Looks like Dan had a Bloody Mary in the eye...take care.

Looking forward to the firing results...lot's of glazing activity. You are so wonderful to post pictures, I feel like I am right there with you all.

Oh Wendy, I LOVE the blue! I know it's going to be beautiful!!!!! I can't wait to get it.

Thanks so much for all your hard work. :)

hang10tiki I loved the fish picture and Dan did too. GROG is always so cute. I hope he isn't missing these.

TikiHula just a blood vessel bleed. These never hurt and can be caused just by rubbing your eye lid. I have a whole file of them I've done so many.

VampiressRN now that was clever. I always hope you are with me.

LoriLovesTiki it's a beautiful glaze to look at I'm so happy you like it.

=========================================================================

I have an early morning appointment but I'll try to post a few photos now before we leave.

This mug is for dartharnie's father. He is a New York Yankee's fan.

After painting it all in black I wiped off the black glaze on the body and

then on the hat.

I then painted 3 layers of white between all the lines on the hat

and the body.

Posing and

more posing. Bob is such a ham.

Then I painted two layers of clear glaze

over the whole mug.

Next up is the Zombie Torch mug for Miss Monkii.

She requested a pale green. I found one with spots in several other colors too.

I did the Zombie with a pale green without spots and then the main body of the mug on with the spotted glaze.

I choose these colors for the woman and Miss Monkii choose the skirt color.

Even though I glaze her she'll not come out as good as I want so I'll still be painting her in enamel.

Yep the Zombie will glaze green. I did his base coat on the earrings in black.

Gotta go now. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-21 08:18 ]

Home run

This next photo explains a lot

---

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2014-04-20 12:41 ]

Jon -

That is the most disturbing yet hysterical thing I have ever seen!

:)

Love what you are doing with the Torch mug. Mine still sits in a special place in my office, right above my workspace.

The NYBob is going to be amazing when finally complete and fired.

• Dale

hang10tiki for the NY Yankee's?

LoriLovesTiki we had a white rabbit like that. We called him the bunny from hell. He was best friends with our lop eared bunny that was a sweetheart. They lived together for 16 years and both went within months of each other. That picture brought back memories of running from a bunny attack.

hang10tiki (-:

littlegiles I like picturing that, maybe a photo here one day?

================================================================

Wish List #4 update.

Tavarua Tiki wished for a King's Goblet with the Place of Refuge Tikis on the back.

First I glazed them with a flat black under-glaze.

Close up.

Using the photos of the actual tikis I added their cracks.

The last step was too cover them with a flat gray glaze that will leave them with more detail and buff in texture.

Here are three Zombie torches in a row.

First is the Torch for Corona Contessa. Green and

brown.

I will still be painting the girl with enamel because the skin never is perfect after it fires.

The next torch is an experiment for the kickstarter Tiki Atari project. I couldn't find a teal glaze in my shed so I used a neon blue.

I painted it one in three layers.

I scrapped off the glaze on the front and

on the back.

Next I used a wet cloth to wipe off glaze from the entire

mug including the from the woman and zombie.

Then I covered the mug with a crackle glaze. This test was for my own benefit. This glaze it clear with cracks.

This torch is for VampiressRN. Green on one side

and brown on the other with

the skirt in lavender with sparkles. Again I will be re-painting the woman with enamel.

Thank you for the visit. I appreciate your support, Wendy

Beautiful Wendy.

quick question, the final grey glaze you put on the Refuge Tikis...will that allow the undercoat of black that you added show through? Wasn't sure how transparent it was because I thought they looked amazing before that. I know when I used to china paint porcelain doll parts for my miniatures, i would do their faces in layers because they were really transparent. Layers allowed me to give the skin depth when firing.

I can't wait to see the three torches fired. I bet the lavender sparkle skirt will be amazing against that brown background.

Oh, and here is the picture of my torch on its own little shelf. :)

Amazing work Wendy, you are the Tiki Bob master! Can't wait to see the next variation on Bob you come up with. Holding my breath to see how the glaze comes out on the goblet. The Torch mug is also fantastic. There is so much work you put into every mug, thanks again for sharing the process!

Is that the Grog Cave-Cam I see???

littlegiles it is really impossible to hide black with glaze. Sometimes if you make it thick enough underglaze will hide it but this grey glaze will not. The black should all come through.

If you have one of your dolls please post a photo here to share with us. I admire that kind of painting since it is so delicate.

Love the photo of the Zombie Torch displayed, thank you. I love it when photos of my work show up here. hang10tiki has done it the most so far. We artists are hams.

Tavarua Tiki you are welcome. This posting is a lot of fun for me. I love reading the comments. It's how I start or end each day.
The next Tiki Bob I do will be for the Alien Tiki Swap. Keep posted on that thread it's up and running.
Let me say that Dan is drooling over your King's Goblet.

hang10tiki Is that the Grog Cave-Cam I see???

I thought he had a hole in the floor of the cave.

I couldn't believe my luck when I captured that image. I was so happy to see it was noticed.

=============================================================================================

I'm getting so close to the end of the Wish List glazing. Thank you for your patience.

First up is Doo Wop's Jerry's Jungle Room mug.

This mug is an experiment. It is a night scene with some hints of color. Hopefully it will work out. I worry most about streaking of the blue.

First I painted the scene with underglaze 3 times to build it up.

The dots in the sky is a silver sparkle glaze that is filling up the stars.

Looking inside it is well glazed, nice and thick. It will turn white when fired.

Next I got some white resist.

After it dried overnight I scrapped off some of the glaze and then smoothed it with a wet towel.

I let the mug dry overnight again. I then choose this glaze for turning it into a night scene. For some pizazz the glaze has some sparkles.

I covered the whole mug with a first layer of glaze.

Next I wiped it off the high points.

I covered it with a second layer of blue glaze. This jar of glaze said that 2 or 3 layers were fine. So I used 2 and if it turns out wrong I can add a 3rd later.

Oh Doo Wop I hope this turns out as you wished.

====================================================================

Next up is my first test of the Sacramento Crawl mug due the first week in October.

I picked the glazes to use.

First I painted a clear around the rim.

Then I poured it into the mug and coated all of the insides by rotating the mug three times.

Then I poured it out being careful to not have the clear run down the outside of the mug. I held it upside down for 3 minutes.

I checked to make sure it was all coated and there were no skips.

I then painted wax resist along the top edge. That way if I touch the brown glaze to this area it will wipe off and not ruin the rim. I let this dry overnight.

As I paint the top of the mug the glaze runs off of the wax resist.

Now with the mug dry I can put my hand inside to hold it while I paint on the flat brown glaze.

All done I let it dry overnight.

Now I rubbed the glaze off of the tiki.

This is a test. I expect the final to look different from this one. I will tweak until I get it right.

=========================================================

Until tomorrow friends, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-23 09:10 ]

Wendy, I'm back from El Golfo Mexico. I didn't tell you this time cuz I know you worry :lol:

Hope Dan's eye is better, sometimes those bust blood vessels are caused by excessive coughing. I used to work for an Eye Bank removing donor eyes so if that get to bothering him too much just let me know and I can take it out! :wink:

You always come up with the coolest layered glaze effects Wendy! I'm interested in seeing how that sparkle glaze turns out

Jon, thanks for the upgrade to "Celebrity" status :)

What a fun update! I can't wait to see how the Jungle Room mug turns out. The sparkly colors should be fun with a nightime look. Got my fingers crossed on this one. So much layering and intricate details. WOOHOO!!

The coconut mug looks amazing already, I can only imagine the look once it is all fired. Best thing about test mugs is it adds to Dan's collection. :)

I don't wanna derail your post with miniature pics so that will wait for another day perhaps.

• Dale

Wendy, the mug is going to be wonderful, I know it is!
What an exciting set of pictures! I love that the very fine details of your carving are coming through with the layers of glaze. I'm able to see things I missed in other updates and they make me love the mug even more! Thank you for all of the time and effort you put into your work!
I keep looking at the monster and I can't believe how good he looks! My boyfriend will love that part of the mug the most. Even though there is a lady in a bikini with a nice rack right next to the monster, that big guy is what's going to get his attention!
And I'm so excited by your glaze choices! I love that the stars and the blue glaze have some sparkles!
Thank you again! I'm so excited to see how it turns out! You're fantastic, Wendy!

Holy wow! Doo Wops mug is gonna come out super spectacular I just know it! Love the creature on it.

The Coconut mugs are going to be really spiffy too... you sure keep busy!

Hope Dan's eye is better that looked painful...worst case of pinked eye ever! :wink:

Can't wait to see your new creations out of the kiln!

Wendy-awesome
The one called Mad Dog Mike- :)

Ooohhhh, want to see how those glaze effects fire. I really dig the idea of a "night scene" on a mug. Love all of your details- as always.

Wendy, you make me want/need to get back to the studio-- been WAY too long. Thanks for keeping us all focused and smiling.

Mike, can you get me some better-working eyes? I keep needing thicker glasses. Not so much fun. :wink:

MadDogMike I watched all of your travel photos on facebook. So I did know and I was so happy when you were back home.
The blood red eye did the bruise protocol and turned yellow and is almost gone. He said thank you but he'll keep the eye.
Let hope the glazing on this mug works. I have no idea so I did a lot of finger crossing.

littlegiles photos when you are ready. We all would enjoy seeing your talent.
I'm so happy to hear there have been more fingers crossed, thank you.

DooWop if I knew this would turn out I'd be super happy to reach this point. At the worst it could just all turn blue. Time will tell. I hope everyone is enjoying the suspense. There are many photos coming up soon of all the pieces glazed.
I hope you will take photos of your boyfriend with the mug in his special area and post them here.

tigertail777 Dan's eye was just a burst blood vessel. We take a baby aspirin each day to ward off heart attacks and this is a side effect. It looks like a vampire eye but there is no pain or other symptom. He'd rather have this than pink eye any day.
Doo Wop picked a special design for her mug and I enjoyed making it.
We work 7 days a week on tiki and enjoy every minute.
I get to open the kiln later today.

hang10tiki hey there. Any more drink photos with my art? I like them posted here.

TikiAno the desire to work clay will never leave you and bring you joy forever. Get back to work!

===================================================================================

Thank you all for your comments and visits. I eat this stuff up for breakfast. You all start my day with fun.

====================================================================================

I had one more load to fire of Wish List #4 projects but not enough to load the kiln. So I decided to do one of Dan's wishes that I'd set aside. I call this the Moai with the Hat bowl.

I started with the bottom of the bowl. I like to glaze whatever areas I can. I even did the inside of the Moai.

Then I glazed the Moai with flat grey.

Once I had three layers on the Moai I used a wooden pick to scrap off the glaze that had gotten on the bowls surface.

Once I'd blow off the crumbs of glaze I used a wet brush to melt off the rest. Now it is so thin that it will not show up.

Next I covered it with the red with black specks glaze, one of my favorite glazes.

The last step was to use a black cobblestone glaze that separates and runs. The red will show through where the cracks are located.

===============================================================================

Tiki Wahini your Rat Fink in Disneyland is up. What a challenge to glaze this fellow. He's another one that requires finger crossing. The entire mug was painted with underglaze that is not supposed to move.

Every glaze color was done 3 times. This took days with drying time. I'm showing a lot of photos but I could have done even more.

Rat Fink is mainly three colors, green, red and yellow. There were a few other colors to choose to use on different parts.

When Tiki Wahini sent the color chart she asked for yellow on the inside. Well I had a yellow glaze with green and red specks and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use that one. She also requested turquoise for the word Disneyland on the mouse ears hat.

Here I wiped off the excess turquoise glaze and

started painting the hat black.

The hat is drying and my color chart is visible.

Since I was working with black I painted in the words on the E ticket.

Black around the eyes and red gums. Started the first coat on the red body front

and back.

Finished the front.

I couldn't resist seeing how it looked with the hat.

This photo shows the straw hole in the hat.

Tiki Hula was over and had me pose for a couple of photos.

Thank you Tiki Hula. He is coming over tonight to see the kiln open and to lift out his huge and heavy bowl.

Tiki Hula looked up E ticket for Disneyland and we picked out colors that were as close as I had.

I painted the green on all the rats skin and white on the eyeballs and teeth.

Then I painted the E ticket. If the black doesn't come through I'll use enamel.

Yellow was painted on the BF. All the coats of colored glaze

are finished.

All that was left was two layers of clear glaze and a lot of praying.

==============================================================

This year I've done everything differently. I have shown all of the glazing. Starting tomorrow I'll show each kiln load, the problems that some mugs encountered and how I did my best to fix them. Some were simple glaze skips and some were problems with glazes that ran. You just never know what's going to happen.

I hope that this next wave of photos will be fun and informative. When the entire Wish List #4 is complete I will take a group photo and then I'll start to contact you all and to collect payment and to ship.

===================================================================================

Here's a hint of what to come...

This photo was taken on 4/15/14 it is the first load glazed.

Cheers, Wendy

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-24 10:07 ]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.....TEASE!!!

Dan's poor Moai, laying there in a pool of lava. That is going to look so awesome.

Love the Rat Fink Disney mug. That is going to be killer.

• Dale

oooooh, the anticipation!!
OPEN, OPEN, OPEN

That tease is so evil, Wendy! Though I do see some pretty awesome looking Bobs in there!
I can't wait to see how everyone's mugs turned out!

Tiki Wahini your Rat Fink in Disneyland is up. What a challenge to glaze this fellow. He's another one that requires finger crossing. The entire mug was painted with underglaze that is not supposed to move.

Every glaze color was done 3 times. This took days with drying time. I'm showing a lot of photos but I could have done even more.

===================================================================================

Oh my goodness Wendy! What fantastic work you've done on him! He looks just like I imagined!! That sound you hear is me squealing with delight! To the kiln!!!!

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-24 10:07 ]

You ARE a tease!

littlegiles and it is so much fun. I hope Dan's bowl turns out. I'm just learning how to use that glaze.

TikiHula your wish is granted, see below.

DooWop you saw the look in my eyes didn't you?

Tikiwahini Dan tells me I squeal like a little pig. I'm glad I'm not alone. I liked picturing that.

LoriLovesTiki its so much fun.

===================================================================================================

It has taken four kiln loads to fire glaze onto all of the Wish List projects. Some items had to be glazed four times to make them come out just right.

Here is what happened with the first load.

Top shelf of the kiln.

The first out is Volcano Bob for Mondo-by-the-bay. This rocky black glaze with red lava always has to be glazed twice. The red as it cools contracts and pulls some black up and off the ceramic. It's an easy fix.

Tiki Hula glazed this Zombie Torch mug and the glaze came out too thin. It will need another coat.

Hello Kitty for WaikikianMoeKele had no problems.

THe King's Goblet for Mondo-by-the-bay had no problems and my new lava technique worked out, I'm so happy.

Suffering Bastard Bob (idea by MP who allowed me to make a few) for ebtiki has no problems.

MaukaHale your Tapa Bob is also finished.

Mondo-by-the-bay your Tapa Bob is done. Up close it looks even better.

Mondo-by-the-bay your Bumatay with fins bowl is finished.

Bottom shelf to be unloaded.

hang10tiki your wish that turned into a prize is not finished. Front

and backside ok but a bit dull.

The inside had glaze skips that I will repair. One looks like a crack but it's just a thin line of glaze.

Mondo-by-the-bay you Drunken Bamboo Bob is complete.

Chippy your Maori Bob turned out really well. I did a very thick layer of white and it didn't move so it's rounded and has a great feel.

Moai Mike your super heavy mug needs a tune up.

I'll be putting more glaze on the Moai and turning the candy looking words more grey to blend in better.

Here's the inside color.

I have to take a break right before Tiki Hula takes his out. We are running over to kingstiedyes to return a bowl.
See you later, Wendy

And there is the magic. Even with some skips and a few repairs and touchups, those look AMAZING! Love the Bumatay bowl...think it is my favorite so far. Guess I just love those blues and greens. They all look great.

Can't wait to see the BIG BOWL! Such a tease, ending right before you took him out. :)

• Dale

[i]On 2014-04-25 10:57, danlovestikis

MaukaHale your Tapa Bob is also finished.

I like it!

I dig everything, as usual, but I'm really loving the Tapa Bob!

Can't wait to see more - including mine!!!!

Simply incredible Wendy.

Incredible.

Thank you so very very much.

littlegiles cool thank you. OK here comes Tiki Hula's bowl.

MaukaHale thank goodness!

LoriLovesTiki I like carving them.

Chippy this is one of Dan's and my all time favorites due to how the glaze turned out. I bet you are at Don the Beachcomber's today with all our friends setting up HB tikis booth. I wish we were there but we are really tiki busy at home.

=========================================================

Here comes Tiki Hula's Shrunken Head bowl with a Shriner's Fez volcano. Mahalo Tiki is going to let him use some pin-striping paint to add gold to the lettering on the Fez. When that happens we'll have more photos. That will really pull this AL DEAD bowl together.

All of these on the table are fine and need no repairs.

These three and

this one need tuneups.

So it was back to the table. Tiki Hula decided that he wanted to thicken the glaze on parts of his bowl so he went to work too.

Here's what he accomplished while

I painted glaze on the letters and

moai of this mug.

Next I glazed the Volcano Bob. Three layers at the base of each red lava flow and one layer on the rest.

He got tired and lay down.

Tiki Hula added glaze to his Zombie Torch.

Once everything was dry it all went back into the kiln.
Bottom shelf.

I had a Bumatay bowl that I'd made a while back. I added glaze to the fish to change their color and put it in this load.
Top shelf and a

different angle.

I also tuned-up hang10tikis peanut mug. I made a mistake, photos tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-26 08:13 ]

Wow....everything looks great!!!

i love these!

Holy awesome kiln unloading
Everything looks great
All the mugs and bowls are sweeeeet
Can't wait to see my Honu Hideaway Peanut Mug up close
Great colors on everything Wendy
U guys are awesome

Jon

Now that's a proud father of triplets

Here ya go a Wendy
The other day I made the spousal unit
A Pineapple upside down cake
Cheers

---

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2014-04-26 10:27 ]

Ooooo! I'm in love with that shrunken head bowl!

I got to take the bowl home as well as the killer Zombie Village mug. I'm still reeling at how great they both came out. Wendy is so much fun to work with and is so skilled. She has fun every minute - even while she's "complaining" about how many projects she has going at once she has a big smile on her face. Wish I could have that every minute I'm at MY job :wink:

I told Wendy that if someone offered me the original Zombie Village mug or the one she made me, I'd take hers every time.

Hang10, I should have had Wendy make one of the heads look like me - that would have been funny :)

We took lots of great photos that Wendy will probably post soon, but once I get the lettering done it'll be time to add the FIRE and get the bowl in action. Can't wait!

Tiki Hula, that bowl is so horrid....I think you should just send it to me so that you don't have to look at it. :) I'm always happy to help out. All jokes aside, that bowl is killer!

Everything looks so great and another kiln full of magic. WOOHOO!!

• Dale

Mike...that bowl is just killer.

Wendy all your pictures are such a joy. You have certainly become the expert...especially at glazing.

Cheers to the Wendy area

VampiressRN here comes your and Corona Contessa's Zombie Torches first steps.

kingstiedye it's magic you snuck them out of my kiln!

hang10tiki we thank you and everyone. Your mug ended up with three firings. You'll see the story here. I really enjoy your drink photos in front of my art. Tiki Hula looked up the recipe for this drink.

Big Kahuna I think that and the Mayan Temple of the Jaguar bowls are the largest things I've made.

TikiHula (Hang10, I should have had Wendy make one of the heads look like me - that would have been funny)

I did Gecko as himself on one side and as a shrunken head on the other. I could have done you Tiki Hula.

littlegiles Dan offered to keep the AL DEAD bowl too. This is what happens with the Wish List all kinds of surprises.

VampiressRN if only...I still have so much to learn. I had lots of problems with dartharnies kids bowls. I managed to fix them but it took lots of work.

hang10tiki I love that parrot. You made it didn't you?

=====================================================================
I opened the kiln again. Each of these posts are coming together but the work was many days apart.

Top load. Instantly I could see my Bumatay fish retained their blue color and it came out looking just the same. LoriLovesTiki your Moai is not that dark. I forgot to take a photo on this day but when I post the black velvet photos yours will view better.

Bottom shelf. Oh I hear the doorbell...

kingstiedye came by to glaze his shakers.

dartharnie I could see glaze skips on the top of the dolphin.

I added glaze to this area and a few other places on the front.

I decided that Abby's bowl would look better if I outlined the crest with black.

All done.

Her name had blurred into the yellow paint so I covered the whole area with black. I will then paint her name in red enamel.

Same problem with the wand maker words.

Where was my brain? Duh I don't know. I glazed the inside of the mug with gloss and then without thinking touched up the face. Horrors.

That was the same Walnut but gloss glaze instead of under glaze buff.

So now the whole mug needed to have the gloss applied.

After this dried I again wiped it off the high surfaces but I forgot to take a photo of that step.

After sitting inside for an hour Tiki Hula's Shriner's hat popped off a strip of glaze on the edge.

So it was glazed again and put out to dry with

all the other mugs that I'd been working on.

Backsides of the Zombie Torch mugs.

When these were dry I loaded the bottom shelf and

then the top shelf of the kiln.

Here's a close up of the first test for the Sacramento Crawl mug.

Now it's time to get back to fine tuning a Tiki Atari kickstarter mug. It takes one day to do one mug! These are really detailed mugs. He did a great design.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-04-27 12:27 ]

Busy busy busy
Sorry the Peanut mug is being a pain in the ars

Glad u liked the Parrot
I made it but saw it online somewhere
The only bummer was that he drank my drink while I was taking his photo
:)

Jon

Nothing more obnoxious than a drunken parrot

Littlegiles, I thought of sending you the bowl, but is decided that I just couldn't put you through that kind of torture :wink:

Wendy, I forgot you did that Gecko shrunken head mug. Maybe you can do one that looks like me someday....? Gotta work with you on a severed head version first :)

TikiHula, a true gentleman you are. :)

Wendy, good fixes on some of those issues. Can't wait to see the next round of kiln magic.

• Dale

Hula- very true
Wendy- here's the recipe I use
for the Pineapple upside down cake drink-

Rub lime on glass edge
Dip glass edge in sugar

2 oz Pineapple juice
2 oz butterscotch schnapps
2 oz coconut rum

Shake with ice
Strain into glass

Enjoy

Wendy you really captured Gecko's likeness, even down to his great puka shell necklace. Love all the work that you do! Can't wait to see how the kiln comes out this round!

hang10tiki I'm used to re-working mugs but I usually don't mix up and use the wrong glaze. See what happens next.

Tiki Hula was the recipe you found on line the same as the one hang10tiki used?

TikiHula Gecko'z was just a tribute statue to a great tiki artist.

littlegiles it's always a relief when the fix works.

hang10tiki schnapps? What is that?

================================================================

The third load is ready to be removed and inspected.

The ladies lined up and were found ready for the next step. No glazing defects.
Miss Monk-ii, Corona Contessa, VampiressRN they will change appearance for tomorrows post. The blue is a test mug.

The outlining of Abby's Harry Potter's plaque in black worked out just right.

Bottom shelf next up.

dartharnie's dads New York Yankee's mug, kingstiedye's Frankoma salt and peppers, and hang10tiki's prize.

Tavarua Tiki's King's Place of Refuge Goblet I hope you like it. It turned out just as I had hoped.

Guess what another small strip of glaze on the edge popped off. It will go back into the kiln with the next batch.

I carried it all to the table and then into the house where I will inspect each piece and do whatever is needed.

Cheers, Wendy

Great work Wendy. You and Mike have really outdone yourselves with the Al Dead Bowl. Hope that glaze shivering gets fixed.

Lookin good

WOW! A kiln opening full of absolute magic! I think my favorite this time around is the refuge goblet, really turned out stunning. All of the pieces did! :)