New Guy - Tiki Carving - Tiki Central

B Benzart Member Port Saint Lucie, Florida Joined: Jan 09, 2004 Posts: 10397	B Benzart Posted posted on Mon, Dec 29, 2008 2:58 AM OK, Here goes and it may take awhile so it down, relax and listen up. Well, your tikis are typical for first ones done with chainsaw and grinder and aren't all that bad. The Problem you will have (and already have started) is that the locals love them the way they are, so you can do any of 3 things. hone your skills and continue making this type tiki and just work on finish and detail. You will find you can make a lot of money in a short amount of time with these and depending on where you are, traffic and all could do this for a Long time. Over time you'll find yourself doing better and better tikis in that format but they won't be the traditional tikis some peeps look for. There are Lots of guys doing this for a living and they simply can't afford to spend more time on their work because the traffic won't pay the difference so it works and it's good. Think of this as a learning stage and decide you don't want to make lots of money selling tikis but instead you want to take more time with your stuff and try to do more traditional tikis. Search the web for the thousands of pictures out there and start trying to get those feelings into your carvings. Sell them but be aware the time spent verses the dollar received will be way off kilter from scene #1, but you will be learning more and caving with Much greater detail and authority, and people will recognize you as an excellent tiki carver. This is a little more difficult to do but doable. Continue to learn all about the traditional tiki and how to carve them as well while continuing on with scenario #1 where you still mass produce the "Chainsaw tiki" with minimal lines and work. You still produce a fine finish and sell lots of these which enable you to spend time on a few pieces here and there where you take Time out of the equation and just create the best tiki you know how. of course selling it may be difficult but you could be surprised and sell quite a few but you lose money on them for the unknown time involved. All these ideas work but I think basically there are those 3 catagories and you decide which you want and go for it. Right now you are just barely learning although learning well and you have nowhere to go but up. Now Lets see some TIKI!

OK, Here goes and it may take awhile so it down, relax and listen up.

Well, your tikis are typical for first ones done with chainsaw and grinder and aren't all that bad. The Problem you will have (and already have started) is that the locals love them the way they are, so you can do any of 3 things.

hone your skills and continue making this type tiki and just work on finish and detail. You will find you can make a lot of money in a short amount of time with these and depending on where you are, traffic and all could do this for a Long time. Over time you'll find yourself doing better and better tikis in that format but they won't be the traditional tikis some peeps look for. There are Lots of guys doing this for a living and they simply can't afford to spend more time on their work because the traffic won't pay the difference so it works and it's good.
Think of this as a learning stage and decide you don't want to make lots of money selling tikis but instead you want to take more time with your stuff and try to do more traditional tikis. Search the web for the thousands of pictures out there and start trying to get those feelings into your carvings. Sell them but be aware the time spent verses the dollar received will be way off kilter from scene #1, but you will be learning more and caving with Much greater detail and authority, and people will recognize you as an excellent tiki carver.
This is a little more difficult to do but doable. Continue to learn all about the traditional tiki and how to carve them as well while continuing on with scenario #1 where you still mass produce the "Chainsaw tiki" with minimal lines and work. You still produce a fine finish and sell lots of these which enable you to spend time on a few pieces here and there where you take Time out of the equation and just create the best tiki you know how. of course selling it may be difficult but you could be surprised and sell quite a few but you lose money on them for the unknown time involved.

All these ideas work but I think basically there are those 3 catagories and you decide which you want and go for it. Right now you are just barely learning although learning well and you have nowhere to go but up.
Now Lets see some TIKI!

Post #426162 by Benzart on Mon, Dec 29, 2008 2:58 AM