Post #117169 by Aaron's Akua on Wed, Sep 29, 2004 9:27 PM

Rodeotiki aka Collin,

It's not that bad, I just love to whine about my busy schedule. Actually this habit of carving at the park on my lunch break is pretty enjoyable. Everybody must wonder when I get back to the office with wood chips & sawdust all over my slacks! But I can't think of a better way to get your mind off work and focus on something totally different (True confessions of a tiki addict.. I could quit anytime... No, really!!!).

The tiki is just under two feet tall and maybe 10" diameter. I gave myself a few challenges when I planned this thing. I've gotten through the tile inlay, but the next hurdle will be the two-tone staining. I'm thinking the whole thing will be a nice deep cocoa brown, but the whites of the eyes and the teeth will be "au natural" with just a varnish finish, no stain. The trick will be in keeping the stain from bleeding across. Check a few posts back for Tikifreak's suggestions on this. I think I'll take his advice and see how it goes. IF the stain bleeds, I guess the whole thing will have to go dark brown. Octane, Polynesiac, & Benart gave me lots of great suggestions on finishing, all of which I'm going to use. Octane likes polyurethane, but is currently using varnish. I think I will follow his lead and use the marine varnish that Benzart is so fond of (Check the finish on Benzart's amazing giant Maori warrior a few posts back!).
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Sam,

Thanks, my friend. And also thanks for the help with the new "signature pic". I couldn't get it exactly the way that I originally wanted it, but given the limitations of using shutterfly, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.
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Chong-O,

Stick-to-it is my middle name! I may be slow as molasses, but I'm gonna be sportin' some tiki soon! Keep posted...
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Prof. Benz,

Welcome back! TC just ain't the same without you. I can just see you chiselin' away, cause the tools got no power! Glad your house didn't get sucked up into the eye of Jeanne, but you may want to wait a while before you replace that fence (again). Knock on wood....
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THANKS, ALL!

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2004-09-29 23:25 ]