Volcano Bowl Insert

Does anyone know how much the OMC Volcano Bowl ceramic inserts typically cost?

How rare are they?

Does anyone have one for trade?

I've got one that I've had for awhile. I don't see them on ebay very often and can't remember what the last one sold for....probably not much more than $25.00 though. Keep your ebay search goin' and you'll get one eventually.

Thank you very much. Do you know what they are offically called?

Hmmm....good question. I don't think they have an official name. Anyone else....?

Hello everyone,
I need help in finding some of these volcano inserts for my wedding. Does anyone know of a resource for new ones or have a line on some old ones.
Thank you

great topic! if your not sure what these are they are on page 80 of tikiquest. i too have been looking quite a while for these.

tikifarm family~you guys should do a reissue of these things!

Curses! My Tiki Quest was swiped by a friend of mine who won't give it back, can someone post a pic?

On 2005-01-30 16:54, Hale Tiki wrote:
Curses! My Tiki Quest was swiped by a friend of mine who won't give it back, can someone post a pic?

buy a new one!

I know I couldn't live without one now.

-Z

Lol. That's in between the $250 I've spent on Tiki Farm mugs, and the $100 order I just placed to Bosko. That's down there on my list, right after food, and repay my massive debt.

Hey, would someone be willing to post pictures of one of these. I need to see the bottom to figure how they were made to keep the piece sanitary. i assume that the insert is glazed on the bottom, and how do they get around not having a small pressure release hole? I am trying to fit in my schedule the time to make a bunch of these to use at my wedding reception and this info would greatly help.
P.S. if i get these made in time for the reception i would greatfully send one of the inserts to those who helped with photos. Hell, If I do not make them in time for the reception, i still plan to make some anyways, and will send them to those who helped whenever I get around to making them.
Tanks
Thanks,
TT

[ Edited by: tikitanked on 2005-02-12 09:32 ]

hey tt,

here are photos of mine along with a scale for reference.

funny thing, until you mentioned the "hole" issue i hadn't looked that closely at it from the standpoint of manufacture. now it seems pretty facinating...

side and top...

bottom... if you look closly you can see a bit of distortion along the bottom right - filled in? odd...

also at the bottom outside, about a half inch up there is a very slight seam under the glaze... wtf?

i wish the photos could be sharper, i did the best i could. email or pm me if you want mo' info... good lux, j$

Thanks J$,
If I get these made I will send you one. I am surprised the foot is unglazed, this presents a sanitary issue since the insert sits in a bowl of drink. Realistically the alcohol probably kills the bacteria, but the bacteria is the issue. This is all by the book in means of safety, glazed surfaces (devoid of crazing) should not hold bacteria, but unglazed bisque can. Gives me stuff to go by, thanks again.
TT
P.s. If I make these, or when for that matter, the design will be different. J$, you will be able to use the one I make without worrying about the possibility of breaking an antique.

I'm a little curious. I wonder about a hole as well. You're supposed to pour rum into the volcano and it burns. Cool. Does it just burn? (seems a bit of a waste) I suppose you could stick your straw in and suck it up (straw would melt, huh?), but with a hole it would fill with the drink in the bowl. Would that not be able to burn as well? Since it's probably mixed with fruit juice would you need to have a sugar cube or piece of bread or whatever to act as a wick?

Here's another question. Was this simply an accessory made to go with any bowl drink or did it come with a particular companys bowl?

And yet another...Does dry ice react with alcohol the way it reacts with water? Is it just a temperature thing? the smoke might be a neat effect as well.

Hey Tikitanked,

Looking at the photo's it's hard to say exactly, but I'm guessing the bottom is glazed. It's probably a clear or white glaze, but it does look glazed (the reflected light suggests this).

But J$ could answer that best. Johnny, does it feel glazed (slick and smooth) or just bisqued (rough and chalky) on the bottom (including the raised rim around the perimeter)?

Hey I Spy a Tiki,
The hole I was refering to is a pressure release hole, having nothing to do with the functionality of the insert. In ceramics if you pour up a piece where air is trapped inside, you need to put a vent hole in it somewhere or your piece will explode in the kiln.
Dry ice is not good to stick directly into the drink itself, the ice is not for consumption nor in its melted form. Some old scorpion bowls and some of the spanish ones had pockets on the side of the bowl to insert the dry ice and water for the fog effect.
The nice thing about the 151 flame, though maybe a waste of the alcohol itself, is that it emits a nice blue flame the width of the surface it is contained in. and yes, it will melt a straw very quickly.
As far as the maker, i am not sure. Judging by how rarely they come up on ebay, and having never seen one in a swap meet or thrift, I can only assume production was limited. They were made to convert a scorpion into a volcano.
J$, any word on the maker of your volcano insert?
Hopefully someone can shed more light on what polynesian palaces employed these or where they were originally purchased from.
Thanks,
TT

I'm just amazed that a Marylander was the one with this piece in their collection. Where the hell did you find that Johnny$?

tt: although the bottom rim is not as thickly glazed as the rest of it, slacks is right, it isn't the raw bisque. it's sealed with some sort of coating (it's got a sheen to it), but not thick enough to craze as it is crazed on the rest of the bottom and the sides. weird. but mega mahalos for the offer, i would be proud to own an official tikitanked volcano insert if/when you make them. re: maker of your volcano insert: there are absolutely no markings on mine. however, on page 80 of tikiquest duke sez OMC made them. perhaps his had a sticker.

johntiki: found it in hampden, hon. specifically, hampden junque. as to its provenance, no idear. i'm pretty sure i spent no more than $18 on it, in fact i think it was that. it's a bit more than my limit for a typical mug, but i had a feeling this one was warrented :)

J$,
Thanks again for the help. I am going to make these for sure, but the question is before the wedding or awhile after. i will let you know, and will send some to you.
I still am interested if anyone knows which places used them, and why. Since there were bowls with volcanos and those without, why use the insert. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this one.
TT

The main reason I can think of for using the insert vs. a volcano bowl is for shelf space. If you use the insert in a regular scorpion bowl, then you need to store (and buy) fewer bowls. And I imagine the scorpion bowls were a bit cheaper than the volcano bowls, so if one broke, you'd pay less for replacement. All a matter of economics.

The inserts were made by Otagiri, so I'm guessing they made them to allow restaurants to be able to server their bowls with fire or without.

The inserts hold a lot more liquid too- here's some photos of us at New Years using one of my inserts....and Isopropyl alcohol. It makes the best and highest flame of anything you can put in there. You'll probably finish the drink before the flame goes out :)

ZAZZ pic tikihula!

Thanks. It was a great New Year's Eve party at the Dark Marq Room in TikiCleen and TheDrunkenHat's place.

That's the other cool thing about the inserts- they are so wide at the top that the flame dances around and splits into two flames and then goes back into one- VERY mesmerizing!

So I found a place in the bay area that has three of these inserts for sale. They claim that they came from Tiki Bob's, but I have no way of proving that.

They want 24.95 for each one. Drop me an email and I will let you know where you can find them if you want one for that price.

Someone bought all of them at Time Tunnel, but the owner said she saw reproductions for sale at the La Luz gallery shop in LA.
http://www.laluzdejesus.com/index.html

Anyone want to check it out?

Hey,
I was there two weeks ago and did not see those. I will go today or tommorow and check it out, will post back then.
TT

nothing at La Luz/Wacko, I looked and asked

Darn, thanks for checking. Holden...help! :)

the piece is double glaze fired. glaze is up top fired and then inverted & stilted (if glazed first, no stilt marks) & brushed and then fired again as the top is now glazed, so no bisque foot showing in my humble opinion.
Alohaz,
Holden

On 2005-02-14 23:31, tikitanked wrote:
I am going to make these for sure, but the question is before the wedding or awhile after. i will let you know, and will send some to you.

hey tt, whatever happened to this project? a random neuron misfired and i remembered this project.

I'm in need of a volcano insert, I'd love to know if you were successful with this project! Anyone else?
-Tw

So, anybody got leads on any of these things? What kind of search strings are people using to get ceramic volcanoes and not all the usual E-bay junk?