SWIZ - Mugs 'n' Stuff....yep! More lamps (and some pendants).

That is so cool. Ceramic artist and now a wood artist. When's your painting coming up??? Wendy

DUDE!! You are KILLIN' IT!!

Awesome stuff. GROG like.

That "Witco" hibiscus is incredible. You absolutely need to make more.

Great work swizz!

Thanks GROG, Hamo and cy. And thank you too Wendy but don't hold your breath for a painting any time soon. Although i can paint it's not my greatest strength, i'm definitely much better with a pencil.
This is a piece i did for an assignment at TAFE (Technical And Further Education) after i finished high school, long before i was into Tiki. The subject was 'metamorphosis".

Oh my DAYS - I sooooooooo need that hibiscus for the tiki bar build-out I am doing at home. PLEASE make more!!!!

swizzle that is a pencil drawing? Free hand? When you were still a teenager? That's really special. Wendy

U be one talented mo fo
Great work SwiZ

Cheers

I concur, most excellent - especially the flower!

Slowly doing that HopeChest but there is a lot more work in them than you'd think. They'll be posted on Facebook and Instagram first when i do have more finished so if you don't use them you'll have to keep your fingers crossed i have any left when i post them here.

Wendy, pencil, the images were blown up to size and the basic shapes of the tree and skull transferred to paper and then the rest freehand. And yes, 18 or maybe 19.

Thanks hang10 and Bam Bam.

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Small firing this week with a few more custom Gin Palace moais and the first fish hook.
These first two were made to request and gave me the chance to try the real gold glaze that i've had for quite a while now. Had no idea how well they'd turn out but the gold glaze worked much better than i expected.

All of these have sold except for the first two pictured so send me a message if you are interested in one of them.

And the first glazed fish hook. All of these i've made so far will be glazed like all my pieces, in one-of-a-kind glazes, but each will also have either additional carving detail on them or some sort of other embellishments like the rope added to this one. Or both. I also have some other ideas in mind which i'm looking forward to trying out.

Cheers
swizzle

[ Edited by: swizzle 2018-05-01 19:05 ]

Such wonderful work. Your art dreams are coming true. I enjoy your posts very much. Wendy

Lookin great man!

Thanks Wendy and Cass.

I finished up a few more 'Witco' style hibiscus recently. Slowly working on a few more requests and started a new design but the weather is slowing me down.
The pale blue is sold (pending payment) as have all the others except for the pink one. If anyone is interested in that then send me a PM for details.

The hibiscos are cool.
Great job!

These are incredible, Swiz. I love the “reverse Witco”—the light wood with dark background.

These look great, love the color combination.

Killer swiz

I do love those hibiscus pieces!

Thanks everyone for the compliments.

Working on a few more hibiscus but in the meantime i finished the first of a new image, a monstera leaf. I have another green background like this one ready to go to which i'll add a burnt and stained leaf. Will be interesting see which one stands out better. (The background looks much more blue in this pic than it actually is).

Very cool. I like both of them very much. If we were collecting instead of downsizing these would be something I would go for. Good job. Wendy

Those flower panels are gorgeous man!

That. Is. FANTASTIC.

Thanks Swizzle!

That leaf is great, too. I’m loving these Witco-inspired pieces.

Your Gin Palace mugs kept reminding me of something, and then it clicked:

Or this guy, local San Diego radio personality and all around nice guy, Tim Pyles.

Thanks Heath for the mug purchase and thanks to everyone else who commented.

Hamo, i can see the resemblance. I need to find one of those straw hats to fit the mug.

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Weather has been pretty miserable and because i have to work outside i haven't been doing much although i did finish a new Witco 'style' flower, a Plumeria/Frangipani.

Wow the two flowers you are doing are so different yet cohesive. Wonderful.

Thanks Wendy.

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Found these replica brass ship lights at a thrift store a few weeks ago.

Made some backing boards for them.....

..... and then had them wired up with coloured LEDs.

So stoked with how they turned out.

SwizTastic

I bought some new artwork recently and just got around to making some frames for them.

This first one is a piece by Derek Yaniger. Sadly an original painting is out of my budget but i was able to afford an original drawing. I've had the sea grass material for quite a while now but this is the first time i've used it for anything. The frame is pretty simple but i think it's very effective and looks great.

The second is from an artist i follow on Instagram called Eddy Crosby. I initially bought the redhead on the left and when i went to pick it up from him i had the idea to turn it into a triptych and basically 'finish' the scene. I sketched out the layout and told Eddy exactly what i wanted in it and he nailed it perfectly.

And here's a close up pic of each painting.

Looks great

Everyone seems to be doing enamel pins at the moment and i thought, if you can't beat 'em then join 'em, and had one of my mug designs turned into a pin. Decided to go with Bob'O'Nut as i figured he might appeal to general pin collectors, not just those into Tiki. I'm very happy with how he turned out.

Also designed a new horizontal logo and used that for the backing card.

Made a few more Witco 'style' flowers including this Monstera leaf which is the first one with holes.

As far as ceramics go i've only done two firings. One of those was a glaze firing of pieces that had been bisqued and were sitting around waiting for me to get to them and the other was a kiln load of stuff that people had requested and extra pieces to fill the kiln whilst doing those.

Here's some random pics of just some of the various pieces that were in those two firings.

A couple of Tangata Manu's.

Some Hei Matau with various types of added embellishments.

And some miscellaneous.

Although there are some other things i still need to list, what hasn't sold in the pictures above you'll find in my Etsy store (link below) along with some other pieces not pictured, and a listing for the Bob'O'Nut pin.

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/SWIZmugsnstuff?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Cheers
swizzle

That's a pile of stuff there.
Keeps you out of trouble, Hu?
It gets better & better.

Great work as always Swiz.

How many Bob-0-nut pins does it take to hold a double Mai-Tai
:)

Great work as always Bruddah

Love the pin. I'm doing buttons that I can include with orders. Dan's niece does buttons as her profession.
My latest one is of a group of my Tiki Bob's. So we both chose Bob he should be so pleased. I guess I better post
mine soon.

You have done incredible work. The hook is terrific.

Wish you were closer, Wendy

Cheers Will and cy.

Thanks Wendy. I'm very happy with the hook. And i wish i lived closer too.

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After making one of the ugliest molds i've made so far (which thankfully works okay) i have a new mug design. The original pic it is based on was posted on Instagram a while ago by someone i follow. The only information i've been able to find so far is that it is from Papeete in Tahiti. I have trouble coming up with names for my mugs so the best i could come up with was "Peete the Mug". :lol:

Only 5 have been made so far and it's the biggest mug i've made holding 1.2 litres. I added straw holes to the chests on two of them to make them more 'manageable' but they still hold 3 cups of liquid.

So here's the picture of the original carving i used,

and here are the mugs.

A pic with a soda can for scale.

And i made one mug of just the face of the bottom of the design but i'm going to make a new mold just of this section as it will be much easier to pour rather than using the full size mold and having to clean all the excess slip out of it.
I'm going to call this guy "Peete's Head".

The two with the straw holes have sold (the darker brown) but the other three are available (the two light brown and the reddish one). Shoot me a message if you're interested.

Cheers
swizzle

On 2019-02-11 02:59, swizzle wrote:

And i made one mug of just the face of the bottom of the design but i'm going to make a new mold just of this section as it will be much easier to pour rather than using the full size mold and having to clean all the excess slip out of it.
I'm going to call this guy "Peete's Head".

The two with the straw holes have sold (the darker brown) but the other three are available (the two light brown and the reddish one). Shoot me a message if you're interested.

Cheers
swizzle

This little guy is really fantastic! I love your work

I'm likin that Peetsa mug.
It'd make a good lamp.

Hi Swizzle, I've been told that to get those cracks you have to take the art out of the kiln before it cools all the way. Do you do that and if so at what temperature? Your art is so wonderful and inventive. The group of mugs put together looks like a bowl and that would be fun too. Wendy

Thanks Sandbartender.

Making a lamp out of that design has already crossed my mind Will. I think i might make one out of the next batch.

That glaze Wendy is called a crackle glaze and you just buy it off the shelf. You don't need to take it out of the kiln early, it's designed to do that. It's made so that it doesn't fit the clay body properly so as it cools it shrinks and creates the crackle.

P.S. Reddish/brown mug has sold. Only the two light brown available.

SwiZ- great Tahiti mug
Awesome

Hi Swizzle, I have an entire case of Duncan's Crackle Glazes and none have ever cracked. I thought maybe I couldn't see it so I soaked my mug in India ink but nope no cracks. You've got the touch, I need to use a hammer. Wendy

That's an epic mug, Swiz, and very versatile design. I like the base as a bowl, and turning it into a lamp is another great idea.

At long last,

Thanks Swiz!

Swiz
Like that Peete
Hmmmmm
Maybe I’ll carve a lil one
:)

Nice glaze!

Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do.
But you've gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEQxEJ5_5zA

SwiZ- cheers Bruddah