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

OK, forget what I said, twisted is not the right word. A straw? (sorry this is held over from my reply to you on my thread) This is what sets your art apart, you are so darn clever. Who else would have thought of that ... Gene

That's really great that Mahalo's store is officially open. The world needs another tiki store, and it's nice to see TC members going out to support him.

Sorry to hear about the cracks, but it looks like you're working it out as always. I'm curious to see what the textured part of the volcano will hold. I've seen you experiment with lava before, and it's been great, so this intrigues me. Also, it would appear that you are making the volcano removable. Also quite handy.

Sorry to hear about your arthritis, I know it can be a pain. It's an old wives tale based in actual science, but tart cherries are quite good for helping with arthritis symptoms. They say that cherry juice is the thing. I haven't tried that yet, as it's been awhile since I've had trouble with mine, but 16oz of cherry juice a day is supposed to do wonders. Hope you're feeling better.

Cheers.

MadDogMike you are a wonderful father so I hope you had a great day.

VampiressRN don't we just love having a tiki store in town and who better than Nelson and Mary to run it. The store is perfect.

hang10tiki Dan loves his newest photoshop, thank you a whole bunch.

tigertail777 Volcanos always have cracks. This will be one to fix up.
My arthritis is minor, I just have to stop if I work too long. Gout is horrible. Good shoes, skip alcohol, meat and mushrooms. The cannibal swap while fun is not a topic to take lightly. We have #43 and 44 in the molds right now. Working every day. I don't think a larger tiki would be possible. Dan can hardly handle these molds.

Gene S Morgan thank you. When the boys voted for cannibal I decided it would be a disgusting/twisted piece of art and not pretty because the topic is not pretty. The real horror is that I modeled the face after mine. No not the chest!

Hale Tiki we love Nelson and Mary and want them to have great success. The volcano may or may not be free standing. I haven't decided yet. The lava will be fun to do. Cherry juice, thank you.

Today was a major tiki day and I'm all beat up. So photos tomorrow. I have some great tips to share from a ceramics pro who adjusted my kiln temperature today. Here he is Clayton, and you won't believe what he does with Aqua Net hairspray!

"and you won't believe what he does with Aqua Net hairspray!..."
YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE US HANGING LIKE THAT!!!

Although I have fired many a PVC potato gun with AquaRock. The perfect combination of alcohol, ether, and butane :D

GROG has posted on Tiki Central Infirmary on the Ohana page. Please check it out and wish him well.

OK MadDogMike and GROG here's what I learned from Clayton. If you fire too hot your clay will loose its porosity and it will not suck in the glaze as it fires. When you put a hold on longer than 12 minutes at the end of bisque or glazing this can happen. He does a 10 hour preheat on all his bisque ware to make sure it is free of water.

If you have a piece that keeps kicking off the glaze then spray that spot with Aqua Net Hairspray. When it dries then paint on your glaze. Let that dry and fire again. He said the Aqua Net will act as a glue first and then it burns off and you are left with a well glazed piece.

Progress Report

I showed the Chippy Bob to a friend who just retired from the police force. He said he had to have a Bob mug with his badge on it. It's not perfect but here it is.

He send me a photo of his badge #999 so I started with clay on the back of Bob.

I got Dan's dads badge and compared them and the shape was the same so I decided to use it.

I pressed it into the circle of clay to get the badge outline.

When I removed it the pin had left a big hole.

I hope I closed the hole without introducing any air bubbles which would explode in the kiln.
I used this tool to cut away the excess clay.

Now I had the shape. Front.

Side view.

I first carved in the shapes where the lettering would go.

Next I carved in the words and numbers.

I gave Bob a suit and tie with a dress shirt. He's spiffy.

Backside.

Up close.

Next Project was the Volcano Crack. I don't have to worry too much about how this area looks as long at it doesn't leak. I am trying to make a plug that will be glued in place with glaze.

I rolled out a piece that was the right length.

I pressed it into place.

I added a wet paper towel so that it will dry slowly. I'll add water for awhile.

Next project the Sacramento Crawl mug continues on.
I set up outside again to sand the dry mugs.

I'm making a dent in the dry ones while we continue to pour. I have #43 and 44 to clean up after I finish this post.

I'm a pinup model!

Dan is great at dusting.

The first level of the kiln is loaded. They are too tall for a second level except laying on their sides. I won't be able to glaze very many at a time but I can do a lot when its bisque fire and they can touch. I even fit in the Sheriff Bob mug.

The garage is calling me to work. I hope you are having a good day too. Cheers, Wendy

Busy
Busy
Busy

Hmmm, that AquaNet trick does not sound as fun as blowing stuff up with hairspray - but it's still worth a try :lol:

On 2013-06-18 14:13, danlovestikis wrote:

The first level of the kiln is loaded. They are too tall for a second level except laying on their sides. I won't be able to glaze very many at a time but I can do a lot when its bisque fire and they can touch. I even fit in the Sheriff Bob mug.

Standing room only. Looks like a top view of the vestibule of the haunted mansion.

Philot, great comment! That one truly made me laugh out loud.

Wendy, you and Dan are really making a dent in those Crawl Mugs. Way to go!

Love the new Bob. I'm sure your friend will love that.

I'm still trying to guess what is going to be attached to the outside of the volcano.

• Dale

hang10tiki and even more busy.

MadDogMike if you do either we want photos!

Philot no kidding, I can picture that now I want to go to Disneyland.

littlegiles Dan's friend since 2nd grade has seen it so far and is excited. He may use it at the retired cops lunches he goes to each month. Today I'll clean crawl mug #45 and 46 and I'll try not to dent them. I should also work on the volcano's outside.

Here's Dan last night just after pouring.

What else have we been up too? Here it comes.

We love our cancer society store and go there almost every day. We found another small shelf that would fit in the kiln shed.

I took out the two drawers and made another couple of cubby holes by duct taping them together and them to the wall.

Next we went to Alpha Fired Arts to buy slip. This is how much I've used since we started the crawl mugs. They use a lot of slip!

Here are the crawl mugs since I started. 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 as the sculpt it will be a bit smaller but you get the idea that this years is twice the size of last years mug.

This is the 06 Duncan glaze isle at Alpha. I've done my best to stock up. They have two more 06 glaze isles one of more Duncan and one of Mayco. They have a small amount of Amco too. This is glaze ecstasy.

I've shown this before but for people who are new to my thread I have a good example.

You see a pinpoint hole in your clay. If you fire this glaze will never fill it up. Instead you will have it crawl away and you'll have a defect.

These holes are larger than they appear. I always scoop out a lot of clay to remove it completely.

Then I fill it with clay

and smooth it out.

This is the best fix and worth the effort.

Now it's time to go clean those mugs. Thank you for the visit and to those who voted me up from 12 to 6 on Cool and Current. Dan loves it (we both do) and asks each day if we are still on there. I do not vote for myself so I appreciate that you do this for us. GROG I know its your mission so a special thank you for your votes and as Dan's favorite interesting man would say, "stay healthy my friend", our prayers are with you.

Hugs everyone, Wendy

:D

Wendy, that picture of the Crawl mugs all together make the new one look like a mug and the older ones look like shot glasses. :) Wow, it really put the size in perspective.

Interesting hints on fixing that tiny spot on the clay. I probalby wouldn't have even seen it, let alone think I needed to remove that much clay to fix it. Well done!

Love all the colors of glaze at the store. One day you may need to do some pics of all the different glazes you have. It would be fun to see all the colors together.

• Dale

Love the lineup shot of the 4 mugs

GROG I'm saving a hug for you.

littlegiles it surprised me too. I always hope to make "keepers".
I didn't fix one of those and it showed up so badly I learned to never neglect to fix them.
I have a wall of all my glaze tests and when I do make something I pick out the tests and get the jars to match and then I'm good to go to work.

This is an old photo, the number has tripled since this was taken.

hang10tiki I thought it would be a good idea and it is fun to see. I bleached out the colors with too much light but...oh well!

We had a very busy day so I'm going to post photos in the morning. I've banned Dan from coming near me because he is radioactive. We feel very lucky today... thinking about Tony Soprano.

Sleep Well my friends, Wendy

Wendy, love seeing the different Crawl mugs in a line-up. I just realized I forgot to tell you & Dan that I bought one of Dan's mugs from Mary at Don's a few weeks' back- it was one of the blue Libbey mugs, bought it for a birthday gift for a friend who absolutely loved it (slowly introducing her to the world of tiki, and thought that mug was a good (and inexpensive) introduction.

Like littlegiles said, I look forward to seeing additions to the volcano mug. Sheriff Bob is great, love the texturing, the shirt and tie, and the badge is perfect!

Keep on muggin'. :)

TikiAno I'm so glad to know that Mahalo Tiki is making sales with the mugs Dan sold to him. Dan has to give up some to get space for new additions. I can remember when he bought the Libby mugs. It was 2010 and we were at the antique sale under freeway 80 in downtown Sacramento. How about that!

I like your "keep on mugging" message. I will. Frank loves his sheriff mug and hopefully it survived firing. I open the kiln later today.

Yesterday we were busy because Dan had Nuclear Medicine Rest and drug induced Stress heart studies. It was fun for me because Greg the department manager was my college sweetheart and we both choose the same careers. He is also married and has three grown children. We caught up on everything while Dan was trapped in the camera. Greg did Dan's entire procedure. The outcome...Negative. No pending hear attack on the way. I'm going to put more photos on the Ohana Infirmary page.

At the end I took Dan to Thunder Valley an Indian casino where I lost $40.

Progress Report from danlovestikis...

When we poured crawl mugs #37 and #38 I had us pour a bowl. I had so many hula girl body parts to use that now was the time.

So I opened the mold and cleaned up the bowl inside

and outside.

Then I opened the bag of parts and looked to see how I could fit them on the bowl.

I sliced off the back of the woman and attached her both inside and outside the bowl. Why not make it differently than most hula girl bowls.

I used snakes of clay, water and a brush to seal the front and back to the bowl. I added two more hula women. Three fit the bowl perfectly.

Using a board on the top and bottom of the bowl I was able to flip it.

Now I added clay to the bottom of each woman. It is very soft so I'll do this again after it firms up.

I added clay to the sides.

Going through the opening I dug out a hole into the back of the head that is in the bowl. If there isn't a place for hot air to escape it will blow up. She would then lose the back of her head. You can see the hole in the bottom right opening.

Earlier in the week I had cleaned up a couple of these and had them dry out on funnels. These will be necklaces.

Once they had dried I sanded them

and carved my name and copy write on the back.

I removed the paper towel that had been wet and found that the patch had held together. I will glue this piece in with glaze and then the volcano will not leak.

The rim around the cannibal pot was wavy. I leveled it with my label remover. Sanding is slower and this has a sharp edge that is great for scrapping.

Now I loaded the top layer in the kiln. Some pieces could still hold some moisture so I did a ten hour preheat as Clayton recommended and then a 13 hour ramp fire. Today I'll see if anything exploded!

The hula girl bowl is now firm.

Here I added a longer strand of hair.

Here a lei.

Their hair will run past their shoulders to the bottom.

All three backs of the heads are in the bowl. Some will have the hands covered by her hair.

Sacramento Crawl mug #49 and #50. This ends the run, I will continue to pour more that I'll use as glaze tests and replacements if I break any. There are a few left for sale but until I decide the price no one is committed only on the list to hold one if they decide to take it.

Now I feel as if I've caught up. Time to clean up some mugs. Let me know if you liked the photos. Cheers, Wendy

Wendy, that bowl with the three maidens is awesome!! Great idea to have them embedded in the sides of the bowl. Gives it a new and original look. Love the fact that you have personalized each lady so they aren't all exactly the same.

I'm still guessing as to what you may be putting on the outside of the volcano.

Glad to hear that Dan is well and all the checkups came back negative. WOOHOO!!

• Dale

A healthy Dan-O is a happy Wendy

:)

Glad to hear Dan is "hot" and ready to go!

Great Hula Girl bowl, love the "one-toed feet" it sits on :blush: :lol:

You guys are adorable.

Glad you're okay, Dan-o.

Love what you've done with the 'damaged' ladies. They are just another challenge for your awesome creativity.

A number of years ago, I had the same test done that Dan just had. They told me that I was only radioactive for like 2 weeks. And contrary to what my children were looking forward to, I did NOT glow in the dark! lol

Can't wait to see what's next on the Wendy & Dan Show!

~kele

My routine is mixed up. Now I'm posting in the evening rather than the morning.

littlegiles thank you three times! The day of the volcano is near.

hang10tiki Dan says thank you to all those who sent well wishes, he appreciated them.

MadDogMike now that got a good laugh from Dan.

Hale Tiki we like being called adorable. Are you getting any photos or videos of Hukilau?

WaikikianMoeKele you may not have glowed in the dark but you would have made a Geiger counter tick.
I hope you had a good report like Dan.

I can't "bare" to lose a good woman cast. Thank you so much.

Progress Report

Dan and I needed an energy boost. So we went to Chevy's. We had a coupon. Spend $30 and get $10 off. Well we were one dollar short so we had to order desert. It was their Coconut/Candied Pecans/Carmel Cajeta ice cream desert. I swear and so does Dan that it is the best desert we have ever had in our whole lives. I would like to live on these but it would be a short life.

Even though we cast this bowl the surfaces are not smooth. So I use wooden tools and scrape the sides and bottom.

This will show where there are dips that need clay added.

I just add clay and smooth it. When the bowl is dry it will also be sanded but this way the sides and bottom stay thicker.

We have finally gotten the number for the run of 50 poured and now I'm casting some for glaze tests.
Rain is due here on Monday so the molds will be under the porch roof and carried through the house.

I opened the kiln and checked. No problems.

The piece I made as a patch didn't crack and hopefully will work fine.

Bottom shelf too. Now I've fired 30 of the crawl mugs.

I scrubbed everything that was in the kiln. Inside with a sponge on a long stick and a fruit brush on the outside.

Trays are so valuable. We buy them in thrift stores and garage sales. I just noticed my cat was hanging out with me. It was 97 in the shade. I bet hang10tiki had it hotter.

The badge was really thick and I worried it would explode but it made it through.

I was working alone so I had to get out the dremmel to smooth a couple of areas on mugs that I'd missed when sanding.

I always dress up to use the dremmel.

Just a close up of some washed mugs.

Long view past my washing and rinse tubs.

Mahalo Tiki went to Grass Valley and while there he picked up the lamp with my moai sculpt. Roge does a great job. He's listed on Marketplace if anyone wants to order one of his lamps.

Well that's the Dan and Wendy show for tonight. Now I need some rest. Tomorrow I need to sand 24 mugs. Since the weigh around 4 pounds each it is a lot of lifting and holding. So far I've given out at 11. Tomorrow I'll go for a record just like the one the rain on Monday will break.

I hope you are all having a fun Saturday night, cheers, Wendy

Classic

Oh, man, you can't turn your back on Dan for a second, huh?

(Just kidding, Dan!)

So Dan-O is in on the cannibal art swap too

Now that's scary.

Maddy and I finally had a chance to look over the final photos this weekend. Waiting on the video from a friend, and I can finally get it done!

hang10tiki I agree, Dan is one of a kind too.

TikiAno oh no, now that bowl is on his wish list!

hang10tiki I think GROG is yummy. I missed my spying on Dan until he pointed out my head.

GROG you must have lost your head over that ice cream dish.

I would like to thank you all for the photoshopped images. Dan enjoys them so much that it makes my day. I love them too. You guys rock. Wendy

Hale Tiki great, I'm going to start my part of the story now.

I you all have thought we were tiki busy before wait until you see what's been going on behind the scenes. Very soon Hale Tiki will be sharing photos of the biggest and best event of his young life so far. He asked me to help him with one small part.

Hale Tiki asked me to make two mugs that he had designed. The mugs were very special because they would be used to toast a special event he had planned at this years Hukilau.

I'm going to show the step by steps that these mugs took to pull off. My hope is that you will enjoy seeing how Hale Tikis mind works. These were his designs and done with my hands.

First up the instructions for his mug.

The bottom of the mug is to be like this vintage mug.

The top of the mug should be the Tiki Central Tapa like I did on ebTikis mug.

A tiki face should be on the front.

He wanted this headdress and eyes

but glazed in this way.

He wanted this chin design and the tongue

but glazed in this way.

I printed all these photos and cut them up.

I taped them together to make a picture of what the mug should look like.

He went though all the glazes on line and came up with a list and then he drew the mug and labeled where each glaze should be used.

Of course I didn't own a single glaze but I was able to locate every one of them at Alpha.

Would I be able to make his wish come true? Stay tuned tomorrow I'll start showing you the mug he wanted made for his special lady.

The Wish Lists are always a fun challenge. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-06-24 14:48 ]

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-06-24 14:51 ]

That is a very cool secret project! Very exciting for Hale Tiki I am sure. It must have something to do with the question he popped at the event.

It is a good lookin mug! I am excited to see it in all of its glory!

Kinda similar to this one on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mauna-Loa-Drum-Tribute-Tiki-Mug-by-Babalu-26-30-/111105882994?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19de6d3b72

How Coool!!

Very impressive Wendy. Thanks for sharing all the great pics and your creative process.

Wow
Awesome
A secret episode in the Wendy and Dan-O show
:)

lunavideogames Hale Tiki came up with a couple of challenging assignments for me. He did pop at Hukilau!

lunavideogames the photo I posted is one from a museum. Babalu did an excellent mug tribute as you show up for bidding on eBay.

Holler Waller Hale Tiki did a good selection of parts. It's going to be fun to show how it was done.

Chippy did you see the Badge Bob? Your Chippy mug has inspired other law enforcement personal to ask for one that suits them.

Photos and drawings sure help.

hang10tiki while there will be no reruns there will be highs and low points of failure.

Next up is the start for the mug that Hale Tiki wanted made for his special lady.
He wanted a sea-life mug with happy faces. on the back he wanted her favorite tiki.

I showed him the sea-life sculpts that I'd done for Roge's lamps.

He wanted a puffer, sea horse and an Octopus. I found this octopus as an example.

This is her favorite tiki, one of mine too.

Hale Tiki did this drawing of how the mug should look. I had all his glaze choices except one for the seahorse which I purchased.

For the background of the mug he wanted this glaze that I'd used for the last swap. I told him that it would run but its what he wanted. My first mistake with his mug was to say OK. If a glaze melts to have streaks it is because it is made to move on the surface. It doesn't care if something is in the way.

Progress Report on the Crawl Mug

Check List

1. Pour 50 mugs for the crawl. Check/done.
2. Pour enough to satisfy Dan and do glaze tests. Should be done by the end of the week.
   

I managed to sand 12 but then I've had to stop for a few days to recover.

I sent Dan out to watch the molds dry but he took a book to read so the time would pass faster. Sneaky boy!

Until tomorrow, Wendy

That underwater tiki mug is great...

Hale Tiki's mug is just insane (in all the right ways!!!)
It could just be the most "Tiki" of any Tiki Mug ever
I hope the god of the kiln (Pele, Vulcan?) blesses this project.

Hale, awesome mug idea.

Wow, ATP is right, that is some SERIOUS tiki going on on Hale's mug! Looking great, and a lot of work...

Will you send it to Hale in a hand basket?

On 2013-06-25 18:03, GROG wrote:
Will you send it to Hale in a hand basket?

TUNE IN TOMORROW TO FIND OUT! Same Tiki Time, Same Wendy Channel!

It must be a burgh thing
:)

Can't wait to see more

Jon

MaroneTiki thank you, that glaze is pretty and I learned a lot about this type of glaze doing Hale Tikis project.

Atomic Tiki Punk I can honestly say that was the comment that Hale Tiki will adore.

hang10tiki this is a mug that Dan drooled over. Sorry no photo of him!

Woodtiki there were even more instructions for this mug that I'll share at some point in this presentation. These were very important for his popping weekend event. I had to get it right.

GROG if I had two volunteers who wouldn't run off with this mug I would have. This is Wednesday. We are all waiting to here about your appointment. We'll check Ohana at the end of the day. Dan and I have volunteered for a heart study and today we are both having CT Angiograms. We had to take beta blockers to slow our heart rates down. We be mellow people today.

Hale Tiki I've waited a long time to share your mugs and I'm having a lot of fun here. I hope you'll be able to post the rest of the story soon or as I finish up.

Gotta run to our appointment I'll post photos when we get back this afternoon. Cheers, Wendy

Fantastic work Wendy and Dan!

Thank you CY, see you soon.

Hale Tiki's mugs in the works from his drawings.

His mug.

I started with the bottom making it as big around as I needed to match the drawing.

Then I added clay upward and blended it in.

Then I started on the top working until the overall shape was correct.

Next I did the inner and outer eyes.

Then I worked on the lips.

Maddy's mug.

Each of these mugs started out as Tiki Bob's. I filled in his face for this one and added clay for the tiki.

I worked on the octopus so that the legs were beautiful on the tiki side.

They wrapped around and below I fit in the puffer fish.

The last sea creature was the sea horse.

Not finished but a good start.

Being part of experimental studies can be a really good opportunity to gain information. Dan and I are participating in a genetic test that will show if we are prone to heart disease.

Earlier this week we had our blood drawn. 12 tubes each.

Today we went and had CT Angiograms.

In the waiting room this morning.

My turn.

Dan's turn.

Now its time to get to work on the important stuff.

Thanks for the visit, Wendy

That is great that you guys are getting check ups. Better to find problems earlier rather than later.

The mugs are looking great! Are we all going to Hale's big day? :wink:

Don't ya'll look cute getting your angiograms together.
GROG' angiogram scheduled for July 11th. Looks like GROG' angiogram going to be a little more invasive than yours and Dan's. Don't want to hijack your thread, so check TC Infirmary for more.

Looks like you're having fun doing Hale Tiki's mugs. GROG' been a bit distracted lately with other stuff :) , so GROG have a batch of ceramics people ordered that have been waiting several weeks for GROG to get around to glazing. And everybody know how much GROG like glazing. :x You two are a well-oiled machine. GROG going to have to send GROG' ceramics up to you to get finished. (Plus, Dan bake cookies for you).

Wendy ... you and Dan look pretty darn happy heading into those scary machines ... Did losing all that blood make you light headed? How are you able to handle those monster molds after all that? ... Being tested can only be a good thing ... you will be glad you did ....

For those of you following the thread, there will be a big write-up about the special event in Ohana as soon as I can find the extra hours to sit down and gather together all the material. I'm still finding things that I hid away to scan in. Part of what made it so special, and so much fun for me, was the nearly daily back and forth with Wendy about the mugs, and life in general. It was a lot of fun working together, and as you all know, Wendy is amazing at what she does. I would write or draw something, and the next thing I knew, I'd have an email with photos of exactly what I wanted, or so close that it only needed a minor adjustment. All from 2,500 miles away. It was a sad day when the mugs were done, and it meant no more collaborating. But, I think that there will definitely be other mugs in the future :) As long as she has the time :)