MadDog Mike's Platterful of Pupule - El Tiki/Ben Wilson Wall Finished

The birthday wishes brought up this thread again and reminded me of my little Kona Pali bug tiki. So I dug him up and glazed him.

Finished up my 100 Years of Stephen Crane Art Swap piece. Inspired by the entrance of the Montreal Kon Tiki Restaurant, it is the same on both ends.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2017-07-26 10:02 ]

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2017-07-26 19:04 ]

Such excellent art. When you retire I bet you go wild, well you already have and talent like yours should be shown and shared at all times. Wendy

Awesome Bruddah

Great pic! Thanks David and Jon (and Cy for furnishing the backdrop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgTsb6gB98
Not Tiki, but here's a video I made about using ceramic clay over a Styrofoam armature. The Styrofoam is dissolved with solvent before the clay dries and cracks. I have used this technique on several projects including this Hawaiian Shirt lamp from the Hawaiian Shirt Swap

Mad Dog 101
:)

Been a while since I posted anything, working on a Snake Hut for a fellow TC member.

Concept drawing

6 hard clay slabs for the 6 walls

Joined together

Thatched roof, skulls, hut stilts added

I made it maximum size to fit in my 11 inch kiln :lol:

Next to clean it up as it slowly dries, then fire and glaze

Dangggggg
Lookin good Mike

It would have made a hell of a mug, probably about 2+ gallons :lol:

That looks so good. All your projects and posts are creative and fun to see and read. Wendy

Thank you Jon & Wendy :)

Trader Sam's serves their Krakatoa Punch with red LED ice cubes for a cool effect (My drink, not Trader Sam's)

I thought of making a volcanic ceramic sleeve that a clear glass would slide into. I measured the circumference of the glass, carefully calculated for 5% shrinkage, and padded a glass with foam sheets to make it 5% bigger. Then I formed the sleeve around the padded glass, added volcanic rock texture, fissures, and lava flow. I fired it and FAILURE!!!!!

Either my calculations are off or it shrunk more than 5% but it don't fit down inside! :lol: It's possible I can take it down to the dollar store and find a glass that does fit, or wrap another layer of sheet foam and try again.

On the positive side, my snake hut fired fine, time to start glazing :D

OOOh, this is exciting, cant wait to see the final project

Your snake hut is bitchin' MadDog!

This is going to be excellent. Wendy

The hut looks great Mike. I like all of the detailing. Keep up the good work and have a good weekend!

Snake Hut is looking good Mike and i would have worked on 10% shrinkage for the glass holder. You can always wrap some paper towel around the glass to take up any movement.

Snake the hut looks kool

Thanks guys :) The snake hut is on temporary hiatus while I figure out glazes and place an order.

Did have some minor success on my Krakatoa mug. I found a glass that was slightly smaller that fit inside ceramic sleeve. So glazed and fired it. But I overfired it a bit and and washed out the reds and yellows. Swizzle, that EM347 clay is listed at 5% shrinkage for Cone 04. I made it about 6 or 7% bigger and it wasn't quite enough :lol:

But it's a bit too big in diameter and clunky, so I started a new prototype. I used a Catholic prayer candle for the glass, taller and skinnier. I'll try not to overfire this one :wink:

Ummmmm
Wait
Say a prayer
Light the candle
Take a drink n hope your don’t burn your face

Sounds risky

:)

Hot stuff !!!

SLow progress on the Snake Hut. Roof glazed and fired, starting to glaze the hut.

One of the future inhabitants of the Hut :D

Another Krakatoa Mug failure :lol:

I tried something new, I broke up the ceramic like mosaic and glued it to the thinner (prayer candle) glass. I like the way that technique worked out. The mug was smaller and feels better in my hand. But it's too small for the LED ice cube to fit and that is intregal to the design :lol:

Lookin good Bruddah

U my favorite snake charmer

Love the little baby skulls,hehe.

hang10tiki that's so wonderful. It has the "feel" of MDM's soul.

MDM you have the fun ideas in the brain, thanks for pouring them out for all of us to see. You rock(y)!

Wendy

That Krakatoa looks fantastic!
I like the way you're bringing all the separate elements together to create the desired effect.

Thanks guys, I'm going to try that Krakatoa mug at least one more time and try to "perfect" it.

Here's little useless kiln geek information that someone may find interesting. Kilns fire to a "cone number". Starting with Cone 022 (also designated ^022) as the coolest and going up through ^14 as the hottest. ^04 is hotter than ^06, and ^4 is hotter than ^04. There is no ^0, the next step from ^01 is ^1. (...:down:, 03, 02, 01, 1, 2, 3, :up: ...). Lusters like real gold trim fire fairly cool (1000 degrees) at about ^018, low fire glazes are usually ^06, low fire bisque usually ^04, mid-fire clays about ^4-7, and high fire clays and porcelains at ^10-14. There is a temperature range for each cone but it also depends on the speed that it reached the temperature. The gold standard that has been used for 100 years is Orton Cones, a composite material that melts and bends over when the right time/temperature combination has been reached. You can see the 5th cone has over-fired (gotten too hot), the 4rd is fired just right so that the tip is just touching the floor, 1-3 have not gotten hot enough.

And why do I care? :lol: As many of you know, I am a hobby ceramicist. I make mostly to give away and don't really sell anything so ceramics are an expense for me, not a source of income (just a fact, not a complaint). So instead of a fancy, big, new-fangled kiln, I have an little old busted up one that works just fine for me :D My kiln originally had a Kiln-Setter that would turn the kiln off when it reached proper temperature but it stopped working long ago (I have the parts to fix it, just never got around to it). So now I use a pyrometer (hi temp thermometer) to tell when to turn off the kiln. But last few firings it seems like the temp was hotter than the pyrometer was reading so I decided to do an experiment. I put 4 cones in the kiln - 06, 05, 04, and 03. (Don't look at my filthy kiln, it needs to be vacuumed :o )

I fired the kiln yesterday to 1760 degrees on my pyrometer which should have been about ^07, here's the results I got.

The 06 cone over fired, it should have bent at about 1830 degrees. The 05 cone fired just about right, it is designed to bend at about 1890 degrees. The 04 cone (1950 degrees) was just starting to bend and the 03 cone (1990 degress) has not yet started. Based on these cones, my kiln fired to about 1890 degress and my pyrometer read 1760, looks like my pyrometer is reading about 130 degrees too low. I can either try to calibrate my pyrometer, add 130 degrees to the reading, or fix my Kiln-Setter. Why does it matter? Most low fire glazes fire to ^06 but some of the colors are susceptible to overfiring, the color will wash out and may even turn to a clear glaze. On the more extreme side, it can get hot enough to actually melt the clay into a puddle on the floor of the kiln!!! I just wanted to be sure I get it right before I fire the snake hut :)

I know this feeling well.

"Cover me, I'm goin' in!" Back into the kiln today, I hope I have my temperature regulation issues resolved :o

At least 2 more firings after this.

Why do you not do all the glazing at once? Wendy

Wendy, I wanted to fire the base yellow first. I seem to have trouble getting even coverage with underglazes. After it's fired I can soak it in water and see what it will look like with a clear glaze on it, I can touch up any areas that need it. Then I can put a dark wash over it to and wipe everything but the cracks between the bamboo. Since the yellow is fired I don't have to worry about wiping it off. I guess at that point I can put the clear glaze on, I should be able to do it in one more firing. And since it only cost a couple bucks to fire my new kiln I can fire as often as I want :D

The hut is looking awesome!!! I haven't been around here much lately. The Spice Girls will love it!!!

[ Edited by: TU 2017-12-20 19:31 ]

Ready to go back into the kiln. I was planning to fire it today but got called in to an 18 hour shift :( So not today. Maybe on the 26th? If I like the way the brown wash looks in the cracks, I'll put a clear glaze over it and be done. Good thing you weren't in a hurry TU, we've been working on this since last summer :lol:

MDM thanks for the tips. I wish I had a small kiln to do projects that way. My huge kiln used a lot of electricity. Your project is wonderful. TU is a lucky person to get this project even if it took 2 years. Wendy

Lookin good bruddah
Don’t understand the kone kiln thing
So
I’ll stick with wood

:)

Cheers

Thanks Jon & Wendy. Wendy, I'm afraid the small kiln allows me to get lazy. I should have done a test tile for that bamboo look instead of just wingin' it and firing several times :D

Out of the kiln this morning and ready for some clear glaze. Maybe it will go back in the kiln tomorrow and be done?!

Merry Christmas fron MadDog and the El Tiki Princess

Looks good sir

Merry Xmas to you and your lil lady

Cheers

Thank you Jon.

The Snake Hut is ready for it's last (hopefully) firing as soon as work allows

Another (and final?) experiment with the Krakatoa mug

Snake Hut is DONE!!!! TU and I started talking about this in July, good thing he wasn't in a hurry :lol:

My Krakatoa mug concept is a bit more problematic. Since the glass serves as the support, I was able to roll the clay much thinner that I normally would for a mug. This made the mug less "clunky" - success! I also made some fired clay stamps to impress KRAKATOA into the mug and I like the way it worked out - another success! The techical difficulty comes in perfectly accounting for the clay shrinkage. I made this design in two pieces to glue to the glass tumbler and calculated for a 5% shrinkage but it still didn't fit all that great. You can see some gaps between the ceramic and the glass. I thought this design might be something that I could make and sell for a reasonable price but it still needs some perfecting.

Wendy there is another advantage to a small kiln, I was able to fire 3 times in a 2 day period :D

Wow, your art is so much fun. I find that clay shrinks however it wants to and I can't predict what will go where. That's why mugs with lids are very special. In your case the hut is SUPER SPECIAL. Your volcanic mug is scary.

I can fire one day and open and reload two days after that. I highly recommend a small kiln unless planning to do runs like my Sacramento Crawl. Then I'm really happy for the larger size.

Please keep the photos coming. Wendy

Mike, snake house came out great, fun project.

Mike...you are awesome!! The spice girls will love it. I think another pair of my snakes is going to have babies in a free months if you want one!!

These two projects came out great MDM, working with the uncertainties of kilns and clay would drive me to drink. The volcanic work is beautiful!

Mike- u are a stud
Awesome

On 2017-12-29 19:24, MadDogMike wrote:
I was able to fire 3 times in a 2 day period :D

That's pretty good for a guy your age.

Don't be ashamed of the size of your kiln. It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it.

The snake hut is fun. Good job. GROG like.

GROG state the obvious. GROG not as funny as he thinks he is.

Wendy, the lids are usually not too bad if you make and fire them at the same time as the mug. Then they should shrink the same
Cy, it does drive me to drinking sometimes :lol:
TU, glad the Spice Girl approve :D
Jon & Hilda, thank you
GROG & Swizzle, you guys are too funny :P Glad to see both of you here.