Maori Art Swap - Oti! (finished)

TikiAno you are carving with a tool I have never seen before. Did you make it? Bowl looks great. Wendy

Mike and Wendy, I don't have the name of the tool, it's made by a guy here in San Diego. He makes a few other neat items- he brought this one by the clay studio one day when I was working and I tried it out and was sold. Mike, they may have them at Freeform Clay, supposedly they're buying a few of his other tools.

It's a pretty simple tool but can cut really fine lines- or thicker ones with a slight pressure change. Pretty neat. This is really the first time I've used it so I'm checking it out to see how well it works. So far it's way better than the small triangular ribbon tools- and supposedly won't break as easily (or so I was told).

Thanks for the info. I only make it to Freeform a couple times a year but will definitely check it out sometime this summer.

Go Ano go

Mike, I'll try to head there at some point before you go and will scout for you. Or will pick up one for you and Wendy. I'll take a photo of the rest of it. Pretty neat. Was a bit more $$$ than a Kemper tool but so far, well worth it.

Sounds great, will you be at Tiki Oasis? If not send me the price with shipping. Many hugs, Wendy

I haven't finished my last 2 projects yet but I have started collecting supplies for the next one LOL

Wow
Impressive inspiration
This should be awesome

MD Mike: "Cannot be stopped."

I like that stamp. All stamps should be tiki!

Not much activity on this thread and the Swap is in 6 weeks! So much for "starting early so we can have more time to finish our projects" :lol:

Stuck on another (hopefully slow) night shift at work. Brought some clay, my tools, caffeine, and junk food. Let's see if I can make some progress tonight :wink:

I'm doing a piece, about half done, but it's so delicate, I've been hesitant to post a pic of it in case it goes bad.
If it makes it thru the burning and sanding process, I'll post it.

Erich, you are always welcome to post pictures. You are under no obligation to swap that piece, whether it works out or not. Even failures make a good story and may inspire someone :)

Two 1/4 inch slabs, one 3/8 inch slab, and a 3/8 dowel make a clay "sandwich" almost an inch thick. Lots of slip "mustard" will hopefully eliminate any bubbles between the slabs. Now to let it dry and firm up

When you hurry through life, you just get to the end faster.
Pirate Ship Tree House

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2016-06-24 00:42 ]

Dry a bit and clean up, remove dowel

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2016-06-24 04:53 ]

Start carving

Mike- funny, with more time to make swap piece I've been a slacker

ET- can't wait to see it

Mike- that's awesome

Wow, awesome MDM, I will get myself some Cheetos and sweet rolls and get my ass busy this weekend.

Thanks guys. Went home for a short nap then completed first pass on both sides. Not completely symetrical and lots clean up to do.

I came to carve clay and eat junkfood and I'm all out of junkfood!

MadDogMike it's time for you to make a mold. That's a wonderful piece of art. Wendy

Thanks guys but Wendy, this doesn't hold a candle to your super-carved Bobs :o
Now to let it dry slowly over the next couple weeks, it's very thick and susceptible to cracking if it dries too fast. Normally I would make something this thick out of paper clay but paper clay is lousy for carving.

I think it does and it's so fun that you made a club. Love it, Wendy

Looking good MDM! Finally got started on my entry.
Whilst browsing through "An illustrated guide to Maori Art" I happened on an image that was right in my wheelhouse. It is a bone chest found in a burial cave located in Northern Auckland.

I had this cool piece of cherry branch hanging out in my barn that I thought would work well.

I wanted to make sure the balance was right so I started with the bottom spike. Not sure if I will have the cajones to carve it as thin as the original as I want it to be able to sustain a tip over.

Here is where I left it.

WOW!!! Very cool - GO CY!!!

well, my piece made it thru the carving and sanding. I decided against burning it, it is just too delicate and detailed, so I just sanded it the best I could, There's some rough spots, but not bad. Approx 15 x 7 1/4

Gonna stain it next.

WOW!!! Very detailed!

Mike- makes me want to hit something, awesome
Cy- wow, way Kool Bruddah. Kool idea.
ET- dang Mr. Detail, sweet.....

Lil more

Get it Jon!!!

ErichTroudt that is bitchen! Nice Jon, the two tones of the wood are outstanding.

I messed around and broke my club :( Since it's going to be a lamp base, it will have a threaded pipe running through the center of it so strength is not such an issue. I hope to fix it with some Magic Mend after the first firing, we'll see what happens :)

Mike- thanks
Cy- ha ha, u said wood
Mike- who did you hit to break it?

:)

JUST KIDDING!!! LOL It was a little warped and I thought it was still wet enough to straighten

:P

I never heard their music myself, but there was a band once called 'Seal Cub Clubbing Club'. Such a great name!

LOL

ErichTroudt WOW! you are sure good with drawing designs and routing them. That's so cool.

hang10tiki you always go the extra mile on these swaps with extra work.

MadDogMike OH NO! I sure do love that magic Mend. Best Wishes for a good recovery.

I'm behind posting but right on schedule.

Cheers, Wendy

Here's my ticket to the ball.
Am I in ?

SWEET Will!!! Of course you're in! Looks like that makes you first with a finished piece :D

WillCarveHasCarved- awesome Bruddah

Looks like I stuck my foot in my mouth - Anthony Maye finished his piece 6 weeks ago! :lol:

Fired my Taurapa mug, it has a glaze skip so it will need another firing.

Freekin Awesome

Looks great Mike, welcome aboard Will!

Wow, I've been AWOL from TC for a bit, came back to find everyone working on some awesome pieces! Mike, love ALL the pieces. Even if they're in a couple of pieces. :wink: Send to SD.

Erich, wow, great carving and design. Please send to SD.

cy, since it looks like it might be delicate to send to SD, you can put it with all of your other goodies and bring to SD. :)

Wil, looks great. Send to SD.

Jon, killer. Send to SD.

Okay, well I've been working on a few other pieces but the bowl was finally bisqued.

Here are a few photos to document the progress. First it was cleaned off and covered with underglaze, then wiped off the underglaze to highlight/ reveal the carving. I then brushed additional glaze on the interior and over top a few details. There is some goldenrod shino, which will (hopefully) look similar to the weaving, and there's a "Root Beer" glaze on the interior, which will turn darker brown on the interior of the low bowl.

Hopefully the kiln gods are good to me and everything works out okay. I really hate glazing.

Oh, and this is the original piece that this is modeled after: a thrown Maori piece of pottery with fiber weaving around it. It's not an exact copy, but I tried to emulate the woven pattern through carving.

Very nice TikiAno!!!!!

Lookin good Bruddah

Three great male artists on one page. I better get on here to represent the women of the swap!

A while back I posted the making of the mug now I'll share how I glazed it. First I chose these wild colors.

I poured in Spotted Kiwi. Oh I just realized how appropriate since the official bird for New Zealand it the Kiwi. Cool!

I did the bottom and top and when they were dry I turn the mug upside down so I could check that glazing and then I started the name.

I glazed around the name.

It looks finished but only because it has now had three layers of all these colors.

Next I started the CN green.

Three layers later it has enough but now I'm

going to remove just enough that the detail will be highlighted by being darker than the rest of the tiki.

I'm done wiping off the front.

I made sure that there were crystals clear to the top so that the design will show up.

All done and ready to swap. Maybe it will be shipped or maybe hand delivered at Tiki Oasis 16.

It's great to be done and ready to swap. Wendy

Beautiful Wendy!!! I put a crystal glaze on the inside of mine too, it gives you something interesting to look at while you're drinking :lol: