Wendy Cevola - I've finished a Wish List Black Velvet. Time to post the steps. More each day.

Hi MadDogMike and hang10tiki, the cat is well fed every morning before we let her out. We hope that this routine keeps the bird safe. Yesterday she few into the garage and bumped into me. I was at my table cleaning tikis.

I'm so happy the the response to my painting has been good. I've decided to just have fun with it since it is all about a Hapi Tiki. MadDog thanks for helping me fine tune the painting. Here are photos done before the corrections.

Other than changing a window color and a line in a tikis face this painting is finished.

Lighter.

Close up.

Rather than frame this I painted the outside edges to look like wood grain.

Next I need to finish the Tiki Oasis 12 Spy/Tiki painting using McTiki's tiki.
I've just started on the second spy who will be looking toward the spy in the hut.

May you have a wonderful Sunday, Wendy

I love it...the "tiki spy vs tiki spy" painting. I've always enjoyed paintings that have drama and the spy stare down is great.

Wendy - love the addition of "Nessie" - way cool!

I'm not likely to make it to Portland to see the Hapi Tiki exhibit but I can't wait to see the TO one in real life. I'm going to set up a card table near your painting and proudly tell everyone who looks at it "I know the artist. Do you want to take my picture with the painting?" :lol: :D :P

I told little lost tiki (Ken Rusik) that I would like to stare into his eyes to absorb some of his creative genius. This is what he wrote back on his thread. I stole it and put it here so that I can read it 100 times a day!

Hello Wendy
my sweet art-sister!
I would love to just gaze into your beautiful eyes as well..
i LOVE staring contests! it's like you're gazing into a watery viscous soul of another human...
and with artists,,,it's like BAM!
As for creativity...you are the queen
All those Bobs.....incredible!
but the most inspiring thing is
that you got OTHERS involved as well
and created some of the Best and funnest and TRUE ART Tiki Bobs! You have SO much Heart
but the thing that is so wonderful about YOU
is that you not only have HEART for your artwork
but you have heart for all of us misfits!
Keep on keeping on Baby! I'll be seeing you soon at OASIS!

If you haven't been watching his thread of art now is the time to start. You'll be smiling the entire time. His art is full of creative tiki joy.

dartharnie I didn't know there was such a thing as a Spy stare down and you are right my painting will have one. Cool!

Tiki G don't you hope they find Nellie in our lifetime or maybe life on another planet. Really Cool. PS the lava on my Frankoma bowl is nothing like Gecko'z close up but my photo even scared him! His secret for Fat Lava is safe.

MadDogMike the swap you are running is going to win the race. Thank you always for watching and helping me with my art.

It looks as if I will open the 3rd Wish list for orders in early August just before Tiki Oasis. I am working on a few items ahead of time that have deadlines. I'll share those along the way.

This is for bavtech - Mahalo Tiki - 1 down 4 to go.

Now its time to get back in the garage with the cat birds and Dan. There are molds to open and tikis to clean.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-07-09 10:15 ]

Wendy, you have taken the "Bob" to a whole new level.

Hi Wendy,

The whole cat/bird thing is hysterical! My parents' neighbors had a cat that looked like yours. She had 6 toes and was named Chaos.

So sad to see Dan's beautiful purple bowl shattered on the ground. :( But I do agree that 2 of the little Bobs look undamaged from the front. I'm thinking you might incorporate them into another project.

The thought of another Wendy original mug from one of those blanks has my mind reeling! I will have to think hard to come up with an idea this is worthy!!!

The new bob looks great...

And the Bob goes on ....

I love the carving work on that Mahalo Tiki Bob. It's so textural, I just wanna touch it.

-Whystler

[ Edited by: Whystler 2012-07-10 08:24 ]

Hi everyone I'm having fun in the evenings catching up on some Bob's. bavtechs order is for five and as of today 3 are finished. I have mugs to do for a wedding and then the Oasis painting. After that will be the Sacramento Ohana crawl mug and the third Wish List. Keeping busy with tikis is nothing but fun. Thank you all for joining in with your comments which are desert for me.

Atomic Tiki Punk my Bobs are not all level but I try, he he

LoriLovesTiki I love that bird and now there are two. It sounds like a tropical rain forest full of bird sounds. The purple bobs from the bowl were positioned to look their best. They had to be thrown out.

hang10tiki I'm loving your Frankoma carving. I wish it to be cold in Las Vegas so you can finish it soon.

Holler Waller hi from Bob land.

Whystler welcome to all the fun. We here love step by steps so show more on your thread. I would love to see how it layers.

Here are the next two mugs for bavtech

Free hand while watching 2 two hour episodes of Dateline.

Flames while watching ET and the Bachelorette.

Time to play with clay, Wendy

Wow.... Nice work WENDY! Thank you for putting so much effort out to get these done.

The detail each of the carves is awesome.

Those new Bob carves are incredible my dear!
The Spy painting is looking great... Once that second fellow is in there
i bet the tension between the two will be physically tangible!

And the What makes your Tiki Happy painting makes me smile ear to ear!
and you've even put a Sea Monster in there! I think artists should ONLY paint when they're happy. (or at least MATCHING the mood for the painting they're working on)
Anyways...that painting is sure making me happy! the mermaid's smile is so sweet and inviting!

These two shows are gonna Blow folks out of the water!
So many great artists involved!

Hugs art-sister!

Bavtech ordered 5 Bobs, that's awesome?
A different Bob for Monday through Friday...what about the weekends?

Lookin good Wendy

Any puffer fish tiki mugs in the work to come?

Wendy the Bob with Da Flames if HOT!! Love them all!!:-):-):-)

Wow!!! Wendy, all your work is amazing!! I loooove Bobs!!! :D

Hi Friends, what a great way to start the day...messages for me to read from all of you. Here are my answers.

bavtech I'm finished carving until they dry. Then I'll run a tool through each line to pull out any little clumps of clay that didn't fall out. Sanding and then bisque firing. Glazing comes after all of that. It is a long process. Below are your last two mugs. I'm happy you are happy.

little lost tiki I don't know where you find the time to visit my thread. But don't stop, never stop, never ever. The Bobs are fun to do and I never have a plan they just happen. You mentioned the mermaids smile well what I keep thinking of is all your art that puts a smile on my face. I am looking forward to being in the shows with you. My next Spy steps are shown below.

hang10tiki good thought. bavtech how about two more? Actually he's taking these to Oasis to sell at his booth. He represents Gecko and lots of artists. It will be fun to see some of my work on sale at the event and I don't have to man a booth.

HB Tiki Roge is casting my puffer fish. As soon as he has enough done to make a mold worthwhile I'll go to Grass Valley to pick them up. I plan to make many puffer mugs and bowls in the future. What ever I do I'll post it here.

Beachbumz fire and flames. I'll eventually do one with the flames in 3D. I need to check up on your work which is beautiful and perfect.

Spiked I think this is your first post on my thread. Welcome and thank you. Please come again.

Progress Report:

We continue to pour each day for the upcoming 3rd Wish List. That keeps us busy for part of each day.

Spy/Tiki painting for Oasis.

I'm working on the Spy's shirt and trying to sand a line out of the face. When painting are layered you can get unwelcome lines and bumps where you don't want them. I will continue to sand and paint until the area where the face goes is smooth. Thank you MadDogMike for reminding me to watch out for this problem.

I cut out the shirt and used a gold pen to draw it on the canvas.

Here I'm sanding out the horizon line that has crossed his face.

The shirt and cuffs are close to done. I always keep fine tuning.

bavtechs last two mugs.

I hope to "read" from you soon, cheers, Wendy

Thanx for the daily fix
Needed it after a long day at work

Your work is as awesome as ever WENDY! Can't wait to see the surprise colors.... Thanks and your hard work is appreciated. That goes for DAN also!

Thanks bavtech, they are drying. I need to get two more mugs finished and dried and then I'll do the first fire.

The next two mugs I'm doing are for a wedding gift. The couple does not spend time on Tiki Central (their loss) so I'm able to post my step by step photos.

The two will be Tiki Bob conversions with a wahine on the back of one and a Ku god on the back of the other. Below these will be their name and the wedding date.

I've just started the wahine male(mare)which means married woman or bride.
The clay is very soft and sticky as I add it to the back of the mug.

I form the general structure.

Next I start to add more detail.

Photos really help. By looking at this I can see her jaw line is too long and needs to curve up just before the flower. There is much work to do on the eyes and a second flower to add above the first. All the detail will be added as the base firms up as the rest of the mug pulls out the moisture. So I lightly wrapped it in plastic for the night and quit.

Today I will work on the Spy/Tiki painting and tonight I'll do more on this wahine.

Thank you for the visit, Wendy

We spent most of yesterday visiting a friend who has been in the hospital for 1 month. Today we'll take his daughter to the airport and he is going home. Today is a good day and I've always loved Friday the 13th. I claim this idea - I will one day make a Friday the 13th tiki mug.

I did get some things done in the evening. Here is the ...

Progress Report:

These are the colors I mix together to get a flesh tone. I painted my finger to see if I was getting close.

I blocked in the face to see if I've removed the line enough when I sanded. Then I started his right hand holding the gun. The left hand is just played with a bit.

I've fine tuned the flowers

and her face. She is done except for the name and wedding date.

Next I've started adding clay for the KU gods head and shoulder.

Thank you for stopping by and viewing my art, Wendy

I would buy that Friday the 13th mug! :)

Watching the new mug unfold is exciting!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Here you go Wendy....

Thank you WestADad. It's fun to do a new mug. I still need to do one for the Sacramento Ohana crawl so I'd better keep working.

Atomic Tiki Punk thank you for the Zombie Torch photo. I had just looked at Careless Navigators mug on line. There sure are a lot of great mugs out there.

Progress Report on the Wedding Mugs

I was contacted yesterday to find out if Tiki Bob could be removed from these mugs. I had just done that to make Sandra Dee's TNT mug so I knew it would work.

I filled in the depressions of the face and smoothed it.

Later I was contacted and asked if I could add long boards to that area.

This add on clay is very sticky and soft so today I'll be able to flatten out the boards and smooth them better.

Before I did all of the work above I finished carving the KU God head. I made it so that when the mugs are together the wedding couple are looking at each other.
Today I'll put their names and wedding date under each head.

Starting to carve out the mouth.

Done for now.

Don't the look in love?

One step at a time. It is really easy to ruin one side when working on the other so it is important to keep your finger nails very short.

Are you thinking up ideas for the next Wish List?

Cheers, Wendy

Looks great Wendy, wow you have so many projects going! Are you going to be doing any more of the Frankoma bowls?

Hi Tavarua Tiki, the different Frankoma's that I have been doing will be available on the next Wish List. I started working on what I'll offer and at what price just today.

Thank you for asking, Wendy

Lookin good Wendy

Wendy, the wedding mugs are looking great, especially the wahine ~ beautiful!

Edit - spelling :)

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-07-15 00:50 ]

Da Ku, Da Wahine!!! Off Da Hook Wendy!! Beautiful!! :wink:

hang10tiki we'll see you soon and thank you.

MadDogMike the wahine thanks you and me too.

beachbumz I wish I could think up fun things like that to write, thank you too!

Progress Report:

I've roughed out he face on the Spy for the Tiki Oasis show. I've done more on the gun and hands too.

We continue to add to our green-ware stockpile for the wish list.

So when I say we poured today it's not just into our molds it out of them too.

To the backs of the wedding mugs I added long boards and the sand into which they have been stuck. I'll use a sandy rough buff glaze for the sand.

Dan works for tikis so I finally started to fulfill his wish list. First up is this Volcano Bob. Unlike the swap mug I've used my new tall Bob.

Pele on the back.

If any of you have one of the War God mugs or banks I sculpted and Gecko produced the photo shows what is written on the back but didn't show up very well.

Back to work. Cheers, Wendy

Wendy,
I don't always comment, but I try to catch up your wonderful thread at least every couple days. Your art is so glorious! & I'm proud to have several of your pieces in my small collection. Here (finally) is a picture of your wonderful Zombie Torch mug with some of her new friends.

Lousy background but beautiful artwork!
Thank you again,
~kele

Nice work Wendy.....is it me or does your spy resemble Otto a bit? :)

Another good day in Wendy world...

Hay MOE
Those r 3 great lookin lady's

On 2012-07-15 16:03, zerostreet wrote:
Nice work Wendy.....is it me or does your spy resemble Otto a bit? :)

I was thinking the same thing!!!

zerostreet and VampiressRN your are correct. If I can pull it off Otto will be the Spy in my painting. I keep working on his face and then have to start over again because something is off. I won't give up. The fact you two could tell with so little done gives me hope.

Kele thank you so much for the photo. It was so much fun to see the Torch with the two other hula women. I love your gravel art for the swap. I wish I could remember those I did when I was young. That was always on my Christmas list.

hang10tiki thank you for your visit. I always smile when I see your name.

If you follow my thread routinely you will know that I hate to run my kiln unless it is full. So while the wedding mugs and bavtechs mugs dry I've been making more items for the wish list. If I get them bisque fired with these then when the list is open the first orders will just need to be glazed. So here's what I've been up too.

My brand new Moai bowl. The sculpt for this bowl is the same one I did for the chunk lamps. 3 heads per bowl.



I made the bowl rocky too.

One of the Kings Goblets. I'll have different styles for the wish list.

The Kings Goblet and the War God bowl are all with Joniece Franks sculpt.

Dan earns tikis from me by doing all the clean up with the hose. He's giving me his sexy look here.

I owed Dan a PNG mug. I used the new taller Bob for this one.

How am I doing? Your messages make my day. Cheers, Wendy

Still more incredible work! Wendy.

I've really been missing the Wendy & Dan Show. Everything looks great and my prediction is you're going to have a lot of fun with that king's goblet idea.

holy crud, these are all awesome...............................

even the famous hairy arm bowl :o

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2012-07-16 19:11 ]

Atomic Tiki Punk thank you.

Professor G I bet we missed you more.

hang10tiki your were reading my mind!

Progress Report:

When I chain myself to the table and stay in the garage all day I can get a lot done. I'm just pulling the pieces off the shelves and assembling them. Here's what I did yesterday.

A while back Psycho Tiki D found some green-ware at a garage sale. He brought these to me. They were cast super thin. I worked to sand them and ended up with 10 that didn't break.

There are five of each design. We have some of these in our collection from hobbyists, they are fun stackers pre-Munktiki. I'm going to use them to test glazes. This should be fun. Thank you so much Duane.

Here I'm prepping to make some bowls.

Those that I made earlier this week were firm enough to turn over.

I carved the acknowledgment to Joniece Frank for sculpting this War God on their bottoms.

I made one three headed Bumatay bowl. I forgot to take a finished photo.

This is a Frankoma small tiki bowl. More rare than the War God. If you own an original, please contact me.

Remember the Volcano bowl I've made for the Swap and for Dan? Well he loves to put mugs into bowls for display. He requested one of his "will work for tikis" as a matching Volcano Bob bowl.

Who suggested that I put sugar cube with rum tops on the Bob's? I did it.

Now its back to work. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-07-18 07:32 ]

Great stuff Wendy.

Wendy, you've been busier than a 3-legged cat trying to bury crap on a frozen pond!

Some really cool stuff; I'm surprised the fragile greenware stackers survived! The PNG Bob is cool and the Volcano Bob is awesome!

Ted Tiki thank you.

MadDogMike we just took our cat to the vet to check her rear. She was fine but I'll keep her away from frozen ponds!

Progress Report:

The Sacramento Crawl information has been posted under California Events.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43387&forum=17&4
People are signing up for the crawl mug there. I'm making two lists in order. One for those who attend and one for those who don't but would like a left over mug. Eric Banks is number one on that list.

We always try to do a mug based on a tiki place that once existed in Sacramento. The first year it was the Zombie Hut/ Coral Reef. Last year was a Tiki Bob decanter. This year will be Hawaiian Hut.

Roughing it out to match the menu cover. See Psycho Tiki D's thread on this place.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=40039&forum=2

Because molding is hard I'll make the lei for each mug by hand after casting.

All of these items will be available on the next wish list. I'm bisque firing some ahead of time but I won't glaze them. Colors will be chosen by the buyer.

I finished the Bumatay Fish Bowl.

I rounded out the bottom of the bowl.

This is now a Tapa War God Bowl.

This is a Flame War God Bowl.

Today I need to work on Otto's Spy painting. I hope I can get it right.

Cheers, Wendy

]

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-07-18 08:37 ]

Fantastic work, as always!!!

Awesome stuff you two...

Wendy- I'm done with the war god carve (thanks again for the A-OK to do it)...

I hope you approve...

Thank you LoriLovestiki, I like your swap Pele too.

hang10tiki you did a great job. I don't know how you control your chisels to make such smooth lines. I've not gotten to perfection yet but I'll never stop trying. I've sent this on to Joniece so she may enjoy it too.

Progress Report:

Roge who makes the chunk lamps also turns our tikis into statues. He first did the Moai and now he wants the Bumatay Fish as a statue. I use a small heater to melt the Roma #3 clay. It is so hard that this speeds up the process.

I added it to the back of the Bumatay to make it more substantial as a statue.

Decades ago I took the exam to enter dental school. One of the things we had to do was carve plaster blocks into a key and a lock. I've found that to work well with clay projects. So to the fish I added an extended bottom as the key. Then into the base I carved the lock.

Back view. When fitted together I will add clay to seal the key into place but first I need to finish the base.

I removed clay to add waves to the base.

Now I will add clay to lock the pieces together.

All done. It's time to visit Roge in Grass Valley.

Years ago when I was still working with Sculpey clay I would find a vintage bowl and make tikis to attach to it. One of my favorite bowls had the sides caved in. I made and added Tahitian style tikis.


Today when I opened the molds I decided to cave in the sides of this bowl and to add the small Frankoma tikis. I first made little seats added sticky clay and sat them down to attach.

Last night I worked more on the Sacramento Crawl mug. This one will be a challenge.

Now I need to work on the Spy/Tiki painting and Otto's face. Cheers, Wendy

Just want to say thanks for letting us all watch your hard work come to life...

hang10tiki thank you thank you thank you. My wish list asked to be photoshopped and you keep filling all my wishes.

Progress Report:

Tiki Oasis Spy/Tiki painting. I had to start over on Otto's face. So I devised a new trick. I put part of the photo I'm copying on his face and taped a pin that told me where to start his eyebrow and the angle.
Then I painted the eyebrow. I'll use this for each step so that I don't have too much space between nose and mouth etc.. These huge photos really help. I can see his cheek bone is off, I'll fix that.

I've started the back of the Sacramento Ohana Crawl mug for October. For the back I've copied the matchbook. I have to pull objects closer together so that molding will work.

I'm fine tuning the front as I go.

I can see that the shape of the huge lei is off, I'll fix it some. Again I've compressed for molding. Here I had to put the West on top of Sacramento.

My plan with this mug is to hand carve tapa down the sides and across the bottom under the hut. Each mug will be done by hand so there will be variations. I will also add the lei around her neck before firing. Once the base glaze is finished I'll hand paint each mug adding color and the woman's face. Busy busy busy.

Thanks for stopping by, Wendy