Davez-tikiz - finally finished Lono 6-11 p.10

Nice! You're right - that would make a killer pool cue rack.

Dang DB! You're cruising now. I like it. Are you going to do #2 the same way or change it up a bit? Those hot rod tools are a real help aye?

-Gman

Nice work on that one. And a really cool old-school Santa Cruz behind it!

Doubravsky-
Sweet little girl, before you know it she will be taller than that fine Tiki you just finished. I really like the way you finished it also.
What tools are you using on those twins??
Moon

Loki... thanks... I like the golden pecan stain with the lacquer combo. Gives it a nice tone...

Aaron.. thanks! I'll post a pic of them in place when the youngertwin gets done..

G... the plan is for identical twins.. they should be pretty close (hopefully). Yup, that power chisel really speeds things up!

Turbo... you like the board eh? I've had that sucker since about 1985.. (shows how much I use it since the deck is still unbroken!)

Moon.. thanks! She is a great girl. I used.. 1) chainsaw to split the log, 2) arbortech power chisel to carve most of it, with a minigrinder to cut the guide lines.

DB, Looks great. Looks like you are getting along with that power chisel pretty well. It Really can move some wood can't it? Nice.

Twin # 1 looks the goods. Cant wait to see the other matching one

That two tone look is growing on me a lot! I need to start looking for power chisels, you've done a lot in a short time.
JohnnyP

Yeah i like that board. are you the owner of the other one aswell??
Take it easy with the Santa cruz, you don´t find them easily in these days

Well, since got the 5 Henry Taylor chisels I wanted for Christmas, and a piece of 2x8 Cherry wood.. it's time to try a Maori face.Thisone is straight out of The Art of Maori Carving. There is a step-by-step demo piece... Here is the work so far:

So far it's primarily a couple straight chisels, and a 1/2" medium gouge. I don't have much time in with chisels, so it's slow going. Another growth opportunity!

Doubravsky, the Makin's are All there for an excellent Maori face and you will learn about all those chisels on this one.

Here aremy latest efforts...

a yipwon I've been playing with. It's from a 2x8 piece of cherry about 24" long... nearly done.

and a Lono I've been kind of laying with for a long time. He's 7' tall from Mexican Fan palm. I started him with a saw.. then switched to hand chisels after cutting the headress and some arm guide cuts. The rest has been by hand...

Sorry for the flash... it washes it out quite a bit.

Imade the deadress cuts too shallow towards the head... butI think when I make the cuts up there I can work around it.

hey doubravsky....I love the yipwon...I think that style of stuff is really cool....
I thought of attempting one of those...but now I don't have to cuz yours is gonna be so
nice. Good start on the other projects too.

DB,

That yipwon looks real cool..and fragile. Your Ku looks neat too. Get busy son! Are you still using all your new tools?

Good job on the yipwan. How did you cut it out? I've used a jigsaw, but it seems like the saw is violently shaking the board to the point that it will break off those projections.
JP

DB,
The Yipwon looks real nice, I'm sure it was scary cutting those angles and tight places. Glad to see you have been busy in your absence. Welcome back.

Conga.. thanks.. I like the PNG stuff as well. Looking at JohhnyP's stuff and some sites from Gman made me wanna try one.

Gman.. I'm tryin! Seems like life has been getting in the way of carving WAY too often lately! Actually, on the yipwon I use the arbortech a lot. Bought a scrolling jigsaw to make the big cuts. 2" was a little too much wood for this piece.. I think for the next one I'll start with a 1x8 piece instead.

For the Hawaiian piece.. I've kind of stuck to hand chisels. Trying to improve my skills with them.

JohnnyP, Loki.. Thanks!!! I used a jigsaw, but I bought a new one that was 6 amps and scrolling, then I clamped the crap out of the wood. My old 3.2 amp jigsaw was shaking it up pretty good. It worked ok... I think partly because it was 2" deep wood...which makes for more removal than necessary.

Really nice Yipwan, DB, what finish are you going to use? The lono looks like he may be cool too, but he has a long way to go. Excellent work though. Don't let that "Life" thingy get in the way of your carving.

Exellent advice Ben! I haven't figured the finish yet.. I'm thinking a dark brown stain, and then maybe sand and stain some more for the aged look. Sort of the way Marcus Thorn aged the profile Cook Island fisherman piece. I really liked that look. Any suggestions?

Well... some progress in the last few weeks....

However... I need some advice!! When I first started this thing months ago,I started by making some deep saw cuts where I thought the arms would go. Problem was, I got them wrong. They are too far forward, and I'm trying to find a way to fix it.

Any suggestions? I think I should try to taper in the arms towards the neck, and try and thin the torso out after that, but I'm struggling with it,...

Help!!!!!

DB,

Glad you're back! He looks great....what are you all worked up about. Keep going, I don't think he looks "off". But if you are still concerned, take a frontal pic and a side pic from further back (showing the whole carving) and post those. It's tough to see what's going on from these shots. From what I can make out, I think he looks fine.

-Gman

I think he looks just fine the way he is too - but if you decide you want to change the arms, you still have quite a bit of wood in that area to work wih. My advice is to scour TC for pictures (new pics and vintage ones) that show tikis from various angles so you can see how other carvers have done it. Then, once you figure out what you're looking for, study the images closely and see the shape of the arms, how far down the body they go, where the top of the arms attach, etc. and mimic that. Whenever I carve, I always have a ton of images around me so if I get stumped and can't see how a chunk of wood is supposed to be an arm, I look to the pictures for inspiration.

Hope that helped a little
The carving is looking great! can't wait to see more!

Poly, thanks for the great idea... I'm working on a scrapbook of sorts with good body part examples from this forum. In the meantime, I got bored with this one and started another one- he is about 32" from a redwood log Aaron traded me. I'm having fun with him...

I'm about to where it's time to do the arms... which is where the frustration sets in. Can anyone share with me the steps they would go through to create the separation in the arms? I really want to have the muscle arms flexed out at the elbow.. just not sure where to start.

DB,

Feel the Force running through your body...it controls all of your movements - If that doesn't work use a chainsaw. :)

I'm not sure what you mean - I think you want his hands on his thighs with his elbows out away from his body? Is the log wide enough to give you the elbows? If so, I would use a drill, a sawzall, and an angle grinder. Just get the picture in your head and then make the log look that way. If the log is not wide enough to allow space between the elbows and his trunk, shape the arms against the body with his hands on his thighs. Maybe make them similar to the left arm on my newest Maori, only with his hands on his thighs?

-Gman

-Gman

Thanks G.... (feel the force....).. I would like to get the elbows away from the body hands on thighs. ..Just can't seem to get it figured out in my head where to start.. do I drill in where the hole by the elbow is and work up and down, do I try to bring the shoulders in further to help create the angle out to the elbows.. do I chisel in on the torso to create the spacebeween the elbows.. I don't know why, but it's the one spot I just can't seem to visualize no matter how many good examples I look at.

Dave, it's hard to get these things into words. Isn't it great how carving screws with your head??? that's what makes it all the more satisfyng once you overcome the problem, or as is usually the case, series of problems. You gotta love it!

Looking at your pictures, I'd say you need to move the hands away from the sides, over to where they rest on his thighs. Don't move the shoulders in - you want broad shoulders if you are going for a muscley look. I think there's plenty of wood left to do that. The chest also looks plenty beefy with lots of room for refinement.

Work on the arms first, because that is your hard spot right now, and once you get them right, they will dictate the other surrounding elements, and not the other way around. I think it will work itself out that way.

As far as drilling, I've found out the hard way that it is always best to use a long, small diameter bit to run a pilot hole first. That way you can adjust if it comes out in the wrong spot. Once it comes out right, you can switch to the larger wood boring bit.

Another good rule of thumb is to draw your lines out first, but leave an extra 1/4" or so around them when you make the cuts. Then you can chisel in closer and define muscles, etc after you get the rough proportions in.

This Ku looks right on target so far - sure to be a killer piece.

4 weeks off with mallet elbow & I'm full of good advice... I think I better get get carvin' again. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cheers!

Aaron

He is Really looking good. Just take your time and keep working it out. Take a little here and a little there and soon you will see things begin to come together. You are on the right track, I Promise.

listen to aaron (especially his leaving extra space tip) and everyone else.

When I carve my bigger tikis I only use chisels, so my advice will refer to my technique. Powertools may offer you other options.

I'd carve the shape of the arms first. After you have the shape of the arms down, you can do a through cut to separate the arms from the body - but make sure you have the basic shape of the arms already done. Once you have the shape of the arms down, you can start adding details, like muscles and curvature to the limbs.

most importantly, just carve. It will come eventually and they'll never look perfect to you.

Ben... thanks! I am enjoying working with something different than palm..

Aaron.. you're right.. totally screws with your head! Thanks for the advice. I drilled a little tonight.. I'll start on the arms tomorrow. I was kind of trying to remove everything around them so there would be nothing left but arms.. I think Gman was right in that there is not enough diameter to really bring out the elbows. I'll try moving the hands to the thighs.. it might be too late for that.

Thanks again... keep the suggestions coming!

DAve

progress little by little. Got slowed down quite a bit by the tattoo. Here's the latest. The arms are a liitle more defined. Hard to tell... the pics were with flash so they washed out some.

Still a struggle. Can't wait until the day when I can see the stuff in the log better and attack it in a quicker way.

I was looking for the tattoo on this tiki till I saw your other thread. Great tattoo by the way! If I had mine to do all over (common lament I'm sure), they would all be black tribals (no color). We will have to compare notes - that polynesian tattoo place sounds interesting.

Back to this thread, the Ku looks good, nice progress. You have left plenty of extra wood for more definition later. I see that huge Lono standing guard still in the back (Folks, I saw this one in person - it's an amibitious project to say the least!).

Nice work Dave, se ya in the backwoods of Tennessee.

Aaron

Thanks, Aaron, appreciate the kind words! See ya in Tennessee!

Doube, really looking great. I Love what you are doing, even though you have to "Work it out" . I'm Still the same way, I have to work it until it looks right. I'm not one of these guys (like Marcus) who just throws on a few lines and whacks at it a few minutes and then have this Perfect Body. Legs, arms, chest and All. I HATE those guys. Not really, I just hate not being able to do that.
Also I Love your garage, it looks a lot like mine with tools put away Exactly where you would need them. No sense in putting tools where they Are not gonna be used, like a tool box or anything like that. COmfortable woork space, Love it.
Like that big old Lono too standing around waiting his turn. Careful lest he runs out of patience..
Tenn Here we come.

Ben, I love it when you say that! There's hope for me yet... but then again, if you still do it that way, hmm.....

You're right, the tools are right where I need 'em! And once every couple of months I clean up whether it needs it or not!

Lono has been real patient so far.. he gets ignored for a month, then worked on every night for a while, then ignored. Hope he doesn't get irritated, cause he's a lot bigger than me!

I think you are off to a great start and are closer than you think. For me anyways, I don't know about anybody else, this is point of the carving process where I really get discouraged. As Benzart says, just keep going, it will come.

People can actually see what is in the log?
JP

Well, I finally finished something! Here is a Yipwon... from PNG. "The book" says they used to splash the blood of their vanquished enemies on these guys! It's about 2 1/2 ft. tall... cherry wood. I used the .... oh, wait a minute... (what is learned at Coontiki stays at Coontiki) I used asecret process passed down in secrecy from the revered Basement Kahuna to gived it an aged look. How'zzzat?

Here it is on the wall....

very cool Dave...looks like some of those coontiki skills are starting to show up. I
have always dug the Yipwon's....or at least "always" since I have been into Polynesian
art.

A Yipwon is on my wish list. I had not thought of mounting it that way on the wall. Here is a picture of a bunch of them I wish I had bought, which were about 8 feet tall. All in a line would have been cool.

DB,

That looks sweet! Now let's splash some blood on it!

-G

hmmmm..... I dooooo have this neighbor.....

:tiki:

oK... so I also finished this Ku made with some redwood Aaron traded me..... he's about 2 1/2' tall. Had a lot of trouble with the brittle sapwood... next time I'll choose a simpler design with this wood. It's a Merlot stain.

Nice work, Double-D!

The big question, though: Why aren't you carving some one of a kind Tiki taps for your kegerator?!?!

Kapu... funny you should say that... here's from last night...

it's a podocarpus branch... we'll see how it turns out...

Dave, You are really getting a lot done since the seminar. I like that you are using different types of wood. I like to see what you are doing with woods I don't have here. Kepp the pics coming!!

Hey Dave, I like the way that Ku came out! BTW, I think I know which neighbor you're talking about...

A-A

Conga ... thanks.. I love the yipwons too... plan to do two or three for that wall...

Swank... those Yipwons were cool! Where were they from?

8ft.. thanks... I started several projects before the seminar.. just started getting around to finishing some of them.

Aaron, thanks! and thanks for the wood... it was nice to work with. So different from palm!

On 2006-04-23 22:06, doubravsky wrote:
Swank... those Yipwons were cool! Where were they from?

That was from the guy I got my other New Guinea stuff from. If I had the money, I'd have way too much of that stuff....