Post #244125 by LowKat on Thu, Jul 20, 2006 11:39 AM

I don't know of a pattern book and I'm no expert carver but thought I'd try to help you get started.

For my first tiki carving I looked at a little 4" tall tiki that I brought back from Hawaii. I used the small one to visualize the portions that needed removed and drew those out on the large one with pencil.

Some of the carvers here use meticulous drawings, others just pull ideas out of their heads and some like me just sketch it out on the log and start hacking. One drawback to the "sketch it out" method is the "plan" usually needs minor changes before getting a finished tiki.

When I sketch mine out, I first find the vertical centerline of the log then figure out how much vertical space is needed for each feature and mark those with a horizontal line. After I have my spacing figured I sketch in the features.

I've been looking around this site and keeping a file of photos with tikis I like to use for ideas later. If you find them showing several different views (front, sides, back) it helps gain a better perspective.

My advice would be try to copy one you see here on TC or use several "parts & pieces" then combine ideas into something you like.

The more you carve the easier it gets.