Viva Todd Vegas! Dreaming of electric tikis... - Tiki Carving

T ToddVegas Member Michigan Joined: Mar 29, 2011 Posts: 115	T ToddVegas Posted posted on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 10:38 PM Greetings, friends! I finally bit the bullet... I've been lurking at this site for over three years, and I finally decided to join. I've been having dreams of bringing electric tikis to life with my bare hands for a few years now. I have also been amazed at, and inspired by, the quality of work I've observed on this forum! It seems almost unbelievable to me the quality some people achieve in their "my first tiki" posts. How someone carves their first tiki and has it magically turn into a piece of art (worthy of display in the finest tiki bar) is beyond me. However, I am not jealous. Oh wait, yes I am!! A few weeks ago I finally tried my hand at tiki carving for the first time, and the result was ahem simply glorious... As you can see, I started with nothing but the finest virgin palm log, tenderly dried for 6 months in optimal conditions. OR perhaps I used an old, cracked log of unknown type (quite probably a hard wood) that was found laying in a yard in the upper Midwest. It had been laying in that yard for at least 7 months, through rain and snow... My masterful design skills allowed me to put a design on the log that would inspire the ages, and brought about a fluid and skillful carving session that shocked and amazed me. OR perhaps my design was drawn too tightly for my non-existent carving skills to execute, and several vital pieces of wood that were supposed to remain in-tact were accidentally hacked off by my chisels, basically making it impossible to salvage the design. It is difficult to see in the picture, but trust me... It is FUBAR. On the positive side, I only drew a little bit of my own blood. There was definitely some smashing of digits, but they bled very little. Bonus! So there you have it... A "my first tiki carving" post where it actually looks like someone's first tiki, ha ha! Fortunately, I am undeterred by this rough start. I currently have no plans to attempt to save this tiki from its horribly incomplete and mangled state, but I do plan to get back on that tiki carving horse again, no matter how many times it bucks me off. Thank you for your time! Todd Vegas

Greetings, friends! I finally bit the bullet... I've been lurking at this site for over three years, and I finally decided to join. I've been having dreams of bringing electric tikis to life with my bare hands for a few years now. I have also been amazed at, and inspired by, the quality of work I've observed on this forum!

It seems almost unbelievable to me the quality some people achieve in their "my first tiki" posts. How someone carves their first tiki and has it magically turn into a piece of art (worthy of display in the finest tiki bar) is beyond me. However, I am not jealous. Oh wait, yes I am!! A few weeks ago I finally tried my hand at tiki carving for the first time, and the result was ahem simply glorious...

As you can see, I started with nothing but the finest virgin palm log, tenderly dried for 6 months in optimal conditions. OR perhaps I used an old, cracked log of unknown type (quite probably a hard wood) that was found laying in a yard in the upper Midwest. It had been laying in that yard for at least 7 months, through rain and snow...

My masterful design skills allowed me to put a design on the log that would inspire the ages, and brought about a fluid and skillful carving session that shocked and amazed me. OR perhaps my design was drawn too tightly for my non-existent carving skills to execute, and several vital pieces of wood that were supposed to remain in-tact were accidentally hacked off by my chisels, basically making it impossible to salvage the design. It is difficult to see in the picture, but trust me... It is FUBAR.

On the positive side, I only drew a little bit of my own blood. There was definitely some smashing of digits, but they bled very little. Bonus!

So there you have it... A "my first tiki carving" post where it actually looks like someone's first tiki, ha ha! Fortunately, I am undeterred by this rough start. I currently have no plans to attempt to save this tiki from its horribly incomplete and mangled state, but I do plan to get back on that tiki carving horse again, no matter how many times it bucks me off.

Thank you for your time!
Todd Vegas

Post #582817 by ToddVegas on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 10:38 PM