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

Aloha

Hamo- funny, just got back in town

Wendy- feels like I missed the Wendy show for a month
I’ll get caught up tonight
Will post pics from Oahu
:)

Wow
Have u been busy
Lots of great art here

So I was at work
Wife texted me
“We have plans tonight”
When I got home at 6:30pm
She said we are off to Oahu
:)
Bags packed
Flew out later that night
:)

Here’s day 1

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2018-01-29 19:23 ]

Day 2

Here’s me over 40 yrs ago in front of the same carving
:)

Welcome back, H10. Both you and that carving have aged really well.

Say, where’s Wendy been lately? Must be making tikis.... :)

hang10tiki I hope there are some more to come. I LOVE the past and present photo. I agree with Hamo.

Hamo thanks for asking. I like to keep all of hang10tikis photos together in a string so I'm letting him finish before I post again.

Cheers, Wendy

Hamo- :)
W- more to come

Day 3

Day 4

H10, you sure were busy on that vacation....

Wendy, this is kinda cool: earlier today a Locating Tiki thread resurfaced which includes pictures of tikis posted by Sven and tikicoma that certainly influenced those Disney ones.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=37394&forum=2&start=45&52

One picture to lure you over to see the rest

Hamo- yes we were

Saw that photo recently
A great carving

Last pics
Day 5

Two last photos
I’m sad to say that now both of the huge carvings
at the Hilton Hawaiian Village are gone.

RIP

Back to the Wendy show
:)

Hamo I took the time to look at that page with the very similar tikis. What a great thread. Thank you for sending me there.

hang10tiki you really spice up my thread with your trips and sunrises and sunsets. I want to go there now. When we do next year I bet we don't see half of these places. I love the feet only photos. That spot is now yours forever.

Here are some catch up photos I stole on facebook from posters. I did so because my art shows up there. I hope these are all new.

Trey Goodwin at the opening of the Tiki Oasis sale? Maybe Mahalo Tikis booth someplace.

Tiki Bongos a mug I made for him years ago.

Donovan Gobal.

Mark Sellers.

Christine Lonie

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

I parked in just the right place so that as we walked into a Goodwill in Yuba City we saw this license plate. Cool.

At a different Goodwill Dan found a great Martin Denny album with a burlap front.

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

I'm currently painting the next black velvet. When it's got a good start I will post the steps. Wendy

Congrats on 600 great TC pages, Wendy. Here’s to 600 more. Can’t wait to see the velvet and an update on the clay.

Look what I just found on page 65 of The Book of Tiki:

Glad you are posting again
That’s hard work
:)
I have that album, it’s great
Cheers

Edit:
Ps- I posted my Oahu finds in the “tiki finds area” right under Dan-0s album in collecting tiki

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2018-02-01 23:38 ]

Hamo I love numbers. Thank you for pointing this out to me as I had not yet noticed. Next up will be 9000 posts!

Hamo thank you, Dan was happy to have that information.

hang10tiki I wrote you a PM about your "finds" and how it effects the story of my next crawl mug that has been in production since last year.

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The next Black Velvet is going to be huge. Again it is based on the Spitting Tikis at Disneyland in Florida. I did a bunch of photos with the tikis in different places and this is the arraignment that Stephen Seaton chose. Photos soon. Wendy

Got the PM
Wow

This next painting is going to be awesome
Love these

Cheers

hang10tiki thank you. It is so large I hope it will go well.

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

Wish List #8 this Black Velvet is for Stephen Seaton.

He sent me three examples of what he wanted in his painting. First were these stars in different sizes.

Next the hut in the background but this isn't going to work out. He will have the option of rejecting the painting if it doesn't work for him. Then I will use it for the Tiki Oasis 2018 art show.

Then he wants a moon with a wisp of a cloud.

As shown before he picked out his three tikis and how they will be placed on the canvas.

I used the reverse cutouts as templates to rough out the tikis.

I did this using the acrylic paint mixed with water.

Now that I know their positions I can decide how to proceed.

First I marked the mouths.

Next I cut up the photos so that I could map their foreheads.

He wanted them in a jungle setting so I did some bamboo first.

Here is the brighter photo with more lights on it.

At the very end I can see I need some bamboo behind the center tiki. I will do that lastly.

The clay projects are still drying. Winter humidity just makes it take a very long time. Wendy

These Disney dudes are great
I hope everyone gets a chance to see them in person
It makes your paintings and mugs of them even more special
Loved our visit there
They are huge

Cheers

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2018-02-05 07:17 ]

hang10tiki that's a wonderful photo. Tiki Hula said that they have all been removed. He hopes they are fixing them up and that they will soon be returned to their spot.

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

I'm still running into posting of collections or of just my art. I share them here because it is fun for me and I hope you like seeing what others are posting on fb.

These are the wedding mugs I made for Caitlin Garrison.

A couple of photos from Brenda's Tiki Hut. I see my Tiki Bob decanter in both shots.

Tiki Beeki a Zombie Torch at the top and a Hot Tub Hula Girl at the bottom.

Wish List #8 the Black Velvet for Stephen Seaton continues with more steps to share.

This time around I'm starting with the plants first. This fern took so many coats of paint. Here are just a few of the layers.

I tweak plants until the very last day.

Back to work, Wendy

REMOVED????!!!! Nooooooooooo

:(
:(
:(

hang10tiki he will let me know as soon as they return...if they do. )=:

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

Wish List #8 the Black Velvet for Stephen Seaton is 13 by 17 1/2 inches when framed. The ferns and plants are taking a long time. Here are more steps.

Flash

No flash

Even parts that look done will change again as I proceed. Wendy

So far I really like the flora in this one. Looks great with or without a flash.

Not to downplay your excellent velvet, but how’s the clay coming along? I’m especially eager to hear about your 2018 Sacramento Crawl design....

Great plants Wendy
Black velvet is so hard to paint on
U rock it

Hamo as of this morning I have 48 Sacramento Crawl mugs poured and drying. I am way ahead of schedule. If I slow down on the velvets and run out of photos then I'll start posting on the crawl mug. The first week in October is the due date for those. The Wish List ceramics are drying right along side of these. It is taking so long to dry in the garage compared to inside our home . At the same time I'll try to never go back. I'm happy that you like the BV.

hang10tiki So many layers for those thin lined plants. I'm trying hard to get it right I'm happy you notice that, thank you.

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

Back to the wish of Stephen Seaton.

I mixed paints together to get the right color for this bamboo.

Then I painted all the bamboo again with this color over the green.

Whenever I leave the room I turn the painting towards the door. That's to inspire me to get back to work.

To give a more 3D look I went back and did a line of transparent brown down the sides of all of the bamboo.

To make the ginger pants more 3D I used a pink in the front of each plant.

Looks like it needs another layer. When I finish a painting I go back over it and enhance each area as needed.

The bamboo will have leaves but next up I'll start on the tikis. Cheers, Wendy

On 2018-02-07 07:05, danlovestikis wrote:
It is taking so long to dry in the garage compared to inside our home . At the same time I'll try to never go back.

Wendy, have you ever considered a dehumidifier? The cost and investment might not be worth it to you. We got one 17 years ago (or thereabouts) for boring reasons I won't go into, but we've found it useful ever since. I'm currently repairing/refurbishing our redwood deck that the previous owners never took care of. It's been damp and cold here, making the wood soggy and unsuitable for sanding or coating with weather sealant. I've been stacking the salvaged boards in the garage with a small space heater and dehumidifier running, and inside of two days they're bone dry and ready to work.

I don't know enough about sculpting clay to know if this would be helpful, harmful or irrelevant, but it's a thought.

I love the detail of your velvet ferns. You really have some great artistic talent!

A dehumidifier is an interesting thought. Since I live high in the mountains, I have the opposite problem, but that does remind me of the dehumidifier my grandma would use in her Iowa basement. No clay down there, just lots of teddy bears she’d sewn herself. And the deep freezer.

I also seem to remember the dehumidifier having multiple settings, so maybe one set to low wouldn’t dry out the clay too much, especially if everything’s still covered with plastic. But I’d hate for MY Wish to crack during experimentation....

[ Edited by: Hamo 2018-02-07 22:29 ]

Oh, look; with my last post you reached 9000 replies:

Prikli Pear I've never heard of such a thinn and it's interesting.During this time I have had some minor cracking that is repairable with Magic Mend. So actually going really slow with these pieces has been a good idea. I am just now leaving them outside of the plastic for half a day rather than an hour or two at a time. So they are drying well now. We also have had a winter of 72 degrees from Global Warming. We should be freezing and raining right now in Northern California but instead it is like the best of summer temperatures. Thank you for this information.

Hamo I like reading these stories.

Hamo thank you so much for the photo. I can't take a photo that is as good as yours. I appreciate it.

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Wish List #8 the Black Velvet for Stephen Seaton continues with the first tiki. The plants will now wait until the end to be finished.

Again I use the photos as a guide. Doing a tiki of my own would be much faster. Copying is harder because it doesn't take much to get off track and black velvet doesn't forgive errors.

First I did the top cone.

Next the head and

making sure that it looks like there is a top to the head and rounded down.

More and more layers applied.

Even with the photo it's back and forth seeing if I got the eyes in the right place. Maybe a little off.

Time to leave him for now. I'll go back with shading later.

Thank you for your messages they are very much appreciated. Wendy

Wish List #8 Tiki number two for Stephen Seaton's Black Velvet painting.

Our neighbors cat Scottie came by to check out how the painting was progressing.

I got the photo ready as my helper.

I started with the center of the eyes and

worked outward.

I did work on the nose and mouth and

then I did the decorative detail.

I took down the photo and started fine tuning the

grey filling it in.

After many layers it was time to stop. Flash photo.

No flash and

at a distance.

I've just caught a cold so I don't know how fast I will do the last tiki, sky and fine tuning. A little at a time. Wendy

Hamo, that's kind of why we got it in the first place--we had much of our things in storage for the better part of a year in a semi-basement that had humidity issues (long story). I got the dehumidifier from Lowe's for around $150 and ran it 24/7 in there to protect against mold, etc. It worked. The water catch basin (2-3 gallon capacity) has a screw plug, so I ran tubing from that to an existing drain and ran it full blast, continuously.

We were initially reluctant to buy it, because 1) that was a lot of money for us and 2) we thought we'd have no use for it thereafter. In the ensuing years, my children managed to flood the upstairs bathroom in our previous house ("It's raining in the garage!"), The Wife flooded our current bathroom when she forgot she was running a bath, an unforeseen leak erupted under the kitchen sink, and our garage flooded two years ago during an insane downpour (11 inches in under an hour). In each of those cases, that dehumidifier has been put to serious work. It's more than paid for itself, I'd say.

And yes, it's got an analog dial where it can be adjusted. Modern models allow you to digitally adjust the humidity levels, but usually when we need it, we need it a full power. A dehumidifier might be too aggressive for drying clay. Unless Northern California moves more toward a Seattle-like climate, it might be overkill. But it's really made my refurbishing of the old redwood boards go much more smoothly, and I also run it when I bring in fresh-cut bamboo to accelerate the drying process. I don't think I'd ever specifically buy one for those purposes, but since we already have one, it gets the usage. :)

And the black velvet tikis look fantastic, Wendy. I have a hard time envisioning how to work in a sky with what you've already got, so I'll be eagerly watching what you come up with.

Another amazing painting W

Prikli Pear having never owned one of those machines this was interesting reading. As far as the sky goes for the BV it will be stars and a moon with clouds as per his request. It should go OK. I had to turn down his request for a hut, too much and I can't experiment. I would need to practice first.

hang10tiki thank you so much. Your latest carving is certainly a difficult project. You pulled it off perfectly.

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

Wish List #8 the Black Velvet for Stephen Seaton continues very slowly with my cold.

It's time to block into place all the parts of tiki number 3 with the first layer of paint.

I did the eyes and nose. Every part will look flat until other layers are added. The nose barely shows.

It was bound to happen. I made a mistake in placement. The orange dots almost touch the bottom of the nose. If these were elsewhere it would be a bigger problem.

Quickly I used a sharp edge to remove as much paint as possible.

Later on I will be able to cover this with the tiki grey wood. I was lucky. In the past I would at this point try to wash it off with a wet brush. I found that it makes the problem larger. Even when blotting it with a cloth and water I had a worse mess.

Using the photo as guide I placed a small dot where each will go.

Then I went back and enlarged each dot.

Wish you all a wonderful weekend. Wendy

Hope you’re recovering from your cold. If it’s slowed you down, it doesn’t show.

Your screw-ups look better than my successes, Wendy. That third tiki is looking mighty fine despite the misstep. Your talent is boundless!

Hamo I was behind posting so while I rested I did catch up photos. I'm back to painting just as I was running out. I still have a sore throat that is hanging on, no fair because I'm not a smoker, and a bad cough, no fair I'm not a smoker! The photos today are the last I've done so I have to paint today to keep them coming.

Prikli Pear oh no, with comments like yours how can I ever retire from art! My ego would shrink to nothing.

Thank you both for a shot in the arm towards health and happiness. (Dan is doing a great job of caring for me too)

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

Wish List #8 these photos of the Black Velvet painting for Stephen Seaton will catch me up to where I left off last night. It is not finished.

I have now blocked in the "bib" with the first layer of orange.

Now it was time to finish off the first layer of grey.

Now Tiki #3 (the first in line) has one layer completed. When dry it is time for the next one.

One the left the "bib" has two the right has one layer of paint.

Once the orange dried it was time to start on the second layer of grey on the rest of the body.

Two layers completed.

Time to start on layer number three.

Top to bottom three or more layers have been done. I also added a bamboo stick behind the middle tiki to add depth.

This last image shows where I have added more coats of grey and then blue shading. It helps make the nose even better 3D.

There are still more things to add before this painting is complete. Thank you for watching, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2018-02-11 09:45 ]

Holy unbelievable
Daaaaaaang
Awesome

Can I say these look better than the actual tikis at Disney? Because these look better than the actual tikis at Disney!

hang10tiki and Prikli Pear you both made my day very happy. I am smiling at both of you. I appreciate every time someone sends me a message to encourage me to continue on. Thank you.

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

Wish List #8 the Black Velvet for Stephen Seaton is now ready for his inspection. I will post on fb next and see what he says.

Here are the "maybe" last steps.

Stephen requested a moon. There is no way that I can free hand a circle. At a garage sale I found some templates and this was the first time I needed one of them. I used painter tape to hold it in place.

I also pressed it against the velvet so that none of my bush hairs could work behind it.

After I removed the template I put the painting into whatever angle worked best for painting the moon. Free floating!

I added detail to the moon and then some stars.

Next I added leaves to all of the bamboo.

I think I am done.

I touched up the frame with some matching paint

and here is how it looks.

Do you all think it looks done or does it need tweaking? Wendy

Wow
Looks great
You should ask CY to print this on shirts
I’m just sayin..,

I buy a couple
:)

That is SO AWESOME!!

That is absolutely lovely. I wouldn't change a thing. The night sky works perfectly.

That moon is magnificent. In your initial post about the project, you mentioned Stephen wanted “a moon with a wisp of a cloud.” I think it’s great right now, so I’ll be interested to see if he agrees or if he still wants a cloud.

hang10tiki I wonder if CY has ever done that with an artist. I think it would be fun to do that with him on a do as they are ordered bases. I couldn't order a whole bunch of sizes.

HopeChest Ah, thank you.

Prikli Pear I am listening to you.

Hamo I told him that I would risk messing it up. Clouds are soft and it's hard to make them that way without an air bush. So in the end he said add a few sparkles to the stars which I did.

Then I added one more bamboo stalk that I though helped to balance the sky. It is the skinniest stalk behind the center tikis head on the right.

Now it is time to box it up and to ship! Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2018-02-13 10:26 ]

Was that frame from a thrift shop?

Very nice!

MaukaHale yes if I can find a frame for $20 or less that works with Black Velvet I buy it and supply it with the painting. I've found a few great frames in Thrift stores.

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

Along with the Wish List I always make the Sacramento Crawl mug. This year the idea was offered by Jeremy Sherlock. He asked if I would make a volcano. I've done them in bowls and free standing but never as a mug. This is the year and it's going to be HUGE.

Here is my volcano inspiration from Australia. Tall and skinny, perfect for a mug.

I looked at all my past sculpts and chose last years crawl mug to bury in clay. So the volcano will be larger than the mug from last time.

I use all kinds of tools to place the clay. It is too hard to do with thumbs and fingers.

I needed a lot of clay so I broke down my sculpt for the Maori Lamp and started adding pieces.

Little by little I build the volcano.

I found that this massage tool worked to pound in the clay.

A good texture.

The mug is slowly evolving while I think about what to do next.

Four side are roughed out.

I started this back in October right after the last crawl. I'm always working! Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2018-02-13 10:47 ]

Giant volcano time :)

You were right about adding that extra bamboo; it really helps balance it out the scene. Another great velvet.

And another enormous Crawl mug. Dan doesn’t need a gym membership; he has your molds to keep him in shape. Do you also have to use that massage tool on him? :)

hang10tiki I will have to start shrinking them next year because they take up so much space!

Hamo I hope he likes the addition of the skinny bamboo. I shipped it and didn't tell him. It will be fun to see if he notices. Dan said to thank you for the suggestion.

Happy Valentines day everyone.

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More steps for the Sacramento Crawl mug 2018

We went to the state library to look through old phone books for tiki places. We started at 1912. I found my great grandfathers name in that book. He said he had one of the first 99 phones in Sacramento. The phone books prior to this date were for phone numbers of three states not a city. I think he told the truth.

We found this place and then looked and didn't find it mentioned here in Tiki Central. Does anyone have any information about this place to share? It didn't last long it wasn't in the next phone book.

We drove to the address and all we found was a foundation.

I started by cutting off the front of one side of the volcano. Using a carved and sanded chop stick I copied the style of the name.

Done.

I began to add clay to the front.

Not a door, similar, but more of a monument.

Next I copied the tiki from the phone book ad.

I put him on the front and then decided that he didn't look impressive enough.

So I chose a place on the side of the volcano and dug a hole and

pressed him into place. Historically he's there but the front needs to be better.

Now it's time to celebrate Valentine's with my sweetheart. Cheers, Wendy

Hi
I couldn’t find any info on that place either
Like your lettering
Cheers

Jon