I made a mug....well with VanTiki's help

On my most recent birthday I got to cross two "firsts" off my list...I finally visited Oahu and I got to make a "tiki" mug...with my good friend VanTiki.

I couldn't of asked for a better way to spend my birthday then spending time with VanTiki and his wife and the icing on the trip was getting to create any type of mug I wanted with a master mug maker.

Van let me choose whatever I wanted to as the mug design (this was more intimidating than one may think when you are in his studio btw!) and after some debating we decided on skulls with pompadours so we could use them at Tiki Oasis this year for the Hulabilly theme (don't steal our idea people!)

Sure skulls aren't "tiki" but considering I plan to drink rum out of it once its finished that works for me!

Here are a few views of the mugs we made prior to glazing--which Van is going to take care of and surprise me with the finished piece when I see him in August .

I thought I would share the before glaze photos and i hope to add the completed pics once Oasis is over.

I didn't take as many photos as Wendy does when she makes her clay masterpieces but you can get the idea :

Van's is on the left and mine is on the right


He cleaned mine up a bit and made the curl tighter so it didn't have so much space inside it

Henrik is an amazing teacher and making a mug with him was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Thanks again Henrik for making my birthday such a memorable one and thank you again for being so willing to share your mug making skills with me.

I am so glad we are friends! It seriously was the best birthday I ever had :)

Wow!!! That is super cool. I will be looking for that mug at Oasis.

I think you should keep going. You did a great job. I can't tell which was his and which was yours. They both look great. I'm happy your birthday was so special. Hugs, Wendy

That is wicked cool Liz!

Happy Birthday! Now that is hilarious, love it can't wait to see how they glaze. You sure that is your first one? That is pretty dang good for a first try! :) Side note: now I understand where Egon's hair on the Real Ghostbusters cartoon came from...didn't know that was what a pompadour was. :lol:

Hahahaha. I was going to say the same thing. Egon for the win.

And the mugs do look awesome. Will the straw/liquid go in the curl?!

On 2013-05-15 05:00, Hale Tiki wrote:
And the mugs do look awesome. Will the straw/liquid go in the curl?!

Thank you for the kind words y'all :)

Hale Tiki I should of mentioned that this was the first day. On the second once they hardened we--ok Henrik--sliced off a section across the back of the sculpt so we will be drinking out of the back of the head.

The curl on mine got refined somewhat so it looked less open -- how funny that they match the Ghostbusters cartoon!

Henrik plans on glazing the hair glossy black, the skulls (which we added cracks too) will be bone and they are sitting on bands that will be red kind of like Elvis's scarf.

It was pretty amazing to watch it all come together over a short period of time. I have never made a mug before but his process obviously produced some really great results. I can't wait to see the finished product.

On 2013-05-15 08:54, SandraDee wrote:
Hale Tiki I should of mentioned that this was the first day.

SHOULD 'VE or SHOULD HAVE---not "should of"
----the Spelling Police

Fun stuff. GROG want to do clay jam with Vantiki, too!

A Tiki T.C.B.

(Elvis used to wear a TCB neckless-Taking Care of Business)

On 2013-05-15 10:25, GROG wrote:

On 2013-05-15 08:54, SandraDee wrote:
Hale Tiki I should of mentioned that this was the first day.

SHOULD 'VE or SHOULD HAVE---not "should of"
----the Spelling Police

Fun stuff. GROG want to do clay jam with Vantiki, too!

Should HAVE, could HAVE and Did :) You know for a caveman you are really good with grammar! :)

If you can't make it to Oahu I know Henrik comes to California a few times a year for races (marathons) so you should talk to him at Oasis and set a jam up for the future. I would love to see what you came up with.

On 2013-05-15 10:44, SandraDee wrote:

On 2013-05-15 10:25, GROG wrote:

On 2013-05-15 08:54, SandraDee wrote:
Hale Tiki I should of mentioned that this was the first day.

SHOULD 'VE or SHOULD HAVE---not "should of"
----the Spelling Police

Fun stuff. GROG want to do clay jam with Vantiki, too!

You know for a caveman you are really good with grammar! :)

You get good really fast when you have to carve into a stone tablet :D

That's awesome, great mug and sounds like it was a great time. hmmm, hulla-billy.... gotta remember that :wink:

I hope you'll be taking more photos and posting updates!

Look at you go, Ms Dee!

Don't let Oasis go by without me seeing what you've done.

Bowie

Thanks again for all the postive feedback!

Unfortunately since the mug is still in Oahu at Henrik's shop (since he will be finishing it) I don't have any other photos now BUT after Oasis I will post the complete pictures just for posterity sake :)

Bowana my friend I cannot wait to see you at Oasis (if not before) xoxox

Love what happens on VanTiki island....

That is just the COOLEST birthday experience! What a fantastic idea. :) :) :)

Glad you enjoyed the heck out of your day and great job on the mug! Thanks for sharing. Please be sure to update the thread with your finished product come August.

Just saw this thread!

It was a ton of fun making the pomp-a-skulls! I plan on making one more BIG one for oasis. I'm thinking complete with a lower jaw, bigger hair, and (possibly) life sized. The mugs safely dried (no cracks), and I totally forgot to bisque fire them last week with the tiles. That is what happened when you don't check your drying rack before closing the kiln lid and throwing the ON switch. I'll most likely bisque them in a few weeks along with some of the other sculpts taking shape in the studio. I'll be sure to post pictures of the process Wendy! :)

SandraDee's mug getting details added on day 2:

My mug after the final detailing. You can just barely see how we added a hole to drink out of in the hair:

The mugs hiding on my drying shelf. I promise not to overlook them in the next bisque firing!

Mahalo,
Henrik "VanTiki"

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2013-05-20 14:08 ]

Thanks for posting more pics Henrik!

You have about 88 days to complete them (give or take a day or two) so no worries there !

I appreciate you doing all the final parts of the process that I can't help with...and I can't wait to see them in August!

I also can't wait to see this large size skull you are describing - sounds killer!

On 2013-05-20 14:28, SandraDee wrote:
You have about 88 days to complete them (give or take a day or two) so no worries there !

I AM TOTALLY FREAKING OUT ABOUT HOW CLOSE OASIS IS!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

We are totally excited that it is so close. But I'm freaking out on making the Sacramento Crawl mug so I know the feeling. See you there Sandra Dee and Van Tiki, hugs, Wendy

Someone just reminded me I should finish this topic with completed images of the mug I made with Henrik back in March.

Henrik and his wife vended at Oasis this year and they were nice enough to bring my completed mug with them.

It turned out pretty great!!

Henrik sold his version of the similar mug on Ebay for $300+ ....wonder what mine would go for? :wink:

Kidding, I won't ever sell it...its too cool of a birthday gift...so if you happen to have bought Henrik's versions you should pm me so we can meet up and drink booze out of our "Hulabones" together :)

Thanks again guys for the awesome birthday and the awesome mug making experience!

[ Edited by: SandraDee 2013-09-13 23:09 ]