Roots Rocka's Clay Journal - New Stuff pg 11

Wunderbar!

Awesome Green glaze on dat one!!!

Cone 10!!! That would burn my shed down. The glazing looks terrific as does the design. Good job, Wendy

Mahalo for the kind words, I'm having a blast!

I love the Rods Bod clay because it's full of iron and pops through the glaze. It's kind of scary because of how unpredictable it can be, but I guess that's part of the fun.

A few weeks ago I started working on a simple sculpt so I could try my first attempt at making a mold. It was gonna be a simple Easter Island Moai with big belly, nothing special. As I started to sculpt the head, it just had this Tiki Bob looking resemblance that I couldn't deny, so I went with it. I called him "Boboai," and built.

Here's how he turned out:

Would love to hear your feedback, positive and negative.

I'm most concerned about the design element as I feel like so much has been done. I haven't been able to find anything quite like this, and although I like the design, I don't exactly feel super creative, either. Thoughts?

Thanks again!!!

That's really funny. I just mentioned a Bob Moai to Wendy, except that I wasn't sure how it'd look.

Great minds, I guess.

Thanks Hale, I'm sure Wendy's would look a whole lot better than mine :)
So, in the background of Boboai you can see my mold box.
Here's some pics and notes.

Although it was my first attempt, I've gotta say this wasn't easy and it took me an entire day to complete.

I'm happy with the end result, I learned a lot, and definitely noticed where I wasn't as efficient as I could've been.

** My box is WAY too big, so it cost me extra plaster, and made for a heavy mold, that I have to lug around every time I want to pour a cast.

** I didn't measure my plaster:water ratio. I'm sure this has it's downfalls and I'll be measuring in the future.

** I tried to get all the air bubbles out of the plaster, but can see where some formed around the outside, where pieces of the plaster have chipped away from the outside of the mold. I did run my hands through the plaster to try and remove all the bubbles, so I'm guessing that my sloppy plaster mixing contributed to this.



** I did a lazy job on my keys, so plaster got behind one of them and ripped it out.

** Original sculpt got destroyed.

I used Pottery plaster #1 and Laguna Clay Speckstone cone 10 casting slip.

When I get a chance I'll post some pics of my first casting failure and the successes since.

Thanks for looking and your comments are always appreciatted!

Hey Mike!

Just seeing your ceramic thread for the first time... Great stuff! I love the patterned moais! and the Santa moai dish is so cute! Hope your mom likes it!

Interested to see how your cast mugs turn out!

Great mugs. Love the distressed look on the glaze. They have the appearance of a real artifact. Very cool.

Mike, congrats on the successful mold making experiment! The "Boboai" looks great!

I picked up a tip from BeezleBug about mold boxes that's worth sharing
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29606&forum=18&start=1530

It eliminates those awkward clamps and lets you adjust your mold box to whatever size you want. Seems I read that you need a minimum of an inch of plaster wall thickness all around so that's what I use. Any more that that just adds unneeded weight and bult.

Hi TRR, on your first half just push in a ball or scoop out some clay. Then you second half makes the bump. This is super fast and no where can the plaster get underneath.

I bisque fired my sculpture and for the second half soaked it in three layers of mold soap.

You are doing a wonderful job. I love your Moai Bob so Hale Tiki had a good idea.

See you soon, Wendy

Thank you for the suggestions on the mold box and the scoops, Mike and Wendy.
I did such a mediocre job on the mold, that each one is kinda 1/1, as I've been spending about an hour cleaning each casting.
Here are the first two test glazes.
I'm sorta happy with how they turned out, but not really. There's so much room for improvement.
I saw my old ceramics teacher at the clay studio and she said, "Michael, we need to talk about your glazing." LOL
Each color has three layers of handpainted velvet underglaze with no superclear.
Your glazing suggestions would be greatly appreciatted.







I've got four more test glazes that I should get back on Tuesday.

One hour per mug for clean up is what it takes me. You must be doing it right! Wendy

Haha, thank you for the reassurance, Wendy!
Here's something I sculpted a couple months ago and let dry too much, so I couldn't get it off the pipe.
So, the re-sculpt is in progress.

been busy I see! nice,

Hi Dawn! Nice chatting with ya!
So, two more tests came out...not sure that the cone 10 firing at the studio is gonna give me the detail I want.
Still lots to learn, but it's been a great time.
I didn't see my other two tests in the studio, so they must be firing or cooling. Hopefully they'll be ready tomorrow.
A)




B)

What happened to the face?!?!

That PNG mask way back is GREAT! Killer stuff, dude, keep going!

I just looked at every page again. So much to see. You are doing wonderful designs. Wendy

Love my Boboai, Michael!

Snappy New year Mike. heres to endless hours of making Stuff!

Happy New Year to you too, Dawn!
Can't wait to see you at the Tiki Market Place!
Thanks ebtiki! Hope Boboai is making a nice addition to your collection!

I've been learning how to throw on the wheel and "Dongaroa" is sitting in the same spot as the last time I posted.
I tried making a mold of the first piece that cracked, but didn't have enough plaster for the second pour, oops.
Hopefully I'll get the second pour done in the next couple of days.

Here are my first three pieces from the wheel.
#1 coconut - bisque fired and ready to glaze - bmix with sand

#2 pot with tapa - ready to bisque fire - soldate 60

#3 tumbler with PNG mask that progressively zooms in, on three frames. - ready to bisque fire - soldate 60

Are you making a bowl for the Bowlarama show at the Tonga Hut?

I'm glad you're mkaing a mold of the Dongaroan guy on the pipe.
Hope it comes out well. That's a nice sculpt/design.

Are you making a bowl for the Bowlarama show at the Tonga Hut?

I'm glad you're mkaing a mold of the Dongaroan guy on the pipe.
Hope it comes out well. That's a nice sculpt/design.

Here's how the PNG tumbler mug turned out.
I'm pretty happy with the results, but think I'll make some tweeks on the next one.

Nice glazing Mike, high fire?

I was just wondering what you've been up to. Hope to see you at the next International Tiki makrket place event.

Thanks Mike. Yep, it's high fire. Next time I'm gonna layoff the superclear glaze a little and go a little darker on the brown.
Hey Dawn, hope all is well! We're totally hanging out. We'll talk soon.

Your high fire glazes look terrific along with your tikis. Wendy

Hi Wendy,
Thanks for stopping by!
A couple months ago I took a cermics class to learn how to throw on the wheel. I feel like it's opened a whole new world for me to mess around with and it's taken this hobby to a whole new fun level.
Here are some more tumbler mugs and bowls that I've made on the wheel.

Wow, I took a whole semester of potter's wheel in college and I couldn't ever center the clay. I hand built all my projects and the teacher was not fooled. I got a C and was horrified. You are off to a great start. I sure love the hieroglyphic bowl it looks ancient. Everything looks great. Wendy

Thanks, Wendy! Hope to see you and Dan at the next ITMP.
Here's some stuff I've been working on for the next one.

Have a great weekend!

I really like the high fire clay and glazes. You have made some bowls that look like they should be in a museum. See you on the 6th. Wendy

Mike, I missed the last batch. Some great stuff in the past 2 posts. Love the petroglyph bowls and I'm a little envious of the high fire glazes :D Keep up the good work. See you at Mojave Oasis again?

Thanks for stopping by, Mike. Hope all is well.
I'm gonna try and make it to Mojave for Friday thru Saturday afternoon, but I won't know until the last minute. I'll be at Caliente for sure.

You've become a clay maniac! Good stuff. Keep producing.

Hey GROG,
Thanks for stopping by and great seeing you at the ITMP!
Here's a few more pieces I haven't posted.
Hawaiian petroglyph of father & son fishing.


Tapa bowl in the same style.

Modern & primitive modern tapa bowls.


Turquoise coconut.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Mike, the bowls are looking great! The Hawaiian father & son fishing is awesome. I really like the finish. Keep it up!

Your work keeps getting better.... Awesome work!

Thank you sirs!
Here's some stuff I did this week.

I started a Moai, but he turned Marquesan.

Leaning Moai with some moko in da face.

And, re-sculpting the Shaka Rocka. I usually add, then subtract, but I'm gonna try carving this one out, only adding when I screw up. Already gotta add some back on the toes.

Some big ass toes!!!

I made some bigger coconuts with thinner walls that are getting bisque fired.
Thanks for stopping by!

These are looking great. Have you done more steps? Wendy

Hi Wendy, I've made a little more progress on the re-sculpt, but not much.
I'm trying to carve this without adding any clay, but it's looking like I'll have to add in a few places to get the depth I want.

Love the tribal pots, and the tikis are looking awesome! Great stuff! :)

Hey TT, thanks for stopping by.
Here's another piece I got out of the kiln.

Cool glaze Mike. Reminds me of a Van Gogh painting (or a Don McLean song)

Thanks, Mike. I was pleasantly surprised by how the glaze came out. Hope to see you at TC!
Here's some more stuff.
These three pieces, also show how one glaze, matt black, can look on three different kinds of clay, applied in varying degrees.
WITCO inspired "firedancer" bowl. (Soldate 60)



The right side is matt black. The left has matt black with mag yellow and Korean blue celadon, I think. I am getting better at note taking.

Primitive 3 Faced Orongo Birdman Cult tumbler (Bmix with sand)

The Marquesan style is also glazed. (Bmix.)

Hope to see you all at Caliente!

All good stuff Mike. I like that firedancer graphic and the Marquesan is great ~ looks like torched wood carving.
I should be at TC Saturday afternoon and evening, are you going to be vending?

See you next Saturday. Yes, I will be vending. I'll be in the same spot as last year, by The Tonga Hut bar.

Great seeing everyone at Caliente! Thanks again to everyone who came by my booth to chat and made a purchase. It was great to catch up with old friends and make a lot of new ones.

I'll post something in the Market Place later, but I just wanted to post a link to my Etsy store, Jungle Modern Ceramics.

I chose the name Jungle Modern because I like it. To me, it has a bit of mysteriousness to it. "You never know what you're gonna find in the jungle." I've always been intrigued by the dense greenery of the forest and not knowing what might be behind the next layer of vegetation.

As I'm still new to ceramics, that's kind of how I feel about my pottery. There's still lots of other styles I'd like to explore and I'm not sure what's coming next. Maybe I'll make some Incan pottery inspired by my trip to Peru with some modern characteristics, who know?

I also have a decent amount of WITCO. Elvis's Jungle Room and Sven's book, Tiki Modern, have definitely influenced my collecting, so I also felt the name was appropriate.

Here's the link. Your feedback and constructive criticism is always appreciated.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/junglemodernceramics

Thanks for looking!

Michael Shigeru Sbicca

Nothing to criticize since it is all so well done. I like the look of stone on the marq.
We enjoyed seeing you and having you beat the trick was icing on the cake. Your mug is
now a part of the danlovestikis collection. Cheers, Wendy