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

LOVE YOUR SILLY COSTUME EYES,Darling!
Great new shots...very professional and looking all fine-arty
like it should!
Beautiful.....
:)

Pacman Bob is perfection.

Wendy...I think you have been huffing too much glaze...LOL. Everything looks wonderful and your photography skills are great too.

hang10tiki even more colors this time, my eyes are on you!
tigertail777 time to update your thread so I can visit you.
MadDogMike I was a pirate but it came off as Annie Hall.
Professor G your mug is the most viewed War God.
ebtiki do these Like buttons work?
dartharnie your are right red would have worked. Your box is on the way.
LoriLovesTiki best wishes to you and all those on the East coast.
little lost tiki did you know that you like to open your eyes that wide for photos?
You have "vision" when it comes to tiki art.
Tiki Kaimuki thank you, some day I'll have to find and play that game.
VampiressRN every time I use the fold up studio that MadDogMike gave me I say a big thank you to him.

Progress Report on the Wish List #3:

I opened the kiln and saw right off

that the little blue Bob had fallen over

and glued himself to the kiln wall. I pulled him loose. I'll re-glaze him in the future.

The purple Bob bowl was only cursed on the bottom rim on one tiki this time.

Revel of the bottom shelf.

Both my clear glaze over 2 brands of black under-glaze came out fine. So I still don't know why some of my projects like the spotted blue and white war god ran.

Dan wants everything and he grabbed this bowl and I've not seen it since.



This bowl has also disappeared into the danlovestikis collection. This was the first time I'd used these two new glazes and I think they both turned out great.

Dan loves bowls best.

Alii Tiki's small tiki Frankoma bowl with his color choices. The squeeze bottle glaze technique worked better than I could have hoped for.

Alii Tiki also helped me age these War Gods.

The maybe Steve Soto's cursed purple Bob bowl. No bowl has been through such tough times. The flash didn't allow the rich colors to show up.

Without at flash.

Psycho Tiki D's War God bowl



Without the flash.

Hot Bob for Joanne and a Bob without rings I call him Smooth Bob.

Small Bob statues with carving.

19TikiChef62's complex mug. Bob now has the Hangover/Tyson tattoos. Today the Missionary's Downfall woman gets her tatoos.

I'm looking forward to another busy day. Again best wishes and prayers for all those on the East Coast. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-10-29 08:29 ]

Wendy, you needed an eyepatch :lol:

(kinda crappy photo edit, I'm at work and had to use an online program)

I have problems too with the flash washing out the color, here's a few things I do that help

1. Get farther back and zoom in, the flash isn't as overpowering
2. Turn the flash on but cover it up, sometime that fools the camera
3. A flash diffuser helps, if you have a digital SLR with a seperate flash you could buy a diffuser. They are inexpensive, just a little white plastic cap that goes over the flash. I usually put a Kleenex over the flash with a rubber band. If you are using a pocket camera with an integrated flash, you might stick a piece of frosted Scotch tape over it to tone down the flash.
   Hope that helps :)
   PS - you don't have to thank me every time you use your portable studio :lol:

Wendy,

Beautiful bowls- glaze combos look amazing! Great shots, look forward to seeing more....

Wow
Amazing colors again
Love em all
U da bomb

My favorite part, when they come out of the kiln all purty.

Really nice Wendy!! The War God bowl is probably my favorite but really love it alll...
Your Awesome!

Dan, you lucky, lucky man.

The bowls look awesome! Ahhhh. Love the new glazes. And the Frankoma bowl that's plain is quite nice too!

Hi Dan and Wendy,
Those eyes are distinctly disturbing.

The mugs and bowl look great.

TikiAno
Beautiful bowls- glaze combos look amazing! Great shots, look forward to seeing more.... Thank you Tiki ano, more photos below!

hang10tiki
Wow
Amazing colors again
Love em all
U da bomb Thank you hang10tiki I like being da bomb!

Atomic Tiki Punk
My favorite part, when they come out of the kiln all purty.
Mine too ATP...I finally can't remember your old TC name.

Beachbumz
Really nice Wendy!! The War God bowl is probably my favorite but really love it alll...
Your Awesome! Thank you Beachbumz I'm looking forward to a photo when your bowl arrives

Hale Tiki
Dan, you lucky, lucky man.

The bowls look awesome! Ahhhh. Love the new glazes. And the Frankoma bowl that's plain is quite nice too!
Thank you Hale Tiki Dan loves first choice on my spec tikis. I pay him to work for me and then he gives the money back and takes what he wants. We have a revolving pot of money that never grows just goes from my hands to his and back again. However his tiki collection does grow.

MaroneTiki
I'm going to wear those glasses tomorrow too. They are a fun pair. Your Scuba Diver is up as soon as I finish the Jaguar bowl.

Progress Report on Wish List #3:

This is the first Missionary's Downfall woman who was purchased by 19TikiChef62.


This is his second one. He requested that she also be tattooed.

All done.
It's time to send her off.

I counted up my Wish List projects still to be done. There are so many Bob's left to do that we started pouring them again last night.

It's been so long since you saw Dan working for tikis that I took this photo.

I poured a few sea creatures too.

I'm quitting early today. I worked for 4 hours on the Mayan Temple and 1 hour on sea creatures. Photos tomorrow. I need rest and junk TV.

Cheers, Wendy

Great lookin ink

Got the Wolfman Bob and the Crawl mug today.

I am completely blown away. They are both so different and so wonderful.

Tomorrow I open the door with Candy and one hand and a Zombie filled Wolfman in the other.

Thank You.

hang10tiki does that mean I could start a new career?
dartharnie that would make a great photo...

Progress Report Wish List #3:

I started the day by opening the molds and pulling out the sea creatures.

I need 18 Bob's. I've found that the temperatures outside have slowed the drying time of the molds to 2 days. Soon there's going to be rain so its time to hustle.

I cleaned up the sea creatures.

Using a board to support them I put them in zip lock bags with a wet paper towel and onto a shelf. Nothing is drying out in these bags.

Next up the Mayan Temple Jaguar Bowl. I started to do the steps at the bottom and then wised up. I needed to be able to correct it if it didn't work.

As I started at the top I could see that I'd need to add clay at the bottom. This was so hard that I really commend the original builders. They mastered perfection. I'm struggling with each "step".

After the steps were finished I started on the larger walls. 4 hours to complete these steps and I didn't have to chisel huge stones.

My most dramatic photo.

All of this temple will be fine tuned as it dries. I still need to carve out the inside of the pyramid. If I don't then this will crack as it dries.

Thank you always for checking in, Wendy

Wow. Just . . . wow.

On 2012-10-30 20:49, hang10tiki wrote:
Great lookin ink

Yeah, how did you do those?! Hand-paint them or use some sort of pen? They turned out really nice!

On 2012-10-31 07:22, danlovestikis wrote:
All of this temple will be fine tuned as it dries. I still need to carve out the inside of the pyramid. If I don't then this will crack as it dries.

I was wondering about that. That pyramid looks like it would weigh a ton if it was solid.

Thank you Professor G, that's how I feel about your photography.
Philot I did the tattoos by painting them by had with enamel paint and then they are baked in my home's oven to set it. I've started carving out the inside of the Mayan pyramid. I hope to start on the the jaguars today.

It was Halloween. We handed out 540 pieces of candy and then went inside and turned off the lights. Our next door neighbor had a haunted house and as word spread we had cars pouring in.

This is just one small spot in three car garage filled with spooky stuff. I never worked tikis yesterday but I will today.

I hope you had a fun Halloween, Wendy

Lovin' the pyramid Wendy :)

Wendy,

My mind just exploded looking at the photos of the Mayan Temple Jaguar Bowl. Thanks very much- now I have to find a mop and start cleaning up after my own head. Love it. Still smiling, though- the photos are great and I can't wait to see what comes next.

[ Edited by: TikiAno 2012-11-01 23:02 ]

[ Edited by: TikiAno 2012-11-01 23:03 ]

Thank you MadDogMike and Tiki Ano. It's fun doing something that needs some building experience with both clay and bricks. My mom was an expert brick layer.
Here she is in my childhood backyard which she built with my dad as her helper. She not only built an 8000 brick wall she put in the flagstone, beamed roof and built the furniture she is lying on. What I do is something small my mom built big!

When we moved from this home the wall was being pushed over by a neighbors tree so we tore it down and took it to the next home where she covered the front of the house with the brick. She was only 4'10" and a powerhouse.

Progress Report Wish List #3:

The wish of Philot...

The Mayan Temple is finished.To stop it from cracking I dug out the excess clay.

This shows how much I was able to remove. I've learned that it will always crack if the walls are not the same thickness.

I added some more brick lines.

If only I was as good as my mom. Her bricks were always level. This temple is very old and has been through a lot of earthquakes and storms so its weathered.

Next I've started on the first of the three jaguars that will support the bowl on their backs. I only have this one photo to go by. It's not a perfect jaguar but the Mayan artists rendition of a jaguar.

I scooped out the back where the bowl will sit and started to form the head.

I don't just carve away clay I add it to build cheek bones etc.

From the side it looks one way but from the front another. Because of that I may build and remove over and over again. Here I've added more clay close to the nose.

Once it was formed to a close approximation I used a tool to remove clay inside the head.

Now it has an empty head.

Now I go back to fine tune the head adding clay above the eyes.

Now I've worked on the teeth the photo shows that I need to work on the nostrils.

Photos are a great help. I can see that the long teeth are not as thick as those made in stone. Today I'll go back and add clay. When this one is done I'll make the other two. They will all need hollow bodies which will just be block stones. The bowl will also be blocks.

It's time to sleep a few more hours before the work begins. I woke up and decided to post to get sleepy again. Cheers, Wendy

Great work Wendy. It's quite amazing to see the progress. You have no idea what the finished object will look like until it is, actually finished. From such a basic shape, it is not until it is fine tuned and all the detail is added that you can really see where it started from and how those humble beginnings don't actually show the what it is really going to look like, or the work involved to get it there.

Wow
The temple is lookin good
U are fast

The temple is AMAZING & your mom sounds like an unusual & extraordinary woman!
~kele

Hahaha.

There's the temple!
Looking good!

Awesome temple...love the jag.

Your Mom looked like she was quite a character. I am still enamored of the great space movies your Mom made...it was a blast watching them and M&Ms!!!

Love the temple and jaguar. Looking very cool Wendy! Are you going to have creeper vines over the temple, or just leave it as is?

swizzle Dan was just asking if we'd had contact. When are you getting back to making your next ceramic design?

hang10tiki I wish fast was true. I've been working on the Wish List #3 for months. I never give up and some people have gotten their wishes.

WaikikianMoeKele my mom was both an unusual & extraordinary woman. She could do anything. She didn't just build she could paint, sculpt, make movies, write books and she always shared what she knew with those who asked. Thank you.

Hale Tiki it sure makes me happy that Philot design is one that you all appreciate.

VampiressRN (Awesome temple...love the jag) Using a Mayan design makes an abstract jaguar but one that is perfect for the bowl, thank you Vamp.

(Your Mom looked like she was quite a character. I am still enamored of the great space movies your Mom made...it was a blast watching them and M&Ms!!!) We made some fun movies and I love showing them. You have a special mom too.

tigertail777 It was too weird that I was thinking about vines when I got up this morning and there was your note. Adding green isn't going to work for the color scheme we have decided on but I can see your vision and its a good one.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I'm up early to get back to the bowl. It's getting to the fun stage now.

Roge sent us a gift of my Sea Creatures cast in resin. He's ready to make more chunk lamps and has some pre-made tiki lamps as well.

To check out his sales see Etsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtLampDesignByRoger?page=1

Progress on Wish List #3:

In the months before I opened #3 for orders I poured ahead and wrapped every item in plastic wrap. They all dried out and couldn't be re-hydrated. So each item is only good for carving. Yesterday Dan sanded all the remaining dry pieces for me.

In the future I'll carve tapa and Maori designs into these and I have secret ideas too.

Philot's Mayan Temple of the Jaguar Bowl. I got all the supplies and parts together.

I didn't get the angle right but you get the idea of how the jaguars will support the bowl in this photo.

I use the first jaguar as a template for making the other two. They will match better this way. Mark.

Cut.

Check it out.

Use a roller to smooth.

Cut.

Mark to cut.

Mark to cut.

I did all the steps shown yesterday to came up with two more Mayan Jaguars in the same amount of time it took to do one yesterday.


They are each unique and that shows that they were hand built and that this is a one of a kind custom bowl.

Today I will carve out their insides. Does that sound like a Mayan ritual?

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-11-03 07:55 ]

150 pages, sweeeeet

Great update...

Congrats on 150...the thread doesn't look a day older than 30.

The Jaguar's are very cool. I like the individuality each carved head has.

The Wolfman Bob has been dubbed, "wa...wa...Scary Monster!" by my 2 year old. I think it's a wonderful compliment. Pictures will take a while, but I promise they are coming.

Your mom made space movies? It sounds like they need to be transferred and uploaded to youtube for the world to enjoy!

The jaguars look good. That's going to be one mighty bowl when it's done. Looking forward to see what you're going to do with the bowl itself.

hang10tiki are you coming to Don's in December? 150, you noticed, thank you.

dartharnie I'm looking forward to the photos with wawascarymonster. I'm glad you like the jaguar and my many pages of posts.

Hale Tiki My mom made many movies with the Sacramento Armature Movie Makers (SAMM). One was of the first two woman to head to the planet Mars. Their ship was hit by a meteor and sent on to Far Planet. Someday I'll learn U-Tube. They've been taken from 16mm to VHS Tape. I need to go the next step.

I finally got my analog photos back in the mail. It shows that a disposable camera left in a hot car for years degrades. I was lucky to get any photos. I can tell who these people on the Sacramento Crawl are, can you?

Progress Wish List #3

Philot's Temple of the Jaguar bowl

I started by removing clay inside the stone block bodies.

I was able to clean it out clear up into the head.

I made an opening so that clay when I attach the bowl sticky clay can push out and not have an air pocket.

I put them into position and added a support for the center of the bowl.

I added sticky clay to the top of the jaguars as glue.

I put the very soft bowl on top and pressed down.

You can see the supports. I will add clay to smooth this out and also sanding will help once it is dry.

I smoothed the "glue" clay around the bowl.

I wonder how close this is to when the Mayans made their bowls. As this bowl slowly dries I'll fine tune it.

I also assembled a Tiki Bob bowl. Dan has already claimed it as his own. I pay him good wages for helping me and he's worth it.

In less than a month we'll be at Don the Beachcomber's, Huntington Beach to sell ceramics. I hope to see many of you there. Stop to visit and tell me both your names.

I'm bringing these.

Gosh the time went backwards. I guess we got up at 5 AM! We'll have a nice long work day. Cheers, Wendy

I'll be damned. That sounds like a lot of fun!

And the War Gods look great all in a line. I noticed the white with blue streaks is missing though. If Dan hasn't claimed it, I'm sure someone will want it!

Hi Hale Tiki, the first failure I made for Professor G turned out to be Tan with light blue spots and it sold yesterday to Soccer Tiki. I did forget to photograph two, you are more on top of what I have than I am. Here's the catch up photo of the second Professor G and an aged War God. I hope they both find a good home.

Progress Report Wish List #3:

I continue to work on Philots bowl. It is still soft but I have begun to fill in the dips inside the bowl with sticky clay. I will do this until it is smooth. When it is dry I will sand it and then it will be flat.

I add clay and softly smooth it with my fingers. I have to be careful not to add air bubbles.

It's getting better.

Next up: Scuba Bob for Marone Tiki. His lady Debbie ordered this for his birthday which is months past. He is very patient.
Here's the bottom of the mug.

I started with a lump of clay on Bob's back.

I rounded out the tanks.

I began to add clay to make the mask and mouth gear.

Some photos have the nose covered some not. I left Bob's nose alone.

Here's where I left off. It needed to firm up.



Monty I hope your Birthday Wish is coming true.

Time to go to work, cheers, Wendy

Hi Wendy,

I'm back from Big Sur and am all caught up on the Dan & Wendy show. All I can say is WOW, wow!

After reading about your mom and I now know where you get your creativity from. I too would love to see her movies.

Scuba Bob looks like so much fun! The goggles look a little like "Cheap beachbum sunglasses" and made me smile.

Dangggg
Scuba tanks are awesome
That's a good 1

Loving the jaguar bowl Wendy! super cool! I am excited to see how it turns out and what color scheme you use. :)

Regarding your photos: they actually might be more salvageable than you think, photoshop can color correct most of what you have there(tipping the magenta/red balance of color a little more back to a full spectrum), as well as sharpen the focus a bit and get rid of the lines across them. It's a little time consuming, and you have to know what your doing, but it can be done I have done similar photo corrections for clients in the past so I know its possible to gain back perhaps half of what is now lost in those photos. Just make sure that if you have it done they start with the highest resolution you can manage. :)

LoriLovesTiki thank you for the Wow's. Mom's movies are at the Sacramento Room of the main library. They have the original reels and the movies to view on VHS tape. They don't check them out but they have a TV and chairs where people can come to view them. She was very special and loving.

dartharnie
(Scuba Bob looks like so much fun! The goggles look a little like "Cheap beachbum sunglasses" and made me smile.) Horrors dartharnie I wasn't going for that look. I'm so thankful you pointed it out. While I fine tuned it yesterday I changed those "sunglasses" to goggles closer to the photo. Keep an eye on my work please.

hang10tiki I sure am lucky that I'm asked to do fun projects. I just hope I can dry it slowly enough that that don't crack open and lose the O2.

tigertail777 thank you for the photo-shop information. I thought it was for altering photos to tease GROG and Dan which we love to see.

The Temple of the Jaguar colors have been chosen by Philot and it should look good.

Thank you for your notes, Wendy

Progress Report Wish List #3.

Yesterday was the day to work on projects you've seen before. I did make them better. Here are the photos.

I used these three tools to add coconut texture to Dan's new Coconut Bob bowl. The faces and inside of the bowl will be white and the outside brown just like the old mugs. Dan keeps grabbing all my Bob Bowls.

Marone Tikis Scuba Bob
Saved by dartharnie, here are the new goggles.

I cleaned up the straps.

I added four fish which reminded me of the surfing Harvey's girl mug.

Done and ready to slowly dry.

Philot's Temple of the Jaguar Bowl
It was time to start the stones. I looked for something the right size to mark the lines like a ruler.

Then a huge surprise. I noticed the bottom was inset and the size of the stones I wanted to mark. So I pressed the end into the clay.

I did this to all three jaguars and then carved the last ones at the top.

Next I used a very wet brush to run between the stones to clean them up. They've been done on the left and not on the right.

When I did the sculpt for the Moai head for the Chunk Lamps I used this sand paper to make a stone surface.

All done and ready to slowly dry.

Close up.

I need to turn it over so the bottoms will dry too.

Chunk Lamps by Roge are ON SALE on Marketplace until November 12th. He's made a mold and brought back the lamp he made in the early 60's before most of you were born! Please check them out. His lamps are terrific.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84678770/sale-15-1960s-pineapple-rock-chunks-swag

Sunday November 4th, 2012

Thank you all for your support. I work for your posts they keep me going. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-11-06 12:41 ]

The fish are a nice touch on the scuba bob.

You nailed it with the texture on the bowl. That's nice serendipity on finding a template for the block outlines. I like it when a plan comes together. :wink: It's going to be hard to be patient while this monster dries out. Thanks again Wendy for being willing to take on a big project like this.

BUSY DAY
LOTS OF GOOD PICS
DANS COCONUT BOWL LOOKS GREAT/ COOL TEXTURE

Philot I'm so happy to have reached this stage in making your bowl. You came up with a very good design and a fun challenge for me.

hang10tiki Dan looked at that bowl and nabbed it so fast I spun in my chair. I can't get to eBay my computer is too old. Dan's in tiki withdrawal with no auction wins being delivered so he's going after what I make.

Psycho Tiki D came to pick up his Frankoma bowl.

I surprised him by giving him the cups he'd found in raw clay at a garage sale.

We had a fun visit and then it was back to work.

I'm making some necklaces for the sale at Don the Beachcomber's sale December 2nd.
This photo shows how I clean out the insides after casting. I've already cleaned the edges.

I made holes for the cords.

I made more indentations on the fins and dents on the puffer bodies.

I fine tuned the bodies on the Honu's. Once these dry I'll knock off the crumbs of clay.

If you want one of these ($20 each) you may choose your color. Those left over will go to the sale.

Progress Report Wish List #3

Philot's Temple of the Jaguar bowl.

Now it will slowly dry. Sorry Philot it will take a very long time. I uncover it for 1 hour and then cover it for two. Back and forth all day, each day. This will prevent cracks...I hope.

It was firm enough that I was able to turn it over and to fill in the locks inside each jaguar and to smooth them.

Today I start Loki Tiki's Santa Bob. This is a Bob in a Santa costume. Fun!

Cheers, Wendy

Haven't checked this thread in a week and jeez I missed a lot. Really like the Wolfman and Scuba Bob!

OOOOH! A puffer in a real pretty medium to light green.

I know a certain wahini that it would make a great present for!

EDIT: I forgot to say please. PLEASE!

[ Edited by: Hale Tiki 2012-11-07 08:59 ]

Also, I was delighted to see your use of 40 grit sandpaper to texture the stone. Brilliant!

And the tube you used for the bricks, talk about a happy accident! Can't wait to see the paint scheme.

Cy I've just checked out your wood tiki carvings and was so impressed (as usual). Thank you for the visit. I love the creek where you found the gift of the ceder log. I get lots of fun orders those two were super fun to make.

Hale Tiki I have your order for the lovely lady. When they are fired and ready to glaze I'll send you some choices for green.

I love finding household items that are useful in sculpting clay. The container I used had colorful sunflower seeds that looked like M and M's in it until I started using it to store chisels.

Progress Wish List #3:

Loki Tiki
Santa Bob in progress. I started with a Tall Bob.

I cut off the top of his head and used the part I removed to make the fur brim of the hat and a

ledge inside the mug for the rest of the hat to sit on.

Jeff's wife supplied me with a drawing that I've copied.

I need to make as much of the hat hollow as possible. There will be a straw hole in the back of the hat. I am drying it a bit with the wooden handle keeping it from caving in.

Santa's beard is added.

Just checking the drawing again.

Carved on the back of the mug Santa BoB.

He's not done but I've gotten a good start.

Atomic Chick
A while back I made a Pac Man Key Bob for Atomic Chick. She then said she wanted the mouth open with a ball in it. It was too late so I have sold her PMKB to the original designer SM Bacon and I'm making her a new one shown here.

I just keep marking and carving areas.

I spun this chisel to mark the dots to be left.

More dots.

Photos really help. I just noticed I forgot to put the wide eyes on the mug. I'll fix that today as I start to carve out the excess clay and make the mouth open.

Another day playing with clay, life is good, Wendy

Santas beard rocks

On 2012-11-08 08:17, hang10tiki wrote:
Santas beard rocks

That's exactly what popped out at me too ~ great texture!