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

LOL! At least the drink was saved :wink: That would be me!

I have never gotten the hang of going between Celsius and Fahrenheit...It's funny because I learned certain things in imperial and certain things in metric (I do weight in pounds and measurements for cooking in cups but temps and speed in Celsius and Kilometers)...either way 115F (I had to look that up) is freaking hot! I think the warmest I've ever experienced is 104F at Disneyland a few years ago. I've only been to Vegas in the winter :wink:

[ Edited by: Piddersthecat 2017-06-20 06:55 ]

On 2017-06-20 06:46, danlovestikis wrote:
This just back from hang10tiki in Las Vegas.

MAN he tans well.

I absolutely love how the crawl mug looks as a lamp! That is so, so cool. And those artist proofs colours are just beautiful.

OMG
Great photo Wendy

105 out now
Might hit 116

One of our 2 AC units went out
:(

Uh oh Hang10! Better stock up on ice :)

AC fixed

Time for a walk

Piddersthecat It's been 114 degrees here in the summer. We just stay indoors.

HopeChest it's funny but the two lamps I made were because we forgot them in the molds for too long. They are very thick walled and heavy. I'm so happy everyone likes the design. The AP's are usually how I pick the colors but this time I knew the colors and then made the AP's because some people like to have one that is different.

hang10tiki stole it from a post on-line. I don't know how to photoshop.

hang10tiki ah look at that cute face. Did you find a repairman?

lunavideogames (=:

hang10tiki oh good. From the looks of that photo you should have stayed in with the AC.

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

It's been time to glaze for awhile now. I've been working every day. These photos were taken 5/23/17 to 6/3/17.
It took that long to glaze 10 Hot Tub Hula Girls and 2 mermaids. That's 12 Wishes!!!

You've seen the process before But I'll do an abbreviation of the process for those logging on for the first time.

The best thing of starting with these is that I know all the glazes that they require so I can get them fast.

This is the messy part where I pour it in and out to make the water. I clean up the top of the breasts.

A day later I do the bottoms of the mugs and let them dry.

Then the next day I do the sides including the three dents.

I did most of the hair black.

If I stack my turn wheels I can keep my back straight.

I had orders for two redheads and one blond.

All done and left to dry.

Then it was time to do the skin. The Duncan CN glaze needs four layers to prevent the skin from looking blotchy.

I decided that the mostly the same glazes would be used on the two mermaids so I brought them out to work on.

One is for Robyn and one is for HB Tiki.

It's fun to pick the colors for the tails.

As you can now tell, Robyn is the mermaid.

A pair of these on each girl.

Flowers in the hair.

2 coats of white under-glaze on the rim.

Three coats of Clear Brilliance over the white.

I work in full kilns so these are waiting for more to be done to join them in firing.

So much to do which is so much fun. Wendy

You have to be the hardest working mug maker in the world. Amazing things you are creating.

It must be exciting when you open the kiln! Does Dan get excited for his payments?

I really enjoy watching your progress pictures. Thank you so much for sharing your art!

I can't speak much to the heat, but I can tell you some stories about winters on the Canadian prairies....brrrr :wink: we stay inside too!

I must concur with MaukaHale - I'm exhausted just looking at these latest photos.

Great stuff!

MaukaHale it could be that I'm the oldest mug maker and retired to do this hobby. Well maybe Munktiki is older. I'm so happy that people like what I do. Thank you.

Piddersthecat since Dan works for tikis that I make for him he is right there when I unload the kiln. If there is nothing in there for him he looks for ideas of what to ask for. I'm excited because I am about to start being paid for the work. I never accept money ahead because too many things can go wrong in ceramics making huge delays.

I would take the misery of heat over the pain of cold any day. We froze in coats on our Canadian trip and Canadians were in shirt sleeves!

bamalamalu thank you too.

=======

I love waking up to comments and you all made me very happy.

=======

This is not on the Wish List. I can't opt out of a MadDogMike swap. I only missed a few in the beginning because I wasn't aware of them.

For this swap I copied the Stephen Crane Match Book. Even the colors. Because there are a million brown mugs I chose to do the green. Isn't the order wrong? I thought it was catch the small one between the legs, eat him and have a full belly. I did the mug to match but it looks wrong to me.

All the steps.

Now it goes to the drying table. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2017-06-22 07:35 ]

... I can't opt out of a MadDogMike swap...

Thank you Wendy, your support is so important for these Swap :)

Wendy
Love this 1
Want want want :)

MadDogMike that's so nice for you to say but you are the draw to the swap. Your creativity is so over the top that watching is better than TV.

hang10tiki those were Dan's words and I had to slap his hand away from the mug!

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

Back to Glazing the Wish List #7.

This one is a gift from Doug Christensen to Howard Dintz. Howard wore this costume one year, now he has a mug to keep the memory going. Unfortunately I couldn't capture the sweetness in the smile.

I gathered up some of the glaze colors that this one mug would require.

I started with the back by doing Howards work logo. I love these little squeeze bottles.

When I was done with the blue I checked it against the picture. Oh NO! I messed up and filled in lines that should have been white.

I got out a spike and started digging out the blue glaze.

I got it all removed.

Now it was time to use the white glaze.

I even used the squeeze bottle around the letters. This is risky. If I squeezed too much out it would run into the letters.

Now it was time to work on Howards face.

All done and posing.

More fun around the corner, I better get back to work, Wendy

What a fun tribute/present. Can't wait to see it fired!

Piddersthecat I tried but I just couldn't make that sweet expression in his smile. He's happy with it. The gifter let him watch the process.

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

Wish List #7 the glazing continues.

The first wish here is for Raymond McCormic. This may be his coffee cup for work. I hope he tells me.
He wanted Tiki Bob to wear a suit and tie.

Whenever I do a Bob the face is the last part to glaze. I do two coats of Duncan Artic White underglaze and Two coats of CC Black on the eyes and mouth.

For the body I also use a non-traveling glaze such as a Duncan CN or a Mayco Stroke and Coat. I ruined a lot of Bob's with runs before I got this right.

Once the face is entirely dry I do 3 or 3 coats of Duncan Clear Brilliance. The other clear glaze that is light bluegreen in the jar doesn't work. It will run the black making Bob look like he is crying. So look for this bright green.

On the back it says Appraiser for the Assessor.

The next wish is for Justin Wogslaw. He is a bartender at the Diller Hotel. This is a gift for his employers. It has a nice sentiment on the bottom which I glazed first.

I always plot out my glaze strategy. For this bowl I did the volcano, outside and

the inside sides.

I left a ring for the next glaze to make sure it sticks.

Thank you Woody Miller for showing me the product PING. It comes in white and black. I now put this glaze that will make the lava on the top of the volcano and ran it over the sides.

Next I did glaze for the red hot lava. I added chuck crystals in red to the glaze to make it thicker.

Now I poured in glaze for the water.

I went all the way around the volcano.

I let it dry for a couple of days.

Next I took extra crystals and rubbed them on the ring of water for extra pizzazz.

The red glaze cracked as it dried. That happens when it is too thick. But since it is in this flat area it should heal itself.

Done and now it goes

outside to dry more so it can be fired.

Have a great weekend. I'm staying indoors and glazing! Wendy

Fancy Bob
Nice

Went to Ooga-Mooga today
And
Bammmmm

Look who is the collection of the day

And
Bammm
Look who's mug was on top

hang10tiki you know how much I love this because I'm a ham. Thank you. I wrote Bullet a note so that he could go look.

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

I am posting tonight rather than tomorrow morning. We have company coming.

In addition to ceramics the Wish List #7 has requests for 3 black velvet paintings like the one I did for the Tiki Oasis 16 art show. I also want to so one for this years art show as well. So I did the first one during this past week. It is for Psycho Tiki D.

I set up all the bright hot lights to shine on the velvet so I can see what I'm doing.

I got out all the colors of paint that I would need. I needed even more than these by the time I finished.

Each day that I painted I set up a plastic lid with all the colors.

I cut out a stencil to make the first lines easier. I used a ruler. This is a mirror image of the set up for last year. I need to change them enough that you can tell its an original painting.

Then I did the outline and then I removed the cardboard.

So these are the tikis.

After that I work on all the flowers. With velvet you paint from the front to the back, just the opposite of an oil painting.

I did a bunch of random flowers.

Then I tie them together with leaves.

When I did the bird I was able to pull a pin through the paint to make the thin line of the beak.

I started to work on the bamboo.

Here's a close up of the plants. Photos of black velvet don't look very good.

At the end of each day my paint looks like this.

Now it's tiki time.

I painted outlines to help myself.

Then I worked on detail.

I took some dark blue paint and added water so that it would be transparent when I used it.

I went around each tiki so that they looked more 3-D.

Dan said you need more bamboo so it was back to work.

These are the best two photos I took. This one with a flash and

this one without.

So much fun to be had and so little time. I try to stick to 8 hours a day but I forgot and did 12. But I'll take some time off tomorrow.

Cheers, Wendy

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2017-06-24 20:12 ]

I've been sitting here staring at your pictures trying to think of something to say...I got nothing except wow...

I really like the colours you used, and the bird of paradise made me smile (the first time I saw that plant was in San Diego on a work trip and I've loved it ever since).

Thanks for sharing :) don't forget to take extra time off.

Dang
I dig your black velvets Wendy
Awesome
I attempted it once
After 10 minutes
I laughed all the way to the trash can
U make it look so easy
I know it's NOT
These are going to be awesome

I saw your last one at Oasis
Sold sign and all
:)

Piddersthecat I have thought that about artists in the past. I think wow is a thrill to receive. Thank you.
Good advise too. My left thumb and fingers went dead again last night. It's no fair. I love to do this work.

hang10tiki ah, thank you for being my rock!

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

Wish List #7 the kiln opens on a load.

I have ten Hot Tub Hula Girls in this load along with two mermaids and the swap mug.

Bottom layer.

Top layer.

Top layer.

Bottom layer.

The swap mug is ready to swap and the volcano has already reached it's destination.

HB Tiki's mermaid and Robyne's mermaids along with the Hot Tub Girls all need faces painting on.

lunavideogames do you like either of these glazes for your mermaids? With yellow lettering on the back of your mug the one on the right would tie that in. Let me know.

The whole load.

I need to enamel and then take some black velvet paintings. Cheers, Wendy

"The kiln lid opens"
They look great
Love this part the most

That swap mug
Oh myyyyyyy :)

The colours all look wonderful. I especially like the blues of the water and the face of the Howard mug!

I hope you're remembering to rest too :)

hang10tiki I am trying to figure out the glaze for your pink mug. There's nothing like it for sale! But one day the lid will open for you!

Piddersthecat so many glazes to choose from makes me a lucky girl. I don't own any dresses or high heels or all that goes with dress up but I have hundreds of glazes!

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

Wish List #7 progress report. Ceramic glazes are not predictable. I always know that upon close inspection there will be pieces that need touch ups and will go back for a second firing.

Here are a few examples.

Once they were out of the kiln again. I painted all the faces with enamel.

24 hours later I did three batches in the home oven to set the paint. They can now be washed gently with cold water.

These are ready to ship once I contact each person. Dan's job will be to box them. Cheers, Wendy

Awesome

hang10tiki granite!

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

The mug for the MadDogMike Summer 2017 Stephen Crane Swap is done.

Wish List #7 update on glazing. I took some black velvet photos.

I do these so I can put them on my Gallery page.

For Justin Wojslaw a gift for his bosses.

For Raymond McCormic.

This is for Doug Christensen as a gift for Howard Dintz.

All of the colours look great against the black velvet. They pop off my computer screen.

What a great set of pics to admire while on a work break!

Love Justin's new volcano bowl.

Piddersthecat I need to remember to take breaks when I work. There's so much to see on TC. I'm glad you choose me as one of your stops. Thank you.

RVICTOR best result ever thanks to Woody Miller sharing his glaze Pingo with me. It's on-line for sales. I've never seen it in a shop. It does wonderful lumpy lava. You piece is ready to glaze and I hope to do it in the next couple of weeks.

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

I started on June 6th and five days later on June 10th I finished glazing the two Mars Attacks mugs. Whew they were hard.

Every step of glazing was shown once here but done 3 or more times. I was concentrating to not make mistakes so I missed taking photos of glazing the woman. I remembered by the time I got to the man.

It's time to do the scary mugs. Scary because there are so many tiny areas to glaze.

I started by doing the background colors.

Right up to the space aliens.

Some areas I will paint over and then wipe off for the next color.

Done wiping and now they will dry.

Once dry where I could pick up the mug I dug out the glaze that has gone into the carved in letters.

I did them all. This will help the next glaze to stick.

So many colors so many layers. I did the green grass at the bottom where the cows are running from the flames.

Next the Mars Attacks were glazed over and over again.

I just kept referring to the photos when selecting glazes that matched.

I use many sizes of brushes and needles and spikes. Whatever fits.

I wanted the space ships to be special so I used on the tops

silver and black diamond glitter glazes. They will really show up in the sun.

There were so many glaze colors for these that it's good that I have such a huge supply.

Done and drying and it's time to pose!

Close up.

Finger crossed that all the glaze stays in place. Wendy

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2017-06-29 08:15 ]

Fun mugs!

PS It's easy to remember to take work breaks when your job is boring :wink:

Piddersthecat, I've been lucky. My past job was never boring but I was exposed to a lot of radiation.

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

Let's see, how many wishes can I post at once?

This is a gift for Heath's wife. It is a surprise. She doesn't read my thread so I can post it. I took a pineapple and carved off areas and changed them to match her place of works logos. Not it is ready to glaze. I think the photos speak for themselves as far as the steps go.

===========

Next is hang10tiki's brainy Tiki Bob.

Then the little sugar cube holding Tiki Bob to go with two bowls for Chippy.

Group photo.

The Matt Tikiman Willis's Fun Fake Tiki Bob.

Drying before the big firing.

Friday! Wendy

Hmmm I'm really curious to see how the carved bamboo on the pineapple mugs fire in the kiln. You do such skilled building and sculpting, it all looks fantastic.

In my pottery class, we only had the big buckets of glaze that you dip stuff into, so it's interesting to see you painting them all different colours. When I take the next class, I should see if they'll let us experiment with our own glazes (ones which we buy and bring in).

Piddersthecat it's not much different than doing a painting except that an orange colored glaze may be green when fired. That's why I have so many glaze tests that stay with the jar when I work. It's all fun. One day you'll be posting your own thread here.

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

BRIAN KAT I CAN'T LOCATE YOU. YOUR KING DIAMOND MUG IS DONE AND READY TO SHIP. PLEASE CONTACT ME. Wendy

Mars mugs are Kool

That's one smart Bob
Can't wait

All these look awesome

Thanks for all the pics Wendy

On 2017-06-30 14:15, danlovestikis wrote:

Piddersthecat it's not much different than doing a painting except that an orange colored glaze may be green when fired. That's why I have so many glaze tests that stay with the jar when I work. It's all fun. One day you'll be posting your own thread here.

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

BRIAN KAT I CAN'T LOCATE YOU. YOUR KING DIAMOND MUG IS DONE AND READY TO SHIP. PLEASE CONTACT ME. Wendy

Sent you a msg! Super excited to see this!

Edit: Thank you once again! I LOVE how it came out! It was great to meet you two. Atticus absolutely adores the gift, and it has replaced his 'baby meow' as his favorite stuffed animal cat. Thank you!

[ Edited by: Brian k 2017-07-01 23:11 ]

hang10tiki I bought one more pink glaze that is as close to the photo as I could find. When I have the Royal Hawaiian glazed I will show you for approval. I can glaze again if it doesn't work.

Brian K so great to meet you and your son yesterday. I'll have photos of your mug up soon, maybe today!

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

Wish List #7 Glazing the King Diamond mug for Brian K.

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

Glazing Hula Bob for Ken and Kirsten.

I'm behind in posting but one day I will catch up. Wendy

Awesome as always Wendy. Your visions turn out great!!!

VampiressRN I'm excited about the crawl getting closer. Thank you for the compliment and for running the Sacramento Crawl.

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

Wish List #7 continues with two bowls for Chippy.

Bowl number one. All the steps. The green glaze is clear.

I poured it in and tipped the mug until it covered the entire insides.

White clay isn't as white as a white underglaze so for the rim and the faces I glaze it with white and then clear.

Bowl number two has a spotted inside to the bowl.

The same steps as for bowl number one.

So many photos so little time! Wendy

Two awesome chippy bowls

Wendy-thanks for passing along the news on Pingo glazE. got to meet Woody briefly a few times at Tiki kon but I wish I had more time to talk

hang10tiki thank you. That's a new style bowl and I'm so happy it worked out.

RVICTOR I plan to use the PINGO when I do your mug. He was so nice to share that with me. I'm getting closer.

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

The company where I purchase glaze recently stopped selling the small jars. I asked why and they said because once a week they had to add water or the glaze would dry out. I wish they had told me because I have been dealing with that for years. I have to dig out the glaze and put it in a larger jar, add water and stir and shake. It doesn't always work out.

The next Wish is for CY. It is a Kava Kava man lamp. CY will wire it and make a lamp shade.

I took the opportunity to photograph Dan too.

One last Dan and the man photo.

The new Rapa Nui mug. This one is for Moai Mike. First I coated all the carvings with black glaze.

I cleaned it up to make the lines sharp.

Then I used a flat grey Duncan Designer glaze over the whole mug. I'm hoping the black will show through.

Now I did another with a rocky top as if the mug was all carved from rock. I poured in the purple and left it for 30 seconds. I should say that first I sprayed these mugs with water so that the layer of glaze sticking won't be too thick.

Then I coated this whole mug with a grey IN glaze. The IN glaze is made to become thick in the carving lines to highlight them. Now I can see the difference.

When these dry I will clean the bottoms.

May you have a safe and fun 4th of July, Wendy

Kava Kava man looks great Wendy, I'm looking forward to seeing him finished!

The mugs and the lamp look great! Can't wait to see them when they come out of the kiln.

Happy 4th of July!

Dig that Kool kava dan-0 lamp
:)

I did one more AP Sacramento Crawl mug. Available at the crawl to first come first to grab one in exchange or in addition to the regular grey/purple mug.

This Passion Fruit with a wave is for the home tiki bar of Jeffery Bannow. I started by glazing the yellow fruity inside the mug.

It took a lot of colors.

I then cleaned off enough that I could do a rim of white because the fruit has that layer.

Next I glazed the stem, leaves and dried leaves.

Then the wave.

I used some white Pingo glaze to make the water frothy.

Glaze goes where there is no resistance so it fills in the carved areas even when I try to keep it out. So I dig it back out after I've done all the layers (4) of the major glaze (purple).

I used a squeeze bottle to fill in the letters.

I kept it on it's back until it dried.

All Glazed And Posing.

Another wish on the way to the kiln, Wendy

Dig it

That passion fruit with a wave is a really cool concept. I wish my brain worked like that.

hang10tiki, HopeChest the Wish List inspires everyone to think up these fun ideas. I hope I can keep going for a few more years. Just working 8 hours a day healed my hand. No more long days. But I'm getting closer to the end each day.

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

Wish List #7 I'm actually shipping before I even post the finished photos. I am so lucky that people trust me.

I remembered to photograph one of the shelves when loading and

when it had cooled from firing. Both times I forgot the other shelf.

Dan carries the heavy trays inside for me.

He put them on the couch and I did an inspection. Those that passed got photographed and then shipped.

This is a special order for HEATH's wife.

This Hula Bob is for Bill and Kristen Beirerle

Brian Kat is a member of the Sacramento Ohana so he was able to come and pick up his King Diamond mug.

Here are the photos of Matt Tiki Man Willis's Fun Fake Elvis mug. He was also born in 1961.

This Kava Kava Man Lamp is for CY

This coconut Tiki Bob bowl is for Chippy.

The Mars Attacks mug. The glazing was insane to do but it all turned out OK.

I would love to have comments posted. You all bring a smile to my face. Thank you, Wendy