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VanTiki Tiles - Cracked Moai: back to the drawing board |
VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
|  Posted: 2009-05-09 7:21 pm Permalink
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On 2009-05-09 18:37, leleliz wrote:
Whoa VT...loving these all laid out together. Looks rather impressive !
Will you be selling these or auctioning them off on Ebay? I am esp digging the skull with the missing teeth.
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Mahalo Liz! I'm going to be dipping my toes into the ocean of Estsy with the tiles. I'm putting together an Estsy.com storefront, and once I have the first batch done I'll sell the tiles there at a fixed price (no auctions!  ). Since these are molded "production" items, I feel better selling them at a fixed price. That's not to say that I won't do some special altered tile/glazed tile pieces on ebay in the future!
Aloha -
Henrik
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6400
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2009-05-09 8:32 pm Permalink
They look great Henrik, especially the All-Seeing Eye. You press clay into a plaster mold, let it dry a little and pop it out? How do you prevent warpage? Every 6 inch test tile I ever made warped at least some.
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Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2009-05-11 2:26 pm Permalink
Hey Mike - Warping is a problem, but I've dialed in a technique that works really well after reading about a bunch of other folks trials and errors with drying tiles. I set mine on metal wire drying racks, and lay a loose plastic sheet over them. This lets them dry out almost evenly - with the bottom drying a tad faster. This way the delicate bits up top get a bit more time to balance out moisture-wise and (so far) this set up has worked really well. As always, slow and steady wins the race - drying them too quick can cause a lot of distortion. Also - be careful how you handle the wet tiles as clay has a "memory". If you cut a flat slab, bend it, then bend it back flat, it will bend slightly while drying/firing!
When I with the lottery I'll head over to the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works to take some classes and see how they do it!
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-02-25 7:20 pm Permalink
Aloha folks! Remember me
My apologies for the studio silence - I've been really busy getting various projects in motion for the trip to Tiki Oasis (SO excited!). One of the projects is 4 new tiki tiles, each featuring a carved visage. I've decided to go thick and deep with the sculpts on these new ones! Here is a peek at the first tile taking shape - please note that it is a work in progress, and I still need to add more details (wood grain, clean up, etc.)
Mahalo for peeking, and I hope to meet a few of you at Tiki Oasis!
Henrik
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6400
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-02-25 9:32 pm Permalink
Van The MAN!!! Good to see your work and excited you'll be in SoCal this summer!
_________________
Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-03-03 12:57 pm Permalink
Mahalo Mike!
Quick comparison of concept doodle by the finished sculpt. One down, three to go!
Mahalo for peeking -
Henrik "VanTiki"
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leleliz
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Sep 02, 2008
Posts: 1981
From: NorCal
| Posted: 2010-03-03 1:18 pm Permalink
awesome Henrik!
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nuKKe
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 13, 2005
Posts: 172
From: Tel Aviv, Israel
| Posted: 2010-03-04 01:44 am Permalink
Looking great!
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mp
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 12, 2009
Posts: 414
From: Nor Cal
| Posted: 2010-03-04 12:14 pm Permalink
Your unique, cool style flows through everything. Love it!
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Makiki Tiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 07, 2010
Posts: 29 | Posted: 2010-03-08 03:01 am Permalink
Can't wait to see the whole set! Knowing Vantiki, it's gonna be good.
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-03-10 1:09 pm Permalink
Mahalo everyone! I think these 4 new fellows are going to look swell together. I want to press up a slew to ring my office with!
Here is #2 nearly done. Still need to tweak and smooth a bit, but you get the idea. He's an angry elf! Moving on to #3...
Aloha!
Henrik
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amybean
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Nov 22, 2009
Posts: 434
From: Alameda, CA
| Posted: 2010-03-10 1:39 pm Permalink
SO AWESOME!! and inspiring !!
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 907
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-04-09 12:52 pm Permalink
As some of you Creating Tiki thread regulars may have noticed, I'm taking part in the current TC art swap. The theme is "headhunter", and it gave me the push I needed to finally make some of the framed faces that were dancing around in my head. I envision these being found in a mysterious crate shipped back to a museum from a lost expedition. Or something like that. Here are the first three - each is entirely hand-build ceramic (unlike my other tiles - these are all one-of-a-kind). I made them to HOPEFULLY fit in a standard picture frame, and tomorrow I'll find out if my clay calculations were correct. The fellow with the solid yellow eye will get some lashing thru the holes in his lips. Mr. TwoClosedEyes is going in the art swap. I'll post more when I get them framed.
Mahalo for peeking!
Henrik "VanTiki"
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leleliz
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Sep 02, 2008
Posts: 1981
From: NorCal
| Posted: 2010-04-09 1:37 pm Permalink
Awesome!
Cant wait to see them completely finished!
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TikiDaye
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 26, 2010
Posts: 124
From: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
| Posted: 2010-04-09 4:45 pm Permalink
Henrik,
Those have turned out incredibly... what an honor it would be to receive one in the art swap. You rock!
peace,
Jason <><
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