Tiki Carving Men - How Do Your Wives Deal With It?

I've had a little carving lesson from ChikiTiki and now I'm yearning to buy my chisels and start carving.

My question to all the men who have taken on this calling; How do your spouses deal with this time-consuming hobby?

My wife and I are great about giving each other space and free time to pursue our own interests - I go garage-saling with Doctor Z on Saturday mornings, run a little E-bay business on the side, and attend plenty of Tiki events. She takes classes at night and goes Karaoke-ing with her friends. However, if I take up carving an hour or so a day and my quality time with her suffers, or the household repairs/renovations start getting pushed back, I can imagine some friction developing.

I could just say; "Me Man. Must carve Tiki! It is my Destiny." and forge on ahead with it, but I'd like to hear how you other married carvers deal with it. Is it really an issue in the household? What about getting through those first 3 or 4 tikis until they start looking good enough that she is actually impressed with your work? What am I letting myself in for, fellas?

Sabu

I cannot wait for Lake Surfer to get in on this topic. By the way Sabu, I have a set of Chisels that you can have if you want, I learned quick I am a better carver in my mind then in reality.

Sabu, Invite your lovely to check out your progress and stop frequently for refreshments with her. When I am carving, Mrs. 8FT usually pops out to see how I'm holding up. Offering beer or band aids depending on whether I am dripping sweat or blood. I get good feedback on how the carving is progressing that way. Have fun!

Do you have enough workspace that she could be working on something there at the same time? Ideally, it would be great if the carving was something you could actively do together, but that may not be what you or her want... but are there other workshoppish activities that she's wanted to try her hand at that she could be tackling there, too? Sure as hell beats night after night spent in front of the boob tube!

Humuhumu's point is very valid. Make your creative time somthing complementery to her being creative...if you can.

Often this ability is no workable

I find for me to spend time alone, I often have to bargan for it, and often am not allowed it.

It never hurts to embrace her worst fears...bring home a book of Mormon, or some amputee midgit porn, or something that will get her attention, but....for her...set it aside, for your new love...Tiki Carving.

Hope it works...

tables are turned in my household. My nontiki loving husband is watching the tube non stop, while i am on TC 24-7 doing whatever we Tcers do best. Otherwise I go to all the swapmeets, on weekends.The rest of the time I go to the TC parties. I dont know, ...... any nontiki loving husbands who could guide me in the right direection???????

My wife is usually supportive of my hobby (not that yrs ain't)...but there is a problem with my carving due to our different work shifts.

I'm home from work around 10pm and she's already asleep. If I start carving while she's still half-awake, I'll wake her with the pounding of the mallet and the whirring of the dremel and sander. Unfortunately, my workspace is right below the bedroom.

Thankfully, I'm not permanately on this shift.

My question to all the men who have taken on this calling; How do your spouses deal with this time-consuming hobby?

Carve naked!

The novelty of carving naked eventually wears off, and the splinters can be serious. My wife does a lot of horseback riding, which usualy keeps her out of my hair. The cost of it even keeps her guilty enough so that she doesn't complain about the wood chips and sawdust on the patio. Though I recommend trying to steer your spouses towards a less costly hobbies.

At first the my wife just humored me , as it took weeks to carve my sad first attempt. Then she realized it was only going to get worse and I was a tiki addict. So we came up with some ground rules: i have to clean up my mess, and vacuum the house more as sawdust tracks everywhere.
I can get as much wood as i want aslong as there is space for the cars in the garage at the end of the day. The purchase of tools shall be discussed (same rule applys to her with shoes).
So far I have broken every rule at least once, and more than one rule at a time.
Ah I see you got new shoes , so off to the house of tools i go .
Have fun and try to involve her, i did that and it works good so far.

Oh yeah , if your going to play with fire dont tell her in advance.

Sabu I have some of the same rules as rodeotiki, and I share my carving space with my wikes daycare space in the backyard. I do my carving after the kids are gone and my wife said that I'm more relaxed after carving (I drive a truck during the day). The very best thing about carving tikis is Nurse Tiki(my wife)like my work and tells me if it good or bad.