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

Looking good. GROG like.

Ah, so nice to hear from you two. Thank you. I think I like painting on velvet, it's fun and very different. I'll start another one tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy

Here's my other entry for Moai Madness the on-line show July 10th, 2011.

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-06-27 20:57 ]

Cool Wendy! That black velvet painting looks pretty nice! Great texture on the Moai.

Great job on the black velvet. Never would have thought it was your first time with that medium. Also love the bowl. Great finishes on both the inside and outside.

ps. glad to see your arm is feeling better.

Nice lighting effect on the front Moai Wendy and of course that fat lava glaze ROCKS!

zerostreet, littlegiles, and MDM thank you for your posts. Now that I've finished a second Moai for the Moai Madness show I'm an old hand at velvets...NOT. But practicing is a good thing. Here's the one I finished today. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-06-30 10:31 ]

A Gift From Grog.

My last Moai Madness painting. Cheers, Wendy

the girl is GOIN OFF on the velvet!
I just love your enthusiasm and jumping right into unknown waters
and navigating them like a salty sailor!
that platform looks sooooo real!
you are too cute!
:)

http://www.elroyartspace.com/scootiki_modsgods-july2011.html

Hey Kinny, I was just looking over your art at Elroy's Art Space Tiki show. I love your art and you are too cute yourself! zerostreet and so many of our friends are also in the show.

Please check it out everyone! Fun Fun Fun, Wendy

Your last velvet turned out great Wendy, love the "Rapa Nui" fez.

Lookin' good Wendy. I got to tell the story about how you started this piece right handed and finished with your left. For the record no one believed me.

Mike, when I was looking for a moai photo to copy I came across this photo. He had the fez I just added the decorations.

Cy, thank you so much for the photo of my art on the wall, cool. I sent a photo history of how far I got right handed before I had to switch to the left. Joe has those photos, they go with the painting. I should have sent a photo showing the metal plate being inserted along the broken bone. I'm very flattered that they didn't think it looked like a painting from an inexperienced hand.

I'm allowed to paint now with my right as long as the paint brush weighs less than one pound. So today I will start a black velvet for Oasis. Cheers, Wendy

Tomorrow is the Moai Madness sale under events and on Marketplace.

Today Dan has begun sanding all of the Tiki Bob Decanter's for the Sacramento Crawl. It will be a run of 50 and 10 or less specials depending on kiln errors. Let me know if you want to be on the waiting list. Those who attend get them first and then in order those who didn't will be contacted to see if they still want them and I will ship. the top is going to be glazed as a volcano and the lid/cap (What's the word?) will be flame (I hope, I'm working on that).

Today I started a huge Black Velvet for the Tiki Oasis South of the Border Show. First off I'm lightly blocking out the tiki. I'm using one from the Place of Refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii. In the upper right corner you can see a printout of the painting I did and a photo I took when we were there in 2005.

Having something new to add is so much fun. Cheers, Wendy

Wendy, that place of refuge piece is looking great already! Have fun with all those decanters.

Thanks Mike, Dan sanded 15 more today and now has a blister. Leslie and I have terrific husbands. I hope your drunk Moai is put on eBay. Wendy

Progress on my Tiki Oasis 11 painting.

Next step the left side of the head.

Wendy, you are really buzzin' the velvet!

Looks like someone is making up for lost time... :wink:

Great to see you back producing art on a regular basis, Wendy. You are such a trooper! And I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping I can get one of those decanters...

Looks like the two guys behind Dan are keeping a close eye on him alright..
Hope he get one Lua break sometime... :D

Wow Wendy, Dan and yourself are just non stop tiki making machines.. AWESOME!!

I love the way the new velvet is looking Wendy, Beautiful..

Well my counting is off. We only poured 56 decanters so there's not much room for error. Dan's down to 12 to sand and tomorrow I find out what I'm allowed to do.
Meanwhile I've started adding blue to my velvet painting. Layer one done. 10 layer's to go. Cheers, Wendy

MadDogMike, Thank you.
Torbor64, I'm so glad you like the decanter.
Beachbumz, So sad we didn't have the visit,next time ok. Dan has 12 left to sand. He's so happy.

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-07-13 22:25 ]

Dan has finished sanding the 56 ( I guess I counted wrong ) decanters and I can now work clay and carve as tolerated. So first we found a mold for Christmas Ornaments on eBay. I am going to see if I can alter them into a flame for the stopper of the Tiki Bob decanter for the Sacramento Crawl in October. We poured the first one today. I sure hope it will work.

I have fine tuned and carved the volcanoes on 2 decanters. It feels so good to be able to work again even if its slow going. Wendy

These decanters are so awesome already . . . I'm sure my imagination isn't doing justice to the final result . . . can't wait to see!

Always enjoy the artists' work and the reveal!

GREGORY

Great to hear you're back working, Wendy. And they look amazing!

Thanks Eric, it is good to be back. Artists are driven to do art, downtime is hard.

Here's the next step by steps on the Tiki Bob crawl decanter.
It dawned on me that a decanter had to have a lid. So I have decided to do a huge flame that will come out of the volcano. Each of these will be carved to fit the volcano of the decanter it is paired with. They will be glazed in flame colors and carved with more detail.

After I broke my arm he's been more than just my right hand. So I've added his initial to the bottom of each decanter.

Here he is blowing off the dust with an air compressor before the bisque fire.

Here are the decanters that we just fired and removed from the kiln this morning.

Once again I've taken over the kitchen nook for glazing.

Tonight I have another load in the kiln. I can fire 16 during the bisque fire because they can touch. I don't know how many will fit when they need to be apart.

Thanks for checking this out. Wendy and Dan

I LOVE SEEING SOMEONE ELSE DOING VELVETS!!

Velvet keeps trying to fade away, thanks for helping keep it alive.

Nice work. The decanters are sooo cooly unusual, I love 'em.

There is so much else here I wish I had the time to comment on... instead I'll just say: VERY VERY NICE WORK, YOU GUYS ROCK.

Mr. Robb Hamel thank you so much for commenting on my velvet painting and decanters. Velvet painting is so much harder than a regular painting. I admire your art so much. I am using your thread as a reference for helping me do this painting step by step. I'll post again soon.

This morning we finished washing the decanters and now they are filling up the kitchen counter and nook. Here are some photos. Cheers, Wendy

Hosed inside and out.

I always set up a TV while I glaze because three layers of each color takes a long time.

I'm starting to do the tests with all the ideas that Dan and I have come up with then we'll choose the best.

OMG!!!! Wendy and Dan, All this and no child labor?? AMAZING!! :wink:

Any ideas on glaze colors yet?? Can't wait to see them all done up..

Aloha

Beachbumz are you forgetting Dan? He's my baby! He's helped so much His initial goes before mine on the bottom of the decanter. I am starting them by doing glaze tests. I have the colors to use this time around but I need to see how many layers and what looks best on the volcano. So this week I'll be glazing those that had some glug glug problems or bubbles. When I have a perfect combination I'll start the final run of 50. The napkin we used as the model was all brown but I'm going to make the face white. I'm not sure if I'll leave the eyes and lips brown or make them black.

I'm also working on the black velvet for Oasis and here's what it looks like today.

Wow! You guys are really at it! Are you going to be vending at Oasis, Wendy?

Love the progress on the Place of Refuge velvet

Hi zerostreet. No we are not vending we go to Oasis to play. Dan shops and I go around and hug friends. Are you going to be there? Wendy

Hi MadDogMike, I had painters block for awhile but now I'm starting up again. I'm also glazing all the the decanters for the Sacramento Crawl so I'm painting every day.

It's all fun, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-07-28 08:42 ]

Waiting for my hug...
~Zero

The seven test glazes are firing in the kiln right now. When these are out in a couple of days I'll be able to pick the best colors from them for the run of 50 for the crawl. This is the most fun part. Fingers crossed that they look good. I will still be adding cold paint to the face and words Tiki Bob after the final glazing.

Ahhh ZeroTiki I will definitely have a hug for you, Wendy

How are you glazing the bottoms? Are they on stilts? Can't wait to see them when they come out.

seeing your work progress always makes me smile. Lookin' good!

Hi Maui Tiki. I did glaze the bottoms and they are on stilts. The one you see the Bob on is a plaque for the wall. When I had a couple cave in I saved the fronts.

Hey Zero its hard but fun work and worth it all in the end. It's very hard waiting to open the kiln. You have a very endearing smile so I'll keep posting, Wendy

This year the Sacramento Crawl ceramic is based on a napkin found by Duane Orzol. He is the founder of this terrific event so he deserves some credit. The Napkin is from Tiki Bob's located in the Sacramento Inn for a brief time.

This is a photo of the napkin that inspired the ceramic.

THIS IS THE WAY THE RUN OF 50 WILL LOOK.
The white face and lettering are hand painted after glazing with ceramic enamel cold paint and baked to set.

For fun the opening is a volcano.

I have also glazed the bottom for a cleaner design.

I'm very pleased with the outcome, I hope you are too. Anyone not of the list to purchase one should send me an email or PM. It will have a run of 50 for the event. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-07-31 13:49 ]

Wendy, those turned out GREAT! And you were worried :lol: I never had a doubt that you and Dan would pull it off.

I really can't tell you how infatuated I am with this decanter . . . can't wait to see one in the flesh . . . really magnificent, I know I've said that about three or four different times, but truly you all outdid yourselves!

PS - can you put a straw in the decanter and use it as a mug? :D

I have plans for this decanter . . . and they are truly nefarious!

The decanter looks great Wendy. It's amazing how much difference the glaze has on a design. Just wondering, are you going to paint all the fowers in the same spot or are you going to do them all random just to make each one that little bit different?

Hi The Blue Kahuna, this is really making the work fun.

MadDogMike, the flame tops I was making are just too large. I may just let these be mugs with a straw or I may go shopping for large corks. Every opening is a different size so I'd have to shave the corks.

Swizzle. We made four molds and each time the original sculpture fell apart and had to be re-done. I've not checked but the flowers may have moved around on their own. I do like the placement of these two flowers so it will be similar. Every volcano has been hand carved and so they are each unique.

I did 7 glaze tests that I'll put on eBay after the crawl. They all turned out looking crazy. This was the best choice.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2011-07-31 23:08 ]

More progress on the black velvet for Tiki Oasis 11. I can say without a doubt that Robb Hamel is a genus when it comes to painting these. I study his work and it is still a mystery to me.

These rocks and leaves took 20 layers to look like this. I am not done with the painting. For black velvet the painting is from the front to the back which is new for me.

Here's how it looks today.

Here's the strange phenomenon of how it looks with a flash. It helps me to see it this way as well.

The last step will be a fence behind the tiki. Wendy

It's coming along Wendy! Is that acrylic you are using?

Yay! Nice stuff Wendy!!! It will be great touching base with you at Oasis! See ya soon.

wendy-Your Bob looks wonderful!
and that velvet lono with a tiki torch is AMAZING!!!!!
You are pullin out all the stops,girl!
Guess I'll be seeing you in a few weeks!
:)

Beautiful Wendy!

I may have a chance to go down to Oasis on Sunday to check things out - I hope to finally meet you and Dan in person...