MadDog Mike's Platterful of Pupule - Quicksand Quincy

We need a video to see your home made heat knife in action. I've never heard of one. I have a soldering gun. Similar?

The Moai style is modern. I can recognize it already. Well done.

You are always young to me.

danlovestikis, TC doesn't have a good way to post video so I sent you 2 videos on Facebook.

Time for a little break. I need a hot knife other than the ones I made. I ordered one on Amazon, should be here next week.in the meantime, I think this is where my Moai will sit. I'll build a block platform for it to sit on and a firepit.

Early in my ceramics journey I learned to wrap clay around an existing form, let it dry a bit, cut it in pieces to remove the form in the middle, and put the pieces back together. Interesting shaped bottles work well. Or I have carved a piece of foam and used it. But now that I have a 3D printer, it opens a whole new realm of possibilities. I wanted to make an El Diablo bottle. Rather than sculpt it solid and hollow it out, I 3D printed a head form the size I wanted for $3 in material. Once I get the hollow clay form I should be able to add horns, ears, maybe a curled mustache and a pointed goatee. Then add a bottle neck to the top, we'll see how it works out.

I calculate the volume to be about 20 ounces, a good volume for homemade chili liqueur. I could use the form to make a pirate, a Papua New Guinea tribesman, a jungle explorer, or whatever male figure I need.

My 3D printed armature seems to be working out!

Covered the 3D print in dampened tissue paper to the clay would not stick.

Rolled out slabs of clay and placed over the tissue covered model and smoothed it out.

The relief cuts allow the clay to shrink a bit as it dries without cracking.

Once the clay has firmed up enough, the pieces were removed from the plastic model and re-assembled.

The pieces merged back together,

Smoothed out.

The bottle neck and bottom added.

Facial details added - horns, pointed ears, eyebrows, sharper nose, and goatee.

Starting to look like a devil! Now it's time figure out how I want to finish it. Do I leave it a minimalist shape like it it now and go solid red glaze? Do I add a little more detail then glaze the eyebrows and goatee black? Do I add yellow eyes?

Oh! Oh! Oh! I'm excited about a new technique!!! I've always been jealous of danlovestikis and her raised letters on ceramics. But it's so much more work than just carving them in. So I came up with a new technique to try and it worked!
I used the computer to make my lettering in the font I wanted. Then I reversed it and printed it the size I wanted. Then put a piece of package tape over the lettering, sticky side up.

Rolled out little clay snakes and stuck them to the tape in the shape of the letters

I brushed clay slip on the surface where the letters were to go. I was able to lift the tape with the clay letters and transfer it to the bottle surface. As the letters dry, I can carve and refine them as I go.

Wowowowowowowoow! I love watching you work. This is really a fun project. I look forward to the next steps and glazing.

The devil is in the details! lol

Thank you danlovestikis. Yes, you are right GROG LOL. Time to put that project away and let it dry a bit.

My hot knife come in so I'm working on refining my Moai a bit.

Had a few places where I was missing foam so I filled them in with spray foam. Once the foam cures I can carve it.

It's getting there!.

Carve that puppy, Maddoggy!!

Still at it Mike! hope you and the family is rocking the New Year!

GROG I'm trying!
Atomic Tiki Punk! Life is good, great to hear from you.
Had a great week a Puerto Peñasco Mexico, now it time to get back to work.
The El Diablo bottle is for a cocktail presentation my brother will be doing and will hold Ancho Chili Liqueur. The drink will sit on a platform to conceal a remote control ignition device and the red "flames" at the base of the glass is flash paper with will burst into real flames at the push of a button. Remote ignition parts are on order, let's see if I can make it work...
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Foam carving is done on the Moai. Working on firepit placement. Next big challenge will be tightly wrap him in chicken wire to support the concrete without changing the shape or requiring a ton of cement needed to cover the wire.
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[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2025-01-14 08:41:20 ]

I'm excited that my Moai wire wrapping seems to be working out. Made up a couple hundred clips from baling wire (I'm showing my age, they haven't used wire for baling in almost 50 years LOL)
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Wrapping in chicken wire, folded in the excess, then pinned into the foam with the wires.
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My 12 year old grandson wants to help me spread concrete on it so I'm hoping we do work on that this Saturday.

A little more Moai work today. My 12 year old grandson wanted to help, by all means! Any time a kid wants to do something creative, you make it happen. We had a great time.
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Got about a third of it covered with two 44 lb bags of polymer modified mortar mix. (Note to self - each bag takes 11 pints water and half a cup of La Habra Hatteras colorant).
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Up next, I'll move it to it's selected location and start to build a platform.

Some work on the base today. Moved the Moai to his location and spray painted the ground to mark the base. Dug out a footing, relocated a sprinkler, laid down some gravel, put in landscaping blocks and leveled them. Need to finish the back wall of the platform and backfill it with tamped earth and a topping of gravel.
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Holy moly, Mad Dog! It's been a heck of a long time since I've been here and just went down a Moai hole checking out what you've been creating. Incredible work all around, impressed as always. I see your posts on you and Teresa's travels on Facebook so impressive to see all of your recent and not so recent work.

Cheers!

TikiAno!!! Thank you sir. I have SO MANY projects I want to do. I don't know how I managed when I was working???!!! LOL

Finished pedestal, waiting for the Moai.
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Laid the Moai on his back and did the areas that would be upside down when he was standing - under the chin, under nose, eyebrows. Then used the rest of the bag of mortar on other parts of the face.
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Next - need to come up with a way to temporarily attach a couple of 2x4s for handles so that 2 guys can lift it and set him on the pedestal.

You live someplace really hot. The longer you keep the cement well the harder it will be and less cracking in the future. Or so I was taught. We are brick layers from way back. We used a hose to keep it wet as it set up.

Incredible work from start to finish. I like devils in art too. So cool. I loved reading you have more projects in mind. I love to be entertained with your photos.

Wendy you are exactly right about drying too fast causing concrete to crack! Fortunately it's not too hot now (in the 60s today). It has developed some cracks moving it but it's OK as I still need a texture coat over it that will cover any cracks.

Now that the face is covered, he's approaching 200 lbs and still needs to be set up on his pedestal. So I devised a plan. Got three 24 inch pieces of steel rebar and gave them a little bend.
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These bars were embedded in the back, 18 inches deep through the mortar and into the solid foam. The bars will remain stuck in his back but it's against the fence and won't show. Maybe when I'm gone and someone needs to move it, they will figure out what those are for.
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Then built a 2x4 cradle around the base of the Moai. One 2x4 went under the chin and one under the steel bars.
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Suckered my neighbor into lifting one end and I got the other. It lifted perfectly and we set it on the pedestal as if I knew what I was doing LOL
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Up next, finish covering with wire and mortar.

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2025-01-21 19:17:18 ]

Finished up chicken wire and mortar all the way around
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Up next, texture and coloring
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That was the most perfect way to move the moai. Your neighbor was a very nice tool for you! This was a wonderful addition to your yard. Soon a 360-degree video will be needed for those of us who enjoy the view. I'm looking forward to the next steps.

Wendy another 360 view will be due. But probably not until March or April after the grass turns green.

The firepit was in the path of the sprinklers. So I put a removable top to protect it from rusting out. I'll go back and router some Rongorongo glyphs on it.
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A drywall hopper to add texture.
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I'm very happy with texture. It looks very rock-like, also covered the cracks and chicken wire well.
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Added some powder colorant while the mortar was wet. Much of this color will wash off later so this is just a first pass color. I can add more color later in the form of paint either sponged or sprayed on.
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Used a leaf blower and a brush to take off some of the excess powder colorant, then hosed it down. It softened the colors some. Then I lightly spayed some moss green to the north side
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[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2025-01-24 16:23:37 ]

Wow wow wow. The texturing really just made this so incredible. the coloring too. I should have known you would have more tricks up your sleevesssssssssss. Well done MadDogMike.

Thank you Wendy. I'm calling him finished (at least for now LOL)

Put a big concrete pot on each side with a Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata) and some Pansies for a spot of color. And a Rapa Nui birdman on the firepit cover
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[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2025-01-26 18:42:26 ]

The only thing left is for birds to land on his head and relieve themselves.

Looks terrific.

LOL Wendy. Someone told me they often paint fake bird poop on faux rocks to make them more realistic :D

Well that's a new one!

Holy cow that came out amazing, just don’t let the wind blow that fire towards him

🗿

danlovestikis LOL
hang10tiki Thanks. I can move the fire pit if I must. Next time I fire it up I'll check the surface temp of the Moai

Absolutely fantastic process and finished result...Mike, You never cease to amaze.

You killed it again, Mad Dog. Fantastic foam shenanigans.

Or Got Rum? and maulrat thank you, you're gonna make me blush!

3D printer project up next. I make several cocktail syrups but I'm tired of my labels looking like this.
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I have been infatuated with Jade Tiles since 2011
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There is a Jade Tile 3D model available so I thought I would use it for some bottle labels
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I may try to sell some if I can get everything worked out.

Those jade tags are excellent!

They look good Mike. I don't think you'd have any problem selling those.

The Moai turned out awesome maddoggy!

arriano, swizzle, and GROG thank you very much.

I have a table on the Tiki patio. It was a really nice cast aluminum decorative table, but I used it for a workbench for too long and thrashed the top LOL.

I thought about covering it in some stone or ceramic tile but was concerned it would be too heavy. But I found some travertine vinyl tile mounted on some sort of thin board. It matches the Temple wall pretty well so I'm going for it.

Started with a sheet of tempered hardboard (Masonite) with a 3 inch lip on the bottom to conceal the bottom of the table.
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I don't have a tablesaw some I rigged up a guide to cut bevel edges with a SkilSaw
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Started cutting tiles to size, beveling edges, gluing and weighting them down
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Top done. Now to start on the edges
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Lookin' good MadDoggy!

LOVE the name tags but we don't have bottles of alcohol. You could sell some with people's names on them??? It would be fun to wear.

That table is beautiful. I always smile when I think of Teresa. She must really enjoy having such a creative husband to admire. From her posts on fb I know she does.

You are a fun guy MDM.

Hugs from Wendy, Smiles from Dan

Thank you GROG :)
Wendy, I'm not sure if she enjoys my creativity or it drives her crazy LOL Either way she loves me so it's all good.

Finished up my table. Got all the tiles on, repainted the legs. Routered a couple Mayan glyphs into it and colored them with exterior latex paint, I wanted to do a bunch of glyphs but sometimes I have to accept that "less is more". The new top matches well with the "stone" walls so I'm happy with it, goes with the patio much better than the cast aluminum scrollwork did.
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[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2025-02-13 17:02:00 ]

GROG like!Image Missing: https://tikicentral.com/resize.php/uploads/5038/67ae96ca6cb36.jpg?w=1280&h=1280&fit=max&sharp=5&s=a79ddf4f18cfc6ee5750907747a9e357

That table turned out great! I started from the last post and read the thread backwards, so my first thought was "Oh, MDM has become a stonecutter now." No, wait, a vinyl cutter? Okay, you had me convinced--looks like the real deal!

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A wonderful table and a cool bowl at its back end.

GROG thank you sir
Prikli Pear Thanks. I originally wanted to do stone or ceramic tile but I was worried about the weight.
danlovestikis thank you. I think I posted the bowl previously, 3D printed Chocmools with a red oak carved bowl.

A quick project today, Quicksand Quincy. As a kid I was convinced that quicksand was around every corner, waiting to swallow me up. As an adult though, I've never run into any quicksand LOL
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Remember my Tahitian Cannibal teardrop trailer from 12 years ago? It's too small for Teresa and I so it's been sitting out in the weather for 10 years. There is a camping event coming up and Teresa doesn't really like to camp so I'm resurrecting the Cannibal and going by myself. I brought it home and cleaned it up but it had some water damage.
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So I tore the back door apart and I'm rebuilding it. New side pieces.
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New sides attached to the top and bottom cross members.
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Wow, I'm so glad you are fixing it. I've thought of it often. I remember you even made curtains for the inside. I hope you bring it back so it's just as cute as before.

MIKE!!! You are very busy in retirement. Love the Moai! Must have been nice to have some child labor to help put it together....

Thank you Wendy. I'm working at getting it back into shape. The "kitchen" was been repaired and ready to go camping this weekend!
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Hamo that Moai was a fun project! And free child labor is always a good thing LOL