Post #447534 by Grand Poobah on Thu, Apr 16, 2009 3:00 PM

Thank you Bowana, Seeksurf, Buffbad, Tikilizard & benella for the nice comments. The feedback here is fantastic. I can’t recall seeing a negative comment anywhere. The guy with the dark stain came out too dark. The flash from the camera is a little deceptive. I went back and sanded him down, leaving the dark stain in the recessed areas. I ended up leaving the pointy teeth unstained. It looks a bit more cartoonish, but I was happier with the color. Had I left it alone I would have always picked at it wishing the stain wasn’t as dark. I also stained his brother the same way.

This other guy (turtle) had been close to being done, but I wanted to clean up a few details before I put some stain to him. I just saw another post where a carver had torched his tiki for the first time. The wood grain really popped and it looked nice. I wanted some grain to show as well, but I tried to sand it as much as possible, but the grain would still not pop the way was hoping. I tried to use the torch and I was glad I did. (although I got a little too close to the turtle and he actually caught fire! ) Luckily no turtle soup was made.

The weather is getting a bit warmer up here. I have been building a pondess waterfall for my backyard. Eventually I hope to begin to place these guys outside in the yard. I have been spending the time on the waterfall. It is almost done. I have to put some landscaping around it to help it blend in a bit.