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

Great sculpts and texture on both of those Wendy, he's going to be very happy with those. And your legend spreads!!! :D

MDM, you make me blush, thank you, Wendy

Gosh I hope I can convey how excited I am after our trip to Grass Valley. Not just because the next step has been made towards making the chunk style tiki lamps but because of who I'm making them with. Roger Bodine began making these lamps in the early 1960's. He was the first to make them with resin rather than glass so they didn't weigh so much. But its what he's made since that time that gives me such excitement. It is his company that made the giant lens for the HUBBLE spacecraft telescope. No kidding! I am so honored to be joining him in his first endeavor into the tiki world. It's always fun to go back to something you enjoyed when young and to do it again. To make that journey with him is super. The sculpts are done so now with them in his hands I get to sit back and watch.He's got the molds underway and he'll send me photos in a couple of weeks to update the progress.

These are some of the chunks that his company makes and sells. You could make your own lamp.

This is Roger Bodine and some of his creations.

My personal lamp will have the panels on the left. The tikis will be in the light and dark reds in the center of the panels. He can make these any color or in any way someone desires.

My lamp will be the first one and I'll post photos as soon as it's done.

Here's his Etsy and web pages.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtLampDesignByRoger?page=1

http://www.goldenwestmfg.com

Thanks for the visit, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-11-05 12:16 ]

Those are awesome, I've never seen anything like that, which is why I gave you that "dumbfounded" look when you were describing them to me - really cool, can't wait to see the tiki touch with the Moai incorporated!

Awesome

Aloha Wendy, what an amazing opportunity you have come into! Congrats, I just love it when life throws you something wonderful and exciting! :D

Cheers,
Linda

Very cool Wendy, looks like you had a great trip. Keep us posted on the progress. How far from you is Grass Valley (and what kind of "grass" grows there? :wink: )

Super Cool Wendy! I will be avidly watching for more. What a opportunity! It's kinda funny I never really had much appreciation for chunk lamps until I saw and read about them here on TC. I love all the colors of resin chunks in the photo. So as I understand it he is going to make a mold of your tiki sculptures and then cast resin versions of them? I can't wait to see those lit up!

Wow Wendy! I am coming late to this party, just saw the operation pics and all: I am so glad you are better!

There is nothing more healing than the energy one gets from a new creative project, and boy have you got one with the lamp! What chunky resin paradise! Those boxes full of the chunks...oooooh! I am so addicted to these lamps. And I wanna know more about their past:

Did he have any catalogues for the lamps back then? How did he distribute them, does he have any old photos of his lamps in situ?

Great find, and great work reviving an extinct art form!

Hi Friends, I'll do my best to answer each one of you right NOW!

The Blue Kahuna - I'm glad to have shown you something new. So many tiki collectors also have these lights. I'm thrilled to add my art to a new tiki version.

hang10tiki - thank you - I've been watching your gallery thread, your new Tiki Bob is darling.

Umeone - we need to see if one of our lamps was made by him. I sure am enjoying your sometimes shocking craft thread, you go girl.

MadDogMike - we are 1 1/2 hours away. He is in the mountains so eventually he'll have snow.

Hi Sven - its been a long hard summer. I've had two broken bones and my second surgery was only 2 weeks ago. I never stopped the flow of art, it kept me happy in spite of the pain.

Roge (he likes that better than Roger - it rhymes with Dodge) has left on a trip. When he is back I'll ask him all your questions. I would like a copy of him sitting on the Hubble lens that they had in the Sacramento Bee.

Sven here's a message from Dan. He said he saw a movie this week filmed in 1990. The name of the movie was The Mistress. It listed you as the Director of Photography. He said that made the movie so much more fun.

Here I'm sharing part of an email he sent to me;

My first exposure to Tiki was Don The Beachcombers at WAIKIKI in 1957 when I was in the Navy.

I had 2 Mai Tai’s, a couple of other drinks and when I walked out of their bar late at night, I walked right into a palm tree and fell over. My buddies got me back to the base at Pearl.

Along with this story he sent me photos of what they accomplished before he left.

Yes - he not only makes his resin pieces he makes the black goo and liquid resin used to build the lamp.

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-11-06 09:38 ]

The suspense is keeeeeeling me...can hardly wait to see the finished lamp. Great job Wendy!!!

Me too Vamp. He let me tell him what I wanted so I hope I chose well. All his lamps are beautiful.

After putting up 99 auctions on eBay during the past 3 days I took a break and worked on one of the Missionary's Downfall bowls. I fine tuned the shape of the pillars. I put lines on the shell bowl and base. Then I carved 2 tikis on two of the pillars. Here's some photos! Wendy

I just noticed I didn't show all that I did today. Next time. These close up photos are good for spotting places that need more work.

The tikis are similar to those found at Crowne Plaza Resort where Tiki Oasis is held each year. It used to be named The Hanalei Bay Resort.

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-11-08 15:58 ]

99 AUCTIONS??? :o

Wendy you is some kinda crazy!

Really like the carved tiki pillars you have going there, can't wait to see the shape it takes.

Hi tigertail777, thank you but the tiki pillars have now changed to rock. The close up photos didn't make me happy. Now I am. How do you like them now? Wendy

I will not place the Missionary's Downfall women with their bowls until all the glazing is done.

It's time to start the next bowl!

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-11-09 16:53 ]

I like the rock Wendy, beautiful! Now all it needs is a blue epoxy waterfall! :D

Very nice Wendy! I am with Mike, I think it needs a acrylic waterfall now...don't know if you have ever played with making those before, but here is how you do it for model railroad layouts: http://www.thewhistlepost.com/forums/tips-tricks-techniques/7916-waterfall-tutorial.html
Often times after the final stage in the above tutorial it will be backed with a solid piece of acrylic plexiglass that has been slightly bent by warming one end with a blow torch and then pulling in a curve on one end with pliers. Then just take the above waterfall and glue it to the plexiglass backing with the same clear liquid nails.

Just an idea you might want to try out sometime. :wink:

Can't wait to see how the rock work looks painted. :)

Wow Wendy, that really looks great! I really liked the tiki you carved first but I think the rocks set the topless wahine off even better.. The rock detail you carved must have taken awhile but it really does look amazing... Can't wait to see it all glazed up!! Dan's bowl should be there in a day or two.. Aloha

That is so cool Wendy! Very impressive!

Absolutely love the rock pillars, Wendy! The Waterfall project looks very interesting, I may have to come up with a project. Thanks Tigertail777! Wendy I may have to borrow your rocks, if that's OK. Great job as always! :)

Wendy, I was kidding about the waterfall - I've been there & done that and it's way too much work :D

MadDogMike, I love the mug you did for the swap but noooooooooooo.
tigertail777. nooooooooooooooooooooo!
Beachbumz, thank you. I hope you post photos of our bowl. It is terrific.
zerostreet, thank you, I just need to learn to do some clay work with mood!
umeone, I'll look forward to seeing what you create. Last time it was an eye opener!

Well first MadDogMike has his bench crack and then today so did my bowl. I have lots of options on how to fix it so I'm going to have fun. I learned a very good lesson. All the clay needs to be the same thickness. I just hope it's the only crack. Although cracks in the stone pillars could be cool.

I'm thinking a hollow tiki or volcano placed over the hole. Yes the crack went all the way through. So MadDogMike says something like if life give you marshmallows make smores. Cheers, Wendy

Hi Friends, Roge is back from his trip so I hope to have photos for the chunk lamp project in the next week. Below he clarified for me his involvement with the Hubble Lens. When Dan passed on the story to me he wasn't quit on mark. Here's what Roge wrote today. His envolvement was very special. Read below, Wendy

Where you posted information on my history I did not make the actual Hubble Telescope lenses. What I supplied were plastic castings of the basic size of the lenses so that the manufacturer could use it as a machining test run to make sure of measurements, design problems and holding fixture for the finished glass. Kind of important, because to set up to do glass was a major manufacturing process light years from my capabilities. Another note: they were in such a hurry that they had to air freight some of the huge castings to the east coast which in some cases cost more than the castings I made for them. Any correction on your site would be greatly appreciated. Roge

Sorry Wendy, I didn't mean to set a precident with cracking artwork. At least they were both salvagable. And I know what Roge is talking about, I've sold a few pieces where the Post Office made more than I did :D

Hi Mike. I think that the company that hired him paid for the shipping.

Today no art work. I will post on eBay the rest of my Hallmark ornament collection. I'm making room for more tikis in the house!

Roge sent me photos to show that the two heads I sculpted for the Chunk Lamps have had the rubber poured to make the molds. They sit until Monday and then will be opened. It's exciting to see the steps. Wendy

On 2011-11-10 13:43, tigertail777 wrote:
Very nice Wendy! I am with Mike, I think it needs a acrylic waterfall now...don't know if you have ever played with making those before, but here is how you do it for model railroad layouts: http://www.thewhistlepost.com/forums/tips-tricks-techniques/7916-waterfall-tutorial.html

I'm totally using some of this technique to enhance the "lava" I've got planned for the next version of Mt. Ubangee (my backyard volcano).

Wendy,I'm sorry about your bowl cracking but, the way you've dealt with it looks like it could be amazing! :) I can't wait to see your lamp Tikis in acrylic! I don't know what I'm going to do with your rocks(thank you)but, I now have rocks in my head! :lol:

MDM, I love your waterfall! :)

I hope the Tiki Gods are now satisfied with all of our sacrificial pieces! Maybe we can get some work done without all the drama! :lol:

Good Karma to all!

Wendy,
Came home tonight after having a Mai-Tai or 3 at the Bali Hai and found a lil box at the door. Picked it up, ran inside, grabbed a machete, ripped da box open and BAMMMMMM, my jaw fell on the floor and broke in two. The crate tiki is AMAZING and huge...WOW...it looks great, you did a wonderful job...I placed it next to the two carvings I did in your honor...LOVE IT...thanks again...pics below...

PS- I was wrong, my jaw broke into 3 pieces...

hang10tiki, thank you very much for your post. I love seeing your carving tribute next to my ceramic. I enjoyed it when you did the carvings and I'm enjoying them now.

Lamp update. The molding etc. is being done in Grass Valley where winter has set in. It may snow there tomorrow. So the mold is taking its time setting. Roge hopes to take it apart next Monday.

Well my Missionary's Downfall bowl has continued to crack so I've made the crack part of the style. I like the way the light shines through onto the woman with the hole but then it needed to still be a useful piece of art. So I've made a bowl to sit inside the alter. I will carve it out to look like the stone pillars. It will be removable a free standing bowl to drink from or to store in the alter.

It will shrink an inch as it dries. I might at well have fun with this. Who knows in the end it may look just fine.

Looks like a good plan Wendy :fingers crossed: Hope it works :D

Hi Wendy, I love your tree branches, kinda looks like it could be part of a lost city. :)

Hi friends, it's all fun no matter what. It's as much fun sharing the catastrophes as the successes. Today Sven was on TV, I missed it but I saw this photo. To my joy I saw my Zombie Hut mug on the top of Sven's CD cabinet next to the pole. Here's the photo. Cheers, Wendy

Ha! Very cool Wendy!

That is as cool as the segment was on the come back of Tiki Bars! Congratulations Wendy! You do ROCK! :lol: From New York to California there is a Tiki Revival! :D I couldn't be more pleased! Well maybe if one of my pieces of art was on National TV! :lol:

Cheers to my Mentor, Wendy! :)
Linda

I missed that detail Wendy. So very cool!
~kele

Hi zerostreet, umeone and Kele. Thanks for taking a look. That was so much fun to revisit the fact the Sven wanted my mug.

UPDATE AND RECAP ON THE PROGRESS OF THE TIKI RESIN CHUNK LAMP PROJECT

THE CLAY PATTERNS WERE DELIVERED TO ROGER AND WITH FURTHER ASSISTANCE FROM MIGUEL ANDRADE THEY PREPARED THE PATTERNS FOR THE MOLD AND THEN CASTINGS WERE PRODUCED TO GO INTO THE TIKI LAMPS

THIS IS ROGER BODINE HE STARTED AND OWNED LAGUNA LAMPS. HE DESIGNED ALL OF THE ROCK CHUNK LAMPS AND AFTER HIS BUSINESS BURNT TO THE GROUND HE SOLD IT ALL. HE DISPLAYED HIS LAMPS IN THE FESTIVAL OF ARTS IN LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA.

HIS CURRENT DESIGNS FOR SALE ON ETSY 2011.

THESE ARE THE CLAY SCULPTURES THAT I BROUGHT TO LIFE FROM ROGERS VISION AND INSTRUCTION AS TO DETAIL AND TEXTURE (I fess up he taught me to use sandpaper)

Before proceeding to make the rubber mold Roge called the company that makes Romo sculpting clay. He asked them it it would inhibit the cure of the rubber mold material. He was told that it wouldn't. They were not correct in giving that assurance. The mold did not set and was mush for 2 weeks and had to be discarded. The pink mold shows that it is still slimy where it touched the clay.

Miguel was able to save the sculpts from this mess and to proceed to make new rubber molds with a different mix of chemicals.

From the blue molds Miguel was able to cast the master's with all the detail.

Next step. Miguel cast each of the heads.

The God of Light

The Easter Island Moai

Next step was to place the head into a mold and pour resin and add the resin chunk rocks.

Another design element that Roger came up with was to add lava rock boarders. He will also add this rock along the seams when the panels (4) are attached.

Stay tuned for more photos next week. To check out the rest of Rogers Lamps see his etsy pages.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82524611/handmade-colored-and-crystal-resin?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_submit=Search&ga_search_query=resin+rocks&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=supplies&ga_facet=supplies

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtLampDesignByRoger?page=1

I watch their project the same way you do. They send photos and I post them here. I had such a tiny part to play but the thrill for me is huge!

Cheers, Wendy

“Wendy gets the credit for sculpting the Tiki and Easter Island heads. Without the heads in the Tiki Lamps, passion would be missing”…….Roger

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-11-25 12:40 ]

Thans for passing along the update Wendy, it is fun to see the lamp taing form.

BTW: The tiki heads came out great!

Aaaah, how great it is to see the art of resin Tikis resurrected!

There were few, but some, vintage resin Tiki lamps in existence in the 60s:

But no one has combined them with the chunky lamps, so far!
Later, during the early Tiki revival, someone made these resin pendants:

...which I always loved. And then there were the translucent swizzle sticks:

Resin objects are, quite literally, real eye candy!

Very cool Wendy, that is going to look sooooo cool hanging in the Jungle Room!

Congratulations Wendy, they look great. I've added his etsy page to my favourites and look forward to seeing the finished pieces. I actually need a nice lamp cover for my lounge room. One with tikis on it would be perfect.

Holy Cow!!! The resin lamp is gonna be the bomb...and thanks for all the great pictures.

CONGRATS on have that 15 seconds of fame for your Sac mug...how kewl!!!!

Cool light.

Quote Sven
"But no one has combined them with the chunky lamps, so far!"

I don't know if I would say that.

great update Wendy
lookin good

Arrrrgh, Skip, I'm gonna eat my hat! How could I forget those beauties above, tiz tiz. What I meant of course was I had never seen resin Tikis combined with a classic mid-century "big chunk" resin lamp.... :D

Wendy, is this a one-off? You are not gonna sell that, I'd take it. Or are they making more of them?
Couldn't afford one right now anyway, but I'd be in line to get one for sure.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-11-26 07:38 ]

Hi Mikeytiki, thanks for your post good to hear from you again.

MDM, you are such a doll. It's going to go where ever we can look at it the most.

Swizzle, that would be so cool to have one of these in your collection in Australia, wow. How's your mug coming along. I'll check your thread later.

Vamp, I'd take any connection to Sven and seeing my mug in his home was so much fun. It wasn't part of his show just in it's presence. I'm so happy you like the lamp. I'm in love with it.

Hang10tiki, another carving op!

tikiskip, we love the photos. Roger wanted to know when those were made. Any idea?

Hi Sven, I found the links to your TV show, it was great and left us begging for more.

I'm so glad you like the lamp and would want one in your standout collection. This first one is my special order and being given to us for my work on the sculpts. After this one I become a customer like everyone else.

Rogers goal is to post the photos of my lamp when it is finished on ETSY on December 1, 2011. There will be an order form where you may customize how you would want one done. I have no problem with someone wanting one exactly how I wanted mine. However you can all ask for variations in color choices or which of the two tikis you want on the lamp or both. He's coming up with other styles with more panels. It's so much fun that you may even order it to match a particular room perhaps all purple.

Look at all the resin chunk colors to choose from. Roger is the man who started the resin chunk lamp craze. It doesn't get any closer to the past or an authentic chunk lamp. Let go with your imagination and have your dream lamp customized for you.

I choose the center panel for my lamp.

On December 1st check out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtLampDesignByRoger?page=1

Roger thanks you for looking and I thank you too, Wendy

I'm on pins and needles waiting for more resin-tiki-chunk lamp photos. Roger has been working this weekend so it won't be long.

Meanwhile I've gotten back on track with my own project The Missionary's Downfall bowls.

Here is where one of the women who caused the downfall will sit. Glaze colors on the bowl will determine which woman looks best with which bowl.

Since I had the cracking problem I needed to carve out the bottom of the alter and to make it a holder for a new bowl.

So I drew the outline for the rocks and then spent a day carving them.

I put an arrow so that it's easy to fit the new bowl into the holder.

Top shelf in the kiln.

Bottom shelf in the kiln.

Tomorrow I'll be able to open the kiln and see if any of these survived. One air bubble and boom! Since these were all hand built that is a danger. So with fingers crossed I say farewell for now, Wendy

Very Nice Wendy, my fingers are crossed!!
Hope you had a great Holiday too... Aloha

I'm excited! Remeber, burnt offerings of pizza for the kiln gods :lol:

Love the pics W...
I was in downtown SD this am and found one of your Red War God banks (only one on shelf)...
Now it's on my shelf...
Now if I could only find Da Bloody Maori...
Take care
Jon

Hi Wendy, so much excitement, I feel like I'm late for the party! :lol: Congrats on the Lamp, really is awesome! The Rock Bowl is fabulous, as are the others! I hope this post finds you and your wares all Happy Tiki!!! :)