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

Thank you hang10tiki here is the sixth one out of the kiln this morning.

Another set of Wishes going out the door. Wendy

Awesome creations Wendy! Love them all!

Wow, Wendy! The new (ex) diver's helmets are amazing- love the differences between each piece. Your glazing, once again, is amazing!

Danno
and
TikiAno

Thank you men for checking in on my art page. I appreciate all of you who inspire me to keep going. I enjoy doing this art. Since I start with a blank bowl it's easier to make each one different rather than to make them the same. But that's a secret.
It's fun going crazy on these because it's hard to go wrong on a distressed style. I've learned a lot about these glazes.
Time to post again!

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During the Wish List I do Tiki Bobs on and off and offer them for sale. That way some interested people get to join in even thought they are not on the current Wish List and I of course love to play with Bob.

Here is one that was grabbed by Todd Sieber.

I fired the mug and it had many horrible glaze skips.

I found that the glaze also colored the tip of his nose brown. I dremmeled that off and then reglazed

almost the entire mug. the rough sections looked good so I left them alone.

I re-glazed the nose with white under-glaze and then when that was dry with layers of clear.

Out of the kiln for the second time the brown again leaked into the white glaze. The second firing also brought down a bit of grey under one eye. Sometimes you just can't win. However this didn't bother Todd and he still took the mug.

Final photos before shipping. It's a rough manly Tiki Bob.

Thank you for the visit, Wendy

Wish List #8. War God Island for Vance Klinke. The design is by RVictor. With permission I can make as many as are ordered. This is number 2.

The top of the War God (by Joniece Frank of Frankoma Pottery) is for holding dry ice or a flaming rum soaked sugar cube.

Cheers, Wendy

War god
Ready for war

Wish List #8. This American Gothic Tiki Bob set is the idea of Bruce Dewing. It took many days to make it and just as many days to do all the many layers and colors of glaze. Here are some of the steps.

I hope these will be around as long as the painting!!! Wendy

Wendy, you generally turn out museum-worthy masterpieces. I’m interested to see how those two look glazed.

Since you like numbers and coincidences, I thought you’d like to hear this: Two years ago today, I joined Tiki Central. One year ago today, you told me that I made it onto Wish List #8.

Hamo this must be why you have been on my mind. I am still working to glaze the second wave of items on the Wish List #8. I have four of the hardest left to do. My goal is to start sculpting again after the Sacramento Crawl has ended. It's the first weekend in October. Your project will be the first one I tackle. I promise. Cheers, Wendy

PS I do like numbers and that was fun

Wish List #8. The Dust Bowl strikes again.

One speck of dust to ruin the piece. Right where it would show up the most, the forehead.

I scrubbed the spot and re-glazed. Luckily I was ready to fire the kiln again so back it went.

Gecko once told me he had fired a piece 6 times to get it right. I've done it 4. I hope to never break his record. Wendy

Ouch

If anyone can fix it
U can

hang10tiki it's so sad but I've had a lot of practice re-glazing. Darn dust just messes up so many pieces. The bad part is my kiln is huge and sometimes it means a piece has to sit for a long time before I can do it again. Oh well.

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Wish List #8 American Gothic Tiki Bob set for Bruce Dewing is done.

I had to choose which pitch fork is the better one and I chose the one by Rich Teske. He is my friend and he made one as a gift to Bruce. His is metal and can hold an olive, cherry and a tiny onion as a garnish!

Cheers, Wendy

I finally got around to glazing some more Tiki Bob's that had been sitting on my table. This Rocket Bob or Space Traveler Bob or Galactic Bob or??? Belongs to Franko Ortiz.

The stars and dots are all done in silver glitter glaze that in the sun will sparkle.

He has flown home to Stockton, CA. Wendy

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[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2018-08-25 08:54 ]

Like all 3 of them

I’m with H10.

On 2018-08-22 19:10, danlovestikis wrote:

Hamo this must be why you have been on my mind. I am still working to glaze the second wave of items on the Wish List #8. I have four of the hardest left to do. My goal is to start sculpting again after the Sacramento Crawl has ended. It's the first weekend in October. Your project will be the first one I tackle. I promise. Cheers, Wendy

Cool. Now I’m really looking forward to October.

hang10tiki Tiki Bob and I both thank you.
Hamo, me too.

There's more to making ceramics than just doing the art. There's also packing and shipping. Here are just a few of our trips to the box store this summer.

5/25/18

6/6/18

6/23/18

7/25/18

8/21/18

Dan's a good sport to let me take these photos. They also document what a Fashionista he is!

Wendy

Wish List #8 the Mermaid bowls. I have now completed a total of seven. These bowls turned out to be really difficult projects. If you do too much glaze it runs, if you don't do enough it's blotchy and needs to be done over again. Not a single bowl was done with one firing, some took three. Dust was also a problem. Here are some photos that show weeks of work and that doesn't count making them.

My first step is to fill each bowl to the top and let it sit 30 seconds and then pour it out. All the mermaids are sitting in the ocean.

This bowl had a leak somewhere under the mermaid and the glaze came out the bottom as

shown here. The hole is made so that air can escape during firing. It opens into the mermaid.

I couldn't find where the leak was located but all I needed to do was pour in some more glaze and let it sit.

I finished glazing the bottom and the outside of the bowl. It will seal up when fired and there will never be a leak again.

It took a week but I finally got all the bowl parts finished.

Next up the upper half of each mermaid.

Once these were 100% dry they can fire. I could only fit four into the entire kiln. Two per shelf.

When I opened the lid I could see many glaze skips along the arms. I scrubbed each piece before glazing but I missed some areas.

It only takes one spec of dust and you have to re-glaze and fire again.

This is something that just happens and so you

just say "Oh Well!" and keep on going

and going and

going and one day each project will be finished and shipped.

The next step once they are done will be to hand paint all their faces on and then to bake them to set the enamel paint. It took a month before these and some other projects were finished. To make use of the kiln space I did, guess what, a few more Tiki Bob's.

Cheers, Wendy

Always such great, inspirational art Wendy, no one works harder at Tiki!

Wow! Those Mermaid Bowls look amazing. Thanks for sharing the process and progress.

cy you work harder than everyone. Wood isn't as easy as clay, not even close. I just work too many hours. I hope you don't. I'm so glad I got one Tiki Oasis hug this year and that it was from you.

TheBoozehounder welcome. That was really nice to write such a complimentary note when all the projects looked so messy. Here are those projects finished. I hope you'll stick around and meet all my friends that post here.

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Wish List #8 the Bumatay Mermaid Bowls.

Number 1 was made last year for Dan but sold to Karen Nichols

Number 2 is for Alex Dulude. I forgot to take my black velvet photos of this one.

Number 3 is for James Dinwiddie II

Number 4 is for Lee Scott aka Tiki Lee

Number 5 is for Ken and Kim McCormick.

Number 6 is for Eric Allred. I've been learning while doing these. Sculpting is the easy part. Glazing is really hard. sometimes you can't get the glaze in place or when you do it then travels as it fires. Check the hair where it reaches the shoulders. I re-glazed this several times and in the end I had to paint hair around the base. Eric was fine with it. I wish I could have done better. I will never make hair with an under-cut again.

Number 7 is for Roger Scott.

Number 8 is for Alex Reaney.

All have shipped but one that goes out today. It is such a good feeling when they arrive in their new homes.

Cheers, Wendy

Great colors Wendy
These are amazing

hang10tiki thank you sir, your comments are much appreciated.

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I love doing Papua New Guinea Tiki Bob's. Here's a new one.

Cheers to Bob, Wendy

Hi W
Bob be Lookin good

How’s Dan-0 like his new album room?

hang10tiki thank you, I'm smiling. Dan loves his record room and is in there every day.

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Do you know someone who is always on their cell phone and also complaining about dropped calls. Well all they needed was to have a Cell Phone Tiki Bob. He is High Power! Sold to Mark Sellers.

Glaze the sign.

Wipe off the extra paint.

Next time I'll have to do a Tentacle Tiki bob. Cheers, Wendy

I am still working on the second wave of Wish List #8 but at the same time we've been making the Sacramento Crawl mugs.

There have been many days of work before getting to this place. I sculpted the mug and we molded it. When the mold dried we began to pour one mug a day for 85 days. When the mug was removed from the mold it was cleaned and fine tuned. Each time enough for a kiln load completely dried I would sand them. Then I would bisque fire them. Out of the kiln they were scrubbed inside and out.

I kept them under plastic to keep any dust from getting on the surface.

During this time I decided to get the signature cards done. This year it was the ad in the old phone book that inspired this mug.

It took a few hours to get them all printed.

Once I had them done I numbered them and signed each one.

I also ordered the boxes I would need for each mug.

Next it's time to glaze the mugs. Wendy

Sacramento Crawl mug for October 2018. More production steps.

For the next three days we will glaze just the inside and the bottom of each mug. To start the "capillary" action I had Dan spray water into each mug.

At thrift stores I buy heavy glass vases that will fit my mugs when they are upside down. I use them to drain the extra glaze.

I fill up a pitcher with glaze that I will pour into the mug. I let it drip into the pitcher and then put it into the vase to continue dripping.

Since the mug is now upside down I can glaze the bottom. I leave a box where I can add the number of the mug.

With volcanos it doesn't matter it I over fill and have an accident. It will all work out.

The last jars of glaze had firmed up. Trying to blend it with a spoon wasn't working. A regular mixer doesn't work, too messy.

However at a thrift store I had found this blender to use to mix my slip. It worked perfectly with blending the glaze.

Now the glaze was once again creamy. But I was worn out and so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and called it a day (and night).

So many steps! Wendy

Always workin

hang10tiki you know me so well.

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The Sacramento Crawl mug for October 5, 6 and 7, 2018.

After three days I had all the insides glazed.

Here is a view from the opposite end.

A few didn't fit on those tables and ended up in the dining room. I covered all three tables with plastic to keep off the dust.

When a spike is ruined by an overrun of glaze I set them aside to use when glazing with a spray gun.

I'm always looking for ways to speed up the process. I found a large turntable at a thrift store.

On top of that I put five more turn tables and put the spikes on top of those.

Did I have enough of this glaze for the outside of the mug. NOPE so of course we went back to Alpha fired Arts again.

Judging glaze is hard. The pour in and out takes more glaze than when you spray it. However these mugs are so large that spraying took more glaze than expected.

Cheers, Wendy

The Sacramento Crawl mug production. Here are some misc. photos from June 9th to June 15th, 2018.

Every step is repeated 3 times to get three layers. The air compressor jar is heavy for me to lift as are the mugs.

I put five mugs in place upon the metal spikes. Then I squirt all the sides with water to get the "capillary action" going so the glaze will stick well.

Then I did a layer all the way around the volcano. I had a black insides and a dark grey outsides and so it was fine to have overspray into the volcano.

Three layers done wasn't fast but once done Dan carried

them to Couroc trays so dry. I love these tray because they stack so well in a cupboard.

If I didn't have the volcanos on these spikes when spraying the turnwheels would get gummy with glaze which would stick on the bottom of my mugs making a mess. I learned this with the first mug I made. At the end of each glazing day we completely wash everything otherwise the glaze dries on hard and it's difficult to get it scrubbed off.

More days and more spraying.

I was lucky that these were not triple digit days. The air compressor is loud so we wait until 8 am to start.

I did figure out right away that keeping my arm at one height as I went around was faster. I would do all the tops, then the middle and then the bottom. Having them on a turn table made this possible.

The air compressor would clog up frequently so I kept a wire handy. Also the three bottles started upright and with each layer I would lay one down. It's easy when tired to lose count. Dan thought this up.

6 days to do around 90 mugs.

Dan carried them in and out of the house

He also set them on the spikes. These are so big and heavy they wore me out.

Slowly over the days they filled the hall tables back up.

They are NOT done. This was the base color next up all the detail work. I do love doing these crawl mugs each year. This one is number nine.

Wendy

Great pics Wendy

hang10tiki remember the days of TC when there were women here too? I miss our tiki group. Thank goodness I still have you to keep me company. Come on everyone, say hi.

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More glazing steps for the Sacramento Crawl mug for October 5th, 6th and 7th, 2018. This took two brutal days, June 16th and 17th. These mugs weigh 3 to 4 pounds each so both days were long and required heavy lifting for me.

This photo shows how very little glaze got to the bottom when spraying all the mugs. I just wiped it off with a wet cloth.

Dan only held this one mug for a photo and then he disappeared and left me to do the rest. This is the heavy lifting part. I dip the mup into the lava glaze and then held it until it stopped dripping.

I would do five or six and the then

I would go around each one and paint the lava glaze to make the run down the volcano more realistic. Two layers for this effect.

When I would fill up a couple of trays Dan would come and remove them to the hallway tables and bring me the next couple of trays.

The tables filled up and by nightfall the second day this step had been completed. This was a couple of 14 hour days.

Watch out the volcanos are active! Wendy

Hope those volcanoes don’t go off in the hall
That would be a mess
:)

Cheers

Hi to Dan-0

Hi

Volcanoes look great, and I love the glaze on the PNG Bob from the previous page.

hang10tiki if they do you'll have to come help us clean up! Dan said, "Hi" back to you.

Hamo Hi!

Hamo the volcano and the PNG thank you for the compliments. I just re-glazed him for the third time. Photos by the end of the month.

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More steps for the Sacramento Crawl mug. These were taken from June 18th to July 1st. Even by then these steps hadn't been completed but I stopped doing more photos because they would just look the same. We just kept on working.

Once the mugs were dry we began to bring them into the kitchen for the next glazing steps.

I used a huge syringe to run the red glaze down the sides of the volcano.

Before this glaze could dry I added red and black crystals to it. This will insure the red comes out with a rich red color but that there are also specs of black like real lava has as it cools.

Then to make sure these crystals don't pop off I do another layer of red glaze on top of them.

Here you can see the two bowls of crystals in black and red. Sold by Duncan they come in even more colors.

Next I did a thin layer of green glaze on the sides of the volcano. I want the mug to have a green tinge since most volcanos have some foliage growing on their sides until the day the go off.

It takes days just to get this many done. But since the kitchen is full of volcanos there's no cooking going on. We HAVE to go out.

Another round of volcanos are brought into the kitchen.

As I finish a tray completely it is carried by Dan to

the kiln shed. I can't fire until I'm sure they are completely dry.

We bough our home on a Friday the 13th, we signed up for a smart phone on a Friday the 13th, we bought our new car this July on Friday the 13th. So when I loaded the kiln and 13 mugs fit perfectly on the two levels I felt lucky.

Not all of them come out perfectly so I had to re-glaze some and fire them a second time. However we started this process October 2017 right after the crawl so we are ahead of schedule and feeling very happy.

More photos to come, Wendy

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[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2018-09-06 06:39 ]

Did you see this post area by Psycho Tiki D ?

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=53012&forum=5&6

hang10tiki thank you for my lucky 13 picture and for directing me to Psycho Tiki D's post which I hadn't seen or known about. It's so much fun to see my art in homes. Yours especially. Wendy

The Sacramento Crawl mug production photos from 6/15/18 until 7/4/18. Yep we were boxing crawl mugs on the 4th of July!

Dan's job was to put all the boxes together.

He stacked them on our living room couch.

I signed and numbered all the cards that go into the boxes with the mugs to match.

I call our home a tiki factory because everywhere you look there are tiki mugs and

tiki mugs and

more tiki mugs.

My job was to number the boxes on three sides and then match the card and mug to the box. Then I slid it over to Dan.

He tore up all the stiff wrapping paper he would need.

He wrapped each mug and sealed the box.

My next job was to line the mugs in the hallway were they would sit until the crawl.

This went on for a couple of days. These are huge mugs.

The mug is done and ready to pose for inspection.

I will try to remember to bring looooooooooong straws to the crawl for those of you who wish to drink a quart or two from the mug during the crawl. Suitable for mile too.

Cheers, Wendy

Wow
Lots o boxes

The mug came out amazing Wendy
Another killer Cevola creation

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2018-09-07 21:11 ]

hang10tiki thank you for always saying something nice about my art. I appreciate you so much.

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Well the time has come for us to take a break before the Sacramento Crawl. That event is so much fun and so full of hugs and smiles that it's hard to beat. I hope everyone will come.

Meanwhile hang10tiki is going to take over and play with my thread while Dan and I sleep and recuperate. He gets to do what ever he wants so it should be fun. No pressure hang10tiki but my fingers are crossed that you'll not get into any trouble.

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Here are some photos taken from 5/28/18 to 8/19/18 showing some of the firings of projects and the crawl mugs and re-firings and r-firings trying to get pieces just right.

Our neighbors cat Scotty gave us the idea for this break.

So many projects so little time in a day. Most every item in these photos except for the volcanos and two Tiki Bobs have been shipped. That feels really good. In October I'll get back at it once the crawl has ended.

Cheers, Wendy

I thought it was about time for you to take a well-deserved break. Any exciting trips or other plans?

Wow
Lots of kool kiln pics

What
Take over the Wendy area while you rest
Ok
No pressure
:)

Off to the Steelers game

What
A tie with the Browns
Dang
:(

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

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2018-09-10 06:51 ]

So while Wendy is on pause

How about we all post pics
Anything you want

Wendy mugs
Cocktails
Travel
Out on the town
Sunsets

Or anything you want

I’ll start

Made a Double Mai-Tai
Cheers all

Good idea, hang10tiki! I'll bite.
Here's my happy place:

Have fun!

CWSM- great pic
Where is that?

It's in Haiti - wrong hemisphere, I know, but I like it. It's a private beach that caters to the cruise line trade. Reef is about 20 yards off the beach.

Awesome