VanTiki Mugs: Octopus Time Lapse

I love these larger pieces you have been doing..awesome Henrik!

Are you going to make a piece for the next Tiki Art Swap?

I hope so!

PYRAMID POWER!!!!!!

**Definitely LOVE BOTH of those BIG pieces....the Moai with the skull in the mouth and the Illuminati piece! :o **

Great stuff Van tiki! I dig the tri-eye!

MadDog - mahalo! It is good to be playing with clay again. Kiln is cooking as I type!

Babalu - I hear you on the shrinkage. I thought it would be less - I guess it depends on the amount of paper pulp in the mixture. It does have a fair amount of grog in the clay. The clay body does have a great color when wet - and it fires to a off white/straw-ish color.

LeLeLiz - Mahalo! I hope to do a piece for the swap, but I need to put together a bunch of sample pieces for the projects I'll be doing with my upcoming hand-building class at the Hawaii Potter's Guild. There will be robots, Tiki mugs, bizarre fish, and creepy portrait busts. Good times.

TikiMojo and Sam - Mega Mahalos! I now get to spend the next three weeks chewing my nails as it dries. Hope it makes it!

Henrik

always very cool art!

Original ideas, colors, etc. We need alls we can gets.

Quick post to say I took the DEMOKU #2 and #3 out of the kiln yesterday morning and they are looking quite spiffy. Went with a simple old wood look for the glaze (as the sculpt was so busy to begin with) and did a vivid orange interior. Here is a peek - more photos and such tomorrow!

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik

Great work on these VanTiki! I love the deeeeeeep cuts here!

Vantiki, Excellent work on the wall hanging mug holder and the Demokus
look great too. What more can I add? your stuff is killer! looking forward to more
pics.

Aloha everyone - remember me? :)

Been busy making and teaching clay stuffs for my hand-building class at the Hawaii Potter's Guild, and I apologize for the disappearing act. I did manage to put together some new goodies this weekend! After some gentle prodding by Ms. Vantiki I opted to do a halloween-ish mug. Wait a minute, you say, what does Halloween have to do with Tiki?! Why, my dear friend, do not forget about the zombie!

I made these fellows to serve Zombies in. The zombie is a drink I am dying to try - but I can't even begin to calculate how much it will cost me to get all the ingredients, and I don't think anyone on the island will make one up to TC standards. So I continue to wait patiently till I can visit a mainland tiki bar. In the meantime, I made these fellows. And yes, they do creep me out.

PS - eyes are made of multi-colored porcelain blended together.

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Wow! Those are cool!

Right on Van!
Those zombies are full-on Creep-ariffic!

Henrik -

All of your work is fantastic but these zombies? Freakin mind-blowing! LOVE it LOVE it LOVE it!!

Ever find yourself in So. Cal allow me to be the first to buy you a proper ZOMBIE :)

MY PLEASURE!

Van, I don't think that hand bone is anatomically correct :lol: but the total effect is absolutely awesome!

Mahalo everyone!

TikiG - I just may take you up on that offer some day!

MadDog - The bone was my attempt at adding some levity to what was turning into 2 ultra-creepy pieces. Don't know if it worked or not! :)

Hope to have them glazed up by Halloween!

Henrik

I would seriously kill for that Zombie mug.like seriously.and its not even finished.

You should really let poor folks like me set up a pay plan with you...like $100 a month or something. Then in a year and 1/2 it would be mine .

How about I buy all the booze to make your zombie and fed ex it to you and then you can send me the mug? Fair I think, eh?

The zombie mug is by far and away freakin' fantastic.

[ Edited by: leleliz 2009-10-06 22:33 ]

Those mugs would have killed it in last years Tiki Oasis

I just put the ZOmbies into the kiln for the bisque firing. As I feared, they will not be ready for Halloween. Not that I wouldn't have time to finish them - I'm just heading to Hilo soon to join up with my old rubber monster pals to shoot a movie for a week. Just like old times! So, needless to say, studio work will grind to a standstill for a bit. Here is a peek at the zombies just before they entered the kiln:

Mahalo for the Zombie love - LeLeLiz, I'll think about your mug layaway idea :)

Henrik

Excellent. GROG like.

These are CREEPY GOOD Henrik...the eyes are killer! The family and I went to see that new zombie movie last night...Your guys here look better than the ones they had in the show.

I would love to hear more about you and your rubber monster making pals sometime. That's what Bowana does for a living too...I find the whole thing fascinating.

Don't stay off the board too long...I'll get the shakes and start Jonesing all over again. :)

Bump the zombies. Vantiki, the zombies look killer! I cant wait to see the glaze job.
Excellent carving, again!!

On 2009-10-17 12:21, VanTiki wrote:
heading to Hilo soon to join up with my old rubber monster pals to shoot a movie for a week.

These are creepily fantastic! Get some geocaching in while you're in Hilo. Always cool to see your new stuff!

So you're on vacation for a few days you say... and these are just sitting all alone in your studio... hmmm... maybe it's time to cash in some frequent flier miles :)
But in all seriousness never have I seen such a beautiful marriage of macabre and tiki culture.

Aloha Folks!

Welp, as you can see - I've taken my sweet time in getting the zombies glazed. Truth be told, I was putting it off. The sculpt turned out so swell, I was terrigfied that I'd ruin them with a bad glaze application. I must have glazed them in my head a thousand different ways - make them uber-realistic? Matte? Glossy? Lots of blood? No blood? SO many options - the possibilities kept the mugs parked on my bisque shelf for an eternity. Good news is I finally committed to some nice cone 6 glazes - and I am SUPER stoked with the results! Here are the zombies in all their gory glory. I'm posting them in the marketplace as well!

More photos on my site and at the auctions.

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik

God I need one of these mugs!

I also need to win the lottery so I can buy one of them.

VanTiki please consider payment plans in 2010!

Awesome, awesome sculpts. Hands down (hehe) my favorite.

BEST. MUG. EVER. BRAAAAAAAINNNNNNNSSSS!!!!

G-Damn I love it! Now that is my kind of Tiki!!!

I just love your last piece, you are such a great artist and you do such amazing work with all your pieces.

You are a sick mofo, and a sick artist! Swell "mugs"!

Definitely the coolest Zombie mug I have EVER seen! :)

Nice work Van Tiki!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

This zombie mug is a modern classic. Congrats on a stellar achievement.

I've always thought of your work as nothing short of wow!

Spooktacular! Wait - damn wrong holiday!

WOW! That's what I call a Zombie. Makes you thirsty and hungry just looking at them. Like the way you made up the end of the bone. Very cannibal/caveman like. Great piece of art!

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything

[ Edited by: Tikilizard 2009-12-08 11:27 ]

On 2009-12-07 13:46, VanTiki wrote:
...make them uber-realistic? Matte? Glossy? Lots of blood? No blood? SO many options

You hit the perfect balance. It's a ceramic hat trick - perfect concept, perfect sculpt, perfect glazing

Thank you guys (and gals)! I'm so stoked that you like these fellows as much as I do. They were an emotional roller-coaster - I made the mistake of getting VERY attached to them before the final glaze firing. For me that is a big no-no, as there is always a strong chance that the glaze will turn out wrong, crazed, or pitted - or that your piece will crack or explode. In short - don't count your mugs before they're cooked. I hereby thank the Kiln Gods for letting these guys cook safely!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I've put a Tiki Oasis countdown timer on the VanTiki site. Yessir! I'm crossing the Pacific this year! Hope to FINALLY get to meet some of you.

Once again, Mahalo!
Henrik

WHOOOHOOO!!! Bringin' the VanTiki to OASIS!!!

Hot Damn, HOT DAMN, Henrick's a comin' to Oasis! YAY! Hopefully, we can talk you into a little Clay Jam while your out this way?

I love them yeller demon eyes in those zombies there!

Yikes! I've slipped to page 4! That's what happens when you work away on tiles instead of mugs :)

So - I did a mug yesterday that will most likely spark a "that's not Tiki!" discussion. I'll admit I was a bit afraid to post it here, and almost tucked it away in the the Grand Ceremonial thread. Let me say right of the bat: it isn't a tiki. It is, in fact, a GIANT bug that will hold a heck of a lot of rum. Flip it on its back (so it can't scurry away), grab a few friends, and start sipping! The Bowl Bug, found lumbering through the dry leaves on VanTiki Island.

I did a time-lapse video of the construction which I'll upload shortly. The Bowl Bug is a piece I've been wanting to try for a while - I may do a few more to explore various options.

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

:lol: :lol: :lol: :D :lol: :lol: :lol:
(Maddog "howls" with laughter)

Great idea, love that rich brown clay.

edit- I forgot a colon (:)

I like it. Who's to say it isn't Tiki? I mean, the islands gots bugs ya know, and it is meant to hold rum...

Something about this new one really BUGS me...
but in a GREAT WAY!
you are always pushing forward man!
very cool...

just awesome work

If it holds rum, it passes in my book.

Mahalo everyone! I'm looking forward to making a few more of these fellows.

The time-lapse video is up and running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbuSlRVKXh4

Henrik

Great job , Hope to visit with you in Hawaii after Tiki Oasis . GPS hunting. Save me a set of your new tiles.

It's official: VanTiki is heading to Tiki Oasis! The excitement is tempered with a fair amount of panic, as we've got to ship as many artifacts as we can safely from the far off shores of VanTiki Island to San Diego. It is going to be a very busy summer!

To start things off I've been working on a few Trepanning accident mugs. I'd like to have a nice assortment ready for Oasis. I've made some changes to the styling of the mugs - here is the older version:

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

And here are the "advances in medical technology" craniums:

In addition to the detailing around the opening, they have three little feet made out of pointy teeth from a large dangerous jungle animal. Can't wait to glaze 'em!

Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"

Excited about you vending at Oasis Henrik! And love the skulls!

I need an autograph book for this oasis, VanTiki oh yeah! Wendy

Wonderful Skulls