VanTiki Mugs: Octopus Time Lapse

Awesome Work! Allways! Mahalo! Gogo

YAY!

Crazy Colors :D

Mahalo GoTiki, Babalu, and TeaKEY! I love the set of sushi love - I hope both sets get picked up by the same person as they look great together.

And now let me switch gears....

A few weeks ago I splurged on a microscopic bottle of gold glaze. Now, this isn't just any ol' gold-colored glaze - it is a glaze made of actual gold! (you ceramic folks out there will know what I am talking about). I have always read about the stuff, and I decided to give it a go. Now, I can't begin to describe how stressful it was painting with this stuff! Imagine a thimble half-filled with vanilla extract - only this modicum of extract cost you $20! Yikes! No spills or drips!~ Anyway, you need to apply this stuff to glazed ceramics - so I bisque fired 2 spooky skulls, pained them with gloss black glaze, fired them to cone 6, then painted on the gold. The crazy thing is it does not look at all like gold when you work with it (in typical pain-in-the ass mess-with-your-brain glaze fashion). The vanilla extract analogy was fairly spot on. From what I gather, the glaze is actually made of microscopic beads of gold suspended in a shellac. Boy-oh-boy did it SMELL when I fired up the kiln for the final firing (a low-temp cone 018 - around 1300 degrees F) - I am glad my kiln is vented!

So - did it work? Here is a before and after peek at the tiles on the bottom of the kiln:

Whoo! Here you can see the freshly painted tiles covered in shellac and the fired golden goodness:

And finally the golden fun:

What will I do with these guys? Well, one is a travel bug for my crazy geocaching hobby. Much like this fellow (but I won't be releasing it into the wild):

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=659841

And that concludes this episode of "The Wonders Of Glaze"

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Those are pretty sweet Van!
always got cool stuff!

Mahalo Tiki Duddy!
Welp, the Kiln has been going at a near-nonstop pace over here! Wanted to show a few images of what is cooking. Glazed The Mug of The Vampire Bat - this is the first piece I've glazed made out of Laguna's sculpture red clay - and I am really happy with the results:

Why am I not treating you all to the "finished piece photo spread"? Well.... this guy isn't done yet. I actually had the coconuts to put him back into the kiln about 20min ago for a final low temp firing. A bit of a glaze highlight - and I pray to the kiln gods that it works! I also have these spiffy teeth that I am going to braid with a few goodies and hang from the back "handles":

And finally - a peek at some VERY rough (and VERY small) sculpts. These min-mugs will reside in the heart of larger creations. More shots to follow as things take shape.

Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "VanTiki"

Sick, just sick stuff bro! keep em' comin!!

You're on a roll now! Man it's good to see finished (well almost in the case of the vampire lord) mugs rolling out of the kiln with no defects! The tentacles turned out beautifully.
I noticed I can buy the laguna clay online here in NZ - they seem to have a really good range for all kinds of purposes....

Those Gold tiles look like some sick Aztec or Mayan artifact swiped by Indiana Jones yo!

Love the Vampire pieces as well.

ST

Aloha Folks!

Mahalo Kahu - I'll do my best!

Paipo - I'm happy to have a few non-cracked mugs as well! :) As for Laguna clay - I love it. Lots of options, and very consistent. Mind you, it is just about the only thing pottery shops carry out here, so I don't have a lot of experience with anything else!

SneakyTiki - My thoughts exactly! Wait till you see the next batch of goodies....

On to studio news - the Jug of the Vampire Bat is done! I've got more photos on my site (as well as the back story) but here are a few peeks:

The mug's page:
http://www.vantiki.com/VanTiki/Jug_of_the_Bat.html

Mahalo!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Hey Henrik,

I think your right...that red clay in combination with your glaze gives the piece a really nice warm look. Man, the gold tooth and the jade colored details are "KILLA" too...they just throw this work right over the top! Keep posting...I find I needs my VanTiki fix.

yea, that guy came out so cool!! and the gold pieces blow me away!
hey my tiles showed up yesterday!!! woo hoo! they're awesome, man! thank you and mahalo! i'll post some pics when they're in place. rock-on man!

Aloha Vantiki!!!
so much killer art goin on my head is strarting to swim,very Kool ,Aloha Mooney

The gold tooth is so perfect I can't even describe it.

Aloha Folks!

Babalu - Glad you like the tooth and goodies - I was SOOO worried about the tooth, as it involved yet another firing for the luster glaze. Thank the Kiln Gods the mug pulled through it all OK! The Jade colored bits are a green tinted porcelain with clear glaze. They look wild! I originally got the green porcelain to use as gums on a planned zombie mug - but I haven't gotten around to it yet :)

GreenTikiPat - Stoked the tiles arrived safe-and-sound! Please please please send me a shot when you get them installed!

Mooney - Mahalo!

Flat Back - I love the tooth too - as I mentioned to Babalu above it was totally worth the extra sweat and stress!

And now the new stuff: This stone deity will hold one of the mini-mugs I showed a few posts ago. It is BIG - has an upper chamber for rum and juices, and is marked with a sun shape around its rim, a set of constellations, and a stylized stone skull. Did I mention it is BIG? :) A whole 25lbs of clay went into this fellow (there are a lot of scraps piled up around him on the workbench - so it isn't exactly a 25lb mug, but is is rather weighty I discovered when taking outside to photograph it). I'll be adding more detail (and possibly some sort of feet to elevate it a bit) as the clay firms up. Enough jibber-jabber, on to the photos!

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Gosh Dang. Crazy thing is that I was thinking constantly about a mug like this just before you posted. The idea of the mug is the craziest part. A first of any I do believe. A mug that's inside a mug. I have been thinking back what made the stuff I owned so good as a child. It was the toys I owned in the 80s. G.I.Joe toys. The figures had "accessories" and the really good figures had vehicles.

Wow, that is truly stupendous! The mug-in-a-mug idea is awesome! I saw one of your mugs on eBay some time back and bookmarked you onto my seller's list so I could admire your new pieces from afar :) I just recently joined up here, it's great to see that you post here so I can read some of the stories behind your works of art. Maybe I'll work up the cajones to bid on one some day, it's like that old TV ad- "expensive, but darned well worth it" :D

TeaKey - ...and knowing is half the battle!

TikiTres - Mahalo and welcome to our little grass shack on the web! Glad you like my mugs, and I am even happier you joined this forum! So many talented artists post here that your head will spin!

Onto the new goodies: I've been going nuts for the past week filling all the tikicoin orders. Now that I've got the last of them shipped off I was able to return to this epic mug sculpt: The Gold Eater. Yessir - here is a peek at the finished sculpt. By far the biggest (not as tall as other mugs - but VERY hefty) I've done to date. The "Mini Mug" you see in the stone deity's mouth will be glazed with 22k gold (whoo!) and will (fingers crossed) be quite sparkly nestled in the idol's stone maw. I took a shot of the mug next to Mr. Bali Hai to give you folks a sense of scale. And now, the photos:

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Thank you for the warm welcome, it is much appreciated! I still feel a bit like an outsider looking in right now but I am learning a lot :) I LOVE the gold skull idea, awesome! I may have to make a serious lunge at this when it hits ebay :D

BLOWN AWAY with the new one.

I feel like a broken record saying this all the time, but wow, that thing is awesome.

Can't wait to see it take shape.

Mini mugs... now there is an idea for us blokes that can't afford the big ones. :)

Aloha Folks!

I was glazing all day yesterday, and was sweating bullets when I cracked open the kiln this afternoon to examine the fruits of my labors. Oh boy, was I a happy camper! I am going to withhold images of most of the goodies in the kiln till I get them closer to completion - but I can share this simian super-mug with everyone, may I present the Mug of the Monkey God!

SUPER stoked with this guy. I will be shedding genuine tears when I have to box this up and send it away. Very happy with the "spout" at the top. And the color scheme. And the matte and glossy surface interplay. And the beady eyes. Heck, I just love this one!

Mahalo for peeking. I'll have more photos up on my site this weekend when the auction kicks off.

Henrik "VanTiki"

Way too cool! I love the tongue! The spout worked out well, so this will be one of your few mugs that does not require a straw? I assume the missing top tooth was intentional.

Anything worth doing, is worth doing to the point of wretched excess.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2008-06-12 22:27 ]

On 2008-06-12 22:26, MadDogMike wrote:
The spout worked out well, so this will be one of your few mugs that does not require a straw? I assume the missing top tooth was intentional.

Yessir - I thought it was about time I did a mug or two that was easy to drink out of :) And yes, the missing tooth is intentional - that way you can get a better peek at the stone face in the mug's mouth.

WOW Henrik!!

Look at those color choices!...Those matte finish cone 5 glazes (Lagunna Velvet?) along with the way your applying them, juxtaposed to just the "right amount" gloss finish, makes this guy just spectacular!

This sculptured mug is a visual wonder from all angles...but I have to say that the back side view is just to die for.

Dude...keep it for a while.

Aloha Folks -

I've been playing with the gold glaze again - this time on the "Mini Mugs" that will reside within a larger "guardian" mugs. Here is a peek at a couple of the tiny (and I mean tiny - these are shot glasses at most) fellows:

Really happy so far. I sculpted 4, and I've added a second coat of gold to two of them (plus a skull tile) and those are in the kiln now. Supposedly a second coat of this gold looks even deeper and more gold-ish, but I am freaked out about the gamble of sending these pieces back in the kiln for a FOURTH firing (bisque fire, gloss glaze fire, gold glaze fire 1, gold glaze fire 2)! I'll keep you all posted. I believe the fellow on the right in the photo will be residing in the mouth of the "Gold Eater" mega-mug that popped up a few posts back.

Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "VanTiki"

All I have to say is - beyond whatever the state-of-the-art is.

Wow man, those gold mugs are amazing! :D

I bought a set of VanTiki tiles from the DVA Gallery show, they are soooo nice! The gold glaze is amazing! The set of 3 tiles will be incorporated into a table top soon. Has anyone heard from Henrik? He hasn't been posting lately, hopefully he's taking a break to gather up inspiration for another round of cool stuff :)

Wow Van,

You got some wicked talent there!! Keep up the good work, one of these times I gotta get one of your masterpieces.

• Bump -

Where ya been Henrick? I've been missing my Vantiki fix. You working BIG right now?

Check in brother.

Aloha!

A big mahalo for the concern over my vanishing act. The Day Job got extremely busy for the past month, leaving no time for clay! Well, I did manage to squeeze in a few hours of clay two days ago. You see, the Day Job craziness is culminating in a business trip to Denver next week, and we've extended our stay 4 days to do some geocaching and explore ghost towns. I pressed up a slew of tiki tiles and tiki coins to leave in Colorado geocaches:

These are all stamped on the back with my fancy-pants geocaching stamp:

I'll be glazing them tomorrow, along with the Log Brother mugs that have been awaiting glaze for ages! I have a BUNCH of sketches that I can't wait to get into clay when I get back from the trip - not to mention 100lbs of paper clay and a new compressor for my airbrush!

Mahalo,
Henrik (Long-Lost) "VanTiki"

Nice work Henrik, I bet people are stoked when they run across your goodies in the caches!

My VanTiki tile table is well underway, in fact I just need to grout the tile and install the top into the table frame. It's a round table with your 3 tiles in the center (gold one in the middle) surrounded by tumbled slate. It'll all be grouted in black. I'll post some pics when it's done, I'll probably wrap it up this weekend.

[ Edited by: TikiTres 2008-08-27 19:57 ]

Hey Henrik,

Good to hear your well, even if a bit overworked.

I grew up in the Denver/Boulder area. I think your going to have a great time hunting down old ghost towns...there are some really cool places to discover in Colorado. Get up into the mountains as much as possible while there.

The table with VanTiki tiles is on page 3 here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=29103&forum=7&start=30

Aloha folks -

Finally back from Colorado. My lips have soaked up the humidity like a sponge, and no longer feel like ancient beef jerky coated in rock salt. Yeah. Other than that, Colorado was amazing and we had a great time. But hey - this thread is for mugs! I had to give these bisqued pieces a good dusting before I could begin the glazing process. They've been sitting around waiting for glaze for over a month! Here are the Hollow Log Brothers freshly glazed. I'll be firing them tomorrow. This clay body will turn a off white/tan/grey, and the interior glaze is a radiant gloss red. I dunno if you recall from my earlier posts, you can drink out of these fellows from their top-most cut off branch. Thursday night I'm finally getting around to a mug commission for thesneeze.com and over the weekend I hope to get the paper clay I bought freed from its plastic bag prison. I imagine it smells pretty terrible by now.

Going for a very worn stained wood/antler look with these fellows. Will it work? I dunno - I just want them to make it thru the glaze firing in 1 piece! :)

Mahalo for peeking (and for your patience - it has been far to long!) -
Henrik "VanTiki"

Sweet mugs. I hear that paperclay is better after it molds a little :)

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2008-09-16 22:33 ]

Damn good to have you back in the studio Van...can't wait to see what that crazy mind of yours is going to conjure up next! YAY!

Aloha Folks!

MadDogMike and Babalu - thanks for the kind words! It is good to me back in the studio. The next 2 months are going to be really crazy for me in both my Day Job and my Clay Job - I can't wait!

Without further adieu, I present the finished Hollow Log Bros: Witch Doctors Extraordinaire!

http://www.vantiki.com/VanTiki/The_Hollow_Log_Brothers.html

Happy with these fellows. The "straw in a stump" worked out well, and I'll be using the concept again on future mugs. Will post in the marketplace on saturday when the auction goes live. Mahalo for peeking!

Henrik "VanTiki"

Aloha Folks - and welcome to VanTiki Theatre!

Before we start the film Henrik would like to say a few words:

I've been working on a few commissioned mugs for Steve at theSneeze.com. As a rule I try to avoid commissions, as I usually end up getting totally swamped with day job work and never have time to hit the clay. This job was no exception, and Steve has been wonderfully patient waiting for me to put together his goodies. The mugs are based on the Tree Brain - and odd fungal growth in Steve's front yard that had attained a very bizarre quasi-celebrity status.
You may notice a striking resemblance to the hollow log brothers - welp, that is because they were kind of a "test bed" before I tackled the mugs on a larger (and I mean larger) scale. I'm happy to say I set up a camera to shoot the sculpting of the mugs Harryhousen style, and you can see the finished film here:

http://www.vantiki.com/VanTiki/Studio_Notes/Entries/2008/10/9_Bow_Before_The_Tree_Brain.html

I added a youtube version for those having trouble with the quicktime - not as nice, but it works!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNDFSb_5Y_4

A pic of the freshly-sculpted mugs (I'll shoot better ones once they firm up a bit):

And a big mahalo to Don Tiki for letting me use their music (and getting me into this whole mess in the first place)!

Mahalo for peeking,
Henrik "VanTiki"

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-10-10 15:16 ]

That is just the COOLEST video!! You go Henrik!! Working 2 at a time...why YES! Man, I can't wait to come visit you and your studio! Keep slinging that clay brother. Your the BOMB!

The mugs are awesome! The tree brain blog is hilarious :lol: We had a tree brain fungi on a tree out back at work. My mouth was starting to water thinking about eating "chicken of the woods" so I went to go check ours out. Well there was a fungus among us and it looks like the fungus won. Turns out the tree fell over about a month ago, they chopped it up and hauled it off!

I tried 3 different computers here at work and couldn't get the video to work. Will try tonight from home.

Cool video, nice to see the mugs "come to life" I'll have to slow the vid down and watch it frame by frame to see if I can pick up some trade secrets! :)

Aloha Folks!

Finally got some clear shots of the TreeBrain mugs. The brain cups are not in the photos - so just imagine the mugs with a weird fungal-brain-hat. They are a week into the drying process, and things look good so far (knock on coconut). Got gigantic Day Job project #1 done last monday, and it looks like I may finish gigantic Day Job project #2 today or tomorrow. What does that mean? Why - Studio time, of course! I cant wait to get covered in clay again!

Babalu and Mad Dog, mahalo for checking out the video. It became a YouTube featured video! 250,000 views! My 15 min of fame have arrived (and gone) :)

Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "VanTiki"

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2008-10-25 11:47 ]

Those are looking really good!
They remind me of an illustration in a book I had when I was a kid, I'm going to have to try to find those books now.

My GOSH! 250K views on that video! Dude your a STAR! :)

What's cookin in the studio?

Buuuump!

I needs a VanTiki fix.

Mahalo for the bump, babs!

Believe it or not, I haven't been swallowed up in a lava flow. I've been burning the midnight oil since October on a day job project. We are all very excited about it (not tiki, I'm sad to say), and I am even more excited about the fact that I'll be finished with it this Friday! Whew!~ I can't WAIT to get back to clay.

In the mean time I thought I'd share some shots with you folks of another project. NOw - this isn't tiki, but it it classic Hawaiiana. My parents are building a new house, and it is being done top-to-bottom in a classic 1920's Manoa style. A beautiful blend of arts and crafts meets sugar cane plantation - the homes have steep double pitched roofs (called "Dicky roofs" after the architect who made the roof his signature: C.W. Dickey) and are rapidly disappearing from the islands.
A neat feature of many original homes of this period were decorative privacy screens on the windows. Since winter is non-existent out here, all a window needs is a screen to keep out the bugs, and a little something to keep nosy neighbors from peeking in. That little something evolved into a decorative wood cutout, most often depicting stylized leaves, waves, or some other island theme. My parents wanted to incorporate the screens on their house and asked if I was interested. I jumped at the chance! My first challenge was materials - my parents live a few blocks closer to the beach than I do - and I know that the salt air would warp and split a wood cutout in no time. Since the cutout would be painted, I realized it didn't really need to be wood. We went totally high-tec to wage war with the salt air: 1/4" thick powder-coated aluminum cut with a water saw! I did 3 designs for 4 windows: an octopus, a fish, and fern leaves (they used the fish design for two windows). The fish and fern went into the pantry, the octopus in the closet vent, and the second fish in the main shower. They just hung the screens yesterday (they were finished months ago, and the waiting has been killing me :) ), and I zipped over to snap these shots:

I'm so happy with the way they turned out. The best part is we have had a bunch of people stop at the house while walking to the beach and ask how old the house is and how the renovation is going - they don't realize it is new! :)

Mahalo for peeking - I'll have clay in a few weeks! Promise! I gotta catch up to the Babalu clay tribe of genius!

Henrik "VanTiki"

Love that koi, did you make the designs?