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VanTiki Tiles - Ku Squared tile taking shape - 1/25 |
VanTiki
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 1016
From: Hawaii
|  Posted: 2007-01-30 12:53 pm Permalink
Aloha All!
Welp, after getting several "where are the 2007 VanTiki mugs?" PM's I decided I better update the Ohana on the goings-on in VanTiki Studio! Rest assured, I have not been idle  I set January aside to finally get cooking on a project I've been wanting to tackle for over a year: TikiTile! Yessir - genuine hand-pressed high-relief tiles for your bar, kitchen, bathroom, or grass shack! (well - maybe not so much for the shack)
It all started with the construction of the VanTiki Studio Tile Press. It is based on a Tile Press design by tile artist Frank Giorgio. I made some modifications to beef it up a bit. Had a great time putting it together - especially since the materials only cost around $150 - and a store bought tile press in this size starts at over $700!
Next up - sculpting the tiles. I did a TON of doodles for tile designs (most of them were done while I spent many hours waiting in the stand-by ticket line when Prairie Home Companion came to Hawaii), and picked 8 favorites for my first tile set. Of those, I decided to sculpt only a few tiles (the simplest) to get a handle on the process before doing the entire series. Here are the first sculpts - all are based on my Jabber Pod mug. Two 4" Jabber faces, a 2" Jabber face, and a 2" wood grain field tile. All are sculpted in a soft oil-based clay made by Chavant (Chavant Le Beau Touche):
I made plaster molds of the above tiles (I was able to pull three molds off the field tile - whoo!) - and then had to wait a painstaking 10 days for the plaster to dry out enough for me to press clay into the molds. Sunday night I decided to give it a go - and things went very smoothly. The tile press worked like a charm (had to bolt it down to the table - it REALLY has a lot of leverage) - and the first run of tiles looked great. Had a bit of trouble with the high relief on the 4" tiles - but a little creative packing on pressing round 2 seems to have solved the problem. Here are some of the first freshly pressed tiles:
Whew! So now you know what I've been up to this month! Next up I gotta sculpt the rest of the "series 1" tiles and glaze the ones I've pressed. Not to worry - I'm still doing mugs! In fact - I've got a bunch of sketches that I can't wait to turn into clay.
Mahalo for peeking!
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teaKEY
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 09, 2004
Posts: 3664
From: The thumb !
| Posted: 2007-01-30 2:19 pm Permalink
What a great idea.
"You know what sells really well and is the easiest thing to make is a Tiki Tile. You can go into almost any art store and there they are. Its a ceramic art piece that you get to hang on your wall. If I ran a ceramic shop, this would be one of the first things I would do. Its hip to be square." Posted: 2006-11-16 10:08 am by teaKEY
TeaKEY's critikeys pg.4
Great minds, Great minds.
I been thinking of tons of things lately, I think I got ideas for two years now.
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 forgot the backslash
[ This Message was edited by: teaKEY 2007-01-30 14:20 ]
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McTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1962
From: Sunny Florida
| Posted: 2007-01-30 3:42 pm Permalink
Freakin genius's and theyr'e freakin imagination. Sweet tool! sweet idea man.
I'd rock a few of those!
Mahalo
McTiki
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TravelingJones
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: Mar 11, 2006
Posts: 897
From: Eastern Shores of Western Civilization
| Posted: 2007-01-30 4:40 pm Permalink
DANG! VanTiki done went factory on us?  Well, not really..."handcrafted" still requires tools!
VT's Mind Circus travels into the next town, 3 rings and what's in the Big Top??? Send in da clownz!!! 
SsweeetT! Flip-flOp-fLipPp...
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hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4278
From: Sydney, Australia
| Posted: 2007-01-30 5:31 pm Permalink
Very cool idea man You could even hand paint/detail these and frame them for a wall hanging
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squid
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 30, 2002
Posts: 1462 | Posted: 2007-01-30 8:24 pm Permalink
These are SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! Bitchin press too. Let us know when these bad boys are available.
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Ltd Editions by Squid & Gecko
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VampiressRN
Grand Member (7 years)
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 5668
From: Sun City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 2007-01-30 9:27 pm Permalink
NO KIDDING!!! Gotz to have a tile for da lounge....lookin' forward to it. Nice job VanTiki.
(squid...everytime I see that siggy of your it makes me laugh:-)
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VanTiki
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 1016
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2007-01-31 12:34 pm Permalink
Thanks everyone for the kind words and support! I didn't want to show the tile progress until I had an actual finished tile - but I am so giddy about the whole darn thing that I just had to post!
I am gonna put a little notch in the back of the larger tiles so you can hang them on a wall if you wish. I know plenty of folks frame the arts and crafts hand-pressed tiles for their walls
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/missionguild/index30BuyDirect2Tiles.html
I think a more tiki-fied frame would be in order, though!
Can't wait to spring some of the other designs on you guys - some neat faces and multi-tile scenes. Curse this day job! Why can't I just push clay all day!
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McTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1962
From: Sunny Florida
| Posted: 2007-01-31 2:18 pm Permalink
"Do what you love, the money comes later"
Bring it Van, bring it!
Mahalo
McTiki
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squid
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 30, 2002
Posts: 1462 | Posted: 2007-01-31 5:33 pm Permalink
I'm thinking some strategic placement amongst other tiles in our kitchen and bath remodel projects. These tiles might be just the push to get me into demolition mode! Kick it Van!
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Hiphipahula
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: May 27, 2006
Posts: 2426
From: The Valley! Female, leo,fav color pink.
| Posted: 2007-01-31 11:21 pm Permalink
So all my mugs are packed up in boxes & we are getting ready to tear the entire kitchen & family room up & WOW at these tiles... Perfect & brilliant!! nice original with a high end look, like nothing else... Be great to include a few of these...
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Sneakytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Posts: 1795
From: Boise, Idaho
| Posted: 2007-02-02 10:52 am Permalink
The word unique is overused so much nowadays it's like seeing RARE on an ebay Leilani listing -- BUT, your work and these tiles especially, is far and away the most differentiated and dare I say UNIQUE ceramic work involving tikis that I have seen. Really well crafted too.
PS
Depending on their placement I can see some of those Moai mouths working nicely as an integrated soap dish or cup holder. I'm thinkin' bar top, by the pool or hot tub, bathrooms.....
[ This Message was edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-02-02 10:55 ]
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VanTiki
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 1016
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2007-02-06 1:26 pm Permalink
*blush* - you guys are the best! Nothing makes me wanna push clay in the studio more than your nice comments! Been busy at night and on weekends continuing the tiles - here is a photo update:
top left: The ever-growing tile army on the drying rack. These guys are almost ready for the bisque firing. I just ordered 4 new glazes (in gallon batches - I don't even want to know what the shipping quote will be) for these guys - wanted something that would break and flow over the details and add depth. Can't wait!
top right: One of 2 pattern sculpts in oil clay. These are ment to be rotated when installed so you get a zig-zag pattern. Will be doing more tiki face tile sculptures next saturday.
Botton left: The finished zig-zag tiles ready to mold. I did 2 sculpts of the same tile with grain variations so there would be less of a "pattern repeat" when you install them. Finished molds can be seen stacked up in next to the tile press.
Bottom right: Zig-zag tiles molded. The mold on the left has set up and is ready to pry up, and the mold on the right has just been poured. I was able to pull 2 molds each off of the original sculptures - yaaay! The plaster molds will need to dry out for a week or so before I can press them. I'm shooting for sunday afternoon (been rainy around here - so that may not work).
Once again - Mahalo for the support!
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hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4278
From: Sydney, Australia
| Posted: 2007-02-06 5:51 pm Permalink
Very nice work, as always
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VanTiki
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 1016
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2007-02-15 1:13 pm Permalink
Aloha - TikiTile Update time!
Welp - I got a call a few days ago telling me I am back ordered on some glaze chemicals and I may have to wait three weeks for the stuff. Ug - the dilemma is: do I ship what they have and ship the rest later, or wait and save a ton of $$ by bundling everything in one shipment? As far as I figure shipping is the only real downside of living out here
Anyways - I guess the delay will mean I'll have more tiles ready to glaze! I'm starting another tile sculpture this weekend, and was able to press a batch of the zig-zag tiles a few days ago. Wanted to press more - but a) the molds were not quite dry enough just yet, and b) I gotta go get some more clay! I love the way they create different patters depending on how you rotate them. Here are a few resting on the drying racks:
I'll post more news as things progress. Can't wait to get some color on these guys!
Mahalo,
Henrik (aka VanTiki)
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