Wendy Cevola - Zombie Hut movie and Sven's new book on display.

Hi Friends, I've had so many of you tell me how excited you get seeing your mugs in progress that I wanted to tell you that's how I feel when I see notes from you posted here. I love reading them and you reward me well. THANK YOU.

Dan wants to run some erronds so I'm going to do this in a very fast way. Abbreviations;

TRR,LLT,ZT,AT,DANNO,TT,BK and h10tiki I've read your notes and appreciate them very much.

I love to teach. Dan says I love to talk and to dispense information. I'm not sure if he's saying it in a kind way. When I was a kid a ran a school in my backyard during summer recess. I mainly taught art to the kids in my neighborhood. As an adult I ran the Nuclear Medicine Program for Sutter Hospitals, again teaching technologists how to do their jobs. Now I'm back to art and having so much fun posting here and connecting with all of you. It's joyful for me.

BK it would be fun to see the factory and to know if they still make tools.
h10tiki that's his favorite hat he wears it on our walks every morning. We did a longer one today.

Shoot Dan wants to leave now. I'll post photos when we get back. I made good headway on the painting yesterday. Later, Wendy

We are back._________________

Progress Report on Oasis painting

I painted some texture to the coconut trunks. Next up palm fronds added to the top.

I added an attachment point to the top and started the fronds.

One done.

All done.

Have a variety of colors to use for plants and trees. See the spray bottle. To keep my paints from drying out I spray them every few minutes. I also use it to thin the paint.

Next I added pebbles to the black sand beach and plants to the foreground. Leaving the black showing through adds depth.


Close up.

My cat has a new fun place. When I stop painting and go to type on the computer she watches me.

Tomorrow I'll report on the kiln and all the Bob projects.

Thanks for checking back, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-06-05 11:49 ]

WOO HOO! 100 pages for Wendy! Here's to 100 more.

Best,
Chris

Congrats on 100 pages of delightful art and postings.Wendy!
The painting is turning out reeeeeal nice!
YAY!
:)

Painting is lookin sWeet

absolutely beautiful, Wendy.

On page 99 hang10tiki wrote;
Great update
Can't wait to see what secrets and updates will be on page 100...

So I decided to see who would congratulate me on my thread hitting 100 pages first on page 100.

Congratulations WestADad I'm sending you a Bumatay necklace for being the first person on page 100 to congratulate me. You need to thank hang10tiki for getting me to think up one more secret contest!

little lost tiki and Zero Tiki thank you so much for your notes. I hope everyone has looked at your paintings for the swap. They are so terrific.

Here's a Progress Report:

I love opening the kiln and finding that all is well.

Of the two Missionary's Downfall bowls I knew the Alter style would have cracks.

These cracks are fine and the alter will not fall apart. I'll work to close them when I glaze.

Back side of Pac Man Bob.

Now everything was loaded up and taken out to be hosed off. Dan used a new high pressure nozzle and when he came in he was drenched. Too bad I didn't take photos of that. I'll start glazing these today.

I found four problems with my painting. First, the short frond on the middle palm tree was not working. Second, one of the short palms had a frond in front of a tree that was in front of it. Third, the front pole was leaning. Forth, the plants were too manicured leaving a black line running in front of the bushes.

Started with the pole. I also moved the high point of the thatch roof to be centered over the pole.

Fixed the problems.

Close up.

Taking photos and posting them helps me see problems that I might of missed.

Time for our morning walk. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-06-06 09:11 ]

Well how about that! I had no idea I'd be that lucky. Looking forward to wearing your Bumatay with pride.

The Bob's are looking great and I'll keep watching the painting to see it progress.

Thank you Wendy!

Big hug,
Chris

WeasADad- congrats

Wendy- wow, u found 4 things I didn't notice, quite an eye u have there.

Prickly Purple Pineapple
That was just in case you are having a secret contest to see who's the first to post a 3 word alliteration involving a double entendre, a color and a tropical fruit :D :lol: :D

Wendy, I think you should try paperclay to make the altar style bowl holder to see if that fixes your crack problem. The ceramics and the painting are both looking beautiful. Eliminating the "manicured" effect on the plants was a good call. The other 3 were things that would bug you but no one else would ever notice :D (or maybe artist do that - go to a gallery and try to find mistakes by others artists? Kind of like I watch hosptipal movies and laugh at the stupid stuff they do) Can't wait to see what other surprises await us.

Wendy, the Bumatay necklace arrived yesterday and it is a show piece for sure! I will be posting pictures soon, thank you so much for all your great work.

This is just a test and not the Bumatay...

Wow!

Well, phew! I just spent the past 2 hours looking at this thread and I have no words! Wendy and Dan, your work is simply amazing. You are so creative and talented. Just, wow!

MDM- u funny

Wendy I hope you make a lot of these they are going to be very popular at Oasis! What an awesome and substantial work of art. Keep up the great work.

WestADad we hope to ship out the Bumatay today. Please post a photo like Tavarua Tiki's when it arrives.

hang10tiki I hope you and everyone who watches the painting will point out anything that doesn't look right as I progress. I'm always learning as I go.

MadDogMike weird, I had an idea for a pineapple in my painting, we'll see. I tried to get some paper clay but it was all high fire and came in 50 pound bags. The shop said that the Magic Mend is a low fire liquid version. So I'm mounding it on the cracks and as it dries I mush it into them and add more. It's looking good so far but firing will tell the whole story.

Tavarua Tiki thank you so much. Tropical setting, cute guy, my art. Its a perfect photo.

KittyKat65, the year you graduated high school? Or the year you were born? I'm always curious about numbers. Welcome. I hope to see you here often. 2 hours? I'm honored.

Now its time to update the Wish List:

I glazed all day and here's how much was done. Some will require cold paint after firing to highlight areas or to add detail such as eyes and mouth on Bob.

Tavarua Tiki's Creature From The Bob Lagoon. I hope one day that glazing will require 1 layer instead of three. Yep that red glaze turns green.

Spotted glaze on Doug Horne's puffer fish, Bob's face and the interior of the mug.

Volcano/Pele/Fire mug for the swap that MadDogMike is running this year.


Drying. She will not be smiling by the time she is finished with the cold paint.

Tonga Tiki's Missionary's Downfall bowl and the woman who caused it. He wanted the inside of the bowl to match her dress. It is a nicely spotted glaze called Honeysuckle.

The gray glaze has been discontinued. It is very much like rough lava when fired. When I run out there will be no more. I have it in four colors, this black/grey, light browns and even a blue.

Rock Solid Bob in Royal Blue. So this mug will make Murph Dog a member of the Blue Bob Group. I haven't started the face yet.

BaconSM's Pac Man Bob. I'm doing the entire outside of the mug in underglaze. I will see if I can do all the colors this way. If not I'll just add cold paint after firing. No next up with this mug is to paint everything on the game board in blue, white, pink, orange etc.

I will paint all day today and post more photos tomorrow.

Thank you for the 864 views yesterday. That was a real fun surprise. Oh, I forgot to subtract my 850 views. Still a very good day. I'm having so much fun. I hope you are too, Wendy

All beautiful Wendy! I think the Pele and the Creature are my favorites.

Freeform in San Diego carries a lowfire paperclay, maybe you can pick some up when you come down for Oasis? I think New Mexico Clay ships clay for free. They make a clay with nylon fibers instead of paper fibers (still works the same) called Lafingspirit It's supposed to be better than paperclay because the paper fibers will rot out of the clay if you keep it too long before using it, the nylon fibers don't do that.

Awesome stuff Wendy,

The Lava Bob is the best!

Love the glaze photos, Wendy.

MadDogMike I am going to get a bag of the paper clay since the nylon fibers will not rot. It will take me years to go through 25 pounds so this will work. Thank you for all the times you have helped me.

Badd Tiki thank you for posting a note to cheer me on.

Atomic Tiki Punk I've been seeing a lot of photos of you celebrating your birthday. It looks like you had a great one. Here are more glazing photos.

Progress Report on the Wish List:

Pac Man Bob for BaconSM



It was really hard not to wiggle when painting these blue lines.

I went back and fine tuned some lines where I'd gone off track.

McTiki's emerald green, the actual name of the glaze.

Deb's lime green

Philot's blue grey Diamond Head Bob.

Mikey Tiki's deep purple.

BaconSM's leafy Bob. I picked out 8 colors for this mug.

I covered it in black. The Bobs in the back that have no eyes still need the white and black painted on their faces.

I wiped off the black from the raised areas of the leaves and bird of paradise flowers.

It took the whole day to get this far because every glaze needs three coats including every color on Pac Man Bob.

I'll be back to work this morning. I really hope to finish these today so that I can fire them tomorrow. We'll see.

Thank you for stopping by and for the notes. Cheers, Wendy

Ooooooooooooh. Nice! I'm getting anxious.

Emerald green is my fave. I just noticed that the forehead mimics the McTiki on the back!

Excellent!

Thank you!

McTiki

I've been eagerly watching watching the thread, continually amazed with each new idea you've come up with Wendy.

When I picked the blue-grey color for my request, I was thinking of how it would look where it pools on the carved part. Adding Diamondhead came later at your suggestion. I'm not sure if that's going to come out looking like stormy weather or dark of night. Either way, I'll be quite happy with the results.

I really like how BaconSM's Bob with the leaves is shaping up. Almost has me second guessing my design choice. Who am I kidding, I like them all!

That Pac-man is really over the top. One of those things where it's not really my style, but I can still appreciate the design and execution.

The Pac-man has made me curious, what's the effect of laying many layers of glaze over each other? Do you get to a point where too many layers causes problems? Is there an order you have to follow (light to dark, or vice-versa)?

Wendy,

Everything is looking great, I can't wait to see how my Palm Bob mug turns out after being fired! :D

Keep up the good work and all the updates, I love being able to stop by every morning and see what you have been up to!

I'm dying to see that pacman bob....just saying....

I'm with you atomic pac man is so cool

oh my goodness wendy your painting is so incredible

[ Edited by: anthonymaye 2012-06-08 11:12 ]

I see you prefer "Brawney" over the "other" leading paper towel, care to comment?

Lookin good

Hi Friends, first off thank you for making my day. I love reading your notes. Thank you.

McTiki I have finished with Wish List glazing and they will all go into the kiln tonight. Then it will be back to the painting using your tiki.

Philot glaze turns to glass and moves as it melts when fired. That's what's bad about it. Under-glaze is more like a powder in water. It can be built up and layered and when it is fired it stays put. The only movement would be in the clear glaze used to cover it. Picture the Trader Vic's mugs with so many colors. That's under glaze. As long as you do all three layers what is under it will not show. I've used it on the entire Pac Man Bob and the Bob with leaves. I'm glad you like them all.

Mikey Tiki good morning, welcome.

Atomic Chick who knew you were a Pac Man chick too.

hang10tiki it is so good to know you are hanging around.

Tavarua Tiki I love Brawney so much that last time I poured and had a huge mess from a mold leak I had Dan photograph my Brawny clean up. Here's the premiere.

You can see that I tried to stop the leak with clay platered on the side of the mold. It was leaking out the bottom two. It stopped on its own. To avoid this pour in a small amount of slip and turn the mold to each of its sides. It will plug the leaks. Once this is done it can stand the weight of the rest of the slip being poured in.

But when you have a huge mess Brawny is terrific. It doesn't fall apart.




I like being asked questions.

Wish List Progress....I'm so happy this morning to announce that every piece has been glazed. By tonight they will be dry and I'll put them into the kiln to fire. The kiln will open up on Monday. Of course if there are glaze skips I'll be working on them one more time but there's always hope.

The Missionary's Downfall Alter Bowl after working on the small cracks. Started the painting.

Added red to the bowl and to the alter bowl holder.

BaconSM's Leafy Bob has been painted with under glaze.

Three layers of white on the faces.

Three layers of black on the eyes and mouth.

Two layers of green clear over the under glaze. Set out in the windy backyard to dry and later into the kiln shed to await firing.

I'll load them tonight. Meanwhile its back to working on the Spy/Tiki painting.

Thank you for stopping by it means so much to me, Wendy

Great colors on the leafy Bob, that is going to look fantastic. Thank you Wendy for the great coverage of the power of Brawny, I'm sold and making the switch from the other leading brand.

Where is the nipples on those Bob's :wink:

Maybe Pele Bob can have some for you, ATP.

Wendy, they all are fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Foliage Bob and I am poised to welcome MurphDog into the Blue Bob Brotherhood.

[ Edited by: Professor G 2012-06-09 19:44 ]

LOL at the Brawny story! That's what I love about works-in-progress threads, you get to see a little about how people do things. How you handle problems is sometimes more interesting than having everything go perfectly all the time.

Those are all looking great Wendy and that painting is awesome.

Good Morning!

Tavarua Tiki I'm so happy to hear you are switching to Brawny it saves me from all my messes.

Atomic Tiki Punk Pele has them...

Professor G I hope the foliage will turn out well. It is so hard to tell with under glazes exactly what the end product will look like. Murph Dog will make a great addition to your Blue Bob group.

Philot when I have an error I don't get upset because I can share it here. My thread is so full of them. I'm glad to know that you and others appreciate learning from them.

VampiressRN thank you for your support you are a dear friend.

We poured slip into the two molds we made a couple of weeks ago. The molds were dry. One had no leaks and one was super bad. Brawny please. I could see where the problem was when I put it together. I have two ways to fix it. I'll do that in the future.

Here's the wish list in the kiln. I'll open the lid tomorrow. I like to glaze the bottoms so every item is on stilts. So the bottoms only have tiny spots that have no glaze.

I added a bit of movement to the water in front of the land.

I cut part of a spy out of paper to see how he would look in the hut. You'll see him added below.

Behind the foliage I painted permanent hooker's green paint that is almost black. Behind larger stones for a black sand beach I paint speckles. So first off I put down newspaper or newsprint roll end paper which is super cheap. then I cover the part of the painting I don't want to get the specks.

My tools are stiff brushes, water in a spray bottle to keep the paint thin, paint and one glove to save my hand from major clean up. If you don't have a glove you can use a baggie over your hand and run a piece of tape around your wrist.

Put thinned with water paint on the brush and pull back the bristles and let go. Change paint color and do it again and again until the area is covered.

All Done. Carefully remove the cover over the rest of the painting.

See the spy in the hut? He is watching you.

Today I'll work on the foreground of the painting and I'll open the molds to see if I got good casts of the Bobs. I'm starting now because I can wrap them in plastic and hold them until it is time to start the next wish list.

Cheers, Wendy

another fine episode...

ps= the painting rocks

Hi Wendy! Here's a pic of both Murphdogs. The likeness is incredible! Thanks so much!

On 2012-06-10 20:44, murphdog wrote:

Hi Wendy! Here's a pic of both Murphdogs. The likeness is incredible! Thanks so much!

Awesome!!! Tiki Ba approves too :wink:

Wendy (and Dan),

It just keeps getting better and better with each new entry (if that is even possible)!

I cannot believe all the Bob variations and how each one is such a unique exhibition of your talents. Bravo to all of your efforts.

That painting is pretty spectacular as well, even more proof (as if any were needed) of your unlimited artistic abiltites. You make it worth coming to Tiki Central.

Sorry about the delays in getting over there. Maybe I am cursed?

Love you guys...

D

hang10tiki I hope I deserve you, thank you for being here.

MurphDog, I love this photo. Thank you so much. This is the best reward I get for the work.

Loki Tiki we should have Tiki Ba up again. There is the Blue Bob Group and now a Bob Dog club too.

Psycho Tiki D we love you too. Thank you for all the support and kind words.

Wish list progress and etc.

Along with all the other Bob conversions I did a surprise 50th birthday gift for
Rugby Matt from Deb. She has given it to him so I can now share these photos.









HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT

Sunday we poured the old and new Bob molds. One leaked horribly but in the end we got our 4 good Bobs.

I made the two new Bob molds with tall heads so I could do other types of Bob conversions.

Here you can see two at the regular height and two that are taller.

I can cut the top off at any point.

Since I'm making these for the next wish list I have to wrap them 6 times so that they do not dry out.

We poured a set of Bobs again today. But first I filled the holes that caused the leaks with clay. This photo shows one on the right filled and one on the left waiting to be filled.

After the mold was put together I covered the bottom with more clay.

I put plastic over this so that when it was placed upright it wouldn't stick to the table top.

It worked no a single leak. Here Dan is pouring out the excess slip. Notice on the mold I've written the amount of time the slip needs to set in the mold to make the thickness I like for the Bob's. Notes on molds are a big help, especially if you pull out an old one to use.

I think this is Tiki Atari selling mugs on this site.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jchaffin/the-horror-in-clay-cthulhu-tiki-mug-production-run

He has a video and as he walks away I can see one of my Tiki Bob decanter's on his shelf. Thanks Tavarua Tiki for sharing this with me. It looks like he's had over 700 sales of his mug I hope he's sending them to China to be made. It would take me 3 years to make that many.

Yes I did open the kiln this morning and I've taken out all the mugs and bowls. I need to go over each one to see if I can enhance it with cold paint or if there is a problem. Once I've done that I will photograph them and request addresses for shipping. I'll also post photos. Hopefully I can do all of this by tomorrow night or tonight.

We will be taking a few days off for a family reunion. So if we disappear you'll know we are with my sisters family having a blast.

I'll be back! Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-06-11 09:53 ]

Wendy, Great seeing you at Caliente! You and Dan do amazing stuff and the new Matt mug is another great piece! I love all the new stuff! wow.....

Amy

Thank you Amy. Caliente was fun because I got to meet so many new people, you included, and to have some wonderful visits with friends old and new.

I finished the Swap mug for the Volcano/Pele/Fire theme.

The Wish list will be finished tomorrow. I have to wait 24 hours before I bake those with cold paint. I wish I had one more day but our family reunion starts on Wednesday and continues the rest of the week. We should be able to ship many of these tomorrow. If I requested an address I need it now if I didn't ask you it's because I saved it from the last time.

I took these photos fast and the lighting wasn't set up right so the photos look blurry or burned out. But here goes anyway.

Opening the kiln lid is always scary and fun.

McTiki your Bob had a cold with a runny nose. I used cold paint to cover the whole face but he is not considered fixed. I'll PM you about this sad fellow.

Tiki Tonga's Missionary's Downfall Bowl. I painted the bowl this way but fired it doesn't look like I imagined. I just looks like the glaze ran.

MurphDog's Rock Solid Bob the newest member of Professor G's Blue Bob group.

Mikey Tiki these photos do not show the correct color. It is a deep purple and not a red purple.

Philot your Diamond Head Bob

Deb your Tiki Hut Bob

BaconSM Leafy Bob and Pac Man Bob

Danno let me know if this Missionary's Downfall Alter Bowl works for you.

Tavarua Tiki here is your Creature from the Bob Lagoon complete with the Doug Horne puffer fish he allowed us to use.

What's left is to bake those with cold paint tomorrow then ship them. The rest are ready to go. If you are no longer happy with your mug or life has changed and you need to cancel please just let me know. Thank you for all these orders it's been a fun journey. I'm glad you took the trip with me, cheers, Wendy

It works fine for me Wendy!! I love it! I emailed you my shipping address, etc. Thanks!!!

Krikeee...great job Wendy...that is a lotta Bobs!!!

I am blown away by Leafy Bob....I Love mine too but that leaf color contrast turned out brilliantly. Then there Pac Man.........whoa!

Awesomeness! You guys deserve a break!

Mahalo

McTiki

BOB-ARIFFIC Wendy!
Wow! Every last one is a GEM!
my favorites are the
Runny Nose Bob :lol:
the Creature
and the PacMan Bob!
You have most certainly expanded the TikiBob ouevre to new heights!
BRAVO Sweet friend! BRAVO!

Wow. All I've got to say is wow, but I've got a whole lot of wow to say. Wow. Beautiful. Wow.

Wow, Wendy! Creature from the Bob Lagoon is just so cool! In order to do it justice, Tavarua Tiki is going to have to display that mug on a rotating pedestal.

I'm honored to have joined the Blue Bob club with my Rock Solid guy. :)

HOLY CRAP!

Those Pac Man and Creature mugs are awesome, awesome, AWESOME!!

Wendy...Incredible, I am soooo happy with the Creature mug. The colors came out amazing. Can't wait to see him in person. Thanks so much for taking us all on this great journey of your creativity.