Can you do a tiki technical on how you do the bottoms of your mugs? Maybe you’ve already done it, but in the mold making videos it seems to not be shown how you put your makers mark on the bottom! Great video, thanks!
Good question! That is one part of my process I like to keep a mystery. I will say there are lots of different ways to do it, and I’ve used several techniques throughout the years to do the mug bottoms.
ok I would so love to see just a few bright orange drips on the top lip.. like just a little lava escaping a volcano. lol It just makes the kid in me smile. Love these!
that opening played havoc with me and my iPhone.. kept turning it around and around and couldn't figure out what it was upside down... well played sir.
Just get a plastic tote, and a metal drying rack and youll have a perfectly useable slip table for your black porcelain. Itll fit on the cart, and is big enough for 2 or maybe all 3 casts at a time.
You truly make me smile and I get giddy with excitement every time I see your happy face on Tiki Technical Tuesdays! I wish that one day I could have a shop big enough to do some of the stuff that you do and all my other crazy art project ideas. Thanks for being awesome! 🌈💗😁
Just found your channel a few days ago and have loved going through a lot of your old videos! Its clear you put a ton of work in both in front and behind the camera. Have you ever thought about doing a live studio time stream? Would love to be able to watch you work more regularly
So glad you found my channel! I’ve done a few Instagram live videos of us working in the studio, and may do more in the future - I always think is working in real time is boring 😂
Been on a marathon of watching Tiki Tech Tuesdays recently. They are great!, very informative and I was wondering if you recycle at some point all those bits and trims that the castings generate.
Thank you so much for watching!! You can reclaim all the trimmed bits - but I don’t. My slip tank is carefully mixed and balanced, and I’d need a separate reclaim tank for the scraps to avoid messing up the balance of my main tank. My studio is small, and my time is limited, so I don’t reclaim.
mr. van tiki!! amazing video!! and odd timing - i am JUST getting into slip casting cone 6 porcelain! i am on this slip casting journey alone and you are essentially my teacher so i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart!! you are doing so much for the community. last video i asked you a question about plaster molds and chavant NSP (thank you again), but prepare for a longer message this time: currently i have successfully cast some of my mini figs within plaster and pouring slip is the next step, so admittedly i'm a little nervous (just waiting on the plaster molds to dry right now). i just bought Laguna Pearl CN 4110 porcelain in a dry 50lb bag. this stuff is expensive so i want to be absolutely sure i am doing the next steps right. on laguna's site, they've given me the appropriate official ratios, being 50lb of dry clay : 2.5 gal of water : 14ml of darvan 7. as my figs and molds are extremely small (they took about 3/4 cup of wet plaster per each side of a 2-part mold), i'm not really sure if i should mix the whole bag in one go per the official steps, or try break these ratios down (might be difficult, not too sure how i'd calculate that....). if i DO decide to mix the bag all in one go, will this stuff stay in liquid slip form indefinitely if it's in a container? does it just take a quick mix before using each time to wake it up? thank you so much for any insight given!!!! ❤
Aloha! Full disclosure: I’ve never mixed porcelain from dry bags - I’ve only purchased pre-mixed porcelain slip. If it was me, I’d make the whole bag. Most likely it will give you around 5 gallons of slip. It will stay liquid - just jive the bucket a stir at least once a week to be safe, and mix it well before casting with it.
@@vantikistudio thank you for your reply! I hope I don’t bug you too much with my journey 😅 hmm, 5 gals is a lot, I guess I underestimated how much there would be! With my lack of storage space, I may halve or even quarter those ratios to help dole out the amounts - which will be easy enough to do the math. Thank you!!!! Until next time van tiki!! ❤️
@@vantikistudio hi van tiki! i'm back with another few questions after pouring some test figures (the mixing went great btw! specific gravity and viscosity is perfect). as these figs I'm making are very small porcelain pieces that are around 3" tall (as an aside, I originally found your channel through your "Small Plaster & Silicone Molds for ceramics - how to avoid undercuts!" vid, dealing with a similarly small casted figure); however, I have some questions as i encounter/anticipate them: 1) trimming the flashing and best times/practices for cutting off the pouring spout: I find that lower portions of my figs break off easily near the base as i trim off the spout, and as well as this, it's not the easiest to smooth out the flashing. do you have any ideal methods for dealing with these on such a small scale? what's the best time to cut them off? similarly, what's the best time to trim the flashing marks (should it be ASAP/wait a day)? also, are you aware of any references i can watch/read to help my techniques in trimming them? 2) the upcoming glazing/best methods for applying glaze on such a small scale: as this will be my next step after the initial bisque fire before the final firing, I'm thinking of going the underglaze route for different colours + applying a transparent glaze coating to finish. i understand i can colour my pieces in underglaze all the way to the bottom of the piece, but do i have it right that my transparent glaze should only go to 1/8" just before the very bottom of the piece to avoid the transparent glaze sticking to the kiln shelf? for a small figure with lots different colours, do you think this might be the most effective technique? will the 1/8" be noticeably less glassy/look odd near the bottom? on a similar note, can you think of alternative methods/techniques for my situation (like using stilts within the kiln)? thank you in advance mr. van tiki!!!!!! ❤ you have been so crucial to my journey, it's thanks to watching your videos that i haven't had any major mishaps so far touches wood
Be honest. How much is the format of these videos inspired by Good Eats with Alton Brown? I recently found your channel and have been binge watching your back issues with my wife. Amazing work and incredibly informative. Keep it up, loving it.
Ha! Thanks. Full disclosure: I had no idea who Alton Brown was until folks started comparing me to him. I have watched some since, and I’m happy to be compared - passionate folks sharing their craft is never a bad thing 😄
The craftwork you put into educating and entertaining us in these videos is just as caring and fun as your tiki casting work. Thanks for these all these years!
I just spent most of yesterday watching your videos... I'm OBSESSED!! Thank you for all your awesome content!! I have a dumb question... why did you choose to use porcelain instead of stoneware for this mug? I would love to learn more about all things porcelain... when to use it, firing it, etc. etc.
Thank you for watching!! I chose porcelain for the piece for two reasons: I wanted a deep black color (I tried several black stoneware slips and they all looked great but had significant issues with glaze foaming or reacting to the black tint), and I also wanted a vitrified surface that would feel great unglazed. Porcelain is very close to glass - and has low to zero porosity. Porcelain is tricky stuff - I’m doing an episode next week about casting porcelain pendants 🤙
One thing I wondered from looking at yours and others plaster mould making, considering how sophisticated the keys and air vents, well spout etc are, why does no one create a channel or pouring spout for when excess slip is poured back out of the mould? Wondering if this causes issues inside the mould etc or if its just an unnecessary step. Thanks again for the great content I always look forward to your videos!
For mugs and vessels that have an opening, the opening is simply the best place to get the slip in and out of the mold. On occasion I’ve made shapes that don’t have an opening (pendants for example) and I’ll make a special insert piece that I place into the mold that allows me to cast a hollow object with no holes or openings. Someday I’ll do a video showing that technique 😄
Awesome. This is very timely for me as my wife and I were just talking about wanting to do some black slip castings the other day. She has been making a marbled mix of dark chocolate clay + some other clay for throwing and they look really cool. Is there a reason you choose Art&syn black porcelain over Laguna (which I believe is the brand you use for your stoneware slip)? I am assuming the particular ashy/volcanic look that it has?
I’ve used the premixed laguna porcelain with great results - but they don’t offer a premixed black. I tested a few other black porcelain options and Art&syn worked the best by far.
I love these videos. One question, though. Now that you have used porcelain in that mold, does that mean you can't use the regular material you use for slip casting?
you know - I'm not really sure. Since I have a silicone master, I would go ahead and cast a fresh new plaster mold if I wanted to try slip casting this design with a different clay body just to be safe. The black color would definitely show up if I tried to cast a light body of clay into the mold after casting the black porcelain.
It wouldn’t have worked to just use clear gloss on the inside? Would it have still come out glossy black? Sorry to ask dumb newbie questions but would you share your bisque and glaze firing schedules for this porcelain? Thank you!
Clear glaze would work on the interior - buuuut, I don’t like gloss glaze, and satin clear ended up looking grey. As for my firing schedule, I follow a “no pinhole” glaze schedule I found in the excellent Amaco glazes Facebook group
Hi! I Love all your detailed and informative videos! I have a question... I made a digital 3d image of the mold I want to make. Is it better to 3d print it? Or can someone make a silicone mold already using my 3d file? Do you have a link you can share of someone that can do that for me? Or what do you recommend? Thanks so much! :)
I’d print the mold, and make a silicone master of that mold. Check out Hammerly Ceramics on instagram, that is his workflow instagram.com/hammerlyceramics?igsh=cXd2ajVvdzJtOHF4
I’m not really sure. I’ve never tried it, as I’m worried about cross contamination. I usually pour a fresh plaster mold if I want to try casting something in a different clay body (that’s another reason why having a silicone master is nice)
I saw there was a new VanTiki video and did an audible "YYYYEEEEEESSSS!". Learn so much from these. You're like a tiki themed Bill Nye of ceramics.
Thank you! Sorry for the epic long time between episodes!
Your attention to detail throughout every stage of the process is inspiring!
Thank you! Porcelain demands focus - I have a whole shelf of failed castings that proves it 😂
I LOVE the Tiki Technical Tuesdays soooo much! YAY!!!!!
Thank you!!
Can you do a tiki technical on how you do the bottoms of your mugs? Maybe you’ve already done it, but in the mold making videos it seems to not be shown how you put your makers mark on the bottom! Great video, thanks!
Good question! That is one part of my process I like to keep a mystery. I will say there are lots of different ways to do it, and I’ve used several techniques throughout the years to do the mug bottoms.
ok I would so love to see just a few bright orange drips on the top lip.. like just a little lava escaping a volcano. lol It just makes the kid in me smile. Love these!
Oooo - that’s a great idea for a future glaze!
"Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good" is the bane of all creative folks! I absolutely feel for you and will love ANY Tiki Technical Tuesday!
Perfection paralysis is a constant issue for me!
Wednesday Tiki Technical Tuesday is best Tiki Technical Tuesday. 👍🏻
Thank you! When I finally finished it I just couldn’t wait a week to release it 😄
You are amazing! You're the reason me and my girlfriend opened our own ceramic business. All thanks to your teachings! Keep up the amazing work.
No way! That is amazing - thank you so much!
that opening played havoc with me and my iPhone.. kept turning it around and around and couldn't figure out what it was upside down... well played sir.
Ha! Sorry!
I like the red interior at the end. It contrasts well with the black exterior. Thanks for another great video!
Thank you! I love both the red and black - AND we’re testing some new interior colors now!
11:50 - Perfection is the enemy of Done. I know this... yet, Perfection and I run headlong together into battle ALL.THE.TIME.
Yes! My old boss would say “done is best” whenever he saw us chasing some impossible ideal
Just get a plastic tote, and a metal drying rack and youll have a perfectly useable slip table for your black porcelain. Itll fit on the cart, and is big enough for 2 or maybe all 3 casts at a time.
Brilliant! I’ve been thinking of making a porcelain cart - perhaps that will be a future TTT!
The perfectionist procrastination is very relatable. Also, cool demo!
Thank you!
You truly make me smile and I get giddy with excitement every time I see your happy face on Tiki Technical Tuesdays!
I wish that one day I could have a shop big enough to do some of the stuff that you do and all my other crazy art project ideas.
Thanks for being awesome! 🌈💗😁
Thank you for watching!! I hope someday you get the studio space of your dreams!
I really liked your porcelain explainer! Animations are great but so are practical models :)
Thanks! In the end the practical models probably did the job better than my planned animation 😄
I bought some of the black porcelain and I bought blue as well and they’re both wonderful to work with! Thank you for featuring this porcelain!
I love that blue as well! So glad it is working for you!
Another awesome video. I've missed seeing them. I did cry a little when i saw the red interior glazed mugs are sold out.
The red will return! I also have a beautiful moss green that I’m testing that I’m really excited about!
@vantikistudio i bet that looks amazing too.
You have inspired me like always!!! ❤
Awesome!! That is the goal!
Great stuff, I want one! NO, want many!
Just found your channel a few days ago and have loved going through a lot of your old videos! Its clear you put a ton of work in both in front and behind the camera. Have you ever thought about doing a live studio time stream? Would love to be able to watch you work more regularly
So glad you found my channel! I’ve done a few Instagram live videos of us working in the studio, and may do more in the future - I always think is working in real time is boring 😂
It is always a party when there comes a new technical Tuesday 🎉🎉🎉 I should be going to bed but there is a new video!!
Don’t stay up too late! The video will still be there tomorrow 😄
I love the journey you take us on and the real talk. Always excited to see a video drop.
Thank you! Always important to share the real talk
Very nice.
Been on a marathon of watching Tiki Tech Tuesdays recently. They are great!, very informative and I was wondering if you recycle at some point all those bits and trims that the castings generate.
Thank you so much for watching!! You can reclaim all the trimmed bits - but I don’t. My slip tank is carefully mixed and balanced, and I’d need a separate reclaim tank for the scraps to avoid messing up the balance of my main tank. My studio is small, and my time is limited, so I don’t reclaim.
mr. van tiki!! amazing video!! and odd timing - i am JUST getting into slip casting cone 6 porcelain! i am on this slip casting journey alone and you are essentially my teacher so i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart!! you are doing so much for the community. last video i asked you a question about plaster molds and chavant NSP (thank you again), but prepare for a longer message this time:
currently i have successfully cast some of my mini figs within plaster and pouring slip is the next step, so admittedly i'm a little nervous (just waiting on the plaster molds to dry right now). i just bought Laguna Pearl CN 4110 porcelain in a dry 50lb bag. this stuff is expensive so i want to be absolutely sure i am doing the next steps right. on laguna's site, they've given me the appropriate official ratios, being 50lb of dry clay : 2.5 gal of water : 14ml of darvan 7. as my figs and molds are extremely small (they took about 3/4 cup of wet plaster per each side of a 2-part mold), i'm not really sure if i should mix the whole bag in one go per the official steps, or try break these ratios down (might be difficult, not too sure how i'd calculate that....). if i DO decide to mix the bag all in one go, will this stuff stay in liquid slip form indefinitely if it's in a container? does it just take a quick mix before using each time to wake it up?
thank you so much for any insight given!!!! ❤
Aloha! Full disclosure: I’ve never mixed porcelain from dry bags - I’ve only purchased pre-mixed porcelain slip. If it was me, I’d make the whole bag. Most likely it will give you around 5 gallons of slip. It will stay liquid - just jive the bucket a stir at least once a week to be safe, and mix it well before casting with it.
@@vantikistudio thank you for your reply! I hope I don’t bug you too much with my journey 😅 hmm, 5 gals is a lot, I guess I underestimated how much there would be! With my lack of storage space, I may halve or even quarter those ratios to help dole out the amounts - which will be easy enough to do the math. Thank you!!!! Until next time van tiki!! ❤️
@@vantikistudio hi van tiki! i'm back with another few questions after pouring some test figures (the mixing went great btw! specific gravity and viscosity is perfect). as these figs I'm making are very small porcelain pieces that are around 3" tall (as an aside, I originally found your channel through your "Small Plaster & Silicone Molds for ceramics - how to avoid undercuts!" vid, dealing with a similarly small casted figure); however, I have some questions as i encounter/anticipate them:
1) trimming the flashing and best times/practices for cutting off the pouring spout: I find that lower portions of my figs break off easily near the base as i trim off the spout, and as well as this, it's not the easiest to smooth out the flashing. do you have any ideal methods for dealing with these on such a small scale? what's the best time to cut them off? similarly, what's the best time to trim the flashing marks (should it be ASAP/wait a day)? also, are you aware of any references i can watch/read to help my techniques in trimming them?
2) the upcoming glazing/best methods for applying glaze on such a small scale: as this will be my next step after the initial bisque fire before the final firing, I'm thinking of going the underglaze route for different colours + applying a transparent glaze coating to finish. i understand i can colour my pieces in underglaze all the way to the bottom of the piece, but do i have it right that my transparent glaze should only go to 1/8" just before the very bottom of the piece to avoid the transparent glaze sticking to the kiln shelf? for a small figure with lots different colours, do you think this might be the most effective technique? will the 1/8" be noticeably less glassy/look odd near the bottom? on a similar note, can you think of alternative methods/techniques for my situation (like using stilts within the kiln)?
thank you in advance mr. van tiki!!!!!! ❤ you have been so crucial to my journey, it's thanks to watching your videos that i haven't had any major mishaps so far touches wood
Be honest. How much is the format of these videos inspired by Good Eats with Alton Brown?
I recently found your channel and have been binge watching your back issues with my wife. Amazing work and incredibly informative. Keep it up, loving it.
Ha! Thanks. Full disclosure: I had no idea who Alton Brown was until folks started comparing me to him. I have watched some since, and I’m happy to be compared - passionate folks sharing their craft is never a bad thing 😄
The craftwork you put into educating and entertaining us in these videos is just as caring and fun as your tiki casting work. Thanks for these all these years!
I just spent most of yesterday watching your videos... I'm OBSESSED!! Thank you for all your awesome content!! I have a dumb question... why did you choose to use porcelain instead of stoneware for this mug? I would love to learn more about all things porcelain... when to use it, firing it, etc. etc.
Thank you for watching!! I chose porcelain for the piece for two reasons: I wanted a deep black color (I tried several black stoneware slips and they all looked great but had significant issues with glaze foaming or reacting to the black tint), and I also wanted a vitrified surface that would feel great unglazed. Porcelain is very close to glass - and has low to zero porosity. Porcelain is tricky stuff - I’m doing an episode next week about casting porcelain pendants 🤙
@@vantikistudio I obviously wrote that before finishing watching the video because you talked about that!! THANK YOU! (and can't wait for that video!)
One thing I wondered from looking at yours and others plaster mould making, considering how sophisticated the keys and air vents, well spout etc are, why does no one create a channel or pouring spout for when excess slip is poured back out of the mould? Wondering if this causes issues inside the mould etc or if its just an unnecessary step. Thanks again for the great content I always look forward to your videos!
For mugs and vessels that have an opening, the opening is simply the best place to get the slip in and out of the mold. On occasion I’ve made shapes that don’t have an opening (pendants for example) and I’ll make a special insert piece that I place into the mold that allows me to cast a hollow object with no holes or openings. Someday I’ll do a video showing that technique 😄
Great content! Where were you for the ceramics portion of dental biomaterials?
Awesome. This is very timely for me as my wife and I were just talking about wanting to do some black slip castings the other day. She has been making a marbled mix of dark chocolate clay + some other clay for throwing and they look really cool.
Is there a reason you choose Art&syn black porcelain over Laguna (which I believe is the brand you use for your stoneware slip)? I am assuming the particular ashy/volcanic look that it has?
I’ve used the premixed laguna porcelain with great results - but they don’t offer a premixed black. I tested a few other black porcelain options and Art&syn worked the best by far.
I love these videos. One question, though. Now that you have used porcelain in that mold, does that mean you can't use the regular material you use for slip casting?
you know - I'm not really sure. Since I have a silicone master, I would go ahead and cast a fresh new plaster mold if I wanted to try slip casting this design with a different clay body just to be safe. The black color would definitely show up if I tried to cast a light body of clay into the mold after casting the black porcelain.
When r these available in shop? Some warning?
We release them in small batches every month or so - we won’t have another drop till after the holidays
It wouldn’t have worked to just use clear gloss on the inside? Would it have still come out glossy black? Sorry to ask dumb newbie questions but would you share your bisque and glaze firing schedules for this porcelain? Thank you!
Clear glaze would work on the interior - buuuut, I don’t like gloss glaze, and satin clear ended up looking grey. As for my firing schedule, I follow a “no pinhole” glaze schedule I found in the excellent Amaco glazes Facebook group
Hi! I Love all your detailed and informative videos! I have a question... I made a digital 3d image of the mold I want to make. Is it better to 3d print it? Or can someone make a silicone mold already using my 3d file? Do you have a link you can share of someone that can do that for me? Or what do you recommend? Thanks so much! :)
I’d print the mold, and make a silicone master of that mold. Check out Hammerly Ceramics on instagram, that is his workflow instagram.com/hammerlyceramics?igsh=cXd2ajVvdzJtOHF4
Thanks so much! 🌟
If you use porcelain slip in a mold, can you use clay slip in it the next time you want to pour?
I’m not really sure. I’ve never tried it, as I’m worried about cross contamination. I usually pour a fresh plaster mold if I want to try casting something in a different clay body (that’s another reason why having a silicone master is nice)
I’m so early. 😂