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

Beautiful work! (As always!) Love those girls!! :)

hang10tiki and LoriLovesTiki this girl appreciates your comments. Thank you.

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

Finishing off the Hula Girl Hot Tubs.

I painted white under-glaze to make the top rim very white. Three layers.

Then I covered it with clear glaze, two layers.

Now all 6 tops are done.

I like to glaze the bottoms of my mugs so I started with them and let them dry.

Then the sides.

I put them outside to dry fast in the sun and wind so that I could fire them.

Into the kiln.

Two days later they are cool and ready to come out.

Onto trays.

Here's the bottom shelf before and

After firing.

Everything that needs enamel paint is now in my messy studio waiting.

Dan and I are taking a break. I think I will still be posting but it depends on what type of play days we have. I know some of you have been patiently waiting for your mugs.

In June I will schedule visits with:

LloydAlohahaha
Wood Tiki
IDoVooDoo
VanceKlinke

All your mugs and done and ready for pickup. Closer to June we'll figure out when you can all come for a visit and to bring me MONEY!!!

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

That leaves Wish List #5 projects still in the works for:

LoriLovesTiki problem still with the glaze moving into the white face
Kenneth G. McNeil doing a complete remake
Jen Tiki came out pretty good, we'll talk

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

So signing off for now and keeping my 37 year long marriage happy by sometimes doing what Dan likes to do.

Cheers, Wendy

The spaceship is amazing Wendy. I can't wait to see it in person at Oasis. And i love the hula girl hot tubs. I might have to put my name down for one of those when you start your next wish list.

In regards to the mess you need to clean up (or rather Dan has to) after pouring out the glaze from the hot tubs, i had the same issue glazing the inside of my Bob'O'Nuts. One thing i tried, which didn't work perfectly but did help a little, was taping some masking tape around the outside edge. The tape doesn't stick very well to the bisque though so maybe you could try wrapping a plastic bag tightly around the coconut and then taping that together.
Because you have the girls inside the mug i honestly have no suggestions as to how to avoid getting glaze on them, unless you try masking them off too.

One other thing, i do recall either being told or reading somewhere that you should never glaze the entire piece, you should leave some bisque exposed so that any gases that might still be in the ceramic, that didn't come out in the bisque firing, can escape (to avoid blowing up). Although you obviously haven't had any problems with that happening, it might be something to keep in mind.

[ Edited by: swizzle 2015-05-15 02:14 ]

Those coconuts are great! I like the glaze inside, like she's sitting in the pool. What is the glaze you used outside the coconuts? Looks great!

Killer coconuts.............

Day 1 in the books at Caliente
Wish you guys were here

Wendy - Today I found a sturdy box outside my door and all I can say is Wow! It is one thing to look at a picture on a computer screen but to hold and examine my new Tiki Bob is enchanting. Your attention to detail and obvious care is apparent, right down to the photo you enclosed that documents it as an official Cevola. You are a Tiki Angel and I plan on owning more of your work in the future.

In appreciation -
JohnnyVelvet

Who can keep up with the tornado that is the Wendy and Dan show? Busy as always I see.... awesome stuff Wendy!

:(

Drats!

Love the kiln openings (yes, I'm a few days' back).

Jon, Caliente looked like a blast, sorry to miss it! Will see you soon at Oasis... if not before.

Dan is one lucky guy...

Wendy, the Huge Maori Lamp is simply amazing! Unfortunately the day it arrived was the same day I found out that my father had collapsed and was rushed to he hospital. Needless to say I only had a few minutes with the lamp prior to my emergency travel. Fast forward a few days...dad is home and doing well after having two stents placed in two clogged arteries...and I am back home drooling over the Maori Lamp, Tiki Bob Statue, and Pufferfish necklace!

While I know it's been said a thousand times...pictures just don't do your incredible art justice. The visual depth and tactile nature of your work can only be truly experienced in person. However, I'll do my best with the following pics so that the folks can see how the Maori lamp turned out.

Here is the Maori lamp together with the family :)

The bamboo lamp shade, stem and pull were from an old lamp that no longer worked. A quick trip to Home Depot for the lamp wiring assembly...and we have light.

Again, pictures just do not do your work justice. The incredibly detailed carvings held me mezmorized for quite some time. Here is a close up to hopefully show off the front Maori carving just a bit

The Maori has an incredible feel and massive look to it. Here are a few photos from various angles that hopefully show just how massive this Maori Lamp is.

Wendy, thanks again for taking on my wish list item. We are so excited to have this Maori Lamp as the center piece of our rooftop/loft lounge. We cant wait for wish list #6.

Tyber Tiki

Tyber- glad your Dad is ok
The lamp looks great
:)

Thanks Hang10tiki! He's doing much better, which is a big relief.

Me and Miss Tyber Tiki really liked your Caliente photos. Especially this one...

Freakin' awesome Tiki and great expression on your faces!

Tyber Tiki

That's our friend Chris
I was taking the picture
:)

But I'm sure I had the same look on my face...

I am sadly behind on this post, but the set three years (or so) in the making, Island Night Bob and a pair of Island Night Fogcutters, arrived safely in the Tiki Wastelands.

The work is everything those of us fortunate enough to get our hands on Wendy's art know to expect.

Thanks, Wendy and Dan, for continuing to keep up the Happiest Thread on TC.

ProfG- those kick ars......

Yep the Wendy withdraws have started
:(

Hi friends, we just drove home from San Francisco this morning after a 37th wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow) cruise to Alaska. I am overwhelmed with all these terrific posts and I will respond as soon as we do laundry, buy groceries and pay our bills.

First I'll share photos of the trip. Then I'll start posting the progress on the Sacramento Crawl mug (my best mug ever) and I'll finish off contacting everyone about their wish list projects.

I'll also respond to these super fun posts made while we were playing hooky. Thank you all for keeping my thread alive while we were gone. I appreciate you all so very much. Wendy

Happy 37th....................

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

Hello friends, I got up an hour ago because I couldn't breath. I caught a cold on the last day of our trip. That's so lucky because I didn't miss out on any of the fun parts. However when Dan put a suitcase up high in the closet he broke a light. I walked in barefoot and now I have a piece of glass I can't get out of my toe. So it's time to go to the doctor. Since it's too early for that I'll catch up on posting which will be a bright time in a anniversary day that it starting out in the dumps. Dan however is fine.

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

swizzle we are going to Tiki Oasis to see you and all our other friends. One year off was enough to make us feel the need to show up again.

I never thought of trying to mask the coconuts. I think I'll give it a try next time.

In all the books I've read I never came across the information about leaving a place for gas to escape. I do use a 20 minute hold at the end of bisque to make sure I get the maximum shrinkage. Maybe that's why I haven't had problems. I have glazed a lot of pieces completely.

I'm glad you like my newest pieces. Thank you.

Woodtiki it is a Duncan CY glaze called Iron Ore. It's a favorite for coconuts.

hang10tiki I wish Dan were more tolerant of heat. This was his favorite vacation because it never got passed 70 and most of the time it was in the 50's and 60's.

The photos are terrific. I love seeing you all enjoy Caliente. I miss this event but the photos help so much. It's fun to see my friends all having a good time together.

johnnyvelvet reading your comments made me feel really good. Thank you so much. I do care about sending out quality tikis. I hope they are all still around after Dan and I are long gone.

hang10tiki fun fun fun. You can never share enough for us all to enjoy.

tigertail777 Even though I'm ill today I'm going to go to work on tikis. I think tikis all the time even when in Alaska! You too work hard and your paintings are wonderful. I hope you'll start posting here again so we can all enjoy your work.

LoriLovesTiki your poor Tiki Bob has the droops. I'm going to work on him and the Hula Girl Hot Tubs today and then I'll post photos.

TikiAno guess what we are going to Tiki Oasis!!! So I hope we can pick up our order of 4 big bags of your hot chocolate mix. We still have never found one that tastes as good as yours. Dan loves to add it to his coffee. So I'll see you at Oasis.

Tyber Tiki you gave me the best ever challenge and I learned so much taking this on. I absolutely love all the photos and seeing it where it will be enjoyed. I've already gotten another order for another one for Wish List #6. It's a joy to carve these making each one unique. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the time you spent to fulfill my wish.

What I learned in 34 years at a big city hospital is that when a person survives the first heart attack and then follows all the doctors advice they will live longer than the rest of us. We wish him well and the determination to keep fighting for more days on earth.

hang10tiki (:

Tyber Tiki (:

hang10tiki (:

Professor G gosh I'm smiling so big that it hurts! I'm so happy that they came out so well.

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

All the projects taught me new techniques that I'll be using in the future. Thank you all for not only collecting my art but for being such great friends. I hope that someday there will be events where we can meet up for hugs. Meanwhile thank you all for a busy Wish List #5.

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

Here are the first 5 days of our 11 day cruise. WooHooWahinie is our travel agent and not only did she set us up for this wonderful anniversary trip she sent us a pair of binoculars so that we could look out at eagles and distant waterfalls from our rooms balcony. Thank you WooHoo for a perfect trip.

I always choose the photos to share based on goofiness or if I look better than I really do. Dan always looks good!

We left our home and drove for 3 hours through bumper to bumper traffic to get to the port in San Francisco.

On the way we got to see how they are dismantling the Bay Bridge section by section. They are half way done.

After we got off the new Bay Bridge I was able to snap this photo. It's a beautiful bridge with many problems to fix. It didn't fall apart when we crossed so we were happy.

We found parking and in the distance we could see our ship the Celebrity Infinity.

The cruise just before ours had an outbreak of Noro Virus. We were delayed in boarding while they finished the decontamination of the ship. The steps they took to prevent this from happening on our cruise were extraordinary.

Once we boarded we had to wait for our room. We went up on deck and were hit with a chilling wind.

We could see the pyramid building which is supposed to be earthquake safe. It had huge springs at street level.

On the other side we could see Coit Tower where a wife would sit and look at Alcatraz Island where her husband was incarcerated.

After we got our room we went to dinner. Our assigned seats were perfect.

Right behind me was a huge window and the captains table.

This was the view while we were leaving the Port of San Francisco.

We traveled under the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is our 37th anniversary photo.

We left the bridge behind and headed towards Alaska.

The next day at sea was still freezing and we are just off the coast of California.

At dinner I posed Dan so that it looked like he was wearing the Statue of Liberty hat.

This is Dan and Steve and

Larry and I doing a photo bombing. We are convincing them to become tiki people after 11 days together at meals.

The next day at sea we got to go to a 45 minute party at the Captains Club. I drank champagne with Dan and we toasted to 37 years of bliss together!

Our first stop was in Ketchikan, Alaska. This is a really cute little city with lots of places to walk and explore. As always too many tourist souvenir shops.

We had a tour. The first stop was at a bird sanctuary. This eagle lives there because it has a deformed beak and would stave in the wild.

We went to the cultural center to see some huge totem poles.

Dan poses well.

After the tour ended we walked the city. We found a fun bar but when we looked inside there weren't any Totems. Tiki bars are much better decorated.

This is the famous Creek Street.

I think this sign explains it well.

I think this is the street where married men snuck to the next street, you guessed it, Creek street.

The day ended with two glowing eyes over the island as the sun set.

The next day we took the small boat to Icy Strait Point for a tour of the rain forest.

Once on shore we looked back at our ship.

This carver was working on a mask.

The carvers in Alaska make their tools from sharpened steel that they strap to tree limbs that are in a shape that works.

In the forest we found more totems.

Yes I am still freezing and Dan is a happy cool guy.

More tomorrow. This took 3 hours, imagine that!

Thank you all for the posts and kind words. I value you all so much. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2015-05-27 08:27 ]

Looks like a great vacation! I like the island with a bunch of trees on it. Happy anniversary! Glad you two could get a break.

I am happy to hear that you will be attending Tiki Oasis! Good news indeed.

Happy Anniversary Wendy & Dan! Looks like you had a wonderful trip! As always, I love seeing your vacation photos. Thanks for sharing!

And Wendy, I'm not worried about my blue Bob. I'm sure he'll be alright, eventually.

On 2015-05-27 07:05, danlovestikis wrote:
After we got off the new Bay Bridge I was able to snap this photo. It's a beautiful bridge with many problems to fix. It didn't fall apart when we crossed so we were happy.

I wish I'd known you were in the neighborhood - I work in that building with the "HI" on it! The full sign says HILLS BROS COFFEE but it's used for other purposes now.

Wow
You two sure have fun
Great photos
But I'm glad the show is back online :)

WooHooo & Welcome Home!!! Looks like you had a Wonderful Trip with Beautiful Blue Skies. I can't wait to see the rest of your pics :) Happy Anniversary!!! Here's to Many Many More!!!

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

lunavideogames we are so looking forward to seeing everyone at Tiki Oasis 15. It's just to fun getting all those hugs!
Our trip was perfect because I didn't catch a cold until the last day. We didn't miss anything. Last night Dan got Panda take out for our anniversary meal since I can't go out of the house.

LoriLovesTiki Thank you always. I've been working on Jeff Loves Lori Bob and he'll soon be on his way to you!

Joshua Bell I love having fun connections show up. How cool to have taken that photo and have you see it. Going to Oasis?

hang10tiki I have a very tolerant husband who travels for me when he'd rather stay home and play records. I want to go everywhere, visit new places and see friends and also make tikis too. Those are my fun times.

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

Time for the last half of our trip and then it's back to posting tiki times.

I do want to share that almost every carpet on the ship reminded me of a Tiki Bob mug that I'd made. Here's an example.

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

We have now arrived in Juneau, Alaska. It's time for silly tacky tourist photos!

Dan and his Aunt Lilly.

Dan resting with our ship in the background. Celebrity is easy to find because they all have a huge X on the top.

I am growing taller every day.

We took a tram up to the top of a mountain and went for a hike.

The view was outstanding.

The cables ran right down to where our ship was parked.

This is how the natives would mark their territories.

My favorite photo from the trip.

Sunset and then

the next morning. We have a day at sea on our way through Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska

Another set of Grand Tetons!

This pass usually have lots of ice bergs to view. Global warming showed us a few ice cubes. There was so little snow and ice it was scary.

We have arrived in British Columbia and the city of Victoria

I've been here in 105 degree heat with everything in bloom but misery under the sun and I've been here with Dan in the winter when it was all green and not a single bit of other colors. This time it was perfect. Blooms everywhere and the temperature was in the 60's. What a glorious visit.

We were cut loose to walk anywhere we pleased. This is the sunken garden. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it almost didn't happen. The owners were on a trip when they got a cable that the husbands favorite pets, ducks, had been killed by predators. So he diverted the family from England to Germany to pick out new ducks to have shipped. His wife was so mad. WWI was about to start and going to Germany was a hazardous trip. However the ship home they missed was the Titanic!

The same family owns this place today and runs it with a staff of around 500.

We were there in the morning so I was able to take photos without crowds.

Our next stop was a castle.

At one time this family who was into all kinds of cement industry owned 1/3 of the entire island.

There was stained glass in most window tops.

Here's another interesting bathroom. This one from the Victorian era.

An example of a bedroom for company.

Scary steep stairways throughout the 4 story castle.

Outside in the backyard.

We are now back on the bus and driving around the city.

This is the Empress Hotel where tourists go for tea.

Part of the dockyards.

The last totem pole we saw.

We are on the ship and sailing overnight to Astoria, Oregon.

Now that we are back to the good ole' USA were were greeted by the Coast Guard.

We joined a tour and went to the top of a mountain and to this tower. We didn't hike to the top.

We drove past an outdoor farmers market, wow it was crazy!

I just saw this home and thought it was really cute.

It was a long walk. We felt sorry for all the people who live in these areas where tourists walk and gawk.

Here's the house. We plan to watch the movie in the future to see this house show up.

I saw this vehicle from the bus. I love the old rusty paint colors.

We are back on the ship and sailing overnight back to the start, San Francisco. This is our last meal on the ship.

Coit Tower is still overseeing the port.

Lining up to disembark.

It wasn't a long wait to get off and meanwhile look at the view!

I now have a cold and I'm ready to be at home. Only a 2.5 hour drive.

We piled all our clothes needing to be washed and Dan my sweetheart did it all.

It's great to be home and to our tikis. Tomorrow I'll be tiki posting again. Cheers, Wendy

Wait... You have never seen the Goonies??!???!

Best movie ever! :)

I love that picture of the mossy trees. Looks really beautiful.

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2015-05-28 12:54 ]

Beautiful Photos Wendy! I've been to Juneau only once, during the month of February. It was snowy and windy...very different from your gorgeous sunny photos, yet still a very fun place to visit. Did you happen to have time to visit Mendenhal Glacier? Hopefully that has yet to melt away.

Welcome back!!

Tyber Tiki

Great photos Wendy! Thanks for posting! Looks like a great time.

I couldn't resist doing a bit of photoshopping....what with Dan's beard and all! :D

i'm sure i've overlooked it somehow but where do we post requests for the sac tiki crawl mug?
we'd like #41 if it hasn't already been claimed.
mahalo

Wow-you two got so close to us up here in Seattle. Too bad it was a cruise with those itineraries and all. Maybe next time.

lunavideogames we saw the movie when it came out but it's been to long to recognize the house. Dan loved the movie so we'll find it to watch again.

The mossy trees were in the Japanese garden section and it was my favorite.

Tyber Tiki we were so lucky with the weather on all of our stops. We didn't visit Mendenhal Glacier because we were taking it easy on our first trip to Alaska. It is still present though shrinking.

zerostreet thank you for the photo. Dan thinks he looks so great I'm printing it to hang on the wall. That's our best souvenir since Dan didn't buy anything and I only bought 5 shot glasses and some chocolate bars.

muskrat gotcha on the list see you at the crawl.

RVICTOR Dan loved this cruise best one day we will return. If we are ever in Seattle we'll give you a call for sure.

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

I'll be back later with a tiki progress report. I've been working even though this cold has me dooooooooooown. Cheers, Wendy

Great photos
Goonies House, that's awesome (classic movie).....
Thanks for letting us tag along via pictures

Great pics Wendy and Dan, thanks for the trip!

Nice pics of your vacation. I really love Victoria, although I haven't been there since I was a teenager. I do remember touring the castle and the Butchart Gardens were amazing!

PART II FOR TODAY

hang10tiki there are so many funny jokes about being stuck watching slide shows of someone's vacation but I've always enjoyed seeing where people go and also sharing what we've seen. I just try to pick out the best photos. I love it when you share yours here.

cy your yard looks like the best of Alaska rain forests. We sure enjoyed our visit with you. Going to Oasis?

JenTiki the gardens are an easy place to enjoy over and over again. I was just thinking of you. I carved the new mug last night between coughing fits. The germs will burn off in the kiln! I'll have photos soon and you can see if you like it as well as the first. It's carved as deeply as I could and still be safe, I hope!

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

We had a box waiting for us when we got home. It came from Pocketiki of England. We did a swap this box for the Tiki Bob's that matched his vintage set.

Thank you so much James and Sian. Dan's thrilled to also get this new music. He's found new favorites on each one he's played. You have similar tastes to his.

We really are happy to have this mug and poster to go with the book. We had lot's of our art and collection in the book and this makes it all the more special.

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

I'll be back a third time with more tiki progress photos. I feel that if I don't move I won't get well as fast so I'm staying tiki busy with lots of breaks.

Cheers, Wendy

Part III is short, this cold is still taking away my energy.

LoriLovesTiki you mug is done and ready to ship. I'll let you know when it's on the way.

Here are photos of the "fix".

After glazing and firing this Bob needed a face lift.

The only way to "save face" was to cover it completely with white enamel. One layer and then it dried overnight.

The next day I sanded the paint and applied a second layer. Again it dried overnight.

The next day I added a third layer. This time I wanted to have the brush strokes disappear as much as possible. So after the paint was applied I wet my finger and rubbed the paint smooth. This took about 6 times to get the whole area smooth. I painted his mouth and eyes an hour later and one more time he slept overnight. Today he baked in the oven at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to set the paint.

He isn't all glaze with this fix so Lori you will get a very steep discount on your mug and it doesn't fulfil your wish when you see it I'll make it again from scratch.

Now it's time to take this cold to bed. Cheers, Wendy

Wendy- lookin good
Lori- lookin good

:)

hang10tiki you are such a great guy. We look forward to seeing you and Sew Tiki at Oasis.

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

I put about 8 layers of glaze on Jen Tiki's first Wish mug. In the end I offered to sell the first one at Mahalo Tiki's booth at Tiki Oasis and make hers again. She decided that she would like it all blue on the outside and green on the inside.
So here's how it is right now.

Since all these Tiki Bobs I do are carved by hand they never come out the same. That's good because they are all 1/1's.

Soon I'll only be doing Tiki Bob's by request on the Wish Lists because I've already made so many that I still need to glaze and sell. I've had a lot of fun with Tiki Bob but now it's time to work on new projects.

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

The Hula Gril Hot Tubs are finished. I'll be contacting those who ordered them soon and I'll post photos tomorrow.

I hope your having a fun Saturday night. I'm still fighting this cold but today we went to the clinic for Dan. He got a spider bite that looked bad enough to have it checked. Antibiotics and cortisone cream for him. We are staring the summer out by getting past all this so we can have fun the rest of these months!

I hope you are all well. Wendy

The Hula Girl Hot Tubs (6) are done along with my entry into the art show and sale at Tiki Oasis 15 (Rotorua Rocket).
Here are the last steps to completion.

Upstairs in my hobby room I got out the Liquitex Glossie enamel paints. I started with the eyebrows, whites of the eyes and top eyelashes.

Next I finished one right down to the ruby red lips.

All done except for waiting overnight to bake in the oven to set the paint.

Now it is the next day and before baking I posed them for photos and

more photos.

Now into the oven for the first batch.

The first day I also did the space travelers face.

All done.

Final photos.

Into the oven and now they are all done.

It sure is fun to play with clay, Wendy

Stunning...........

Be careful, that wahine spaceship might fly into Dan-0s collection before Oasis
:)

hang10tiki you know him all too well but I told him NO!
Looking at the last photo it makes me think of a puffer fish face. Do you see that? Wendy

Hi Wendy and Dan,

Glad you had a fun and safe trip. How is either Saturday the 13th or the 27th for a visit and tour of Dan's Jungle and Tiki Collection?

IDoVooDoo the 13th sounds perfect. ================================================

Now it's time to start showing the SACRAMENTO CRAWL mug for 2015. The crawl takes place on October 2nd, 3rd and 4th and has been planned by VampiressRN. This years is going to be an especially fun time with homes from Grass Valley to Woodland and a bunch in-between.

The mug this year is based on Sacramento's Bali Hai. No one knows much about it so I've used the telephone book advertisement. I've been working hard on this one, it's a huge fogcutter mug.

This is my inspiration.

I took a fired cast of my new fogcutter mug and

made it bigger with Romo Clay #2. This clay is hard to work with so I use a wooden thumb.

All done.

Inside the mug I marked the mug into halves. I need to keep them in mind for molding the mug when it's finished.

I began to layer the clay to build out the tiki head.

I built it out further than needed so that I

could use a knife to cut straight down to the bottom of the mug. I didn't want his bottom out further than the bottom of the mug.

I just checked here and found that I needed to round the face or it would look like a robot.

I added clay to the middle.

Nice and rounded.

Now I started to carve the detail into the face.

Outlined.

As I proceed with the mug I'll revisit this area to fine tune it.

I'm going to show all the steps to make this mug. The mold will be a five piece mold and that will come up after the sculpture is completed.

On the way to the crawl, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2015-06-02 16:50 ]

Here comes another home run

hang10tiki you give me smiles everyday.

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

I started this mug in January and worked on it every day. While in Alaska I organized all the photos and selected those to post. It's going to look like this was a fast process but it was really very slow.

First I added my name and copywrite to the bottom.

Now it was time to add some plants.

Next the bird.

I'm blocking out the design to make sure it all fits. Now the name of the restaurant.

I blew the name up larger from the telephone book advertisement. I put it on a clay slab.

I traced the outline.

I used a tool to remove excess clay.

More and more removed.

Back to the bird.

I had the ad and a photo of a similar bird as models.

I started to work on the detail for the bird and

for the flowers.

I added plants along the side of the tiki.

Now it was time to add the sign. I used small rolls of clay to secure it to the mug.

Now it's ready for fine tuning.

Woodgrain.

All done.

Thank you all for the visit. Wendy

Great job on the build Wendy. Can't wait to see the finished mug and mold.

Robert

[ Edited by: RVICTOR 2015-06-02 10:14 ]

It looks spectacular. Great job as always Wendy!!!