Post #554531 by coconuttzo on Fri, Sep 17, 2010 11:01 PM

Malo everybody for the words of encouragement. I am humbled by all of your compliments. I have a few pieces that I have finished or in the process of cleaning up a bit. I figured I throw it in for suggestions.

First, the finished pieces. A commissioned piece that someone wanted the design out of a sticker that they loved.

They wanted the complete body but I didn't feel like carving the complete body, it just takes too long, unless they were willing to pay more for my time invested. I talked them into just creating the head instead & exagerated a bit from the original design. I dipped it in a vinegar & instant coffee mixture, dried with paper towel, sanded the highlights & redipped in dye for about 20 seconds. Dried & buffed & this is the finished product

Next is my version of an ancient fishing lure which was purposely made as a pendant.

As a kid, I was always fascinated with them & after seeing the diagrams on that nzetc.org site, I just knew I had to make one. So using the diagrams, I tried to lash it as best as I could interpret the diagrams. The wood is Koa'ia which I am told is more rare than Koa. It was cut out from the natural healing scar tissue of a broken branch collar. The back edge is more curved than tradition & is shaped with a solid edge.

Only native artisans are allowed to harvest only dead trees or dead broken branches. I got some from a friend who makes Hawaiian war clubs. I like the wood because it’s harder than Koa and polishes darker. I have no tung oil so I rubbed on olive oil & rubbed off excess a couple minutes later.

My lure awaiting aproval from one of my green friendly lawn mowers.

Next, although not tiki related, I made a pair of chopsticks for my wife’s hair. They’re made of Koa & I burnished the Chinese symbol of her name, Stephanie(at least that’s what the internet website said) on the end. It was my first time using a burnisher.

I drew the symbols with pencil & just traced the drawn lines with the burnisher. After the sanding & burnishing, I rubbed olive oil on them & wiped off excess a couple minutes later.

I was fortunate to go to a music store for my son who needed something for his first year in intermediate school band & there was a custom picture frame shop next door which had a box of scrap pieces of wood. I asked the store owner if I could take it which he allowed. I scored because a lot of pieces were long, narrow, thin pieces of Koa which I immediately pictured chopsticks in my head.

This here is from another piece of Koa from the box of treasures from the frame shop. I grabbed a strip of wood & was thinking of possibilities & came with an idea of a taiaha head. This is actually my first wood carved piece in life. I had fun till the intricate carvings of the spirals came up. I wasn’t really happy with how the carvings of the brows were coming out so I stopped here.

I don’t have any paua for the eyes but I feel that the intricate lines of spirals, especially the ones that traditionally are carved on the tongue/blade would make it more complete. I was thinking of just burnishing the lines on instead of cutting them out. It is a really small piece of Koa which is a little soft. I’m afraid of a small slip of the blade that’ll just ruin the entire piece. Any suggestions out there?

Finally, I initially started this design as a simple petroglyph open work because of my recent outrigger paddling interest, I didn’t like the idea of wasted material so I included an oval shape behind the subject which later evolved into a surfboard shape, thus my SUP petroglyph boarder.

This is just a rough cut. I’m still deciding if I should make the entire piece with dimples like porous lava rock or maybe just the board. Any suggestions?