had a whole army of groundskeepers who trimmed, watered, edged, raked the beach, etc by hand. There is no self-serve gas, each island has it's own attendant (at $2.53/gallon). The average gas station we stopped at had 3 people pumping gas, 1 or 2 convenience store cashiers, and a bathroom attendant - 6 employees. Our average 7-11 has one or 2 employees at a time.

Markets - Each block has a tortilla vendor, a bread vendor, a fruit & vegetable vendor, and a small store all selling out of their home. People generally buy just enough food for today. Every town is centered around a church and a plaza with open air markets in the plaza. Meat just hangs out, they cut off what you want.

Each town specializes in one item - guitars, wood carvings, pottery, cast concrete statues, copper ware, etc. Each stall sells the exact same thing - a system that seems to favor the buyer and not the seller. We went into one place that had a dozen booths all selling just carnitas (slow cooked pork).

Housing - We stayed in a beautiful early 1900s colonial home (my sister-in-law's parents), I'm sure it was much nicer than the average home. 5 large bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen all around a large open courtyard. The 15 foot ceilings had hand-hewn and carved 4x6 beams 30 feet long on about 14 inch centers - I counted about 70 of them. The walls were 2 foot thick plastered adobe. Most of the homes butt up against the street with no front yard. Instead, they have the courtyard inside - I saw one man leading his burro through his front door into the courtyard. But building codes were much more lax than in the US, this is a common wiring job - a switch screwed to the wall with no box (exposed terminals) and extension cord painted to the wall for wiring.

The town where we were was decent sized (approx 20,000). They had electricity and sewer, water was a part time affair. Each section of the city got water for a few hours at a scheduled time every day which they used to fill a tank on top of the house. Then they used this water gravity-feed for the rest of the day. There was no piped natural gas, trucks selling tanks of propane came through every morning with loudspeakers blaring :music: (Charge!) :music: "El Gas!" :music: (Charge!) :music:

A lot of things different about Mexico, some maybe better than here and some not. With all our problems, overall I'm glad I live in the US of A.

As long as I'm off the tiki subject, I might as well show a non-tiki project I was working on. Our church kid's summer program theme was "Sky" so I built a 1/4 scale biplane out of Styrofoam - 7 feet long with an 8 foot wingspan and suspended it from the 20 foot ceiling.

The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts,
Because they're obviously, absolutely nuts.
Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-07-04 17:22 ]

MDM
Wow, again, glad u made it back safe.
Last time I was there was 25 yrs ago, hasn't changed a bit.

I really enjoyed reading about your trip to Mexico. You are very observant. Did you climb to the top of the C.I. pyramid? If so did you see others still covered by jungle but peeking out?

Wow the plane is super. I bet the kids wished they could have played in it. Where will it fly off too when you are done? Wendy

Thanks H10T. Wendy they haven't allowed anyone to climb on the pyramids since 2006 because it was wearing them down. I'm good with that, I'd like the pyramids to be around for a long time.

PS - I added a little to my diatribe above. I forgot to write about utilities (under the pic of the wiring) :)

You look so different without any facial hair! Love it!

Glad you had a good vacation and didn't end up loosing your head South of the Border :wink:

I periodically check out your blog with the foam art and love the biplane. You are so talented Mike--every new piece of art you make just gets better and better.

I can not wait to see you at Oasis. If you remember please bring the Tiki Bob mug that Wendy made for you because I would love to see it.

Thanks Sandra Dee! Can't wait to see you in 5 weeks!

The Lanai is home to some rare and beautiful birds including the hummingbirds that come to the Kraken Rum feeder and these rare and/or extinct Honeycreepers left over from the Birds of the Pacific Swap.

But the latest is this threatened Tongan Mylomor Bird

Made from a conch trumpet, when you blow in his butt you can hear it for a mile or more (Mylomor Bird :lol: )

The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts,
Because they're obviously, absolutely nuts.
Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-07-10 19:32 ]

Looks like the mob gave him concrete shoes, he must have owed someone some $

Good one Jon :lol:

He's got some pink toes coming and some brown concrete stain for the "rock"

yay great ctaching up on your adventures and projects, very interesting.