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

^ So cool!

Wendy, I am going to attempt a rough sketch; I'm not the best at drawing, but I will try. I do trust you and your amazing art!

Wonderful design and detail!

IDoVoodoo I really like to have drawings. It gives my brain a rest! Send it as soon as possible.

bkrownd thank you, I really enjoy doing these

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

Prior to opening the Wish List #6 I started casting mugs that I would use. I cast 2 short Tiki Bobs and as it turned out there were no Wishes that called for short Tiki Bobs. So at the end of my work days while watching TV I carved these. I can't let a good Bob go to waste and I have trouble having idle hands.

The upper lip is longer making the smile larger.

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

Wish List #6 update.

This mug is one I did for the same person on the last Wish List #5. He liked it enough to wish for another one. So this mug is again for Kenneth G. McNeil.

I call this mug the Fun Fake. It is a reproduction, by hand, of the Elvis Blue Hawaii convention mug from the 60's.

There are many differences in the shape when compared to a standard Tiki Bob. I have to add lots of clay.
I start with the bottom.

After securing that ring of clay I add more all around and a lot in the front.

The nose is wider.

This is a good start. Now it sits overnight.

Overnight the clay has firmed up

and I can cut off the excess on the bottom.

Next I name it.

I finished the body carving and

now it will slowly dry for a couple of weeks. It will shrink 10% by the time it has its first firing.

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

By working non-stop my weeks are passing fast. Soon the Sacramento Crawl will be here. After that we will box and ship to those of you on the list who did not attend.

Thank you all for the visits and comments. I appreciate you all, Wendy

Hi W
It was hot outside
About 90 in the shade

The new Maori lamp is lookin good

Love all your Bobs

I got all caught up last night but forgot to post. My days are a lot busier this year at school and I don't have any time for sneaking onto TC during the day. :( In addition to teaching technology stuff to 5th graders I'm now teaching preschoolers! I'm pre-k certified and my BA is in Early childhood ed so it's a return to my roots. I go visit them in the preschool section of my school and bring a cart of iPads and they all cheer, "Yeah, it's Miss Lori and her iPads!" :) I can't remember the last time anyone was that happy to see me, it's really great for my self esteem. And as an added plus it gets me out of lunch duty which I HATED.

Anyway, your work as usual, is AMAZING! I'd love to adopt that jumbo Maori lamp but it's just not in the budget at the moment. (another sad face) I'm also in love with your bowls, I think a bowl will be my next addition to my Wendy collection. After this round of bowls is done if there's an extra and you put it up for sale I just might bite...

I must say that your pictures lately have made me really covet that large wooden tiki in front of your fireplace. 2nd from the right, next to the Moai. I'd fly to California, leave the hubby and let that guy take his seat on the way home! That's how much I want him. Don't tell the mister! :wink:

Can't wait to see the rest of the wish list shaping up.

Hello Wendy,

The latest Huge Maori Lamp design looks amazing! They just keep getting better and better, if that's even possible. We continue to enjoy ours most every evening, lighting our little collection of tikis. Cant wait to see how this turns out after glazing!

Tyber Tiki

hang10tiki I could feel the heat clear here. I hope you jumped in the pool soon after.
We displaced Gecko and hung SewTiki's wonderful swap art today. I took a photo soon to be posted.

LoriLovesTiki your note brings back so many memories of school and work. Just remember one day you'll be retired and playing with clay. Then you'll be a kid again.

Most of the tikis in front of the fireplace were done by a man in Florida. We had them all shipped here. He did a series of 6 once a year and put them on eBay as a set. He worked in a shipping company and used their space. I don't know if he still does this.

Tyber Tiki thanks to your photos I can picture the lamp on in your home. I'm so happy with your wish resulting in this lamp. Dan is too.

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

Progress Report for Wish List #6.

This is a Wish of Barbara Lawrence. She is on facebook. She wanted a sign for her business Retro Siren. She wanted it to look like a mosaic.

I was going to cut a couple of slabs of clay but when I found my clay was super firm I cut just one.

Then I quartered it and moved the pieces to the corners.

Next I began to fill in the space with softer clay.

I leveled it with a rolling pin.

The next day I used a vegetable chopper to remove clay from the center.

Oops, I slipped and chopped my thumb. Clay is dirt and filty so I stopped and disinfected the cut. Steri stripped it together and

put on a glove.

I kept on working to smooth the slab.

Now I put her printed sign on the clay and outlined it with a blunt stick.

Removing the paper it was time to start.

I rolled out piece of clay and dipped them in slip. This glues them to the slab.

I used tools to push down the edges to remove air pockets.

Retro done and little balls of clay placed where the stars go.

Next I started the mermaid and did the word Siren.

I finished the mermaid.

Now the sign needs to

sit and firm up for a few days under plastic.

I squared up the edges and

started to carve the mosaic effect.

All done though I may tweak it later.

I smoothed the edges with a wet brush.

This sign is very thick and heavy. It will take a few weeks for it to dry.

Close up of the mermaid.

Now it's time to start another project. I wonder who is next? Cheers, Wendy

Dan is in charge of all the tiki décor in our home. He found a perfect place to display the Swap art from SewTiki. It is now in the Buzzy Bedroom where guests can enjoy it.

This is either an attempt at making a hula girl in a cannibal pot or it is the Wish for Holler Waller aka Tiki Beeki
aka David B. He'll have to let me know. He wanted the girl to not know she is in a cannibal pot. She has a hole behind the large flower what a parasol pole will fit. She just will know she's getting hotter and hotter. I will use clear nail polish to form drips of sweat on her forehead after I glaze her.

He requested a lei.

My thumb is healed enough to be out of the glove today. Yippy, Wendy

Sha-Weeeet!

Holler Waller I sure do love making wishes come true. Thank you.

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

Wish List #6 update.

Barbara Laurence's wall sign is drying and was now hard enough to lift and to peel off the aluminum foil on the back.

I cleaned it up and carved my name and date.

MadDogMike has done these and had them warp so I'm slowly drying it with weights. I'll take a photo tomorrow.

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

Next up is the wish for Moai Mike.

He had several requests for his mug. First he wanted his picture on the mug.

I started by building up the head and

then the body. He wanted it to appear as if he were standing on an island.

Details.

He owns the shirt that Elvis is wearing in this photos. So he wanted to be wearing it on the mug.

He said the mug should have a hut on the beach and palm trees.

Building the hut.

Cutting deeply into the mug for depth.

With the addition of palm trees, sharp mountains past the ocean and clouds in the sky I think it's done.

What do you think? Wendy

PS I put a coconut right over his head for fun

That's awesome......

I love the carving work on the Moai Mike Mug! The entire composition looks great under that massive Palm tree.

hang10tiki as long as the coconut doesn't fall from the tree and hit him in the head all will be well.

Tyber Tiki Moai Mike asked for a beach scene. This will be fun to glaze.

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

I'm working hard. I hope to find time to post later today. Cheers, Wendy

I love the hale (hut) and how 3D the design is

bkrownd thank you. It's fun to make these mugs and to try to make them special.

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

Update on Wish List #6.

I go in waves of activities. I started the Wish List 4 months early because I needed to re-make 3 mugs for the Sacramento Crawl which is starting this Friday.

So as soon as I had enough for a kiln load that had dried I stopped making things and began to prepare a load for firing.

Dan sands the bottoms and outsides of the Hot Tub Hula Girls and I do all the rest.

Never skip the mask! I'm sanding Tyber Tiki's Washington D.C. mug.

This mug is for Chippy. The girl has been sanded flat and will be glazed wearing a swimsuit top.

I let Freddie Coester's severed head devil dry and now

I'm using this tool to age his skin.

The devil is now old and wrinkled.

Once everything was sanded Dan

got out the air compressor to blow off the dust.

We loaded the bottom shelf and

then the top shelf.

Now this will fire to maximally shrink all the pieces, this is called the bisque fire. I do a 2 hours preheat then a 13.5 slow ramp fire with a 25 minute hold. This really works well to prevent cracks and blow ups. Also if you shrink it well the glaze will not pop off during the second fire.

Cheers, Wendy

Holy Cow that's a lot of clay talk - thank you so much

Holler Waller claytalk, that's cute. I'm happy to share.

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

Wish List #6 progress report.

The Retro Siren sign for Barbara Lawrence is slowly drying. I put weights on it to prevent warping. I hope it works.

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

This Tiki Bob is for Jay Sterling. He loves all things camping. He sent a list of the things he wanted on the mug. I hope I got it right. Here's how I put it all together.

First on the list was the camping symbol. He had mentioned doing a tent with Tiki Bob peeking out or a mug. So I did the symbol with one of the flaps open with Tiki Bob looking out. This is on the back of the mug. It's so tiny I sculpted with a brush.

I worked on him later when the clay was firmer.

Next he wanted dominos that added up to 17. I planted them like wooden tikis rooted to the ground.

A sign saying camp sight number 3.

Next I started making the hands that would hold more requests.

I attached the hands and made a little hot dog.

Now he is holding it.

Backside.

I made the other hand to hold a stick. Next I made a campfire rock surround with a big flame shooting up.

I added logs to the fire and a stack of smoores at the side. Did I spell that correctly?

This is a skunk. I copied it from a photo. I think the glazing will take away the squirrel look.

At the top back I added the words. HAPPY CAMPER.

Here's the mug.

Marshmallow on the stick melting for the smoores.

Jay, I hope I didn't miss anything. Happy Camping, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2015-09-29 08:29 ]

The Happy Camper mug is so cute! Not sure about the skunk though.....

LoriLovesTiki just think of him as Peppy La Pew the romantic French lover skunk. I'm sure I spelled his name incorrectly.

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

Progress Report Wish List #6.

The kiln is open on the first load and nothing blew up.

Top level.

Bottom level.

The one most likely to blow up was the severed devil head and he was just fine.

Dan and I scrubbed every piece and rinsed them well.

Now they are on the dining room table covered over until the day I begin to glaze.

There are many more pieces to sand and many more to make. I have the binder and I'm working my way through all the projects.

Cheers, Wendy

OK Wendy, I'm caught up/ it is raining here; I will get some sketches and ideas together tonight! I'm thinking multi-piece for it to work...

The Kiln is opened...the excitement builds!! :)

IDoVoodoo I'm ready for those drawings. It sounds complicated and fun.

Tyber Tiki moreso when they have been glazed. You make me smile.

hang10tiki you do too.

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

The Sacrametno (CAP) city crawl begins tomorrow. I did get the last three mugs done and boxed.

We have loaded the car and are ready to begin all the crawl stops.

It's so nice to see our living room again. It's been a mess since January. This was a hard mug to make. It's also huge.

Once the crawl has ended and I have the left over mugs I will contact everyone on the list about shipping their mugs.

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

Progress Report on Wish List #6

More of the pieces were dry and it was time to sand and fine tune them.

16 more Hot Tub Hula Girls which will bring the total to 30 so far, all done this year.

I had this huge table of work to sand.

Looking from the other end it didn't get smaller.

Dan kept blowing off the dust and

loading the kiln as I worked in the garage.

I added detail to the Enchanted Tiki Hut mugs for Lloyd AlohaHaHa, Dale and Mahalo tiki.

Bullet came up with a new idea. Black will be rubbed into all the carving. He wanted the back ligher than the front so he asked me to do deeper carving on the front and less as I got to the back.

I loaded the top level of the kiln. Every thing that was on the table fit into my kiln, a miracle.

Here's the proof, nothing left to work on in the garage.

Two days later we opened the kiln to remove the projects.

The two smallest things were the Happy Camper marshmallow and the tip of the Led Zepplien staff.

Unloading all the HTHG's and inspecting everything I didn't find any with problems.

Now it was time to scrub and rinse all the items.

Filling the table with some and

then some more. I told Dan to take a photo of me so that I get some credit for all this work.

The table started like this and

After all the washing it looked like this.

At least I have the living room back! Cheers, Wendy

Amazing work
You two make a great team...

Thank you hang10tiki.

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

Progress Report on Wish List #6

The very first orders on the Wish List came during the time I was making Wish List #5. They were requests for the Hot Tub Hula Girl mugs. So that's what I'm glazing first and plan to finish them all. Then I can pair them up with the out of town orders for the Sacramento Crawl mugs. I always have a plan.

So here's more than a weeks worth of work.

I cleaned up all the mess from sculpting. Dust is an enemy of glaze. Clay makes dust. Once my home was clean I set up the table in the nook for glazing.

Dan is forever bumping, chipping and knocking over his tikis. He came to me with two damaged things. I Tiki Tony bowl and a special Sacramento Crawl mug from a couple of years back.

I told him if I was going to glaze it to pick out a favorite glaze and we'll see how it works on top of what's already there.

I filled the chip with Magic Mend for a few days. I dried it between layers. Then I put glaze right on top of it after sanding.

I lined up the 24 Hot Tub Hula Girls on the kitchen sink and got to work.

Each mug starts with the blue, water effect, glaze being poured in to the top. I let it sit 30 seconds and

poured it back out. All the glaze that goes in the wrong areas will have to be scrubbed off. That includes on the front of the coconut.

I worked in groups of 8 at a time. Once the inside was done

it was time to do 2 layers of the brown coconut glaze.

With these 8 done it was time

to do three layers of the skin tone glaze. With less than three they come out blotchy.

Here's layer 2.

Now that layer 3 is done the nipples can be glazed.

Next I do 2 layers of cover coat white and

follow it with one and then

a second coat of clear.

I did the first layer of black for the hair and

let it all dry. Then

I did the second layer.

After it dried I

did all the flowers in the girls hair.

This time they went outside to dry completely and then

they went into the kiln for firing.

Oh no, this was only 8 I have 16 more to do! These are as much work as a custom mug but I sure have had fun seeing the posts with them in use.

Cheers, Wendy

I just love the way you did the water effect on the Hot Tub Girls! That's about as cool and creative as anything I've seen yet.

amate thank you. It's really fun when something just works.

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

I feel like I'm on vacation with friends.. The Sacramento (Cap City) Crawl has started and it's off and running.

Friday Evening got off to a good start with so many of us at the Tank House for dinner.

Our next stop was with Keith aka Muskrat and Molly where they had enough food for a whole dinner, those that missed the Tank House dined there.

FELLOW CRAWLERS FEEL FREE TO POST ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE.

Now it is time to get on the road and to have a full day of fun from Sacramento to Grass Valley and back. Cheers, Wendy

GROG glad you posted this.

GROG was thinking about doing ceramic with topless wahine, and when GROG google "Glazing Nipples" , the photos that came up weren't very helpful as far as ceramics go.

Have fun

Grog u silly

GROG always ready to help. This is a teaching sharing thread. I'm so happy you stopped by.

hang10tiki we are having the very best of times and there's still today.

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

Sacramento (Cap City) Crawl day two.

Today started with the first of four homes. This one is the home of Bullet and Sandy. He had a breakfast waiting for us and that was such fun. Treats and tikis and great company.

This is Jeremy and Stephanie who will host the last stop today. I missed a photo of her at her home so here it is now.

The second stop was in Grass Valley. We first ran into Choptop and his family.

Our friends from Pasadena Jama and Joanne who are staying with Deb.

Live music, wow!

Our host Bruce with his friend.

My last photo is a photo of Bruce taking his wife's photo as she held one of my crawl mugs.

The third stop was at Barbara (Tacky Tiki) and Audrey's home. So many beautiful areas to tour and fun treats. I ate 3 candy bars.

This is VampiressRN who organized the whole show. She and Tiki Tonie designed and made the Fez hats for the occasion. Good Job!

The last stop was for a dinner buffet at Jeremy and Stephanie's home. What a great tiki place.

THANK YOU HOSTS IT COULDN'T NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER. YOU WERE ALL OUTSTANDING FROM FRIDAY NIGHT UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT.

CHEERS, Wendy and Dan

The Sacramento (Cap City) Crawl begins it's last day.

The first stop was downtown to Swanzberg's Hawaiian shirt shop. He also sells tikis and music. We were given wonderful Lockford Hawaiian Luau sausage treats with grapes and then we had the fun of shopping.

The second stop of the day was at the home of Lloyd AlohaHaHaHa for lumpia and pot stickers and lots of fun.

That's a cute headdress that Laura is wearing.

We were not a stop on the crawl this year but decided to invite the Grass Valley couple to our home since they did the long drive. A few others who hadn't been to our home joined in. I did a super quick 25 minute walk through and then on to the next stop.

The very last stop on the crawl was at the fun, scary, delightful home of Dr. Tiki Mojo and Eva.

They are also into pirate activities.

Black Velvet with a flash shows up much more detail. This is by Gecko'z uncle Leo.

If you see many people you do not recognize be grateful because it means our tiki society is growing.

Well this crawl ended with so many hugs my arm muscles are sore today. It couldn't have been more fun.

Cheers, Wendy

Awesome...

Thank you hang10tiki.

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

Dan's calling got to go for now. Back later with photos. Wendy

thanks for all the great pictures, wendy!

kingstiedye you are so welcome. Thank you for opening your home and for serving us a fun breakfast.

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

I'm being called by Dan again. Photos later. Sorry, Wendy

Here we go. Progress Report on Wish List #6.

I was asked to replicate a vintage Frankoma glaze. It was a baby blue with tiny blue specks. I got out some blue crystals and crunched them smaller with the mortar and pestle.

Once they were tiny I put them into the glaze and stirred.

The waste I put in a baggy. The next time I got the the hazardous waste place I'll see how I should dispose of this. The Crystals contain lead and should be used where they would come in contact with food or drink.

After firing I found that the tiny pieces spread and made a mottled look to the glaze. A failure as to what we hoped for but OK for something else.

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

Now it was time to finish off the Hot Tub Hula Girls. One step at a time.

I had a request for a bikini top, red with white polka dots.

The next day at a garage sale I found this.

This top is for Chippy.

The previous load was ready to come out of the kiln.

I made the deadline and finished the crawl mugs two days before the crawl. Good thing I started on these last January.

Dan was thrilled with how the glaze came out on the Tiki Tony bowl I repaired.

Drying in the sun.

This is the last load of Hot Tub Hula Girls for this Wish List. There will now be 30 out in the world.

That's it for today. More tomorrow, cheers, Wendy

Progress Report Wish List #6. I'm still working on the Hot Tub Hula Girls.

It's fun to open the kiln. Especially when everything turns out. Later on I did find on nose that wasn't acceptable. I will remake that mug.

I kept the three specials together.

Now they are in the house waiting for their faces to be painted on.

Each face maybe painted 6 times before it is right. Eyebrows should be very similar and they are very hard to get right.

Sometimes the mouth looks petulant and I have to redo it over and over again.

None of this is fast.

The blond hair ran a bit onto her skin. I will call this one an imperfect mug and give the guy a break.

Here's a happy girl.

In this view all the whites of the eyes have been done and are drying.

Later these were finished. I did 6 in one day. It's a slow process.

Our shipping boxes for the Hot Tub Hula Girls just arrived. They are extra sturdy boxes for a very heavy mug.

Cheers, Wendy

amazing and inspiring

Thanks for the dots - You don't monkey around

These zombie gals make me think of the Body Snatchers movie(s)

In this view all the whites of the eyes have been done and are drying.

Those all came out great

Like this glass?

OK. Now you're just teasing GROG!

hang10tiki Dan loves these posts. He looks better than the other guy.

GROG I see how much you like topless pictures so here's one for you. Dan's packing up the Sacramento Crawl mugs to ship.

They stack up here and

there and eventually this morning they got all the way to the post office.

I am about to start the billing process. 17 notes!

As the Sacramento Crawl mug works winds down the Hot Tub Hula Girl project does too. They were the first orders on the Wish List and it looks like I need to make some more.

I keep working in groups that get larger as I get smarter. More zombie's.

The specials made it into the oven to set the enamel.

Another set is baked.

Next set of zombies.

Done.

Once I had all of these done it's time for Dan's critique. He said the girl on the left looked mad and the girl on the right looked sad.

I removed the offending paint and started over. This time they passed his inspection.

These have to wait overnight to be baked in the oven or the paint will boil.

Once I have gotten the shipping of the crawl mugs under control we will ship out these Hot Tub Hula Girls.

Cheers, Wendy

I have to say I am so impressed with all of you who jumped in super fast and sent me the payment for your Sacramento Crawl mugs. It's so wonderful to get to the end of such a huge project. I started in January and the last mugs were done two days before the crawl started. I have four couples coming tomorrow and one on Wednesday to pick up there mugs. I'll just have a few to deliver after these days. Rugby Matt let me know when you are back from traveling the world, you mug awaits your return.

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

I'm back to work on the Wish List #6.

Here's the sign for the business of Barbara Lawrence on fb. It will have grout and look like a mosaic when it is finished.

This has been slowly drying over many weeks. I kept it with weights on so that it wouldn't warp.

Now that it is almost dry I carved all the lines again.

I left the crumbs of clay until I finished so I wouldn't repeat myself. I dumped them out and

found even better weights to hold it flat.

My next post will be of Tiki Wahini's Gilligan's Island Bob. She has had me make a Rat Fink Bob in Disneyland and last year a Rasta Bob playing a guitar. I hope this one will be her favorite of all.

Cheers, Wendy

I never realized how large the hut tub hula girl mugs were until I saw one in Dan's hand. Impressive! Not that I should be surprised. All your mugs are huge and amazing! :)

LoriLovesTiki thank you, I try to make them so they will last.

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

Progress Report Wish List #6

Tiki Wahini ordered a Gilligan's Island mug. The step by steps begin.

I found a couple of reference photos.

In this one I noticed that the back of his cap is turned up. I'm going to use that photo for the cap.

This is the very helpful drawing from Tiki Wahini. Yep that's how she spells it here on Tiki Central.

Clay is too fragile to make the handle dimensions so small so I just did them as small as I could risk. I marked where each one would go.

I cut away the excess clay.

Next I used a whole bunch of different tools to form the shape.

I worked on the handles.

A few days later I was able to pick it up.

I took some pieces of wood and sanded them into different sizes for carving the words.

Started.

Brushed with a wet paintbrush to remove the sharp edges.

Now it will dry some before I try to fine tune the words.

Whew, so far I didn't break off any of the handles. Cheers, Wendy

Oh boy!!! Gilligan is going to be so AWESOME!!!

Wish List #6 update on the Gilligan Island's mug.

Tikiwahini there is so much more to come! You always think up fun designs that challenge me. Thank you.

Now it was time to work on the back of the mug. I first formed the body of the tiny tiki from the TV show.

It's just a matter of adding little bit's of clay here and there until it matches.

Now I started working on the face. On my finger is the forehead and nose.

After that was placed I formed the eyes.

Next palm trees with coconuts.

Final touches.

Now the tiki is put into plastic to firm up before I start the front and the hat.

Good night, Wendy

Wendy, I love the way you have added the tiki to the back - not just carved into the surface of the mug, but a fully carved figure!!