Pau Hana Studio hosts a variety of craft-related classes in the Oakland Hills, including lamp building, jewelry, sewing, and black velvet painting, but we had our eyes on the Build-a-Bob tiki mug class. Pau Hana is the brainchild of artist Woody Miller and wife/business manager Laura Miller.
Woody describes the inspiration for the popular Build-a-Bob tiki mug class, held in a single session. “I get asked all the time how do you make a mug? You can’t do it in an hour, since there are multiple levels. So, we came up with an idea where people can see each part of it – but abbreviated. Some people don’t want to take a six-week class with sculpting and making molds.” We’re right there with this level of scope personally, and we loved Woody’s mug design.
Attendees learn the process of making a tiki mug in one session, including slip casting techniques. Laura describes the process, elaborating on the efficiency of the experience. “We took the idea of a cooking show where they put a cake in the oven and then take out the finished cake, so you’re going to come in and open a mold that we poured yesterday. You open the mold and touch it up with tools and sponges, then put that on the shelf. And then we skip over the drying and firing process, you just grab one that’s already fired and glaze that however you want it, and pick the mug up at a later date.”
We thoroughly enjoyed this session, though Mrs. Mai Tai did better than I did with the end-result. It was an enjoyable vibe on that Sunday afternoon hanging out in the studio and working with the clay and fired mug. The process of touching up the mold isn’t easy, but we all got through it. I was happy with my teal Bob mug and the session is highly recommended.
This series has been extremely popular with some classes selling out, but now is your chance since Pau Hana released their winter class list today including two Build-a-Bob workshops.
