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

lunavideogames this is our second research study. This morning we go back for another appointment for our first light wave study. I'll share photos of that one in the future.

Hale will share everything with us soon. I just had this small part to help him pull it off.
Hale Tikis mind and my hands, thank you, we liked the mugs too.

GROG you will make the cutest zipper club member ever. You may hijack my thread whenever you like, my gift to you! Ceramics have to take a backseat to good health and everyone loves you and will be patient. I'm glad you think we look cute having our tests. We work hard at that since we are senior citizens.

Gene S Morgan these tests were really easy except Dan's veins are too small for a big guy. The tech bragged that she was the one they called on for hard cases, well she had to poke him twice. We are looking forward to the results meanwhile we do lift those molds and make those tikis.

PS I've been back to look at your tiki shower curtain twice more. The design and colors are such fun.

Hale Tiki it is such fun to finally get to share your designs and my work with everyone along with the bumps in the road.

The Hale Tiki story continues...

His mug.
I added the chin and then the tongue.

Side view.

Then I started on the headdress.

Next I skipped down to the bottom to start the drum design.

More

and more the design was carved into the mug.

Maddy's mug

I fine tuned the puffer fish

the sea horse

and worked on the octopus face. Hale Tiki requested happy faces.

Then it came time to roll dozens of little sticky clay balls for the octopus.

I would put them in place and push a hole into each one with a paintbrush end.
Then I would use slip as glue and brush it around each one.

Hours later they were all in place.

Nothing goes as fast as what you see each day I post. This is the speed it up version. I did have a deadline which I don't usually like to work by but this was for a very special event. The pressure was on!

Cheers, Wendy

Wendy,

I think you may have outdone yourself on the Hale mugs! Now I can't wait to hear about the proposal, which is what I assume happened. Adorable!!!

Running over to infirmary to check the tale of GROG.

Wow
That mug is going to rock
Lookin good

Dan-O looks like he's going down a water slide

Jon

Hang10 - That is exactly what I thought about Dan. We need some Photoshop! :)

Did some say the magic "P" word? :D

Impressive work on those tentacles!

Tiger- awesome

LoriLovesTiki good guess but he'll have to tell that story.

hang10tiki Hale tiki did what Gene did by combining tiki parts to make a whole. I've daydreamed about it but never did one...yet. You are right Dan does look like he's going down a water slide.

lunavideogames we love to be photoshopped!

tigertail777 awesome work. All you guys are so good at this and we are so lucky you do it to us.

zerostreet those little suckers take way too much time.

hang10tiki he did do a great job. I've added it to my photoshopped file along with yours, GROGS, luavideogames and AnoTikis. Did I miss anyone?

Hale Tikis mugs continued...

I turned the mug upside down and then back over to do this part of the design.

With the carving done on the bottom of the mug I started on the Tiki Central Tapa design for the top of the mug.

The last ring of pattern around the mug is carved.

Here I carved detail into the chin.

He requested holes to separate the tongue from the lip and chin.

Here's a good error. The date should be 6 for June. Neither of us saved the email that would have shown where the error came from. He didn't notice when I sent him this photo so the mugs fired this way.

Maddy's mug continues on...

I worked on the tiki face by carving in the detail.

All done it was placed with other projects to dry.
I'm missing dartharnie the man who had me make the monster series.

After the two mugs had dried I sanded them and fine tuned the carving.

TGIF!

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-06-28 14:46 ]

gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS!!!!!!!

& that's all I have to say about that.
~kele

What kele said - amazing work!
e.

WHAT KELE AND EB SAID:

A FreekinMazing.................

jon

I'll be over here picking my jaw off the floor.

:) Now we are all gonna want this kind of mug.

Beautiful!!

• Dale

Wendy ... this turning out fantastic ... you are a master carver as well as all your other talents ... Such a beautiful and complex work .... Gene

Awe...I miss you too. Life gets in the way too often...especially lately :(

Both the drum and Maddy's mug are stunning. The detail and the skill are awesome. The octopus reminds me of the NYC natural history museum, where they have an exhibit of a giant whale/squid fight....Now the octo looks nothing like it, but the way it hangs over the mug brought back childhood memories.

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/biodiversity-and-environmental-halls/milstein-hall-of-ocean-life/sperm-whale-and-giant-squid (for reference)

BTW...they also have a pacific peoples exhibit all tiki lovers should visit at least once. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/human-origins-and-cultural-halls/margaret-mead-hall-of-pacific-peoples

Sorry didn't mean for this to be a commercial :P

Wow is it hot! It's 8:30 PM and 102 degrees last time I turned on the weather channel. I'm going to add to the heat. I have turned on my kiln!

WaikikianMoeKele (:

ebtiki (:

hang10tiki (:

littlegiles the design is owned by Hale Tiki you'll have to think yours up like you did for the Temple of the Jaguar bowl.

Gene S Morgan I love carving. My mom gave me razor blades, knives and matches before I went to kindergarten. It made a huge difference in how I work with tools.

dartharnie I love that museum. When we visited there we were not yet tiki people so I don't remember this pacific peoples section. Maybe they didn't have it yet, it was more than 20 years ago.
I wish I could put a smile on that little face at the end of your sentence. I'm smiling at you right now (:

I bet Hale Tiki is loving the fact that you all like his design. I'm glad you all like it too. This is what the wish list is all about. You think it up and I'll make it.

It was getting hot fast.

7 AM up to beat the heat and get some sanding done.

Face mask plus I got ear guards when Dan started mowing the lawn.

I needed to get 8 sanded to fill the kiln. No way could I beat Dan, he was mowing fast.

I didn't carry these out on trays like this, too heavy. I put out the trays and then
carried tikis to set on them.

Dan dusted all the mugs for me.

I had to buy new posts since these tikis are so tall.

Bottom level.

Top level before I put in two secret mugs.

I hope my kiln will do alright in the heat. It should finish by 10 am tomorrow.

I hope you are all having a fun Saturday night. I really enjoyed reading all your comments, Wendy

W- are you sure you even need a kiln?
Just set them outside and let em bake...
:)

Jon

Jon it was hot but it only got to cone 015 outside today and those have to fire at cone 04 :lol:

Those are some tall posts Wendy! And great looking mugs too, may the kiln gods smile down on them.

Mad Dog- ill take a snow cone
:)

hang10tiki I was watching the weather report for Las Vegas yesterday. I think I could come to your home and fire them in your backyard.

MadDogMike I fired in the night and it is still going. I hope it will turn off by the time it hits 90 here. Did you use a cone for the 015? You could almost put gold on your work. Those posts are heavy but at least I'm not stacking posts which is scary.

hang10tiki snow cone or Hawaiian Ice. I think I need one. There is a machine called a small Snowey that makes the ice but the machine is expensive. I saw it on Storage Wars. They appraised it at $1500 but I looked it up and it was $250. Can't trust those shows.

I decided that I would work in a sauna yesterday. I went out to the garage. First Dan and I put the crawl tiki molds together and put them in the mold storage. I'm running out of room.

We were at the Cancer Society shop and I saw this toy. I haven't done potters wheel since I was in college and I thought it would be fun to try.

I made a lump of air free clay and slammed it down on the platform.

It didn't stick and my pot got all messed up. I tried wet clay, dry clay, nothing would stick. The clay that comes with the wheel wasn't in the box so I couldn't try that. I cleaned it back up and I'll re-donate it to the shop.

Next it was time to carve the detail into these two bowls.

This big flat bowl will hold the volcano of Tiki Island.

Along with the tapa design I did Tiki Island twice.

Next I worked on the Hula Girl bowl. I just shredded the outside.

All done.

Today is a no clay day. I'm going to work on the painting for Tiki Oasis 13. This Hulabilly theme is hard but I'll try to make it work. Wish me luck, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-06-30 08:30 ]

Very awesome mugs for Hale Tiki! We are all jealous! I like how the octopus wraps around the mug.

Storage Wars is totally fake. I hear that they plant items in the lockers for shock value. Whenever they are pricing video games I yell at the TV and say that is not what they go for! My friend got onto Pawn Stars, and it was just a publicity stunt. That show is also fake. No reality in reality TV...

Not hot here. I am lucky to live by the coast! :)

lunavideogames Hale Tikis ideas were really good, thank you for the kind comments on my part of the creations. We like both Storage Wars (Barry is sexy) and Pawn Stars. I guess it's more like Antique Roadshow.

Progress Report on the painting for Tiki Oasis 13

Lighting changes the colors dramatically. It is really dark red and black.

I started our yesterday by painting the foliage around the trees.

Sorry for the blurry photos. I next added the foreground and a fire in a pit.

McTiki did another tiki design that he has allowed me to use for the painting. I printed it out the size I wanted and used this silver pen to outline it on the canvas. Shortcuts really help.

The silver ran under the photo but it came off easily since I didn't wait to remove it.

It would have been best to paint the tiki black and then do highlights like Robb Hamel does his black velvets but with a black background I'll have to work it out with the dark added.

Here I've just roughed in the outline of the tikis body parts.

Hale Tikis mugs

His out of the bisque fire and washed. Nothing broke off so glazing is next.

Maddy's out of the bisque fire and washed. I really worried about parts exploding off this mug but if came out just fine.

This is a photo of the glazing instructions from Hale Tiki and the glazes I bought to do the trick.
My head was spinning after reading these and these are only for his mug!!!

I have one more load to sand for the crawl mugs so they can bisque fire then I'll be glazing the rest of the summer while I finish this painting.

Thank you for the visit, Wendy

I've been super busy with tiki stuff the past two weeks, lots of big news to follow, but I wanted to chime in and say again that the process was so much fun. And I definitely learned some things. You can't tell from the photos, but the Papua Loa Tiki mug fits BEAUTIFULLY in the hand. I'll have to take a photo, but I've never held another mug that just fit so nicely. And in person, it's gorgeous. Maddy's mug isn't quite as ergonomic, but it's beautiful. And the octopous tentacles look wonderful glazed. The story of what they're for will follow Wendy's posts :)

Oh, and here's a look at me over the weekend, with one of the reasons I've been so busy:

Goin primitive. I like how your hair is perfectly groomed Hale... :)

Wendy, I love the painting and am enjoying the ongoing saga of Hale's mugs.

Hale's mugs are some of your very best works Wendy
I need to see the glazed mug photos now!!!

And the full story on the mugs from Hale Tiki is better then any reality show could ever be!
you guys know how to ramp up the drama, man.

Another Wendy Severed Head on ebay. I wonder how much it will end up at...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200939418775?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

And I am sure people saw it but, an actual Ren Clark original version just finished today and sold for $1500.00! Too rich for my blood! I don't know if I will ever own that guy...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321148128530?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I too am excited to see the rest of Hale Tikis mug. That sketch of the glaze patterns looks crazy.

I used mine for the presentation that I was in full regalia for above. It was a severed head, a shrunken head, and a skull. Don't think the judges quite picked up on it, but that's what happens when your presentation is in Tok-pisin.

Wendy- love the painting
Hale- great pic
Wendy and Hale- your killin me, I need to see the mugs finished....
:)

Jon

Hale Tiki I really am having fun leading up to your big reveal and I'm not talking about the mugs. The photo is so much fun but really you should have messed up that perfect hair.

lunavideogames How should his hair been styled?

MadDogMike I'm so glad you like the painting so far. Hale Tikis story is a good one.

Atomic Tiki Punk did I have you wait long enough. When I was a kid my initials were the same as my dads. My mom would give me all the junk mail as if it were for me. I would carry it around and my mom asked me one day why I didn't open it up right away. I told that the anticipation was always the best part because what was inside always ended up being tossed out. Hale Tikis story will be a keeper even after I finish here. I'm glad we are getting to you

lunavideogames it's time for Hale Tikis mug reveal. Thank you for the link to my severed head. I have fun watching. I hope he at least gets his money back.

Hale Tiki I think everyone should photoshop different hair on your head in that photo.

hang10tiki I'm glad you like the painting too. Here comes some mug shots!

Hale Tikis mug reveal.

This will seem like a lot of photos of his mug but remember that I had to do each step three times. All these glazes required three layers. I just show you in these photos the first layer that I put on.

I started with the black glaze required in many areas.

I can't get it on in a thin enough line so after each time I painted it I would then rub some off with a wet paper towel. I did the bottom edge.

Side view after wiping.

I do glazing upside down too so I can check for any missed spots.

I kept his instructions right in front of me and read them over and over again.

All the black is done.

Now I moved on to a new color on the face and

an the drum designs.

Next the red was added to the front.

Now the tapa design got color.

Then I had to very carefully paint white glaze in all the rest of the areas.

I finished the bottom with the wrong month. We hadn't caught it yet.

All done. The tongue has dried and the rest will too.

Now it will be waiting until it is time to fire.

Maddy's mug. Here is where I messed up. I should have said no to his glaze choice for the background color but instead I said I would try to make it work. So I glazed her mug as requested.

Inside the mug I used the same color as requested for the outside. See all the crystals? These melt and run down making streaks. They don't stop running even if something like an octopus is in the way.

Paint and wipe, paint and wipe, paint and wipe.

Well that's it for today, more tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy

Wow the rocky look on the undersea mug looks very cool. The intricate design on Hale's mug is great! I bet you must have spent a lot of your free time making these two. But you still had time to do other projects. You are a tiki machine Wendy!

Wow Wendy. So many steps but you can already tell how beautiful they are going to be. I forsee problems in the future with that blue crystal glaze. I'm not psychic or anything, just noticed you mentioned that glaze a few times with this mug. :)

Just a technical question about applying the glaze. Is the problem putting the glaze on in thin lines a brush problem, or is the glaze just so thick it won't lay down in a thin line? Believe it or not, when I was doing porcelain dollhouse dolls, i used to apply china paint to the porcelain using a cat whisker. Nothing better for painting tiny lines and eyelashes. Probably also why I'm not practically blind and wear reading glasses. LOL

Love the progress photos. This is a very exciting project to follow.

• Dale

Sweet
Another great episode

Jon

Perfect haircut for any occasion. (That not GROG' head Photoshopped on there, but it is a TCer from Las Vegas. Can you guess who?)

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-07-02 22:25 ]

On 2013-07-02 22:11, GROG wrote:
Perfect haircut for any occasion. (That not GROG' head Photoshopped on there, but it is a TCer from Las Vegas. Can you guess who?)

HAH! I actually laughed very loudly at work when I saw this. Let the photoshopping begin!

(And in regards to the hair, I didn't have time to put together a proper head dress, and definitely don't have black, long, kinky hair, so I went with normal hairdo. And every once inawhile, my hair is as nice as it was in my younger days. That day happened to be one of those days, and didn't really go with the outfit, but then again neither did my pasty European self.)

Hmmmm

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-07-03 09:53 ]

On 2013-07-02 22:11, GROG wrote:
but it is a TCer from Las Vegas. Can you guess who?)

Yes, it was TikiPug's head. :D

[ Edited by: grog 2013-07-03 12:04 ]

lunavideogames all it takes is 7 days a week. I really enjoy doing these wish list requests and reading all the fun comments. It's a great life with Dan by my side helping. That glaze is beautiful for bowls and mugs that have no add-ons.

littlegiles you are intuitive. That became the blob from the old horror movie. Creeping and crawling across the landscape without stopping.

I found one of my cats whiskers and just like you I tried to paint with it. I think is it the type of glaze I use. It's not recommended that you add much water so it is hard to lay down thin lines.

hang10tiki and only minor re-runs when I'm doing a big run of mugs.

GROG I thought it was hang10tikis head. You fooled me. He looks great with a shaved head.

Hale Tiki your photo was too good to leave alone. This is fun art.

hang10tiki you can't go wrong with GROG on a stake.

hang10tiki did you think it was your head that GROG used?

GROG nicely done. You want to come here and glaze with me?

Fire up the kiln and cook Hale Tiki's mugs.

It was a joy to pack up this mug and send it on to Hale Tiki.

Now for the horror of Maddy's mug. I learned a lot so maybe I can spare you some of these troubles.

The story begins with the firing of Maddy's mug.

When I opened the kiln it looked great.

I picked it up and started an examination.

I found that some areas on the octopus didn't have enough glaze.

As I had told Hale Tiki the glaze had run. It covered the tikis face and went over the tentacles.

It ran so much that there were huge drips on the bottom of the mug.

Dan got out the dremmel and went to work.

After he ground off the drips he sanded the bottom smooth.

Not too bad but the date was wrong. I think by the time I sent this photo it had dawned on Hale Tiki that the month should be 6 (June).

I painted on more glaze and back in the kiln for a second firing.

More drips for Dan. The glaze continued to move and therefore became thinner on the mug.

After firing it twice the purple glaze began to pop off from the surface of the octopus.

I put on more glaze and

back in the kiln for a third time.

More drips to grind.

More glaze pops off.

Painted on more glaze and into the kiln for a fourth time.

After the forth firing a lot of purple glaze came off. I had even used a different purple but it didn't help.

I made a decision. I would have to accept failure and to start over again. The big event was coming soon so I needed to at least make this mug usable for the event.

I started off by using enamel paint to change the dates to June.

I used some dental instruments to pry off any glaze that was loose. In doing that I managed to pry off some of the suction cups. Now the mug was really worthless. I used this putty to rebuilt them.

I painted the entire Octopus and then baked the mug to set the enamel. Now I had a temporary back up mug.

I didn't want to fail. This special occasion was coming up fast. Could I possibly make this mug again in so short a time? I was going to try. I wanted the up coming event to come off perfectly. Now it was time to get back to work. I told Hale Tiki that I would have to pick out the non-moving background glaze this time around. He wished me luck.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-07-03 16:44 ]

NOOOOOOOooooooOOOOooooOOOooo!!!!!

The drama is killing me but I love it! I can't wait to see the new octopus mug.

Hale - I thought your picture was from Ohana at the Lake but the date's wrong so it must be Oasis.... When I saw it I thought, crap I didn't go this year and look what I missed. But I was wrong. LOL

:)
Lori

Edited cause I'm a moron.

[ Edited by: lorilovestiki 2013-07-03 20:01 ]

See!!! Glazing sucks!

See!!! Glazing sucks!

VERY NICE MUG HALE TIKI! I am jealous.

Sorry to hear about the trials and tribulations with the second mug. I bet it will have a happy ending though...

When Wemdy and Dan are involved, there's always a happy ending...OR IS THERE?

STAY TUNED FOR THE THRILLING CONCLUSION OF THE TIKI MUG BLUE GLAZE BLUES!!!

Wow- great colors
Sorry about the 2nd one
Grog hate glazing twice

Jon

Wow, talk about frustrating! that mug just didn't want to cooperate.
The octopus and friends look great despite all the troubles you're having.

Hale Tiki's mug turned out fantastic also.

His mug turned out amazing! Sorry to see the trials and tribulations on her mug. You had your concerns and your fears came true.

I can't wait to see what you ended up doing. This is quite the cliffhanger.

• Dale

Gorgeous Gorgeous Gorgeous...and I'm not just talking about Hale!!!