Best advice for

T TIKIBOSKO Tiki Socialite Joined: Oct 17, 2004 Posts: 336	T TIKIBOSKO Posted posted on Wed, Sep 5, 2007 12:12 PM Aloha below is part of something I posted a while back to a thread regarding a mug which although really cool was not a Tiki (mug). If you have read it sorry, if not perhaps it may help you, if I posted it in error again sorry. I feel this applies to the topic at hand, carving, but not the technical aspects of it rather the concepts below are how I approach a new piece and how I view others work. It took me many years to refine my style, to see what made it genuinely different from someone else. Don’t get frustrated or expect to have it down in a few carvings, it is not just about the physical act of carving but the whole process. “When I first met Sven he really stressed the importance of knowing all the original styles, imbuing the idol with mana and taking off on your own path. It’s the mana part that I think many are missing and it is not a tongue in cheek type phrase. All great carvings have a depth or energy all their own, the Polynesians were the only “primitive” culture that I know of to have this concept. When creating a piece it is not about putting something in, it’s about bringing something out. When you look at a true carving it has a feeling like the thing inside can’t be contained by the material, but when you see a bad copy it just lays flat, it lacks something you can’t put your finger on. All the pieces that should be there are, after all it still looks “nice”. There are very seemingly simple or crude carvings which can convey volumes when you look at them, but the more you look the more complex they become. Also this is not to suggest slavishly copying an original, those pieces usually look quite stiff or uninspired, no matter how well they are technically. If you understand the idea you are after often it can be done with a few quick lines, there is a vitality that is hard to explain in these pieces. The ideal is taking a concept to the next level not just making changes just for the sake of change, or because it would look cooler with bigger teeth, three eyes, a mile of tattoos or more whatever.” My very best alohas, Bosko

Aloha below is part of something I posted a while back to a thread regarding a mug which although really cool was not a Tiki (mug). If you have read it sorry, if not perhaps it may help you, if I posted it in error again sorry.

I feel this applies to the topic at hand, carving, but not the technical aspects of it rather the concepts below are how I approach a new piece and how I view others work. It took me many years to refine my style, to see what made it genuinely different from someone else. Don’t get frustrated or expect to have it down in a few carvings, it is not just about the physical act of carving but the whole process.

“When I first met Sven he really stressed the importance of knowing all the original styles, imbuing the idol with mana and taking off on your own path. It’s the mana part that I think many are missing and it is not a tongue in cheek type phrase. All great carvings have a depth or energy all their own, the Polynesians were the only “primitive” culture that I know of to have this concept. When creating a piece it is not about putting something in, it’s about bringing something out. When you look at a true carving it has a feeling like the thing inside can’t be contained by the material, but when you see a bad copy it just lays flat, it lacks something you can’t put your finger on. All the pieces that should be there are, after all it still looks “nice”. There are very seemingly simple or crude carvings which can convey volumes when you look at them, but the more you look the more complex they become.
Also this is not to suggest slavishly copying an original, those pieces usually look quite stiff or uninspired, no matter how well they are technically. If you understand the idea you are after often it can be done with a few quick lines, there is a vitality that is hard to explain in these pieces.
The ideal is taking a concept to the next level not just making changes just for the sake of change, or because it would look cooler with bigger teeth, three eyes, a mile of tattoos or more whatever.”

My very best alohas,

Bosko

Post #330417 by TIKIBOSKO on Wed, Sep 5, 2007 12:12 PM