Tikitronic Mug # 3 : Luaahi

I have an experiment to share (trying out a new medium).

So - it was late January I needed to design a mug for this year's Tiki-Kon.
Seeing as
a) I was somewhat dissatisfied with my results from my first mug attempt (sculpting in mold-able resin - 2005):

and
b) was even more dissatisfied with my second attempt (carving a mug out of hard foam 2006):

and
c) I've been wanting to start learning 3d modeling for some time now, I decided to get on it and see if I could use the mug as a 3d starter project, and hopefully learn enough to sculpt this years mug. Which - in retrospect - was pushing my luck with regards to time-line.

But anyhoo - I won't show my first attempt.
My second attempt (late march) at least bore a resemblance to the design I had in my head.
But was still pretty rough, more cartoony than I wanted, and was abandoned at this point:

At that point, I stopped, took a deep breath, re-watched some tutorials, and started over.
The result* was this guy, who I'm calling Luaahi:

• with some assistance on getting the lettering on there properly - thank you Gideon!

The other organizers were satisfied with the design (and in fairness - probably a bit impatient to get the thing out of my head and into production:) - so I sent the file for digital output, and 2 weeks later received this in the mail:

**
** photograph courtesy of Tikimama

I have to say - its a little surreal to sculpt something on a computer, and then being able to hold it in your hands.
Next step - Melintur is working on the mold making process, and then we start experimenting with glazes.

I'd love to hear thoughts/advice on the medium/constructive criticism on the design/etc.
Has anyone else out there tried designing a mug (or any other tiki stuff) this way?

Luaahi is very cool!

Nicely done.

Very cool Tikitronic. What software did you use? I use Pro/E at work but I'm almost positive I wouldn't be able to design something like your mug with it.

Chris

[ Edited by: La Esquina Del Tiki! 2007-06-01 14:06 ]

I like the design, and the whole computer design process is really different and interesting too. Im not big on the white, but with a nice glaze seeping into the design I think it will look really cool. Nice :D

You never disappoint with your artwork TikiTronic

You are one of the real hidden heavyweights here.

thanks for explaining the evolution to us and I really like that most recent design (but I also own the other two)

Tikitronic!
Great mugs! All three of 'em look great!

Very impressive! I also would be interested in the software name. It's so cool to know that things like this are possible today.

Congratulations!

We are planning to experiment with glaze techniques with some slip-molds of the 2005 mug.

We have cone 6 glazes of one white and two different browns for under/overglazes. We as well have a few colors for detail glazing work.

I hope to go into the lab soon for experimentation. I spoke with some local ceramicists who pointed me for the best glazes for layering/mixing and instructions that is is "much better to experiment and follow your own findings" than follow any other parameters, I do so like the fail/success/screw around model.

Oh, and the White of the master sculpt above is immaterial - We haven't set yet on a glaze color, but we are headed toward a traditional brown with (hopefully) some accents.

Very cool! Echoes of Bumatay. Body texture is scary, kinda slug/slimy looking! Brilliant!

To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-06-01 12:41 ]

looks like zbrush.

I wondered how long it would be before we saw the first computer created mug, was the final piece printed out in one of those 3D printers?

Techno-I.T.iki?
Veeery interesting, hhhmmm... Cool Concept!

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Thanks everyone!

To follow up - yes, the mug was sculpted in zBrush (which ironically took me rather longer than sculpting the clay mug - ha) - and then sent to a 3d print house.

And while its true that the mug wont be glazed white for production - I'm kind of tempted to produce some with a gloss white finish, and setting up a Futuristic Tiki/Korova Milk Bar in our new basement:)

We hope to get the result of the glaze tests back from our ceramicist today. I'm very excited.

Here's what happens to the sculpt after I get it.

I make a negative mold of the sculpt with which to make multiple sculpt copies. These Will be used to make plaster slip molds. The plaster slip molds will go to our ceramicist for mug creation.

Here's the first batch of pictures:

After creating a mold box ¾" larger than the sculpt (in each direction) out of art board and hot glue. I'll pour each half of the mold separately. To masque out 3-d areas for where I don't want the polyurethane to go, I use modeling clay:

To help keep the two halves of the mold together, I make impressions for use as a key to align. Here you can see a closeup of one in the clay masque.

So, how to find out how much of the casting material you'll need? I use rice to approximate the volume.

Now it's full.

And now it's measured.

After the rice is removed the whole thing gets sprayed with Tap Plastics Mold Release.

The Materials: Polyurethane Casting Resin system from Tap Plastics.

I mix half the measure of each of the 2-part polyurethane and mix like 'taint no mixing been done.

The trick is to scrape the sides and the bottom of the container with something square. I use chopsticks. Next, I pour evenly and slowly into a corner of the box. I let the material slowly seep around and up the sculpt. As it's pouring I notice how like a chocolate bar it looks. Here see it filling in the keys - caramel spilling into chocolate caverns surrounded by creamy white nougat:

Delicious caramel will be the last breath of this tiki mug!

Almost there:

The complete pour.

Once a day has passed, it is safe to attempt the other half. It takes a couple more than a few days to fully cure. I take off the bottom of the mold and flip 'er over. All that clay we put in has to come out.

The same process is repeated (It usually happens that the rest of the containers are the perfect amount of material) on the back. Mold release, mix half of each, pouring into the corner:

Slowly to the top it pours.

This is the End product. 2 Halves which allows us to make copies of the scupt to use and not have to suffer a meltdown if it becomes damaged. We can just make another. And another. And another.

Next update coming when I get the pics prepared!

TT - Very nice design there! Very interesting process too!

How many plaster molds are you planning to make on this mug? What kind of qtys are you planning to run on this design?

I am only able to pull about one casting per day from the molds I have, for a few mugs that I am doing now....I find that after I pull a casting, I have to put the plaster molds in the range of a house fan (while I'm at my other job during the day) to let them dry out a little before I can pour the next one, usually, that evening...doing one a day is a slow process. It would be nice to have multiple plaster molds...Another interesting thing...I had just figured that the original sculpt that I had made out of oil clay would be ruined in the plaster mold making process, and surprisingly, they came out fine; so I could feasibly do another plaster mold from them if I choose....can't say for certain that that would always be the case, but hey?

We usually do 4 plaster molds for a run of 100, 25 per plaster. I know our ceramicist gets up to about 5 before she puts the plaster in a 200 degree oven to remove the moisture.

Thanks for coming back Melintur....This is all very interesting to me. I've heard that you can get up to 200 castings, or so, from a plaster mold before you start to loose definition. Does that sound about right to you? I'll have to try and heat my plaster molds to 200 degrees and see how long that takes them to dry them out. I guess it's just been fun just to have a clay studio up and running for a bit. Thanks for taking the time to post these progress pictures...It's also great fun to learn new stuff as well.

Great step by step... Pretty damn interesting... Thanx for all the pix. ~fB

It's the first time I did that part by myself. I'm getting the help of Rum Demon Studios for the next bit, which we'll hope to have done by next Tuesday. Tonight and Tomorrow I pour some positives that we'll use. I will keep up the snaps as we go along for fun (there's no profit save the joy of tiki!)

this year's mug looks great! i'm looking forward to scoring one of them. however, i don't understand your dissappointment with last years mug. i dig the png style and think it turned out great.

p.s. say hi to mark (dr. tongue) for me. i hope married life is treating him well.

[ Edited by: kingstiedye 2007-07-13 18:29 ]

Bad news: our main run will be late due to scheduling difficulties.

Good news: We're doing a limited run with the help of Rum Demon. Expect more pictures and process, until they finally come out of the Kiln.

Plaster molds, drying in my oven at 170 for about 10 hours. Overnight should do it, but I chose to let it go a little longer.

Last night I pulled some APs from the molds. Pics soon, Things are going very well (save for the time window!). At least no set-backs so far!

Wee!

Hey folks! No time today for much text, so here are more photos of the slip casting process:

Georgie's Slip, ready to become Tiki mugs

Pouring the slip into the bucket

The interior of the plaster mold

Moving slip from bucket to pitcher for pouring

Pouring slip

Slow going pour

Drying slip

Starting to pour out the non-dried slip

Slip dripping upside down

Right side up, sprue has been scored to aid in drying

Starting to pull of top after slip drying process

Top is off!

Drying after top removed

Removing from mold the wrong way (turn mold upside down and have gravity help you)

Out of the mold

Melintur cleaning

Tikimama cleaning

More Tikimama cleaning

Hello, gorgeous!

Drying on the rack

Drying on the rack 2

See you in the funny papers!

TikiMama is actually doing the work correctly as far as I can tell. :drink:

That's a Von Tiki (which, btw, I always call a Baron Von Tiki, which I think has a much grander feel) in my cocktail glass in case you want to play along at home. I try and incorporate drinking into all my hobbies if possible.

I love that mug. I know it's early but I think it's a strong contender for Mug of the Year!

Greetings.

I'm jazzed to see the digital to mug process. Looks great!

I've got a similar project going.

I've a little more to do, but basically it's done. It's for the drink, "Monkey Brains", and it would have the recipe on the back. It would be like a large shot glass.

I want to print it out soon, and maybe try to make it into a mug.

However, I'd love some feedback: What do you think? Is it something that I could sell?

Thanks!

I finally got my model printed out. I had it printed smaller than I originally planned. It's about 2 1/2 inches tall. I was impresses with the level of detail. I think I'm going to try to cast this one, just as an experiment and see how it turns out.

This is a great thread. So! I am not the only one on TC who has designed a Tiki using a 3D program.

I made this guy a few years back using FreeForm:

I'm doing stuff on ZBrush now, but no Tikis yet.

Looking forward to seeing the glazed mugs, Tikitronic.

...and Billbot, your monkey head is pretty cool.

The Artist Formally Known As Tikidav

[ Edited by: Bowana 2007-09-21 21:48 ]