Wendy Cevola - New colors of the Frank mug by Frankoma now available.

Got the cookie email
Thanks
We will have to try them out soon
Great day of updates
Everything looks great

Jon

hang10tiki Dan packed up some of those cookies to take for a snack as he left for Jury Duty today. They work well as a meal substitute. It will be interesting to see if he gets on a panel. We always get turned down because his dad was a city police officer and then a federal marshal, his best friend is a retired homicide detective and our neighbor is a police officer. The defense attorneys always say, dismissed for cause.

Progress Report:

Yesterday was such a fun day for us. All of a sudden we said lets go to Lodi for lunch. That's a 20 minute drive from home. On the way their I said what if we drive for 10 minutes more and go on to Stockton. There's a Chinese Buffet there that we have always enjoyed. We then went hunting for tikis in town. We didn't find any but we met a man who grew up going to the Islander. He said that ever since he was a small boy he has collected their ceramics and paper items. He now wants to sell off all his duplicates. We are waiting to be called for what we think of as the ultimate adventure!

Of course being gone all day slowed my progress. Here's what I did accomplish after we got home.

I finished this woman sitting in the rocks. She is in the kiln.

I did all of the hardest glazing around the face and then noticed that Matt the Cat's mug had dust that I missed when I scrubbed the mug. I must have forgotten the brush and only used the sponge. One speck of dust makes the glaze crawl. I scrapped off all that I could see and then rubbed it with a wet towel.

I did all three layers of the first glaze and then set it aside to dry for the night. This is a look-a-like mug for Matt.

With Dan downtown Sacramento I will glaze all day until he returns this evening in time for dinner.

Thank you for stopping by, Wendy

Book-em-Dan-o
Mugs look good
Great lead on the islander items
Is your cat helping you out today?

Jon

The wahine on the rocks is super nice!

You sure do nice work with clay.

hang10tiki you give us as much joy as our Fluffy (shelter cat, she had the name when we got her). I love the new stump tiki you've finished in your backyard, with and without the cloth.

Robb Hamel thank you so much, she is in the kiln right now. Out on Saturday morning.

Progress Report Wish List #3

I filled up the top shelf of the kiln...good to go.

I fired up the kiln when Survivor started on TV last night. When the show ended I checked and the kiln had failed again. I re-programed it and the second time worked. This morning the kiln said complete. I'll open it Saturday morning and I'll post photos on Sunday.

I finished Matt the Cat's mug that looks like him.


The name of his tiki lounge/bar is on the back like old classic places. Ringed in flowers.

I coated the under-glaze in gloss and into the kiln when dried.

I had one more AP to do and I finished it off. Windy days are great for drying them out.

Now I've started to glaze 19TikiChef62's 3 Missionary's Downfall Women's pot. The glaze on the pot is a brass metal glaze. It has to be fired at 04 rather than the 06 I use for all other glazes. So After I get two more layers done I'll need to work on those altered Severed Heads so I can fire a bisque load which fires at 04. Then I do the women and fire again at 06.

Off and running for the day, Wendy

Good luck with the fire. You're a machine!

Amazing. And please wish Dan a (pre) Happy Birthday!

awesome, simply awesome...

jon

In the metro Detroit area today thru Sunday to celebrate Christmas with 3 of my daughters, one granddaughter & one new grandson. My significant other (& father of my oldest daughter) got to met his only grandchild for the first time. I'm beside myself with joy!

Then getting to see the W & D update for the day was just icing on my happy cake!

~kele

GROG fingers crossed, there are a lot of projects in that kiln.

TikiAno I will tell him for you.

hang10tiki I hope Matt likes it.

WaikikianMoeKele wow I love being part of a happy cake. What a special day. There's nothing better than family.

Today is Dan's birthday and we will be going out to dinner with friends to celebrate. Now for five months he and I will be the same age, then I'll pass him up again. Yesterday we drove to Lodi, 20 minutes from home.

On the way to main street we turned down Elm. This was our first time on this street and look what we found. Who knows I may use this to design a mug in the future.

Dan got to pick out a place for lunch. He choose School Street Bistro.

Here is an art lesson. Perspective is everything. My hamburger is on the left.

Put them together and my hamburger on the left has shrunk. Dan likes them big!

Progress Report Wish List #3.

I did two more layers of the metal glaze on 19tikichef62's bowl. Now it is ready to fire when I have enough for a bisque load.

I next went to work on a mug for Chippy. It is really fun to co-ordinate colors. His mug is tan and has blue highlights. I found a glaze that has those colors in spots. So into the mug it went.

This still needs another layer of tan and then onto the white, black and blue parts.

Today is Dan's day but in the morning we open the kiln. So even if I don't work today there will be lots of photos tomorrow.

May all your days be special, Wendy

Dan-O
Happy birthday my friend
Hope you have a great day
Cheers

Jon

Happy Birthday Dan....I know you get paid in tiki's, but I hope your presents are filled with many more!

Always amazing work on here Wendy,my dear!
AND a perspective lesson AND some newly discovered tikis!
You bring SO many people JOY with all of your creations!
A Big Hug to you AND a Big Birthday hug to Dan!
:)

:music: Happy birthday to Dan! :music:
Wendy, you be sure to spoil him today :)

Happy Birthday Dan! I hope you have a great day!!!! :)

Looking forward to the opening of the kiln tomorrow, as always! Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Dan!!! Enjoy that burger!

Happy Birthday, Dan.

May your slip be easily shaken and your cookies forever crisp.

Thanks for being Wendy's partner on the Happiest Thread on TC.

Greg

Wow! What an honor to watch my mug coming together and at a special time. Happy Birthday Dan!!

Thanks again Wendy (and Dan)

Happy Birthday, Dan!

WooHooo! Put Another Candle on Your Birthday Cake........Happy Birthday Dan!!! We hope you have a Tiki-rrific Weekend!!!!!

Happy birthday Dan!

Cake picture courtesy of Charm City Cakes West

-Lori

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2013-03-08 16:07 ]

Dan, Happy Birthday!

Lori, that cake is awesome!

~kele

Happy Birthday Dan! May it be tiki-riffic! :)

Have one of those sandwiches for me Dan, Happy Birthday!!!

Hi Wendy, great work as usual. I love the Mummy especially.

Please wish Dan a Happy Birthday from me from down under.

------------------You know GROG love you!!----------------

GROG one funny caveman...

hang10tiki oh boy did he have a great day as I will show you below.

dartharnie a few special tikis are coming his way but he only gets one present a day for 7 days.

little lost tiki thank you for the hugs they are much appreciated along with the kind words.

MadDogMike I'll do my best. His birthday will last this whole month.

LoriLovesTiki he's happy and the kiln opened. Photos below for some projects.

lunavideogames he thanks you and really enjoyed the burger.

Professor G thank you for all the wishes for Dan. He's super happy with his spots (inside joke).

Chippy thank you, more photos today and a question.

Big Kahuna he thanks you and says he is happy.

WooHooWahine make that a whole month of bliss.

tikilongbeach come to think of it the only cake he had is from all of you on my thread. I didn't even think of it. Thank you all.

WaikikianMoeKele he thanks you and agrees.

tigertail777 he thanks you and I need to check up on your new shed. I hope you are having fun filling it with your playthings.

Atomic Tiki Punk he'd love to have another one, good thing its on the other side of Sacramento from us.

cy wow you are the total package, carver and you draw. Dan was touched.

swizzle Dan enjoyed reading all the birthday wishes. He will get your Bob-O-Nut this week. Glad you liked the Mummy so far most thumbs up has been for Dracula.

GROG we love GROG. We've always wanted a GROG original but I don't think this one will go on the wall unless its in the bathroom!

hang10tiki we agree.

What a fun list of comments. I kept having Dan come to read them. You all made his day very special. BIG THANK YOU.

Dan's Day One present. An Eric October Islander Stockton Bowl. We love Eric's art. Dan and I have been in the building after it was converted to a Chicken Restaurant. Tiki Cleen has a whole thread with photos here on Tiki Central that is Excellent.

Dan found the perfect place to display it.

Dan did receive a second present yesterday from TikiAno from his business. http://www.joesonthenose.com a wonderful bag of Organic Hot Chocolate. This will go into Dan's coffee and into milk for me. Thank you very much TikiAno. If you PM your home address I would love to send you a thank you David.

Our Friends (for most of our lives) Frank and Sherry took us to On the Boarder last night and Dan got the full birthday treatment.

Progress Report Wish List #3

Opened the kiln and here's the top shelf.

Bottom shelf.

LiddleLola's Bar sign is out of the kiln and ready to be cold painted.

I did both the sign and the woman.

All that is left to do is bake it in the oven today to set the enamel paint.

It' time to get back to work. I need to take more photos to show you. Oh but one more Dan photo from his birthday.
He helped me get ready for our friends. You gotta love this guy, I sure do.

By for now, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-03-09 09:48 ]

Thank you everyone you are the greatest! Dan

Looks like a great day. Love all the new pieces- the severed heads continue to look great rolling out of the kiln, and the Kohana Wahine Lounge sign is outstanding. I still can't believe how well you can carve out those letters. Wow.

Glad to see the chocolate arrived in time. Though it's not in cookie form hope you both enjoy! :)

Dan looks younger without his moustache.

Islander bowl looks great
Glad ya had a fun day Dan-O
Love to see the kiln open
Current projects look sweet
Dan-O, seems as if u can drive that vac like a pro
Thanx for the show

Jon

Happy Belated Birthday to one of my favorite people! Sending you lots of love and aloha from Oahu xoxoxo

TikiAno thank you so much for the hot chocolate. It was fun to open an extra gift. I hope to get the sign to LiddleLola soon. She lives 3 miles from us. It was the trick I showed on this thread that made the letters carve out just right.

GROG he still has his mustache you just keep photo-shopping it out to fool us all.

hang10tiki with fans/friends like you the show must go on and on and on!!!

Sandra Dee you are on Oahu? Are you visiting Gecko and La Marianna? I'll pass on the birthday wish to Dan.

Progress Report Wish List #3

I did the rest of the three layers on Chippy's mug and let it dry.

This is the picture that a friend had drawn for him. I copied it for the mug.

I used this photo for the colors. I will use enamel to do the hat badge after it fires.

I use Google or Internet Explorer and then images for different subjects and then print the photos as helpers.

I set up the MadDogMike photographic studio but I only got one more done. This is called Woman On the Rocks. Dan has claimed her as a birthday present for himself.

Fix your clocks and hour forward. Oh no less time to work on tikis. I better get going, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-03-12 21:31 ]

The sound you all heard was my jaw hitting the floor.

OMG!! It looks so amazing Wendy.

Thank you is just not a big enough word.

Chippy lookin cool
Wahine on the rocks, Hubba hubba

Jon

Chippy thank you that's why I do Wish Lists. I love reading comments like yours.

hang10tiki Hubba hubba was the comment I was looking for, you hit it just right. Dan spotted a bunny yesterday. It wasn't a Playboy bunny just a really cute one. Turns out it wasn't lost. The convalescent hospital has 10 on its grounds that it feeds. We saw a spotted one too. Now we are always going to walk down this street to look for bunny's.

I gave Dan another birthday present. One of Swizzles Bob-O-Mugs. Excellent work.

Progress Report Wish List #3

These are Bob torches to be if I can pull it off.

The faces have dried overnight and now they will be glazed green today.

Chippy's mug and hat are already glazed green and just waiting to be fired.

Mat the Cat's mug is finished unless he wants a SF on the button on the hat.

This is the name of his tiki lounge. All glaze no enamel.

After I take photos I study them for defects. I spotted what looked like a crack in the glaze at the bottom right.

I took a flash photo and it showed up more. So today I will attempt to pull the glaze loose. No matter what I will re-glaze this area to make this go away. Hang in there dartharnie, I've got to get it right!

That's it for today. I've more work to do. Cheers, Wendy

Matt's mug looks fantastic. I love the hat, and you did a fantastic job of the flowers on the back. :)

Dan: I get the same way when I see a squirrel. When I lived in DC the squirrels were so used to people that you could get right next to them, and they wouldn't care.

I know the Count will be fine. Thank you....

Wendy, know how to catch a unique rabbit? Unique up on it!
You probably know how to catch a tame rabbit? Tame way...unique up on it...

My kids groan every time I tell that one too.

It looks like Chippy Bob is ready for St Patrick's Day.

LOVE Chippy Bob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On 2013-03-11 15:26, LoriLovesTiki wrote:
LOVE Chippy Bob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know. He is awesome.

I am so stoked about this now. Getting more anxious by the day.

But it's all good.

Wendy, I just love watching you create these works of art! If it's not an artist's trade secret, could you share with us what you use to cold paint these ceramic pieces? Type of paint, recommended brand(s), best finishes to use (gloss, satin, flat, etc.) and best curing method (I think you said you bake it). I've always wondered the best paint to use for cold painting. Thanks!

Wow, Chippy Bob and Mat the Cat's mug look super duper. I'm excited to see how the torches come out. Are they open on top for lamp oil? Great idea (Bob-o-lanterns?)

Wendy, yes, I remember reading the description of how you trace out the letters- I'm just impressed at how well you're able to do this. Perhaps I need to get the same tool you use, but still, I'm sure my attempts are not quite there yet. :)

Hope you enjoy the Hot Chocolate- please let me know how you like it. The directions on the bag work well- if you have an immersion/ stick blender, that mixes it up quickly and evenly.

I do agree w/ Jon, Wahine Wahubba hubba.

Hale Tiki I can tell you are an artist, the flowers were the hardest part.

dartharnie you cutie, what did you say about 14 year old boys?

Chippy oh no that's grey/brown not green.

LoriLovesTiki I think you made Chippy's and my day.

Chippy ceramics are a very slow art form.

Dawee Tiki I only use Liquitex Glossies. They are found on the Dick Blick web page. The red is identical to the red used on vintage tikis for tongues and skirts. Paint, wait 24 hours and bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Just like with the old mugs you must not wash in hot water or scrub.

Tomorrow I'm buying more glaze for the run of 30 Severed Heads. Maybe in 1.5 weeks I'll start working on those non-stop. Having watchers keeps me working!

TikiAno I'm making the Bobs torches by putting a flicker light bulb on top. It's all the wiring that's hard. I couldn't find the parts I wanted so I'll just work something out.

Are you impressed just like the lettering? Ha Ha. I see hot chocolate in our futures.

The woman are built to impress.

Progress Report Wish List #3

I'm getting out the ball and chain today to make sure I get a lot done.

MP requested a satin finish on a Severed Head. It is done but he can't have it until the run is released. This was one of the extra heads I'd poured for AP's

I added clay inside all of the chins on the severed heads to make them sturdier. When I glazed MP's mug I could see a separation between the cast and the added clay. I will never move but I wanted to fill it and re-glaze anyway.

After the product dried I added more glaze and I'll fire it again.

The torches have joined the group ready to fire.

I worked on the glaze problem with dartharnies Bela Lugosi. I sanded the whole cape. Then a ran a wire brush over it. Once I had all the problem areas identified I worked to pop loose any glaze I could with a dental instrument.

Surprise some came loose at the shoulders.

Then I scrubbed these areas with a rough pad and then I glazed them. 3 layers were there was no glaze and one over the whole cape like glue.

I added gold ceramic paint to the sunglasses and ascot. The lens are now almost black.

Just checking he is still invisible!

I better get working or I won't have photos for tomorrow. Thank you for all the wonderful comments. You've given me energy for the day. Cheers, Wendy

MP SH two thumbs up...

Progress Report Wish List #3

dartharnie wanted me to share these photos that I had sent to him.

I finally got back to the four severed heads that I had altered and did some fine tuning.

I sanded the bug-eyed long tongue one in the back and moved on to the shrunken head version adding many wrinkles.

I turned the heads for a different view.

Next I carved the Tapa Snake with his designs on his skin.

The last head was easier. I've always wondered what it would look like with the tongue cut out. Now it can be carried this way and the finger looks like a tongue.

Four variations drying and soon into the kiln.

Guess what birthday bowl took the finished Maori version...

and the Hubbard Hubba Girl on the Rocks?

Maybe telling him we would celebrate his birthday for the whole month is going to cost me. Ah he's worth it.

Thank you for the visit, Wendy