What Hang10 said. About what TikiHula said.

Wendy if you do find a fast way please lmk!! :wink:
These are all going to come out Great...
The detail on each and every one of your mugs is awesome Wendy!

The gillman glazes are INCREDIBLE! That is some serious dedication - I could never stay focused that long! :) Can't wait to see them after firing.

It was such a treat seeing you at Tiki Kon - mahalo for stopping by and chatting! Loved hearing about your adventures and talking clay. You need to sail to Hawaii!

Henrik "VanTiki"

---

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2014-07-25 12:31 ]

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2014-07-25 12:32 ]

TikiAno if it all works out then it was worth the work. If the clear glaze makes it run then it will really be a
Horror in Clay!

TikiHula
You wrote, "Fire Fire Fire!!!" and look what happened.

littlegiles thank you. I'm fond of tapa too.

hang10tiki you too? Here it comes again.

TikiAno you get this too.

Beachbumz it all comes down to Pure Brilliance the best clear glaze by Duncan. There other clear glaze makes under-glaze run. Also I did the three layers but with so many areas to do I could have missed some. So this first time in the kiln is a check firing.

You made a good guess. We hope to see you and Rob in 2015.

VanTiki I think we had the best visit yet. You and your wife are so athletic. I had no idea. We loved the mug and necklaces. One day we will visit.

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

I am so happy that I did complete the last two mugs and they are in the kiln as I type. Here's the final run of photos until they come out of the "Fire, Fire, Fire!

Starting on the 2nd to last mug. This one is like the Tiki Farm addition except that I re-did the background and did the special glazing.

All Done.

Starting the last mug. This is the PNG version.

I painted it solid and then wiped it off the raised surfaces. Sound familiar?

This turned out to be the most difficult. At my age my hands are not steady. I would paint in the second color and then have to go back and touch up the darker Teal. Back and forth all over the mug.

All done.

The 5 special mugs are done and here's the tiki mug line up for comparison.

Then it occurred to me that all 11 mugs should be in the line. Here we go again.

Next I carried them outside to dry longer and then

I loaded them into the kiln on the bottom level. Just enough space for the 11 mugs.

When I put in the top shelf I had room left so I got out an all blue Bumatay bowl to add color to the fish.

I hope this works. I'm using CN light ginger.

Into the kiln with some glaze tests and Tiki Hula's special crawl mug with pockets.

We are waving bye for now. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-07-25 13:18 ]

These things are incredible. Far surpassing even my wildest hopes. I can't wait to see them fired, but they are beautiful now!

Jonathan

Looking very cool! Keep up the great work Wendy!

Tiki-Atari right now they are what I call Easter Tiki mugs. Nice pale colors. Once the clear glaze goes on these will be dark and scary. That's my hope. I'm glad you like them so far.

lunavideogames as long as I have all my tiki buddies here I'll keep working. If Tiki Central went away I would slowly disappear. I love Tiki Central and all of you!

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

TIKI POP I hope that it's OK I'm going to post a few photos here from the book. We love the book.
Talk about pounds of History. My scale goes between 5.5 and 6 pounds of Tiki goodness. Every page is covered with photos.
Sven has done it again, he's a master. He'll keep Tiki on everyone's radar. Thank you SVEN.

Off facebook today I borrowed this photo that shows the size.

We love Gecko'z art and what a thrill to see he's holding one of my Bloody Maori heads that he had altered.

This is my own photo.

He's in the photo with kingstiedye aka Bullet.

Another page shows work by GROG and Bosko.

Another page shows Doug Horne, Derek Yanger, Tiki Art Shark and little lost tiki.

I'm so happy to fine one of Roge's Tiki Chunk Lamps. I did the sculpt for the tikis on the sides. That's an Eric October on the right.

The ultimate for me was the page with my Zombie's Torch mug.

I didn't show much of the book. The last image of my torch is on page 377. Notch and others are in there too.

Over and over I say a huge THANK YOU Sven. Love the book.

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-07-26 09:32 ]

Congrats on your work in the NEW BOOK
Awesome

I can't wait to see the Gilman mugs fired!

Thanks for the sneak peek at the Tiki Pop book. Congrats for being in it, an honor well deserved for you and our other TC members! WTG everyone!

hang10tiki thank you, I'm so happy. We are so lucky to have Sven. This is a book to keep us going. I did 160 votes to get Sven above the now finished Tiki Kon. It didn't work so I gave up. Today I see that others took over and got it there. Now I know how much effort it is to be on the list and I thank you all for putting me there recently.

LoriLovesTiki thank you. The book is mainly history with wonderful photos. This book is a keeper. I know one day I'll read of people upset that they didn't get a copy and now it's $400 on eBay.

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

Tiki Ano you are over the top kind. Thank you for the gift of the ultimate hot chocolate mix from your http://www.JoesOnTheNose.com store. It's so good that Dan starts each day with a cup of coffee with your mix added.

We hung your tiki plaque in our family room right next to your Kahiki fireplace art. We are now able to sip and view and think of you!

I'm working on the Alien swap art.

I couldn't find a 14 x 18 frame at a thrift store. I was told at Arron Brothers that this is an odd size. I was surprised because I bought the canvas there. They only had one design left in this size but the 1 cent sale was going on so I got two.

I opened the kiln.

I wouldn't have to worry about shocking the ceramics with a temperature change. It's been hot enough to warm up the water in my tubs.

Top shelf.

Glaze Tests.

Tiki Hula's one of a kind Sacramento Crawl mug.

The inner cups will hold burning rum. The regular run doesn't have these.

Dan helps so much that he's on the bottom of all the Sacramento Crawl mugs.

The color I added to the Bumatay fish changed them up just right.

Tiki Atari's kickstarter Horror In Clay mugs are ready to come out.

The inside of a kiln is dusty so I washed and rinsed the mugs. They still need the clear glaze layer.

The colors will change again when the clear glaze is added. Water changes it enough to show problems. I learned this from MadDogMike.

The pink I added to the nipples of the topless mugs turned white. I don't think it's going to work. So here's one save by doing this extra firing.

This mug will be very dark. All the white areas will be blended into the rest of the mug with a blue sparkle glaze.

These are all wet and I found other problems that I'll show tomorrow as I fix them.

Cheers, Wendy

Those mugs have more going on than any other mug I've seen before.

Awesome

Fire! Fire! Fire!
You're on fire Wendy! Those mugs looks GREAT! :)

I actually caught myself holding my breath as you inspected the big, new, murderously difficult-looking batch of mugs. That's good drama, Wendy, and beautiful work.

Those mugs continue to amaze!

Uh oh, Dan's been framed!

Wow, great reveals all around- Hula's custom piece looks awesome, the bowl as well. The kickstarter collection looks fantastic- another firing with clear? Wow. (Curious why you didn't put a clear coat on top of the underglaze and fire at once? Hmmm...)

I agree with what Henrik (and others) have said- there SO much detail in the glazing of these pieces, I truly hope the recipients appreciate how much work went into these. It continues to astound me- wow...

Glad the tile arrived in once piece, and the chocolate as well. It's the same stuff we use in our mochas, so glad Dan is using it for once of it's intended uses. You can also add it to milk and ice and blend it up as our "Not So Hot Chocolate" shakes- good for those hot days up by you!

Loved seeing your work (and others) in Tiki Pop (I just received my copy). Thanks for all!

MaukaHale after devoting so much time on each one of these I have a whole new appreciation of multicolored mugs.

hang10tiki Tiki Atari may go down in history for making the most elaborate design ever.

MadDogMike I really liked the photo and I'm looking forward to a hard copy. Do you amaze Teresa every day? You are so creative.

Professor G breath! I actually had to hold my breath when doing the glazing. Those little teeth were so hard.

LoriLovesTiki and there's so much more to do!

TikiAno another keeper for my PS file. Tiki Hula did a perfect job of glazing. I'll have to do it exactly the same for all the crawl mugs. He still needs to paint on the gold that I got from Mahalo Tiki.

I held off on the clear glaze in case there were errors or if the added L's popped off. Once the clear goes on it's impossible to fix most problems.

Our tiki buddies are showing us a good time. We've had a gift of CD's from hang10tiki and now your chocolate and wall hanging. This is a very fun month.

Thank you all for your messages.

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

When I unload the kiln I first wash my hands until they feel oil free. I still have to add clear glaze and it will not stay put if there is dust or oil on the surface of the mug. After that I run my hands looking to see if any glaze pops off.

Unfortunatly two of the added L's came off. So 9 mugs kept them this time around. The L's still have to survive firing when the clear goes on. Finger's crossed.

I re-glazed with the background color and then added the L's in their color. I didn't make them quite as thick this time.

I had purchased a lot of the teal under-glaze so on 4 of the mugs I used it on the inside of the mug. After firing the first time I am now glazing the inside of the mugs with clear.

After I poured out the excess I sat them upside down in dishes to further drain.

Then I spun them to coat the top of the mugs.

Two more coats on the L's until they had a total of 4. Last time it was a total of 10.

For my special version of Tiki Atari's mug I did a night scene. I left parts of the mug in white bisque so that this last color of glaze would show up well. This glaze sparkles in silver specks.

I didn't want the hula girl to have these speckles so I did her in the regular clear glaze first.

The on the entire rest of the mug

I did three layers of the blue speckled glaze.

Next I let them dry overnight. That way I can put fingers into the inside of the mug to lift it off the spikes when I glaze them with an air brush. Now it was time to glaze all of the outsides of the mugs. Notice that the nipples are no longer white.

I sprayed each mug with four layers of clear.

That meant I had to lift them on and off the turn top 40 times. I didn't have to clear glaze the blue mug.

All done and ready to fire. I wanted to get started so I did a 10 hour pre-heat to remove the moisture and a 13.5 hour ramp. So almost 24 hours to fire these the best way possible.

Will the L's survive? I hope so. They are still firing as I type.

Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-07-29 15:27 ]

Those mugs are looking really great! Thanks for the updates. I hope they survive.

One of those mugs is mine, and if I had never read through this thread I would have probably just put it on the shelf thinking it was a pretty cool mug. I am absolutely amazed at the amount of work that has gone into it, and I have a new-found respect for the artists that create these pieces - especially those who love their work!

Thank you Wendy, and I can't wait to find out which one is mine!

lunavideogames me too, thank you. The kiln is cooling. I'm not going to open it until the temperature outside is equal to or greater than the temperature inside the kiln. I'm giving the L's their best chance of survival.

KrakenHunterSteve it's really fun to meet you. I don't know any of the other recipients of these mugs. I hope you'll let us all know which one you get and if you are able to print a photo of where it will sit on your shelf.

These were the most complicated mugs to mold, clean and to glaze that I've ever worked on. I would say that part of that comes from the original being from a 3D printer rather than from a sculptor. It is a fantastic mug by Tiki Atari.

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

Only one day left to finish the Alien Swap art. So while the kiln cools I'm painting.
Here's the work from yesterday.

My Alien Astronaut likes to bring home a few souvenirs from his travels.

Close up of Mr. Bali Hai.

He also visited Easter Island.

My trick to get the proportions right is to print the photo in the right size and cut out the image to be used.

I used a silver pen to outline the Moai.

Now it's ready to paint.

Now it's time to spend the day painting so it can go into the frame from shipping to my Swap partner.

Cheers, Wendy

Man those Gillman House mugs are looking spectacular.... what a lot of work!

Digging the painting for the swap... very cool. I may have to try your trick sometime of cutting out the picture to get the right proportions. :wink:

Sorry not been around much, I have been uber busy with client illustration work; the first I've done in a long time. I'll post what I can on my thread once I get to a breathing point. :)

Mr Bali-Hai necklace and a Moai too
Wow, this is spectacular......

Jon

tigertail777 being kept busy by art work is such a joy. I'm happy whenever you are able to visit. Every part of those mugs will change with glazing and then we'll see. I'm glad my swap art is ready to ship. At least I accomplished that task.

hang10tiki glad you like it. Tomorrow we'll have fun waiting for the drawing.

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

I'm ready to swap.

Added another souvenir from Earth.

Next step.

All done and framed. Dan choose the title of Alien Astronaut by Wendy Cevola c 2014

Watch the Swap thread to see all the submitted art and who trades with who. That should happen tomorrow or the next day.

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-07-31 14:07 ]

Fire it up!

The swap painting came out great - digging the moai!

And the kickstarter mugs are works of art. You put an amazing amount of time into each and every one. Looking forward to seeing them with clear glaze.

Love the painting
U rocked it

So........

There is a lil lady in the Cevola house who will be blowing out BDay candles soon....

:)

Atomic Tiki Punk I fired and then I fired again. The story below.

TikiHula the clear glaze did a new trick. It's an underwater scene and now it has millions of bubbles.
I'm sending my painting to LoriLovesTiki in New Jersey. I have a family tree that starts there in 1720.

hang10tiki one more week before the shock sets in. I'm way into being a senior citizen.

Thank you all for the kind comments about the painting. I tried to add a spaceship and for some reason it looked like a 3 year old painted it. I covered it up. Here's a photo.

I didn't have enough time to do it right. The ship was hauling in another Moai.

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

I opened the kiln and from the top they all looked great.

Then I unloaded the kiln to carry out into the sun and I started seeing problems.

Why did one flower explode off the skirt? Must have been an air bubble behind the glaze?

The teal background was blotchy. Dan liked it because it's sky and water. I didn't like it.

I stopped taking photos and took them into the house to see what I could do to fix the problems.
They are again cooling in the kiln.

Fingers crossed. Wendy

Hello Everyone, I've been busy working on the Tiki Atari Kickstarter mugs. This is one project that keeps on going and going. I am hopefully at the end in the next few weeks.

When they came out of the kiln they needed more glaze on some parts of the mugs. So here's an example.

After I touched them all up they went back into the kiln a third time.

When using under-glaze it's hard to tell if the three layers were put on just right or not. That's why I did the first firing and then dunked them in water. While they looked perfect at that time the clear glaze changed everything. So now I'm hand painting each mug with bake on enamel to make each one as good as I possible can.

This photo just shows how I'm mixing paints to add to the mug. These mugs will need to be kept away from hot water. They need TLC like my Zombie Torch mug.

Hopefully I can finish these by tomorrow night and then back the next day.

I hope your weekend was fun. Cheers, Wendy

While the kickstarter mugs were in the kiln I started to work again on the Sacramento Crawl mugs.

First step is to spray them with water so that the glaze will stick better.

This time around I'm using a squeeze bottle filled with under-glaze to fill in the letters.

I did amento first and let it dry so that it wouldn't run out.

Then I did the Sacr and CA.

Next I did the Albert's Tiki Village and

then using a brush I covered the tiki.

Back to the squeeze bottle for the bottom.

25 drying before the next step.

I used a wet wash cloth to rub off the front

the back and the bottoms.

One at a time

I get them done.

I don't just keep sheets on my furniture because our cat is destructive I do it so I can pile tiki projects on the surfaces.
This home is a tiki factory and depository.

The first step of glazing is done for 25 now I'll start on the next 25. Dan's already carrying them to the table.

Thank you for the visit, Wendy

---

Great work, Wendy! That's some major glazing you're doing there. Also, love the Oasis painting. I hope you and Dan are making the trip down for Oasis :)

The Gilman cups looks great! The Swap painting too, those Swaps are so much fun :)
Good luck with the SacCrawl mugs
PS - did you get your hard copy of the burning hut photo? EDIT Oh I see you did, I just saw your other post :)

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2014-08-04 13:07 ]

Looking great. Look forward to seeing those Sac Crawl mugs finished- love Hula's so can't wait to see how the main run compares. All I can say re: glazing, "better you than me!" :0 (that being said, I have a LOT of glazing to do....

Put the lime in the coconut
Sing it Dan-0

Lookin great

WOWZERS, Wendy! I abso-LUTELY love, love, LOOOOOVE your new bowling nuts, as I am a bowling nut myself! Also, it was very cool to see you mentioned in the new Tiki Pop book... I expected no less!
Hugs to you and Mr. Dan,
~Zero 'n' Cass

TikiRootsRocka thank you. The painting was for the swap and it's been shipped off to LoriLovesTiki. I've been watching you on facebook. You have taken over the title of the Machine. You are turning out beautiful quality tikis. I'm so impressed. You've found your calling.

MadDogMike Dan was studying the BD card today and said, "Mike sure is talented". I agree. Thank you so much.

TikiAno the mugs showed so much detail but the clear glaze took some of that away. Even still I've seen very few mugs with so much detail. Tiki Atari is pulling off a special run of mugs.

I hope tomorrow goes as planned for you.

hang10tiki I sang it once and now I can't stop.

ZeroTiki Oh NO did I do the dents wrong (: !! It's such a wonderful gift to be in his book. It makes all the hard work worth it.

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

Progress Report on the Sacramento Crawl mugs. I've been working on the second half for a couple of days. Here's where I stopped tonight.

Now they will dry for a few days before I wipe off all the extra glaze.

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

I have just finished the Tiki Atari kickstarter Innsmouth Horror in Clay mugs. They are to ship tomorrow.
I took a whole bunch of photos. When I have them organized I'll put them here. Thank you for your patience.
This was one long project.

Cheers, Wendy

GROG hate glazing. You go, girl.

GROG, I bet if you made some topless hula girl mugs you would enjoy glazing more!

I'm so happy to see that Tiki Central is fixed. I'll be posting soon. I took my computer on our trip to Lake Tahoe so I could post. I thought it was the mountains keeping me off until I checked facebook and found the posts about it there.

We just got home so it's time to un-pack and rest up after all the fun. Cheers, Wendy

Now that TC is back up I can Officially say......Woohoo! Put Another Candle on Your Birthday Cake....Happy Birthday Wendy! (8/8) I hope you are having a Tiki-rrific Birthday Weekend!

happiest of b-days to ya wendy!!!

Sure missed the Cevola show
Glad TC back up
Happy Late BDAY!
Glad u are home
Let the show go on............
:wink:

Jon

I am so happy to have Tiki Central back. I missed all of you my tiki buddies. Let the show commence.

WooHooWahine we had so much fun because we found tikis for Dan! I would say he was the only one to receive presents on my birthday but I just opened the card from hang10tiki, MadDogMike and the super cute luggage tag from you and Soccer Tiki.
Thank you all for the wishes.

muskrat thank you. I've been thinking about how to glaze your crawl mug with the special color. Hummm.

hang10tiki thank you for the card and the encouragement to get back to posting. Here goes...

Finally I finished the Tiki Atrai's Innsmouth Horror in Clay mugs and I've shipped them off. I did my best as they were a challenge like none other. Even the Wish Lists have been easier.

After glazing with the under-glaze, firing and dunking in water and adding glaze I was able to cover them in clear and fire again. That time I saw more areas that could have used more glaze in the background. So I did that and fired a again.

After all the work I decided that I could make the girls prettier if I hand painted them with enamel and so I ended up going over every mug and enhancing each area that I could.

My messy art room with the mugs waiting their turn.

They had to dry overnight and then be baked in the house oven.

First set of topless mugs.

The last three topless mugs and one more.

The last set of custom mugs.

Carefully double boxing the mugs.

Packaging to mail to Tiki Atari. I'm waiting to hear that they made it clear across the country.

Professor G takes wonderful insect images so when Dan found this praying mantes I took a photo.

Now it's time to join Dan and Tiki Hula. I've got mugs to glaze! Wendy

Pretty much everything I know about mug production, I've learned by following this thread, and that looked like one hard batch of mugs, Wendy, but they look absolutely beautiful. Congratulations to all involved.

And hey . . . nice bug.

First of all, Happy (belated?) Birthday, Wendy! Hope it was a great one!

Yes, very glad TC is back, that, and combined with work, kept me away. The Horror in Clay mugs are ridiculously beautiful- the recipients are very lucky to receive pieces of art that have taken so much of your time and love. Hope to see photos of those lucky enough to receive them.

Those Innsmouth mugs are the BEST! I read and reread that story (along with a few other favorites by Lovecraft) at least once a year! Great Job Sister!

Great job on the mugs Wendy
Awesome

Professor G thank you. I love praying mantises. I carried him to the garden and let him go. The mugs look better when seen without a flash. I'm happy for the thumbs up.

TikiAno 63 is a good year for me, not so for Robin Williams. I'll miss him.
I would love to see photos here of those who get the mugs.

little lost tiki thank you brother. I'm going to miss my Kinny hug since we are missing Tiki Oasis this year. I've enjoyed watching all the art that you are taking. You sure do work hard.

hang10tiki I'm so happy that they are done and I can work to finish off all the backed up projects.

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

We are not going to Tiki Oasis this year so we are going to miss all of you who we routinely see there. Bummer.

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

The last thing I needed to do for Tiki Atari was to ship him the kickstarter mold. Dan said Wendy we are out of peanuts should I ball up some newspapers? I thought about it for awhile and came up with the idea of using the bottoms from a whole bunch of boxes.

So first we strapped the mold and poured a mug. So when he gets it one will be ready to come out of the mold. I think it will keep the pieces even more secure for the journey across the country.

Here's what the bottom of the box looked like with the cut box bottoms.

Dan lifted the heavy mold into place.

We surrounded the sides with cut boxes.

Here's a photo of Dan cutting the boxes with my electric knife. It really works well on cardboard and sponge rubber.

Here the sides are all done and

then a layer on top. Taped it shut and he was off to the post office.

Tiki Atari here comes the mold!

Back to ceramics tomorrow. Cheers, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-08-11 21:11 ]

We will miss you guys at Oasis...

hang10tiki we'll be back next year. Meanwhile a trip to Las Vegas would be fun!

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