Post #200208 by Loki on Sun, Nov 27, 2005 6:37 AM

The time has finally arrived to start our first carving...
My wife and I have been collecting coconut logs from Hurricane Wilma and we've been doing our homework on tools (Thanks Ben), and finally made the first cuts...I must admit, debarking was a serious workout, even with the cold front that blew through South Florida I worked up a sweat. I ate a few asprin in anticipation of a sore back, pecs and biceps...

My tiki is 24" x 7"

Wife's 28" x 7"

My father was visiting for the weekend and decided to start one...hopefully he will be joining TC soon and will post his progress...we sent him home with his Moai

Being as these are our first attemps at carving, and the lack of talent we really are just tring to learn what each of the tools do...I have decided to make my first tiki entirely with hand tools. The one lesson i learned was to carve deep, and removing the wood from the mouth was tedious...

After a full afternoon of carving with wife, and father (a great social event)we decided to go to the Mai-Kai for dinner and drinks...it's wonderful living only a half hour from such a special place...

After two shrunken heads, two jet pilots and a hot buttered rum, all the pain of carving had left the body...we all woke the next day, talking about dreaming of our tikis and what we needed to work on...(this is addicting stuff).

So the progression of our first tikis will commence...i really have a new found appreciation of those of you who make carving tikis look so easy...i had no idea it would be as challenging as it is...and judging by our designs and skill we have a long way to go...but it is fun, and we are learning fast...

Some of the pit falls i have encountered...i need to make the facial features much larger...once the wood is taken away, i was left with small eyes...my angles are starting to come as i experiment with cutting and hopefully will enhance some of the features better...(mine left, wife right)

Her tiki has nice releif, mine will have more as i dig deeper...more progress photos to follow...

Any comments are much appreciated...i only learn from wonderful carvers like you guys...
(edited to fix photo codes)

"He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice."

[ Edited by: Loki 2006-09-06 06:14 ]

[ Edited by: Loki 2006-10-13 17:53 ]

[ Edited by: Loki 2008-04-21 07:36 ]

[ Edited by: loki 2008-05-11 14:46 ]