BENZART's Carvings Second original thread

Moko indeed. You bring them to life sir. Sweeeeetness Ben!

Benzart you Rule!!!!

Yo Benzo!!!!!

Nice Chrome!

I like your shoes too!!

Arrrr!!

Wow Ben, I'm totally blown away by your stuff. I'm new here, just started looking through these threads. Being one of the resident guru's on this site, I have a question for you. I've noticed that just about everybody's larger pieces are made out of various kinds of palm which I know is the traditional wood. Are there any rules (for purists) against using western red cedar that you know of? That is the preferred carving wood up here in the N.W.

Keep up the inspiration, Thanks, Mike

Nice work Benz - noone is ever gonna steal that truck!

YEah Rodeo, Just what I Need, a tattoo Machine to really put me way over the edge. I'd be divorced and homeless and al my friends would have no skin left and and, well where can I get one of those things cheap?? Thanks Rodeo
Yes GMAN, I am totally nutz but I'm happy nutz. It's nise here and I'll save you a seat.
Tipsy, Yess, it's Amazing what a little bit of color will do to ones face. He really needed that, Thanks.
Thanks McTiki, all I do is carve them,they come alive all on their own, and if they misbehave? Well, they won't be in My house for very long!
Spermy, Thanks, Me rule? Not at all, it is this MAori that rules. He's Always tellin me wjhat to do,"fix this, fix that, a bit off here and don't go too deep over there and .." "Shut the F** up will ya'" I says to him.
And Big Mahalos to the RevBambooBen, Only you could find My shoes in that picture and show them to the rest of the world! I'll send you those shoes if you want??
Mykee, thanks for the props. As for types of wood, as you rummage through these carving pages, you will find just about every type of local wood represented here . The big key is Free wood.There is nothing wrong with carving tikis in any kind of wood you can find. Palm is usually very plentiful and Very Soft for carving, Usually you can get your tiki done pretty fast in Palm. Cedar should be fairly soft too though. I think that if you had palms growing more up there, you would see more palm tikis.
Thanks Hewey, and you are right about that. With this watch dog around, nobody is gonna steal Nutthin!

Here is a small update from yesterday.

VERY trippy! You ARE loving this burner aren't you? It's given your work a whole new dimension. I hope you still plan to use the liner on some others though? Thanks for the pics today :) I need my Benzart fix at least every third day. Killer stuff!

-Gman

The detailing looks so great Ben!
I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!

This guy is looking fantastic. What I'm having a hard time coming to grips with is how the Moko is taking more time than the carving. Because the figure is excellent and the lines just make this piece a classic.

Big Benzart #10 in his new home at Forbidden Island:

He really pops by the front door!

Mahalo, Ben!

You must have the patience of a saint, all that incredible detail on top of incredible detail.
JP

On 2006-05-30 13:05, JohnnyP wrote:
You must have the patience of a saint, all that incredible detail on top of incredible detail.
JP

That is why he is BenzArt

Cool post martiki!

Wow man - awesome

What planet are you from? That skill aint human...

GMAN, Thanks, Yes I still will use the v-liners and Yes I love this new tool in some ways and I dislike it in some ways. It definitely slows down the Moko, at least in this Palm wood. The hard strands don't like to burn and the soft cells inbetween Love to be burned, so you really have to be careful. Thanks
Thanks Bete and yes I had a very nice Memorial day weekend, except that it was not long enough.
Aloha, the burner is just a lot slower than the v-liner for carving the Moko. Thanx for the kind words.
Martiki, Thanks Big Time for posting that great picture of # 10. He looks Very Happy there. I wish I could come out and visit, as the Forbidden Island looks to be an Excellent looking tiki bar. Big Mahalos.
JohnP, actually I have very Little patience, but thanx anyway.
Loki, thanks. I enjoyed meeting your father-in-law. Thanks for the day, it was excellent.
Hewey, I'm from the planet Florida. We do things diffrent around here, haven't you noticed Yet??
Thanks..
Didn't carve at all yesterday as I was doing house repair work on the windows. I try to do one window and carve a little the same day, but it doesn't work out that way all the time. Today I'll make up for it if I can get moving.
MAhalos to all you Peeps who keep me going, Much appreciated!

Ben, yeah, I hear you on the holiday weekend not being long enough, I feel like I didn't get to do anything I wanted, I have so much to do still and I was hoping to get so much more accomplished over the wekend, oh well, at least it was a fun one!

Finally finished with the carving on #12. I will start applying the poly tomorrow.



















Now I can finish the little squirt, but I am going to keep this one in a bit more suspense so you won't see pic's every day, Maybe.

Bloody awesome Ben. The suspense of seeing this one come to life has been killin me! Thanks for the words of praise, I am very humbled by this and if I am having a bad day will only need to view those words as a pick me up and inspiration from such a master as yourself.

Benz,

Great work. I know that contraption must be tough to use. I can't wait to see him all done. I bet you can't wait for him to be done and gone! Good luck on the little(r) guy. I'll be waiting to see pics of him........

-Gman

frig thats good!!! but it kind of scares me. If I walked around a corner in a dim tiki bar half bamboozed and seen this guy I would probably piss my pants out of fear. Then I would admire the amazing detail, after I cleaned myself up of course. :)

Who are you calling a little squirt????

"Check out the big brain on Brad!" (Line from Pulp Fiction? I can't remember.)

Those guys are too much... They're GRREEAAATTT!

Every one you do is better than the last. Your skilz are off the curve and you are leaving us totally wallowing in the sawdust.
JP

Thanks Marcus, these guys have been a bit drawn out it seems, thanks for the kind words. You gonna do a couple more Maoris soon?
GMAN, thanks. The contraption is not difficult to use, it's just slow, but I am very happy with what it does.
Keigs, Thanks, this guy Would be a bit scary to meet in a dark alley. Don't let him sneek up on you.
Oh Hi Hiltiki.. You know,, the other, not so big guy. Actually he is a Big little guy.
Thanks Tgap, Brads big brain barely bothers his big brother Bobby, it runs in the family.

Wow...such fine, fine work. MAXIMUM RESPECT!!!

I always want to check out your work because I'm always floored all over again. Brilliant!

As always, Looks great. One day you will get around to carving a neckless for me..... You should come up for the Luau

MAhalo, Honutiki, Much appreciated!
Pappy, Thanks, though I Hate to see you spending so much time on the floor.
Thanks Thanatos, Soon.
Here is the LAst update for # 12. He has a Mahagoney stain and 1 coat of poly so far. He needs about 4 more coats and a plywood backing. Looks like he will be leaving home by the end of this week (sniff,, )

Ben this thing is bad to the bone. The poly just makes eveything jump out. It makes me just sit and stare...

So what can I say...ah....well I can't put it into words.
Oh yea....happy happy happy.
This is one of the greatest!

Jeeze! I quit! NO fair!

-Gman

I'm flabbergasted. Amazing isn't a strong enough word.

ben, i don't know what else to say except that is freakin' incredible! great job!

oh, i did think of one thing to say: thank you for all the pics of your progress on this amazing piece.

Benzart man i am just amazed by your work. i emailed you like 2 days ago and decided to sign up as a member. i am now trying different techniques and styles for my carvings. i am now on my fourth one.
man how do you get those mad swirls in your creations??
keep the pictures comming.

...well done!!!! way super cool, ben!!! can't wait to see him in his new home......

Benzo!!!

You are a Freak of Nature!!!!

In a 20 fold way!!!!!!

INSANE!

I just cant get enough....

It just doesnt get any better.
His face is so smooth and clean for palm. Looks like mahogany...That guys tats look like the real mccoy.

Absolutely amazing Ben.

we're not worthy.....

Benzart for President!!

Ben, that turned out so great with those color differences you used, it's such an awesome piece!

Too much, too much, too much. I look at your carvings in wonder, and my mine start looking like firewood.
JP

TikiGee, Gee I'm glad you like him, don't stare too long. Thanks.
Conga, Thanks to you too, your words are great and you sound Happy. I agree,I think this is my best Maori so far, but don't forget the little big guy coming up, he is gonna be a little killer I think. Thanks.
GMAN now Why would you want to go and quit? We Need you and your carvings too. I am just One little pea in the pod, theres a Lot more than just me, Thanks.
MAtt, thanks for trying to find the right word, Much appreciated..
Kingstiedyethanks to you also for the kind words. I think you guyz are stretching it a bit, but I'll take it! Thanx! Oh and you're Welcome.
TikiDuddy, Big time Welcome to Tiki Central. We're VEry Happy to have you as a new member. New carver, Praising all the right peeps, bying toolz, ,,Member in good standing, Thanks.
Tipsy, I'm So Glad you like him since you will be seeing a whole lot more of him in the near future. Thanks for the praise, this has been a super special projectand a big learning piece for me. I went out on a few limbs here and hopefully all will be well. Thanks So Much.
To The Other Ben here, I say a Big Mahalo, you know just the right words to say to Light my fire, you make the daddy proud. As long as I'm not near as insane as you are, then I'll be great, however, I think we are both booked on the same flight to where ever it is they go. Really, thanks for stopping and speaking yer mind. Aaarrr!!
MonkeyMAn, Coming from you who caeves the best picture frames in the world, I enjoy that as a real compliment and unless your lyin thru yer teeth,I'm very HappyHAppyHAppy, Thanx.
GMAN Thanks, but I have more bushes to beat around before I can run for Prez.
Bete, Thanks, the colors were minute and I was hoping they would notovershadow everything else, MAhalo.
JohnnyPgood? (that didn't come out right?)Thanks, but we will not have any firewood talk. My woodcarvings will burn just as quick as yours. You of all carvers should know better.Thanks again
Thanks to Everyone who has posted here and made my carvings worth while to do. There are dayz that I just don't feel like carving and reading comments like these get me krunked up and ready to go.HappyHappyHappyyyyyyy

Thats awesome man! Love it. Dont know how you can bear to part with something like that

On 2006-06-05 20:15, hewey wrote:
Thats awesome man! Love it. Dont know how you can bear to part with something like that

I know!! i know!!!!......it's called money...it makes it real easy to part with anything!!

plus the fact that ben has an endlessly creative well from which to draw new ideas from and shows no sign of drying up anytime soon....gotta keep movin' forward, right ben??

Please forgive the adoring fan speak.

Ben, I adore the detail you have put into #12, especially the vivid facial expression. You have an amazing ability to "breath life" into your carvings.
#12 has this exciting energy about it. That primal ferociousness. It captures the warrior enciting fear, ready for the kill.

Excellent work. You have plenty to crow about in this piece alone. Well done.

Awesome work Ben - he turned out fantastic! the more you do the more I get hooked - whats next?

Holy Crap! You carved reflections into his pupils!?! Just when I think you've gone OVER the top, you raise the bar!

LOVE the stain and finish!