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

:)

hang10tiki your wife Janelle has always had an incredible body but wow I can see that since you lost the weight you do too. A strong and healthy couple, way to go.

=============================================

Progress Report on Tyber Tiki's wish.

Too make sure this is all going to fit I keep checking over and over again.

Whenever I leave for a moment when I come back Sherry has take my chair. There are four in the room but she always goes for mine.

Now I checked once more how this was going to be on the side of the mug.

First I attached the mouth using more clay.

Next the top of the head went on.I have to not only attach the head but fill in behind it.

At this point I'm about to destroy the nose and then to rebuild it again.

One step at a time while looking at the photograph.

It looks hopeless but it's not.

The nose is done.

Final check, there is still room for the body.

Now we are getting somewhere! Cheers, Wendy

Wow, progress on the new piece looks great!

Funny, a friend here in SD was a relative of the Korean BBQ owner at the IMP, who was supposed to move back to help him expand it- and we were talking of my joining him there. We worked as vendors next to each other for a while at a farmers' market here. Small world.

Thanks for the continued sharing of information re: clay, I always pick up something from each of your step by steps!

Jon, have fun out there in Paradise.

Wendy- made us blush
U rock
The update is great

More fun

Next stop

Asked for no vodka n extra rum

And a different mug

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2015-01-06 22:40 ]

Loving the photos hang10tiki. You are so good to us all to share these terrific photos. I haven't been there since 2006 and it looks the same except for the International Marketplace. I hope you still have more days there to share. Thank you. Keep blushing because you both look wonderful.

========================================

Tyber Tiki your wish is another step forward.

Working from a couple of photos is a challenge. I keep looking for things I've missed as far as doing this basic shape. Guess what he has cheeks! He needs some clay.

So first I added his right cheek and

then I added his left cheek.

Now I'm starting on his upper body.

Next his arms.

Then his shoulders and club.

Smoothed some and time to quit for the day.

Photos are wonderful because they can help you identify problems with your work. When I post I often see something that is "off". I looked here then at the sculpt and then at the photo supplied for this Wish. Yep I made the nose too large in comparison. I need to go back and fix that soon.

Thank you hang10tiki for livening up the thread. Your photos leave me breathless and longing to visit Oahu.

Cheers, Wendy

Ummmmm... does anyone see a resemblance here?

:wink:

Wendy - Good job. I like watching your methodical approach. Your definitely showing us the value of being patient.

Hang10 - Thanks for posting the photos of La Mariana and Geckoz work...really enjoyed seeing what it looks like.

Wendy- wow, this one gets better every day
Ano- you almost made me spit out my coffee
But I dont think I look like Grog at all :)
RVic- :)

These were the last 2 stops yesterday

Almost forgot

Grabbed this at La Mariana

Great progress Wendy! I agree with RVictor your methodical approach is fun to watch and viewing your thread is always a highlight of my evening.

Hang10tiki - Love the La Mariana mug and thanks so much for posting your Hawaii photos...its a nice virtual escape for us stuck in the frigid and snow covered east coast. Here's a pic from the DC area yesterday...nice, eh?

[ Edited by: Tyber Tiki 2015-01-07 15:01 ]

Wendy,

I am loving the step by steps! I can't wait to see it all carved up.

Jon - keep the pics coming! It's gonna be 8 degrees in NJ tomorrow. La Mariana - loved it!!! :)

Tyber- a few Mai-TaiS to brighten your day

Cheers

Lori- posting at the same time I see

The next drink is for u

:)

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2015-01-07 18:16 ]

Royal Hawaiian
All 4 Mai-Tai's
Don's
Royal
Trader V
Scratch

End of day 3

Oops, Grog popped again at La Mariana... with a certain arrow pointing ... something out. :)

Jon, have fun, and please get some great food at the Health Bar! (http://www.diamondheadcove.com/). Good, cheap, healthy, cool.

Wendy, go go go! Getting some good pointers from watching you build this piece!

[ Edited by: TikiAno 2015-01-08 09:46 ]

Thanks Jon!

Love the mai tais. Glad you're enjoying a lot of them!!!!

First of all where's GROG. Doesn't he know he's missing out on being a guest star of the show?

Thank you all for the wonderful photos, photoshops and comments about Tyber Tiki's ongoing wish.

I had typed a lot here and then my jacket brushed the pad and erased it all. So I'm just doing it
here really quick.

Lori I've never been in 8 degree weather. Burrrrrrr. hang10tiki I've never drunk a Mai Tai but I love seeing your drink glasses and trip. RVICTOR and Tyber Tiki I like the word you used but I can't recall it right now!

Tiki Ano, that's so cool that I might have met you at the Korean Barbeque if you'd said yes.

=========================================================

Continuing on with Tyber Tikis Wish.

It was time to work on beefing up the arms and carving the hands.

In the photo his right hand holding the club is much smaller than the left hand.

I couldn't make it that small but it is a bit smaller than the other hand.

When working on these I have to make sure they can be molded without trapping plaster. That's why some parts look different.

One more step is done and I'm moving on to the next step.
The change in the hand size caused a domino effect that I will share tomorrow.

I appreciate you all very much. I try to make this fun for you and recently it's been you making it way more fun for both Dan and I. Thank you all. Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Great progress, and you most definitely do make this fun for us to watch. I really appreciate you taking on my wish list request and I am sure any and all of your artistic interpretations will be fantastic.

Hang10Tiki...Have you and your gal happened upon Arnold's Tiki bar on Saratoga Rd, near Hale Koa? Tiny dive tiki bar, definitely worth stopping by for at least one drink.

Tyber Tiki

Lori- :)
Wendy- those hands look great
Tiber- on the way there now :)

Tyber Tiki, thank you for understanding that I can't make a duplicate of the photo. I'll do my best to make it something special that you'll approve of... or not!

hang10tiki thank you for checking in and sharing during your vacation.

==============================================

ebtiki we wish you a speedy recovery. If you don't follow him on facebook you may not know that he's building his tiki room in his basement. He tripped over a floor mat and fell breaking his left wrist. He was bound up until surgery today.

Iv first and then time to get a metal plate.

I had this same problem a couple of years ago. I hope they do as well for him as they did for me. I have no problems.

Get well Eric so you can be back to work on your room.

=====================================================

Back to the progress on Tyber Tikis Wish. Here's several days of work in photos.

Time to finish up. Here's the domino effect. I made the hands similar in size and that meant that the little tikis head had to tip the opposite direction. I hope that's not going to cause a curse or worse.

Next I worked on the body. I kept checking the photo for size.

Next up were the hands.

I carved them. So small.

Checking size with the leg photos in place I had to adjust the elbows inward and then get the knees right below them.

Next I did his knees and

then I worked on his right leg and foot.

I checked the sizes again.

Now the left knee, leg and foot.

Time to check again.

Overhead lighting shows the depth better.

Here's a side view.

Now it was time for plastic surgery on the nose. This is plastic clay so I can say that.

I reduced it to match the photos size but it doesn't show much in this photo.

I added a bit of detail to the little tikis face to see how it would mold.

So what I have done is made a structure of the tiki without it's carving detail. To make something this large I used soft sculpting clay. It's lousy for detail.

After I have molded and cast this tiki I will hand carve it like I do all the super carved Tiki Bob's. So next up
Dan and I will be making the largest mold we have ever made. 23 inches tall and 10 inches wide. My guess is that it will weigh around 30 pounds.

Wish us luck! Wendy

WOW!

All I can say is wow. Your work is AMAZING!!!!!

Seriously. So much fun to watch!

Wendy- wow, the sculpture looks great
EBtiki- heal up fast bra, u have a great collection, we need pics

Yesterday's fun:

Plus or minus a few drinks
Lol

Just noticed, almost 400 pages
Awesome

Today's fun
1 stop as recommend by Tyber Tiki :)

LoriLovesTiki you all keep me going with comments like that one. Thank you so much. I really like all the challenges that come with opening a Wish List.

hang10tiki Eric is on the mend just frustrated that he had so much to do when this happened.

That's so cool that you went to the place Tyber Tiki told you about. It's so much fun to explore.

Thank you for all the fun photos. Janelle is just so darn cute she should be on a mug. You two have a lot of fun together and it shows. I liked the goofy face photos but Dan liked Janelle's best!

Almost 400 pages! Thank you for noticing IT MUST BE TIME FOR A CONTEST! I'll think one up and post it tomorrow.

======================================

Here's something interesting. Dan likes this style of carving where once the body is done it's painted black and then the detail is carved to show the lighter wood underneath.

In Dan's collection he has them from Tahiti and Ghana! Now how did that happen?

======================================

Progress Report on Tyber Tiki's HUGE Maori mug/lamp.

If you have been comparing what I've done with the photo you may have noticed that the side detail is missing.

Stepping back a week I did start to make the side decorations.

I got this far when I decided that I'd rather not try to mold these. So I stopped before I'd gotten very far and

took them all back off. I will add them to Tyber Tikis and then for future casts as the style dictates.

Now the this basic Maori has been completed it was time to measure how large the parts for the mold box would need to be made. Then it was off to Home Depot to find the wood and then

to have it cut. Once at home Dan assembled the sides so we'd be ready to start the mold process.

===========================================

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll come up with a contest tomorrow. Maybe by then I'll be on page 400! Depends on what you all do here today. Any baby photos Tiki Ano? Hawaii hang10tiki, kitchen LoriLovesTiki, post surgery ebtiki, Munktiki collection kingstiedye, my art displayed Mondo-by-the-bay, photo of your tiki bar lunarvideogames, your girls dartharnie, selfie of Atomic Tiki Punk or or or... any photos are OK with me, let's have fun.

The more that is posted today the better the prize will be for the contest tomorrow.

Cheers, Wendy

Janelle was smiling when she saw the mug comment

That new tiki is Huge.....

Ever seen a grown man cry?
Saw a post on Craig's list
Couldn't believe what I saw
I sent a text to see if they were still available
Reply was "no, sold them today"
Nooooooooooooooooooooo
:(

I only hope someone on TC got them so we can see where they end up

Here's what I saw:

howzabout a wendy cevola collection pic instead.

Wendy,

You should be happy you've never experienced 8 degree weather! It was MUCH warmer today - 21 degrees! Tomorrow will be balmy, about 32! And I only live in New Jersey. I'm glad I don't live in Buffalo or Syracuse or CANADA!!! Those people know snow & cold!

I don't have any good pictures to post. :( Sorry to disappoint. I'll get on it......

:)
Lori

Edited to add - I posted a picture on the art swap thread. Hope that lessens your disappointment in me!

[ Edited by: LoriLovesTiki 2015-01-10 18:57 ]

Lori- :)

Loving how it's looking so far Wendy! Your lighted picture highlighting the Maori's depth really provides a great perspective. This is going to be awesome!

Hang10Tiki - Glad you found Arnolds as it is rather tucked away from the street front. Your photos continue to impress!

kingstiedye I would have to say that this photo is an all time favorite of mine. It's really special to be in your collection.

LoriLovesTiki I saw your artwork on the Swap page. That's going to be so cute.

You are right. I'm a whimp having grown up in the Sacramento Valley of California. 32 degrees and we run around cold proofing our outdoor plumbing.

hang10tiki - hang10

Tyber Tiki I'm so happy you approve so far. It's been a fun project and a challenge.

It's funny that the Crawl mug I did for 2014 was for Albert's Tiki Village and now you show us there was also and Arnold's.
It was so much fun to see hang10tiki and Jonelle go there.

====================================================================================================================

I said yesterday that there would be a contest today and the prize would be based on how many people posted photos. I've decided that it will be based instead on how many posted a note. In addition to that the contest is now ended and the four who wrote will each win a prize.

I had Dan line the four prizes up for a photo and they will be awarded now in the order of the messages.

kingstiedye has won the Tiki Bob

LoriLovesTiki has won the seashell

hang10tiki has won the Honu (a coincidence since he has the Honu Lounge)

Tyber Tiki has won the puffer fish

Congratulations I'll be contacting you about how I will send your prizes.

==================================================================================================================

I'll be posting photos later today and the progress steps for Tyber Tiki's wish. Cheers, Wendy

With the end of the contest I have now started page 400! That's really fun for me. Thank you all for making it possible.

Cheers, Wendy

PS ebtiki I sure hope you feel better each day

Wendy!!
I'm just getting caught up with your thread - I'm touched and humbled that you've included me.
The Wife and I bought a c. 1954 ranch house a few years ago and hoped to create a tiki room in the basement, but flooding the following spring put an end to that. Last week we started painting our back room, hoping to create a tiki space - that'll now have to wait until spring.
As for my wrist, I slipped on a new door mat (it reads "Selling something? Try the neighbors") and broke my fall with my arm. (Putting my arm down kept me from hitting my head on a concrete block, so I can't complain too much.) The surgery went well, my pain level is manageable, and I'm hopeful for a speedy recovery. Finally got some sleep last night, which was welcome. (The door mat has been relegated to the garage.)
Thanks, everyone, for your kind thoughts!
Cheers! e.

Wow! Way cool Wendy! Thanks for the shell necklace! I love it. I'll bring it to me when I go to Ohana By the Sea in October and anywhere else I go before that.

Congrats on the 400 pages! Very nice. :)

I decided while carving my Hawaiian shirt platter for the swap that I need carving lessons! I have a hard time making my lines smooth and getting the little crumbles out of the grooves. I know I have a hard time determining "leather hard" but I think I might need more tools! So far I've carved with a clay carving tool, a wooden clay carving tools, both from school plus a tiny screw driver, a paperclip and a pencil. I'm hoping my friend the art teacher has something that looks more like a dentist's tool that I've seen you use. I'm almost completely done with the carving. Next up - stressing about the glazing!

ebtiki you are a good friend. You are also on the Ohana Infirmary page started by Vampiress RN. Thank you for letting everyone know your whole story. Will you be in the case for 6 weeks or longer? I got one of those arm covers at the drug store so I could shower easily. I was so excited to see you start your room. Now you can just fine tune all your plans. Best wishes for a good recovery.

LoriLovesTiki my favorit tool is a sharp wire in the shape of a triangle. I use a paint brush to clean up the carving lines or you can wait until it drys and run through the lines again and then sand it. The shirt looks wonderful.

===============================================

It's time to mold Tyber Tiki's HUGE Maori mug/lamp. This is a base, all the fine carving will come after I begin to case these. This will be the largest we have ever done. I took many photos so I'll post a section each day until I finish. This will be a teaching tool for those of you wanting to make your own. Feel free to copy and paste these photos. I started by making a big card with photos on it so we didn't forget a step. Especially MOLD soap between the plaster pieces.

Here goes Tyber Tiki.

This is what I'm molding. Here starts the step by steps.

After the last time we made a mold I stored all the used clay in these containers. That saves it all for the next time.

We had leftover snakes saved so this time we just lay them on a table and sprayed them with water to keep them soft. I did this spraying every half hour as the day progressed.

The day before Dan used the wood from Home Depot to build the side pieces for the mold box. We put it together here with clamps. There isn't a need for a bottom piece so we didn't cut one this time. I've eliminated that step from my mold making process.

At Toys R Us I found the absolutely best children's toy block sets. They do not absorb water and they can be cut to any size needed.

These blocks save me so much time and they are reusable. Instead of a layer of clay I use as many blocks as possible to hold the mug and to support the clay that seals the tiki for casting.

Backing up a second the room has been set up with tarps and a plastic lined waste can in case I mess up and have a liquid plaster leak. Yes that has happened in the past. Each time we make a mold we learn a better way to accomplish each step.

We also have the plaster, the water to mix in and a water bucket to clean the mixer in immediately after mixing. If not spun in water ASAP it will harden on the blades and is not fun to clean off.

Now I start to press clay around the tiki. Using soft, not mushy, clay is best.

The dents are locks to keep pieces from sliding sideways when you are casting in the future. I've run snakes up the corners of the box.

Here's my best hint. To prevent leaks I take a very damp paper towel and I run it along all the places where the clay joins the tiki and the box. This makes the seal between the two much better. Since I started doing this I have not had a single leak when molding.

I am very careful not to miss a place.

Even up the corners of the box. I forgot to take photos of adding clay to the two black end pieces. They had to also have snakes to seal them to the box.

There are a couple of things going on here that are strange to mold making. One is the top and the other is the bottom. A mold only has to be 2 inches thick to pull out water when casting. But the top and bottom here will have more like 6. First this doesn't hurt anything. This happened for two reasons.

1. When you cast often you have to keep returning to top off the slip so that the cast will be as thick at the top as at the bottom. I thought if I had a very deep top before it reaches the tiki I could fill it up and not have to return to fill it up every half hour. We'll see if that works.

2. The last piece for the bottom is very small and if a mold is going to leak it will be around this piece. However it the piece is thicker then the slip will harden in a leak path before it gets out. If this is true then it makes casting so much easier.

Time will tell if these were good ideas.

We are now ready to do the next step. Hopefully you all will be back here tomorrow. Any questions or comments so far?

Cheers, Wendy

PS hang10tiki you must be home recuperating from all the fun, we are missing your photos

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2015-01-12 10:30 ]

excellent tutorial, wendy. thanks for the tiki bob prize!

Congrats on 400 pages Wendy, and here's to 400 more!

Thank you so much for the puffer fish necklace, it looks beautiful and we will enjoy it!

Your posts are so informative and interesting to follow, the process is really eye opening for the artistically challenged, such as myself. Cant wait for tomorrow's post :)

Cheers!

Tyber Tiki

Wendy,

I am loving this step by step. I have watched them all before and every time I think "one day I'm going to make a mold!" One day I will and it will all because of you.

Is this similar to your favorite tool?

Sweet, a Honu necklace
Thank you Wendy
Awesome

Lori- great update, Lookin good

Wendy- that is a monster huge Tiki
Going to be HEAVY
:)

kingstiedye once you have it I'll need a new photo of your two shelves with it added. Thank you teaching is fun.

Tyber Tiki Thank you too. It's the largest mold we have ever made. Fingers crossed that it will work out.

LoriLovesTiki your tool is very large. My favorite tool is in this photo with my finger pointing to it. They come in kits of 6 that vary. They are metal. Don't ever buy the one shown in wood. They snap. I bought a bunch and broke 6 in one day.

hang10tiki very heavy because I like everything cast with thick walls. Welcome home.

======================================================

Look above the four winners have written again. Sorry no contest tonight!!!

======================================================

Part II on the mold tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy

The final pics

Wendy, thanks for the step by step. Always helpful to watch you go through mold making, and I love the updated photos! I might be making a mold soon (shhhh).

Lori, waiting a bit to let the clay dry up helps you carve sharper lines- from the looks of it your clay is still pretty wet. I AM impressed at how clean the lines look. I learned to wait wait wait and then carve. Just watch the color of the clay that Wendy works with and you can might be able to see the difference in the water content.

Wendy, funny, I broke through two of the metal carving triangles- on the wire cutting part. I upgraded to the wooden Kemper one (the one with the darker wood handle) and it's a champ! Perhaps I waited until the clay was too dry when I broke those two tools, but still... :)

In any case, Tiki Ari had a great time cuddling with the beanie babies- here he is cracking up about something:

Can't wait to see that mold finished- though I feel bad for Dan having to move that thing around! Ha.

OMG. Great pic

We saw your lil dude all over Oaho

the arnolds pic made me laugh out loud. good stuff!