For the uninitiated, last year I thought we should start a theoretical band that we could all be in. We named ourselves The Tree Brains after the annual fungus that grows on my tree. Gary Taxali made a kick-ass logo, there were some shirts (which are all gone), a big Tree Brains Facebook group and now master tiki mug sculptor Henrik Van Ryzin agreed join in.

As you can see from the following video of Henrik in action, The Tree Brain Tiki Mugs are coming along beautifully.

The actual brain portion isn't seen in the final image, but you can see it being fitted in a few frames during the video.

What you're watching is about 7 hours and 45 minutes of sculpting. According to Henrik, the drying is the tricky part...

I do have a bit more clean up that I'll be doing today, then the long and anxiety filled drying process begins. I am guessing about two weeks of slow drying will do the trick - we really don't want one part of the mug to shrink too fast and crack. Overall, the mugs will shrink around 9%. I'll continue to provide photos as things progress.

Mahalo,
Henrik

If all goes according to plan there will be 2 mugs. 1 for me and 1 to hopefully be bid on by one of you guys. You know those 2-halves-of-a-heart keychains people buy at the mall, and then each person takes a half and they then forever share a mystical bond? I will share a similar powerful bond with whoever ends up with the other mug.

See all of Henrik's insane mugs at Vantiki.com.