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

Wendy and Dan, you got mad mold makin' skilz! I need to get more comfortable making molds, one of these days :)

It's amazing watching you & Dan work your magic! Thanks so much for letting us watch!
~kele

FABULOUS!!!

U 2 make it look easy when we all know it's not...

Thank you Vamp, Kele, MDM and hang. I like your visits very much.

Progress Report:

Yesterday was bowl day. I made a Bob Bowl for Steve Soto. It will be deep purple to go in his new lounge. I forgot to take a photo for Soto!

Next I made a Frankoma (tikis by Joniece Frank) bowl for Alii Tiki. I fine tune the connections after they dry some.

Next up Marone Tikis Moai bowl. I start by soaking each piece in a bucket of water. Since they dried some while wrapped in plastic I wanted to bring them back to softer clay status.

I added clay where I wanted to attach the tikis. I pressed them into place and then pressed the clay inside to hold them. Hopefully I didn't make air bubbles.

I added clay to make the backs look a bit more rocky.

Once all three heads were in place I turned it over and filled in along the heads and added clay to the bowl to simulate rocks.



The clay I added has more water in it than the bowl and Moai heads. So that the parts can equalize and shrink together without cracking I wrapped the bowl in plastic.

All three are wrapped in plastic. I'll leave them like that for several days.
Here they are in the shed. I'm running out of room fast. Hey Steve, there it is the bowl on the left.

I fine tuned these two Sacramento Crawl mugs last night. I now have 20!

Now it's back to work, Wendy

Wow always a treat to see what you two are up too. I cant wait for the crawl getting every thing ready here, and we get our first wendy original mug so stoked!!!

Hang10 is right - it's amazing how you make the difficult look so easy!

I always feel a little smarter after each episode of the Wendy & Dan Show, and of courses, a good bit happier.

anthoneymaye we are looking forward to meeting you. It's always fun for us to have our art go to a new home.

LoriLovesTikis remember when you waited to post a photos because you wanted a pretty one....that's why I put up so many photos of Dan. When we work it is hard and I look like a Halloween decoration.

Professor G thank you always, what's cookin?

Not much from yesterday. I just continue to work on crawl mugs. I have so many to make in time for the October crawl that its a priority.

I have been working on a bowl that Eric October made for us. An air bubble blew out a huge chunk and also a crack appeared. I'm trying to fix them. The crack will probably come back but I have hopes for the other repair.

MadDogMikes I'm using your Magic Mend.

Here's the air bubble damage. Now you know why I worry when I fire.

One thin layer at a time and let each dry.

After one week of doing this 10 times a day it is still not filled. But if it is done too fast or too thick it will crack.

I will continue to do this until it is over-filled then I'll sand it and carve in lines.

Wish me luck. Wendy

As much as all the little cracks and chips and blow outs are frustrating. Your ability to turn it into a learning experience for all of us is truly special and really appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi dartharine, thank you, I like to share information. Swizzle was just here and I now have no secrets at all.

I didn't work with clay yesterday. Instead we played with Swizzle. Here's a sampling of what we did. MadDogMike you are up next!

We picked him up at the train station downtown Sacramento, California.

Then we went to Old Sacramento on the river.

This is Fat City named for the owner Frank Fat. We had lunch before heading home.

We took care of packing up his tiki treasures for shipping to his home country of Australia.

When he was back from the post office we was gracious enough to pose in the Buzzy Bedroom.

This is were he slept for the night.

But first up we gave him the grand tour. I just choose a few photos. This is of Dan's garage man's cave.

While in the backyard he met our cat Fluffy-Sherry.

Next up was another bedroom.

Last up was the jungle tiki room.

We had dinner at On The Boarder and he got to try black beans and some more dishes that were new to him.

At home we had hot chocolate chip cookies and then he was put to bed. This morning he headed back to San Francisco to catch a plane to LA. There he'll tour more homes where tikis reside.

We had a lot of fun with Swizzle, he's a great guy.

Now its back to work for us. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-08-28 16:12 ]

I feel like I was just there for a tour as well.
Great pics of the Dan and Wendy OASIS
(how many mugs are in Dans collection ?)

Looks like Swizzle got an "E" ticket ride for sure... Tiki's, Cat's, Buzzy Pinup Pictures (Thanks for keeping your clothes on Swizzle btw..) and Two of the most gracious hosts..
I don't think I'd ever leave your house if I came over, Looks amazing Wendy and Dan!!
Swizzle see you in a few days brada!!

Gave him cookies and put him to bed? I gotta get out there one day! :D

I was so good to meet Swizzle and hang out with him a little, so glad he got to visit the Cevola House of Awesomeness. Can't wait 'til my trip to see you in February Dan & Wendy!

Wendy, jumping back on the show after being out for a few weeks. Wow have you been busy!!!! Amazing mugs & bowls all of them. Love that little Waikikian mug. Did you post a pic with the finished glaze? Wolfman mug is over-the-top as well. It was great to see you and Dan at Oasis, was that a great weekend or what? Happy (very belated) Birthday to you, like a fine wine you and your creations just keep getting better. Thank you for all you do and sharing the step by step processes of how your works of art come to life.

hang10tiki when are you coming?
Beachbumz see you soon? Hug Swizzle, Gecko'z whole family and Rob for us when you are all together. Send photos from La Mariana, please.
zerostreet your Mystery Woman is watching over those who sleep in the Buzzy Bedroom, that's better than cookies.
MadDogMike February is too far off, jump in a plane we are ready for you to see our MDM collection. Swizzle viewed it all, impressive.
Tavarua Tiki you always make my day, thank you very much.

Progress Report:

The Magic Mend dried and was thick enough to have filled the crater on our Eric October bowl. It took 8 days and 10 to 20 layers a day to fill this.
I sanded the inside

and the outside adding the lines and now it is in the kiln firing. Fingers crossed that it will not pop off.

See my eyes, I'm acting as if I don't want my photo taken when I'm looking so cute. I sanded all the items to be fired.

Once again Dan is at it with the air compressor. Now he's cute!

So into the kiln went Eric's bowl, 18 crawl mugs and these items. So Kele's Waikikian tiny Bob is in there too.

I am now working on my submission to Holdens Tiki Farm contest. Once it is submitted I'll share those photos. Thank you dartharnie and ebTiki for sharing the information. I've shared it with MadDogMike too. If anyone needs it let me know and I'll send you the link. Competition is a good thing.

Hugs for all my tiki buddies out there, you rock, Wendy

My computer keeps crashing, I typed this a couple of times.

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-08-29 07:05 ]

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-08-29 07:14 ]

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-08-29 07:21 ]

YaY! I love watching the progress of my tiny Waikikian Bob! :)
~kele

We will have to make a trip up someday
I'd love to watch the magic in person

Good updates

Love your show...

Jon

Wow Robbie...you are so lucky to have hit the mother-lode of mug collecting and the infamous Jungle Room. That Dan & Wendy are awesome!!! LOL on the Buzzy pose.

That Jungle room is soooo COOL! The Wolfman mug is looking awesome. Great stuff as always. :)

Kele today we open the kiln and find out if the hand stayed on. It is a journey through treacherous waters of heat and fire.
hang10tiki if you come here with Jonelle then our list of those who have stayed in the Buzzy Bedroom will keep growing.
VampiressRN I've craved more Crawl mugs. You've set up the biggest event so far. You always go the extra mile, thank you so much.
tigertail777 it took 10 years of 40% off Michaels coupons to build the jungle. dartharnie will be glad to hear you like his Wolfman Bob. It too comes out of the kiln today. That's scarier than Wolfman himself!

Progress Report:

I have learned a great lesson. As I have started to pull down the previously poured mugs and bowls I've found that the plastic wrap did not keep them from drying out. These were wrapped in 10 to 20 layers. I would just roll them, cut, roll them from a different direction. It didn't matter every thing I've made ahead has dried out.

So to assemble anything I've had to place them in a bucket of water to soak it up and then keep the work in plastic bags to equalize. This doesn't work well at all. It is hit and miss. Sometimes the object comes out of the bag perfect and sometimes the tikis will pop off the bowl.

Example:

There are ways to make this go away but in the end the extra work involved in using dried objects involves way more work. So pouring ahead and stock piling as I did for this third Wish List was not a good idea. It actually has slowed me down.

bavtech/Nelson of Mahalo Tiki purchased a peanut mug mold that I've been casting. I originally got into tiki art because Dan kept saying there shouldhavebeen a bowl to go with this mug. I made many shouldhavebeen bowls for him in clay. Now I'm making one in ceramic.

The first Peanut Mug Bowl for my husband Dan courtesy of Mahalo Tiki.

First step:

I'm doing one mug a day. The bowl will have three. First I roll out some clay and added slip to the top as glue.

I pressed the top of the mug onto this clay and cut off the excess.

I cut a hole in the bottom so air can escape and not blow up the mug. I forgot to put plastic on the table so I use my parsley cutter to release the mug from the table top, oops!

The top is a bit indented. As it dries some I'll be able to add clay until I can make it level.

So even though I have bowls poured we made another one to save time and effort.

I learn something every day and that will not end. I hope sharing will save you from the same errors. Cheers, Wendy

Wendy,

I think you're onto something here - a Dan & Wendy tiki bed & breakfast! Tiki tours, dinner out, cookies before bed and a night in the Buzzy bedroom. You'll be fully booked, year round.

I can only offer Gator Hut B&B accomodations May - October because winter is cold in NJ!

...add 'butt crack' joke here.

YAY!
~Zero

Zero, I'm glad I'm not the only one with a 5th grade humor. HAHA Poor bowl is just the "butt" of our jokes. :wink:

Wendy, sorry your premade mugs dried out. Feel free to just slap a coat of glaze on those puppies and send them on over to me. I'll be happy. :) I'm loving the idea of the peanut mug bowl. I think an indention at the top of those mugs would be nice. Could make for a beautiful flaming drink. Of course then it would be a Roasted Peanut Mug bowl.

Ok...enough bad humor. continue please.

• Dale

Question, if the back of the 3 peanuts are stuck to a bowl, how will u put

"Dan-o's Jungle room" on the back of them???

:)
:)
:)

ZeroTiki that was very clever.
littlegiles the thought of a sugar cube/rum spot on the top of the head is interesting. I'll ask Dan since the bowl is for him. I will put it together this morning, that's why I'm up so early.
hang10tiki your prize is out of the kiln.

Progress Report:

The Magic Mend on Eric October's bowl pulled away at the edges. The center stuck. Dan shot high pressure water into the crack and it didn't come loose. So next up will be to fill that crack with more Magic Mend and to keep trying.

We opened the kiln.
There are many steps involved in ceramics.

Top shelf in the kiln after bisque fire.

Second shelf.

Unloaded onto trays.

Carried to the table so they can be hosed off.

Carried to the dining room table where they wait to be glazed.

We be stepping from one table top to the next.

This next week bavtech/Nelson and Mary will be over to glaze their peanut mugs. That will start me on the road to glazing as well.

I love photos where you catch something else. I just noticed our cat in my newest Dan pinup. See in some ways he's like Buzzy in that he'll pose for me (and you).

Now its time to go to the garage and make the peanut mug bowl. I've made a lot of progress on the mug for the Tiki Farm contest as well. Most likely it will not be selected, then I'll have to decide if we should mold and make it.

Thank you all for stopping by, Wendy

HubbaHubba!!!!!

Wendy, I don't know if space will permit but here's an idea for your precast forms. Wrap them in plastic like you did and place them in a sealed 5 gallon plastic bucket with 1/4 inch of water on the bottom. You'll need to find something to set the mugs/bowls on so they don't sit in the water and check the water lever every month or so. I have odd bags of clay I have stored that way for a couple of years and they don't dry out at all.

Wendy, that is a beautiful table full of bisque. I love watching the process as it progresses. Sorry about the Magic Mend pulling away, but if someone can get it worked out and finished, it is you.

• Dale

Man, you do some awesome stuff. There are a ton of great threads on TC but this one is in the top 10 for sure. Love the Wolfman Bob!!

It is so cool being able to watch your progress on all those wild mugs,looks amazing!

MadDogMike we have no space so all bowls will be made fresh. I'll be super carving all the dry mugs, so as littlegiles suggested, So they don't go to waist.
littlegiles I haven't given up yet but when you see tomorrows post you'll know that the mean tiki gods were not with me and my recent bowls.
Bloddy Good, top 10 Yippee!!!
19tikichef62 thank you. My goal is to do all the mistakes so that no one else will.

Ever wonder how I get Dan to do so much work for me? His motto is, Will Work For Tikis. So this my first shouldhavebeen peanut mug bowl will belong to him.

I spaced them out and marked where to cut the clay.

I'd add some sticky clay to the cut area and push the mug in place.

Then I'd fill it in with more sticky clay.

Cut again and do the next one until all three are in place.

The bowl is soft and deformed so it will sit in a bag over night so firm up. Then today I'll add clay and fine tune it.

I have two more crawl mugs out of the molds. Sometime this week when bavtech/Nelson and his wife Mary are available I start teaching them how to glaze and I'll start on some of the bisqued items.

Cheers, Wendy

Just wasted a few hours reading this thread.
Well, not wasted, enjoyed!

FANTASTIC WORK!!!

Hi Hale Tiki welcome to the Dan and Wendy Show.

Progress Report:

We continue to work on the Sacramento Crawl mugs as a priority. I believe within a week we will have them all poured and carved. Then it will be time to start glazing the Wish List projects that have been made and to start working on those that have not. Busy busy busy and we couldn't be happier. Thank you everyone for hanging in there with us.

Disaster Update:

Working with dried out tikis and the next step. MadDogMike a few posts back how to store cast items so that they will not dry out. I will try that in the future if I have to leave an important piece in the future. My plan now is to Super Carve all the casts that dried out and to make new casts for each Wish List project. Thank you MadDogMike I appreciate the help.

Well this bowl bit the dust. I will use it for more experimentation but for the Wish List person from Hawaii it will be re-made from scratch.

Steve Soto's bowl also didn't make it.

I've turned two of the small Bobs into necklaces. His bowl will also be made from scratch.

Next up I carved one of the bowls to look like a coconut.

I got three more dry small Bobs and carved out their backs to fit the bowl.

Now I have four pieces to bisque fire. Then I will use Magic Mend to stick them together and fire another time.

If this works I'll have the first Coconut Bob bowl made.

Dan's shouldhavebeen Peanut Mug Bowl is ready to dry. I added clay to fix defects in the bowl, inside and out. Then I carved the depressions.

The goal was to make a bowl that looked vintage.

Now it is time to go to work in the garage. Another day another tiki.

Cheers, Wendy

Sorry to read about the bowl issues but I knew you would find a way to do something with them. Great idea to make pendants for a necklace.

The peanut mug bowl looks great. Love the texture you did on the bowl. Also the Bob Coconut bowl looks great. Very nice idea.

• Dale

Wow
Peanut bowl is lookin good...

littlegiles there are so many pitfalls in ceramics that practice makes perfect isn't the rule here. Clay does what it wants so we just have to keep trying to make it behave and not fret when things go wrong. Thank you for cheering me on.

Dan's very happy with his peanut bowl and ready to work even harder.

hang10tiki it was fun to make. I will start glazing on Saturday so your little Bob prize will have its turn at the brush.

Thank you everyone for your patience. I have the work project binder organized and complete. The Crawl mug and Tiki Farm contest mugs have one more weeks work to go and then I'll tackle all of your projects as these fire up.

bavtech/Nelson/Mahalo Tiki is coming here Saturday to glaze some of his peanut mugs in unusual colors. He always has something different for sale.

Progress Report:

We also continue to pour the crawl mug and fine tune them. The crawl is in October. Ordering one is on that thread. I hope to have one finished for viewing at the end of next week.

Dawee Tiki asked if I was gearing up to make another Ren Clark severed head in ceramics. The first head at the left is by Notch,he made around 100. Before we knew that the head was so small, see it at the far right, I used the photo in the book of tiki to make the two in the middle. These were made in clay by hand and were for display only. Dan calls the really big one the Severed head bowl.

I told Dawee Tiki that I could do this again making one in ceramics for the next Wish List 4. Let me know if there is interest. If enough of you want one I would then make a mold of the sculpt to do it right.

Sorry no pictures of the contest mug until the end of September. Cheers, Wendy

Hi, Miss Wendy!
I have a question:
(that IS how this works, right?)
I was thinking of doing a set of mugs, but have never gone to the 'making a mug' stage before.
Do you think these designs will work well

IMAGE REMOVED FOR THE TIME BEING

... and do you think I should start with a hand scuplt? Shot glass or full size? You are the holder of the knowledge, and I'm just gripping a paintbrush! HALP!!

Lots o love, Zero and Caz
PS: HI, DAN!

[ Edited by: ZeroTiki 2012-09-03 11:21 ]

[ Edited by: ZeroTiki 2012-09-04 10:51 ]

ZeroTiki you have been reading my mind. You have one part of my Tiki Farm contest mug showing up in each of your photos. So you must be doing very well if I do say so myself! Why don't you enter their contest and if you win they'll make your first mug. Then you'll be on your way. Good Luck! Wendy

What a GREAT idea!

[ Edited by: ZeroTiki 2012-09-04 10:52 ]

Severed head bowl
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet...

Zero Tiki good luck with your design for the contest. I'll be interested in one you choose to submit. One especially looks like what I'm submitting. But I've got it made in clay ready to mold. If I'm not picked the mug may still be made!

hang10tiki if only it were I who was sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

What have I been up too? I've been assembly lining and its all littlegiles fault and I thank him.

I want to bisque fire again but I want a full load. So I finished off bavtec/Nelson/Mahalo tikis peanut mugs. He'll be here Saturday to glaze so I need to fire. He's going to make them special and they'll go up for sale. If you have always wanted a particular color let him or I know before Saturday.

Besides the Wish List things that are ready to fire I did what littlegiles suggested and I pulled all of the Frankoma War God statue from the shelf. I can't make bowls with them since they dried too much. They will be single tiki statues. Molded from an original War God. I have the copy write so its OK.

I have five already fired and here are 20 more. $60 each (plus shipping) will let you choose the color.

On the bottom it says War God by Joniece Frank c2012 Wendy Cevola

Drying in the shed. I'll sand tomorrow. Dan will dust and then into the kiln.

I can't believe I made those peanut mugs. Every time we poured a crawl mug we just poured one of those too.

They are outside in the wind. I hope they are all dry by morning. It will be fun to see if there is enough room so I can load every thing into the kiln.

Cheers, Wendy

Wendy, you remind me of the gal in this "Angie's List" commercial (at 0:18) "I'm busy,busy,busy,busy,busy!" :lol:

You and Dan are an art machine!

Your assembly line reminds me of the "I Love Lucy" episode of the chocolates...LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4&feature=related

I'd be up for a severed head Wendy! Can't wait to see the crawl mug . . . the excitement builds!

Gosh Wendy, now I feel guilty. HAHA I never meant to put an idea in your head that would cause you and Dan a bunch of extra work, especially when you already have so much on your plate.

I have to admit that I love seeing all those drying tiki faces on the table. It looks like you and Dan are creating a small tiki army to take over the world. Just admit it...that is what you are planning isn't it?

• Dale

Fox news alert.....

A small army of War Gods and Peanut looking creatures
seen marching down the freeway, armed and dangerous...

psst...Wendy, that is your cue. That is when you do your evil little laugh. Bwahahahahaha.

• Dale