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

Mike when you get here for your visit I'm laying you down on the psych couch and doing an analysis of how you became MadDog. We love this mug. We are so happy to have one in our future. I'm excited to see all the colors and what you choose for us. Hugs Bunny, Wendy

You could always convert your living room into a giant KILN

:)

Hilda, it will be headed your way as soon as I find some appropriate string to hold it together.
Jon, you live in the desert. You know all you have to do it turn off the AC for a couple of hours and the house becomes a blast furnace.
Wendy, there is no explaining why I am the MadDog!
Lori, here ya go. Still working on glaze combinations, some are rather boring ~ I may have to borrow a page from Wendy's book and spice some of these up with bake-on paint. Looks like my local Michael's stopped selling them so I'll have to get online.

Light Turquoise & Mediterranean Olive

Butter Toffee, Sea Mist Green & Mocha Cream

Autumn, Spiced Cream & Celadon Crackle

My favorite is the Celadon, looks like an old crazed mug. Crackle finish on the outside and non-crackle foodsafe on the inside. I've got another 6 mugs drying so I'll try some new combinations

Butter toffee es muy bien Perro Loco.

LOVE the Butte Toffee!

Autumn and butter colors are sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet...

Lookin good Mad Dog
Me like

Looking good Mike. I like the Butter Toffee also but the Sea Mist Green is pretty cool too.

Really nice glazes. It's hard to pick a favorite. Ok autumn and caledon crackle.

Nice job on the El Tiki's, MD! Really like the glazes.

Awesome job on the El Tiki's Mike!! NIce assortment of glazes as well, love the Olive!

I really enjoy the mug, but man, every time I see it, I think that it's one UGLY lookin tiki. Hahhaa. I've seen worse with some of the modern faux-tiki, but that has a whole other slightly racist/culturally insensitive vibe that was totally normal at the time the place was open.

And I can't help but laugh at it.

Mike,

Thanks for posting pictures, I couldn't wait to see them! My 2 cents for what it's worth is that I prefer the glazes that darken the low spots, creases, whatever you call them and then lighter on the rest of the mug. I'm about as far from an expert as you can get but I think an antiqued effect would be cool. So that being said my favorite (I think) is Sea Mist Green and Butter Toffee.

But being female I reserve the right to see what else you're going to produce before giving my final verdict! Excellent work.

Real nice stuff that is right there, MadDog. I like the crackle effect, too.

Mugs are cool but the windchime kicks some serious booty!

Wishing everyone a MadDog Christmas!

One of the benefits of a my small kiln is that I can afford to fire it as often as I like. Sometime I will fire a piece several times to make it easier to glaze.

Here is a mug for the "Sea Creatures of the South Pacific" Art Swap. In order to keep from getting glaze where I didn't want it, I fired it 3 times. First I put underglaze on the greenware and bisque fired it.

Next I put the crystal glaze on the octopus, the underglaze on the barrel rings, gloss black on the inside, clear gloss on the blowfish and fired it again

Then I brushed it with grey and wiped most of it off. Since the octopus and rings had already been fired, it was easy to wipe any stray glaze off. After that came a clear satin glaze on the barrel.

The finished product

Merry Xmas to you and your family Mike

Ps- if during the art swap drawing you accidentally put my name in the hat 20 times
I'll get all the swap items. :)

Jon

Jon, I'll see if I can't hook you up :lol:

Got a great Christmas gift for the lanai I wanted to share with you. A wind chime from Cost Plus World Market, it is a Papua New Guinea bird (as far as you know). The body is a coconut and the head bobs and sways when the wind blows ~ he makes me smile :)

Bird Bird Bird is a weirdo....NICE!!!

Great mug! It's got some of my favorite design elements: explosives and nautical!

Just took the 111 page tour again.....

That's a lot of awesomeness made by one talented tiki dude...

Keep up the strong work Mike
and I look forward to the next 100 pages of your kool ideas that come to life

Jon

Love the Christmas Card.
It's nice to know that the rest of your family is just as out there as you are! :)

And I really like the swap mug, man. A lot. I wouldn't think that you fired it so many times from seeing it, so thanks for putting up the process, and the progress shots. It also makes it a little special to know just how much went into making it, to really be able to appreciate it.

Aloha!

I've missed a lot!!! But I'm back! Thanks for the card Mike!

Marlene, you should see that bird when the wind blows ~ it really makes me smile :)
Lori, any gal who loves explosives is my kinda gal :D
Jon, thank you :blush:
Hale, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree :lol:
Chris, so good to have you back - hope the midwest winters aren't treating you too badly!

Got my second project done for the "Sea Creatures of the South Pacific" Art Swap done. "Inspired by" or a "parody of" the Islander Cobra's Fang mug

I present the Yellow Bellied Sea Snake Fang mug.

It's a pretty good sized mug, 4.5x8 inches, holds 30 ounces.

"Catch and release, it's tough when you use a spear"
Personally, I believe in "Fillet and release"
Pirate Ship Tree House

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2013-01-03 20:17 ]

Beautiful.

Mike, that one is amazing... too. Are you making multiple pieces for the art swap just so that you can move in on my getting all of them? And Hang10 (by mistake, of course). :)

I look forward to meeting you and receiving tons of clay-making advice!

Cool mug Mike!

Hale and Chris, thank you very much.
David, I'll only swap one of my projects. I am looking forward to meeting you too one of these days but not sure how much clay wisdom I'll be able to share; I seem to be at an age where I'm forgetting more than I remember and I didn't know that much to start with! :lol:

I finally finished up the Bonepile Windchime. I ended up stringing it on some 50 pound braided fishing line. I have never made anything like this before so I don't know how it will hold up? The wind may be too much and bang the bones to pieces? Or the ceramic may rub and abrade the string? Only time will tell :) Now I have to figure out how to pack it for shipping

BTW, the red eyes to the left of the femur are taillights on the highway :D

Creepy in a good way. Wendy

Ship it in a coffin.
You know it's not the coughin that gets you often.
It's the coffin they carry you off in,
that gets you.

[ Edited by: Will carve 2013-01-19 04:24 ]

Ha, there it is all finished, I love it.

Wendy & Hilda, thanks you :)
Will, great ideal about the coffin :lol: In the final analysis I ended up with a boring cardboard box and lots of bubble wrap.

Captain Hook's Nemesis - This is not tiki and not even very artistic since I'm making it with someone else's mold, but what the heck. I saw a big 3-piece concrete crocodile for $50 and thought it would be great in the grass under my pirate ship tree house. Then I looked on eBay and saw molds for a smaller version for $30 then I can make a whole family of crocs! But instead of concrete, I'm trying to make it out of slabs of ceramic clay pressed into the molds. Glaze on ceramic will last forever whereas paint or stain on concrete would have to be re-done every few years. I plan to do the croc in a matte finish glaze and the eyes bright and glossy. After it is all fired and glazes, I'll pour the back full of concrete to make it solid. Each piece is about 10-13 inches long, overal croc (with some space in-between the pieces) with be about 4 feet. If it works I may have to make a Papua New Guinea inspired croc to atone for the non-tikiness of this one :D

Mike- wind chime came out cool.
I had one of those 3 set croc stepping stones in my yard yrs ago, nice to see I making one.
You should carve a few fingers to spread around near the head, or a few bones near the back, lol.

Ps- at work a couple days ago I walked past the area where they set out all the boxes to recycle and there was a big wooden crate box 3x3 feet or so, and the first thing I thought of was: wow, Mike would do something cool with that.

Jon

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-01-21 12:34 ]

MadDogMike, that is such a cool idea for a pirate ship. Those boys will be telling stories and showing pictures of the ship and accoutrements forever. I hope it is still standing when they have children of their own. Wendy

That croc's cool.

The boney wind chime is a very cool piece Mike!

Mike!

You really put the Mad (=crazy) into MadDog! You've got to be enshrined into the Grandfather Hall of Fame one day. :D

Wow. First a pirate ship, then possibly an actual firing "softball cannon", now a crowd of crocs? Next thing you know, they'll need one of these to release their inner Cap'n Jack Sparrow, sailing over those gaping maws and snapping jaws to dry land.

Original Fun Ride™ Zip Line Trolley

I saw one of these on ebay for $49 + free shipping. :wink:

Of course, your daughter will probably HATE that idea, something about blah, blah, safety, blah, blah, risk of injury, blah, blah, hospital, blah, blah... or some such other nonsense. Moms always seem to hate the most fun things, don't they?

Bear

Jon - I bought a new echocardiograph at work and brought home the wooden crate, about 3x3x4 feet but haven't come up with a good use for it yet.
Wendy - if my grandkids have half as much fun playing in the ship as I have had building it, I will have won twice! Hopefully it will still be standing in 25 years, I don't see why not.
Swizz & Cy - thank you.
Bruddah - You're just finding all kinds of stuff for me :lol: My daughter isn't too much of a safety freak, she knows that boys will be boys. But I have been trying to be careful to make things reasonable safe; no exposed bolts, no places to catch fingers, lots of paint to avoid splinters, no rope ladders (a big source of injuries), etc. I think a zip line would be reasonable safe when the boys are older :D

I finished Tick-Tock. I may try to add a little more brown and re-fire him so that he shows up better in the grass. About 3 feet long overall.

I know it's a play area for children, but it wouldn't be so bad if it was a rum crate! Stencil and or branded.
(If you want me to laser cut you a stencil, shoot me a PM and I'll mail one out to you.)

Wow, I wouldn't change the crock, as is he could sneak up on someone and give them a good thrill. He's terrific. Wendy

Very cute. GROG like.

Rum crate was what I was thinking as well
Or treasure chest...

Croc is bad ars

Jon

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-01-31 07:37 ]

Tick Tock ~ YES

Mike, the croc is awesome. I want one for MY yard. :)

I need me some of those personal Zip Lines!
Mike your just awesome!

in fact your an Awesomenaut, a pilot of awesomeness!

Mike-

Found this today...

it's in your blood...

dig your Cobra's Fang MDM!

Thanks Jon, I think that is my cousin Vantu :wink:
Thank you all for your croc comments. I just wanted you to know I have not been resting on my laurels (or any other part of my anatomy for that mattter) I did make another croc in brown and it shows up better in the grass but I haven't done much art lately. My brother is getting married in my front yard next Saturday and I have been busy getting the place ready for him and 250 of our closest friends :)
Got construction and painting done on the Pirate Ship, now it's just adding details for the next 10 years (kinda like a Tiki Bar, it's never "finished"). The weekend after the wedding is a trip to Mexico and THEN I have some ceramic projects lined up :D