Post #715573 by amate on Fri, May 2, 2014 6:21 AM

Thanks H10

I tried using a torch on this but lack good technique so he's a bit scorched in spots. 11 inches tall.

The Whale
I wasn’t happy with the way the finish turned out so I just painted him.
This carving can go either of two ways. The first version is for any Melville fans.

“There she breaches! There she breaches!” was the cry…
“Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” - Ahab

The curve on this log suggested it wanted to become a whale. I managed to find a tiki connection but I still consider it folk art…Following is an excerpt from the book THE NATURAL WORLD OF THE MAORI by Margaret Orbell
“Sometimes a special whale would be a guardian spirit. Several of the ancestral canoes were escorted on their voyage from Hawaiki by such whales, and one famous ancestor named Paikea arrived on the back of a whale….. There are many family groups with their own guardian whale. For example, a white whale with a taniko bands around its middle was the ancestral guardian of a family group living on the Coromandel Peninsula; when they glimpsed it in the distance while they were out fishing, they knew it was watching over them”.

The leviathan is 20 inches. I knocked out this little 9 inch Paikea carving just to be safe and tie the whale to the tiki theme.

While on the subject of fish, all of the fins are installed on the Gaff top. I tried some of the TransTint dye but I’ll probably end up painting it as well. I will add the barbels after I mount it on a piece of driftwood. I hope to actually finish this project some day but don’t hold your breath…

[ Edited by: amate 2014-05-02 06:26 ]