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

Wow great work! Thanks for taking the time to make this great mug for me. I am very excited to see it progress. I hope it fires without any trouble.

Thanks Wendy!!!

hang10tiki lunavideogames and I both thank for that comment. Without the Wish List I never would have made this. Now I have Dan and one other man wanting one each. Thank you Treg for starting something fun and for giving me permission to do it all again.

lunavideogames you are very welcome. More photos later today. For sure I have to make sure I glazed the area under that tentacle that is still white. There are 2 more layers to go!

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

We have already been working this morning and it's time to get back to work. Wendy

Awesome! As always, great work!!

That octopus is amazing! I love those suckers, lol.

Lori- dats funny

Wow, so much glazing! I can't wait to see that all finished.

Danno, LoriLovesTiki, hang10tiki, bamalamalu thank you all for the comments. I ran out of energy to post yesterday but here's the update on Wish List #6... I finished lunavideogames Octopus mugs glazing.

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Finally got to the 3rd layer of purple.

I did the black eyes and mouth and now it was time for paint the face white. If you add clear to white bisque it will not fire as white and blemish free so I always do underglazes on Tiki Bob faces.

Now I added layers of a Mayco spotted glaze to jazz up the body and

tentacles. I avoided the suckers because the spotted glazes will obscure detail.

The coral at the bottom of Tiki Bob is yellow.

Glazing the barnacles.

The barnacles and coral are done.

Second layer of clear.

All done and set aside to dry.

Now I'll be back to the Hot Tub Hula Girls. Cheers, Wendy

Awesomeness, Wendy! Tiki Bob looks so pleased to be held under the sea by a very large octopus, I can't blame him.

Treg, look forward to seeing this one in person when it comes to SD. :)

Looks great Wendy. Excited to see it fired.

TikiAno, I'll be sure to bring it to a meetup!

This is going to be good...

TikiAno you could drop Tiki Bob on the floor and that smile would still be there. I hope I have a smile when he comes out of the kiln.

lunavideogames you take him out be sure to take photos to share here.

hang10tiki I've had so many glaze problems with the Hot Tub Hula Girls that I will kiss Bob if this turns out.

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Wish List #6 The mosaic experiment with the Retro Siren sign.

My first mistake was not scrapping out the glaze in each groove before firing. The glaze removed depth from some of the grooves.

First a used earthquake putty to plug the holes.

The I spread grout around the plaque. I think doing a wet method would have been better. Oh well.

I pat it down and wiped it off the raised areas.

I used a spray bottle to saturate the grout.

While it was wet I rubbed it around.

I let it dry overnight.

The next day I wiped off the tiles with a wet cloth.

I found a few areas that I'd missed so I mixed up some wet grout and

pressed it into place.

The bottom of the sign has a separation crack where blocks of clay were joined. When fired the glaze pulled away from the crack.

There are paint products for ceramics. I used this one

to cover the skip. The photo just shows the first layer.

I found the white grout was so bright that you couldn't see the mermaid. So I took this paint

and added water and then

I started to paint all the grout.

I covered the surface and let it sit for an hour.

Next I gently wiped it off but some of the grout wiped out too. The grooves were not deep enough to prevent this from happening.

It's a mess.

This time instead of making more grout I mixed paint and started painting the shallow areas.

I blended the areas well enough so I moved on to

finishing the hair.

The plaque is done. I sprayed it with a fix and hopefully this will keep it from falling apart.

How much am I charging for this plaque? Hint I told her before I started that since it would be a learning experience for me that I wouldn't charge more than $100.

The closest guess wins a small seahorse (that I made) necklace. It hangs upside down.

Good luck, Wendy

PS want to work ceramics???

That's a lot of detail
Looks great

My quess
99.00
Cheers

:)

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2016-03-01 21:29 ]

Love your amazing work!

I'm guessing $85, but if I win I want to gift it to another participant; I have a special one already!

$76

At the risk of sounding like a big idiot and because you have a BIG heart, and you are learning a lot on this one . . . I will take a crazy guess at "FREE" (or $1)!! Don't get me wrong, none of your art should go for less than $100, so I hope I'm not digging the hole I am currently standing in deeper than it already is by my guess . . . :roll:

Well, Danno beat me to it but I would have guessed $0 since it was an experiment that you are apparently not happy with. I enjoy watching your thread and all of your process pics. May have to order something one of these days.

hang10tiki 99.00

IDoVoodoo $85

MaukaHale $76

Danno At the risk of sounding like a big idiot and because you have a BIG heart, and you are learning a lot on this one . . . I will take a crazy guess at "FREE" (or $1)!! Don't get me wrong, none of your art should go for less than $100, so I hope I'm not digging the hole I am currently standing in deeper than it already is by my guess . . .

seagoat Well, Danno beat me to it but I would have guessed $0 since it was an experiment that you are apparently not happy with. I enjoy watching your thread and all of your process pics. May have to order something one of these days.

It's really nice to have these entries to view. Danno you are the winner. You are right I will let her have it free of charge. seagoat you were right too, I'm not happy to have used so many techniques to pull it off. She has all the supplies to make this sign as a real mosaic. If she does it I hope she'll share photos. I do know how to make one now and to be able to do it right if there is a next time.

Danno congratulations you get a little seahorse necklace, I was wrong it can also be upright.

Send me your address.

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Wish List #6 update on the Hot Tub Hula Girls. Horrors just like last time the skin tone glaze hates the black glaze causing skips and lots more work for Dan and I. Here's what this week has been like from start to finish.

The first batch has fired and I unloaded the kiln and

started re-loading with the last batch.

I don't like unglazed bottoms so when they come out of the kiln there are sharp spikes where they were supported. Dan sands these bottom for me.

When they come into the house I wash them off and do an inspection looking for flaws.

These all passed the inspection these others

did not. There were some areas that need a lot of fixing.

This one and

this one were two of the worst.

Others just needed a tweaking.

I use post it notes so that Dan knows what I need him to do to each mug.

He set up the dremmel and went to work grinding off the black glaze that moved to the center of the necks.

Here's the post dremmel work. I also need to fix the hair along the cheek.

Here's what one looked like after his work and my re-glazing. With a flash and

a photo without a flash.

The second load had fired and it now goes through all of the above steps. Out of the 30 mugs I needed to repair or tweak the glaze on 14. At least I can finish the glazing in one more load.

Now I have an empty kiln and I've done the re-glazing. I'm again loading the kiln. My electric bill is through the roof.

Back to sanding.

Back to re-glazing and

out in the sun to dry before firing again.

I still have some room in the kiln so I'll do a few more things and then hopefully fire one last time for the HTHG's.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2016-03-02 13:35 ]

Holy moly, I completely missed another Wendy contest! I have to say, I think the Retro Siren piece looks absolutely beautiful (and did before the additional work), but we know that Wendy, as an artist, has her vision and all must fit her vision. Wendy, in the possible world that you make me a sign you don't have to work so hard to make it so beautiful, since it will most definitely be perfect to begin with. Your detail work is so amazing, wow.

I'm blushing from all of the nipples in your last post, I guess I'll have to stop Tiki Ari from scrolling through your thread- he's a little too young for such an adult themed post. (Just kidding, I actually just taught him, unrelated, to say "beer," but unfortunately he didn't understand the first part of the sentence ("Bring me a..."). Oh well.

Woo-hoo!!! Yes, yes, yes!!! I love everything that you do Wendy and am very, very happy on winning anything that you have created!! Thank you! Will PM you my address now.

Ill bet Dan-0 hates working on those Hula Girls :)
I guess it was his inspiration for the new hottub

Danno that was sweet!

hang10tiki I'll be posting his payment soon. I like that photo, Dan looks like that a lot.

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Wish List #6 update. I really don't get every wish just right. I do try.

I finished off the wall plaque with some gloss varnish. I hope it will all hold together. Or she can soak it all off and paint it herself. She is an artist.

For the same lady Barb Lawrence I made a mug that also bombed. She wanted glitter but the color was too green. She wanted brown and red hair but it came out mostly brown and spread the strands too wide.

She wanted waves but these were too thick as well as the wrong colors.

I thought about the type of glaze I had used. It was static. So maybe I could layer another static CN under-glaze over it without it all running to the bottom of the mug. Worth a try. So I painted on 3 layers. Now the mug has six layers of glaze.

First layer on the front.

Third layer all over.

I used another CN glaze to cover the mermaid.

I covered the hair and I'll use enamel after this fires so that it will match the plaque. I wiped the glaze off of the silver glittery stars.

For the thin waves on the back I just scratched them into the glaze.

So the question here is will these close up or stay as I have made them.

Experimenting will pay off or it will also mess up her second wish. I Wish It Will Work.

Cheers, Wendy

Looks good

Need a krispy cookie pic :)

hang10tiki I've been watching you on the collecting tiki thread. You are one heck of a tiki hunter.

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Wish List #6 I'm trying to fill the kiln so I can have all the Hot Tub Hula Girls ready to paint with enamel.

I started by doing the fix up glazing on Howard's mug.

Just one more coat of glaze. Many jars say 3 layers but really look best with 4. So I just write that on the jar and test strip.

Dan said he has been working hard enough to deserve his mug to be glazed. This mug style started with RVictor's take on Sven's Tiki Modern book cover.

Looking at this photo I saw where the brown glaze had moved into the black glaze. Photos really help.

So I got out a brush and glaze and

now it will look much better.

Last side.

When this mug is fired and the colors can be seen well I'll check to see if those on order will be glazed in the same colors or if the persons who ordered want to pick something different.

Weekend. More good days to work. Wendy

Dats a couple of mighty fine mugs Wendy
Keep it up

And as far as the tiki hunting
I only wish I was as good as you 2 :)

Oh no
Wendy withdraws setting in

hang10tiki thank you for your support. I appreciate you so much.

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Wish List #6 progress report.

I loaded the kiln with Hot Tub Hula Girls that needed touch ups. Then in the leftover space I was able to add a few mugs.

Two days later I opened the kiln.

The three mugs came out just fine and so did

the octopus mug for lunavideogames aka Treg.

I was especially pleased that the experiment with layering a CN glaze over glitter glazes came out perfectly. You can also feel the indentations where the glitter glaze lies.

Now it was time to do black velvet photos in the MadDogMike studio.

First up Dan's Will Work For Tikis Tiki Modern mug. Slowhandtikiman do you like these colors?

Then for Howard in Maui the Lanai San Mateo mug.

Next the wall plaque and mug for Barb.

Last but not least the Octopus who captured Tiki Bob mug for lunavideogames.

I hope I filled some wishes with these. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2016-03-06 20:43 ]

Ahhhhhhh

They all came out great

Dan-0
What's the date ???

:)

I love how the Wish list mugs are turning out. You put so much LOVE and commitment into every piece you produce.
I am really delighted by the look of Dan's Tiki Modern mug so far. The colors are just ideal. I would like mine done in the same pattern as the original. If artistic license must be exercised for differentiating each edition, can you detail the tapa texture grooves in the light tan left side, with the medium brown glaze, instead of the original white? Will that be enough of a difference from the first version?
Would you look at the HTHG order list and see if my name got added to it? I do not remember getting an answer to weather there were any still available when I inquired back when you announced your were starting the batch? Yes I would love one if there are any unclaimed or uncommitted. :wink:
Rob
aka Slowhandtikiman

I also think the waves with the glitter and the underglaze grooves on the Retro Siren mug came out beautiful! Awesome discovery! Plus, the "Octo Grope" BOB mug is truly EXTRAORDINARY! Definitely one of your MOST intricate and challenging SUCCESSES!
These Wish List projects are real Treasures!
RW

Whee, glad they all came out so nicely. The octopus is spectacular! All that glazing really paid off - all the tiny color variations really make it look lifelike. Beautiful.

Well well well

Happy Bday DAN-0
Have a great day my friend

Happy Birthday DAN!!!!!

I still have to look at my mug so I'll comment again shortly, but I am sure it is amazing, I just wanted to get a happy birthday in ASAP :wink:

Mug looks great Wendy! All the hard work you put into it really paid off. Thanks for bringing my idea into the world of tiki mugs. Who knows, maybe in 100 years it will be the most sought after mug in history! :) :) :)

It may already be

slowhandtikiman thank you very much. You are on the list for one of the latest batch of Hot Tub Hula Girls. Do you want to come to our home to pick it up this weekend or do you want to wait until the Tiki Modern mug is also done and ready to pick up?

You have seen your mug when I sculpted it. I will match it to the book as close as possible but the sculpture is not exactly the same. I can do the white in the tapa if that is what you prefer.

Thank you for all the comments that have made my day!

bamalamalu thank you. That is one of my favorite glazes and I thought it would look perfect on the octopus. I'm glad to hear a confirmation.

hang10tiki Dan loves it when you do this to him. You sure are creative. He wanted me to print them all to hang on the wall. I told him the coconut Dan would be enough to hang for now. Thank you so much for all the effort. They were all really great.

lunavideogames Dan says thank you.

lunavideogames I am so happy that you like the glaze and how he looks. I am looking forward to you using it at the Bali Hai.

hang10tiki (:

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Wish List #6 continues on with the work on the Hot Tub Hula Girls nearing the end.

I removed the last of the touch up mugs from the kiln.

Dan sanded all the bottoms for me and brought them into the house.

I washed off the dust.

Now all 30 mugs are waiting to have the faces painted on.

60 eyebrows, 60 eyes and 30 mouths. I also touched up the hair and flowers where ever I could improve them.

I glazed the yellow with pink polka dot swimsuit top twice. I decided to paint it with enamel.

The yellow is done and

once it dried I did the pink polka dots.

All done and drying overnight. The enamel will boil in the oven if it doesn't dry for at least 12 hours.

Mahalo Tiki wanted two mugs to sell at his booth at Tiki Oasis 16.

He only had one on order and this is it. I may get his second one done in time for the event. I'll try.

One of my fb friends ordered this one. She wanted the girl totally tattooed. It will ship to Sweden when it is finished baking.

It took a few days but now they are ready to bake after they dry. Just to say it one more time. The next batch of 30 will sell for $100 each plus shipping. That will make a total of 90. The next ones if I make more will cost more. These wear me out.

Cheers, it's time to play with Dan. Wendy

After seeing this magnificent batch of HTHG mugs on the counter, especially the groups with the faces done, I think this lot is much nicer than the first production run of this casting, Wendy. Really beautiful work!
I would be satisfied to wait to get my Hula Hottie, and pick her up with my TM mug when it's ready as well. If she is not dedicated yet... the taller one that didn't fit uniformly in the kiln, would be my choice, otherwise her topheavy sister, B-)
How would the TM tapa look with medium brown wash-off detail over the tan, instead of using white? Or do you need to do the whole groove detail with a fine brush by hand? I think there will be a more distinct difference between the #1 and my #2 casting by using a darker glaze in the tapa details. Since the patterns on both are so different, I will let you be the judge of the groove color, based on which color requires less effort, Either way I'm happy!
Honestly I am so thrilled that I get one that I have little concern over it's being a duplicate of the #1, and I think it's being "the same only different" is actually even more FUN!

Wow
What a hot batch of hot tub soakin Wahines
Outstanding Wendy

slowhandtikiman the hula girl that was too tall for the top shelf is the same height as all the rest. I just used her as an example to show that I couldn't do a third shelf of the mugs when firing in the kiln.

I think a darker caramel in the groves of the tapa will make a nice difference. So I'll do that for you.

I think everything gets better with practice but I think all of the Hot Tub Hula Girl mugs have been done the same way.

hang10tiki I am so appreciative of your kind words.

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Wish List #6 the Hot Tub Hula Girls are ready to ship. I will contact each person on the list to verify that they still want one. If anyone cancels then those on the Wish List #7 for the next batch will move up.

It took 6 batches of 5 in the home oven for 45 minutes each time.

They were all finally done.

We ordered boxes so

I put Dan to work taping them together. He really is my right hand man!

All done and hanging together until this weekend.

Even though they are done we are taking a break.

It's such a bummer to have bad people do bad things. We were lucky we didn't lose any mail. Our neighbors were not so lucky.

It will be so much fun to get back to the one of a kind mugs. They take more thought and that's a good thing. Cheers, Wendy

Such a bummer about the mailbox. There are a lot of idiots out there in the world, but also great people like you and Dan-O! (Happy belated b-day!).

Received my seahorse pendant in the mail, and a few days later my Zombie Torch Mug!! It was like Christmas for me! So, thank you once again!

Danno I love the photo thank you so much for posting.

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Wish List #6 I spent the entire day writing to each person on the Hot Tub Hula Girl List. Some I can't find here or on facebook. Anyone had contact with Lukapalooza?

I also need to contact Jonny Velour. I know him well in person but I don't have any contact information. He has a custom HTHG mug ready.

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Meanwhile I always save up photos for the days that I'm not making something or glazing. Here comes some catch up photos.

We started Dan's birthday month off with a trip to the Mickey Grove Zoo and Japanese Gardens in Lodi, CA.

His sister Kathi joined us.

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On one of his birthday outings we found some grass.

This has never looked thick enough.

So Dan got out the ladder and tacked it up.

Much better.

Here's the other side. Before and

After.

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Thank you for the visit. MadDogMike and hang10tiki thank you for the birthday cards for Dan.

His Birthday fun continues and I'll be sharing more as he celebrates. Cheers, Wendy

My swap art has arrived and we had the perfect place to display it.

This tiki never had any adornment. Thank you so much AlohaStation. All the work is very much appreciated.

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Wish List #6 is all about shipping right now.

Danno requested an arm band tattoo.

I moved the boxes into the family room for paring up with the art.

The bottoms of the mug had an unglazed area left for the numbering. After I do the number in black I cover the white with a brown felt pen color. Both are permanent.

I label each box with a post it note. So if I have any cancels during this time I can swap it out with a name from the waiting list.

Sacramento buyers on the left and shipping to the right.

I'm looking forward to getting back to glazing the rest of the 1/1 mugs and bowls soon.

Cheers, Wendy

I like all the fish above and the new swap necklace looks great on that tiki
Keep up the fun you 2

hang10tiki we could only have more fun if you lived in our town!

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I saw one of my Tiki Bob's on B.F.'s facebook page. He needs to run!

Wish List #6 Dan continues to pack up the Hot Tub Hula Girl mugs to ship.

Danno caught me just in time to add a tattoo band to her arm and to bake her the next day. Now she is boxed to ship.

As people respond to my messages and they are ready to ship I

printed, folded and added to the boxes the care instructions.

Dan ran out of peanuts and had to go shopping for more.

He has a good system. He pours them into a tall box and uses it to pour into the smaller boxes.

The first mug has gone out via a pickup by Robyn.

We gave her a half tour, just the downstairs. We have a new friend who is now totally into tiki!

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

I have started to glaze more projects but I will have some catch up photos to share first. Cheers, Wendy

Thank you Wendy for taking care of my last "second" request! You are awesome! She looks beautiful!!

Danno you are very welcome. Dan hasn't finished all the boxing yet. We hope to start shipping all the Hot Tub Hula Girls in waves this week.

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Wish List #6 progress report. I am back to glazing.

But first I want to share the Birthday trip I planned for Dan. I had magical points for a two night stay at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame. Magical because I earned these 10 years ago and forgot about them. They contact me via email to say they would expire at the end of March. So we had to go.

Before we left we went to lunch with friends who had found the perfect birthday card for Dan.

I went to an estate sale without Dan. I bought 400 records for $30 without looking at them. He had so much fun going through and finding some he liked. He ended up with 55 and the rest went to Goodwill.

The next day we were off to the Oakland Zoo. This ended up being Dan's favorite part of the trip.

After the zoo we went to Trader Vic's for his birthday lunch.

We checked into our room and didn't leave. The next morning we went here.

We enjoyed our time in the academy. We spent the rest of the day going to thrift shops in Burlingame. No luck.

The next morning we set off on an adventure. Neither of us had been to Stinson Beach. We didn't know if there was a town, a park or nothing at all. We left San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and

the further we drove the foggier it got. We were lucky during our trip that it didn't rain.

After an hour we broke out of the fog and found the coast again.

We made it.

This is downtown!

We choose this restaurant for lunch.

Where we sat we could see a rushing creek.

My birthday boy. Until August we are the same age.

We walked over to see the beach. It was very cold and windy so we didn't stay long.

We made a stop to see the Fort only it wasn't a stone fort it was an army base.

We could see the city in the distance.

Next we went to search for treasure in San Mateo. I found a romance thriller set on Easter Island in 1903 and Dan found a record.

We stopped at my favorite restaurant in San Mateo. The Fish Market by the river.

It was too cold to eat outside which is where I prefer.

The next morning we left for home. We went on different freeways with plans to thrift and antique shop.

In Pleasanton there is a tiki booth at the largest antique store. I just got two shot glasses from her booth.

At a thrift store Dan found two Hawaiian records.

Then back on the road. In another town after a search through a very large antique store Dan found these shakers. They are a tall version that he didn't have in his collection. Lucky strike when that's all they had and we wanted them.

We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. The bathroom was very pretty.

We have been back home for a few days with Dan boxing and my glazing. He had a fun birthday.

Cheers, Wendy

Very neat trip you guys. Looks like a lot of fun!

There is a cool hiking trail at the foot of Mt. Tam in Stinson Beach with amazing views of the town and the ocean. A friend of mine used to live in Jerry Garcia's former house right at the base of the trail (the highest house in town). If you go again I can tell you where to find it. One of the best days of my life (that inspired my butterfly tattoo) happened in Stinson Beach, so I have a very sentimental attachment to it. I sometimes think if I ever win the lottery, I'll get a place on the beach there for when I want to get away from everything and just commune with the ocean. The best time to go is early October when the weather is perfect and the Monarchs are migrating.

There is a real fort under the San Francisco end of the Golden Gate bridge called Fort Point. It has been turned into a kind of museum where you can see the old soldier quarters, dining areas, etc. When I was a kid we had a summer school class called "Outdoor Ed" where we got to spend a night there and live like the soldiers did, eating the same kinds of food, sleeping on the straw mattresses, keeping watch shifts overlooking the bay throughout the night, and learning how to march and load the cannons. Also, if you weren't aware of it, the Walt Disney Family Museum is in the Presidio and has some great exhibits. Definitely worth a visit next time you're in San Francisco.

Wow
What a great birthday trip
Lots of fun
Glad Dan-0 was able to add to his record collection
And I've never seen those SnP shakers before, score