A small carving and a Memorial project

Looks really neat. With that two tone just a clear finish would be perfect.
JP

Hey 8 ft, that really is a cool piece. That IS some fine 2-tone work you have going there!

Neat piece...Black walnut smells cool, too, when you carve it, doesn't it?

Wow 8Ft! That took some serious attention, if you went just a bit too deep anywhere on the outer layer you wouldn't get a second chance. I'm impressed and the curve is cool.

That's looking GREAT! You've done a lot in just a weekend! Ya know, it's gonna be like 65 on Saturday! Bet I know what you're going to be doing! Sure wish I could get started on one.

Aloha 8ft Tiki!!!!
That is a very nice tiki that you carved!!
I am enveious that you found that nice wood to carve. Keep having fun carving thats what its all about!
Aloha for now your friend,Mooney!!

The contrasting colors from JUST the wood really make this a unique and special piece.

Add to that the way you managed to "carve with the flow" of the wood, and that's one nice tiki!

Nice nice :)

Nice job on making the different colors work with each other. The way that the colors work with and against each other is abstract in a way. Painters used to use this as a way to distract the viewer from seeing the obvious and to invite the imagination to see what it wanted to see. Art is in the eye.........you know what I mean. Keep up the good work......Alldo

I hear that black walnut is the absolute best for carving and sculpting.
Keep up the good work 8 foot.

Happy New Year one and all! I thank you for the replies to this walnut tiki I am working on now. Since my last photos were added I have done a couple of more details to it. Now all I need is a good weather day for the finishing touches.
The forecast isn't too bad so by the end of the weekend I may have it ready for the installation! Drop in on me again soon for more photos.

Thanks to an unseasonally warm January day I have finished the detail work I was doing and got a couple of coats of sealer on the carving. In order to make the eyebrows show up better I used a walnut stain and then wiped off the excess. For the areas around the mouth, between the teeth and headress I used it full strength and did not remove the excess. This is what gave it the darker look in those places.

OK now here is where I would like your opinions. I thought I might like the look of a headband below the actual headress so while carving I tossed around some ideas on how to achieve this. I concluded that the best way I could do this would be to find a belt and wrap it around the forehead. I knew I wanted something that looked woven and since it is going to be outside in the elements, a synthetic instead of a leather belt. So I checked the thrift stores until I found this black belt. Ever seen a tiki with a black belt? He doesn't have arms or legs so I don't know how dangerous he is as a black belt. Anyway, look at the first photo and the last two and tell me if you think it looks better with or without the headband belt. Thanks, I am looking forward to your opinions. 8FT

It came out very nice. I like all the different color stains. You did a great job with the different colors showing the contrast yet keeping the main grain of the log visible.

As far as the belt goes. It looks good either way!
JP

I have seen rope used so why not a belt. I think it looks good and the over all carving looks awesome.

I called my wife over to check out your pics and we both like your carving without the headband. With the band, from a distance it almost takes on a shriners hat look.

Either way its a killer tiki.

It's a super clean tiki. I say lose the belt, it doesn't need it.

That is wikkid! I agree with AA...I like it best without the belt.

-Gman

That's a cool tiki. It's great the way you used the wood color and stain. I like the whole effect.

That turned out just terrific! LOVE the color variations. It has So much character with it's bends and shading. Great work!

That really turned out AWSOME! It's amazing what you can do with one stain and careful carving! As far as the belt goes, I think I'm leaning toward leaving it off. It hides some of the carving.

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I had added to this thread. I guess going to Coontiki this spring kind of occupied my carving thoughts on a different level. Here is my Benzart lesson piece from that event.

8ft,

Nice to see you back. Where you bean? I love what you did with your Benzart lesson. Good stuff! I can't tell who did what. Will you be starting any other projects soon? We wants to see!

-Gman

Here are some photos of the carving I just finished working on. I started this 18" walnut piece as something to work on indoors as I watched the month-long World cup soccer tournament. Just used the hook knife set I got for Coontiki. I would probably have finished it sooner but my father died three weeks ago and I haven't felt like doing much besides helping my Mother. I do think it was good therapy for me when I finally picked it up again and finished the final steps. I will always think of my Dad when I look at this little carving. I was on vacation at the time so we were working on the landscaping in his backyard during the days and then I watched soccer games and carved on this during the evenings. If you know my signature pictures, you might recognize this tiki. So here is the finished piece.

Dedicated to my Father. Miss you Dad!

Finished carving, Ready for a light sanding.

Paint for the highlights....

Stained and done.

I tried to keep this pretty true to the 8FT version wherever possible and it turned out pretty close. Thanks for checking it out. Aloha, 8FT Tiki

It looks like it's much bigger than it is, you've packed in a heap of detail for a small piece. Is the bigger one it's based on posted earlier in this thread? A lot of the images don't seem to work anymore.
Real sorry to hear about your Dad, looks like he was pretty cool.:(

That's a beautiful Marquesan, 8ft. Your Dad and Ed Crissman are drinking a toast to you together right now, bra.

8Ft, So Sorry to hear about your father. We each only get one of those and they are tough to lose. It's nice that you have something that You made that you can remember him with.
That carving is really Excellent. The colors are Perfect too!
On the Benzart Lesson piece, I'm with Gman it that I can't tell which side you did, Very well done!

Aloha 8 FT. Not knowing your dad, I can look at that picture and imagine what a fine father he is, full of character and good qualities. Beyond that, I can only imagine your loss and feel lucky not to have experienced the loss of a parent just yet. Maybe it was time for you to finish the 8 inch tiki to help you get through it. Whatever the case, it is a fine carving and really reflects its big daddy tiki in a beautiful way.

Take care my friend, and thanks for sharing.

Aaron

That is a nice memorial piece. From the picture of him, it looks like he was at least a little into the tiki scene. You did a great job on it.
JP

hey man that is awsome. the colors work together really well. good work.

and im sorry to hear about your dad. he looked like a good man.

On 2006-08-02 22:08, Paipo wrote:
It looks like it's much bigger than it is, you've packed in a heap of detail for a small piece. Is the bigger one it's based on posted earlier in this thread? A lot of the images don't seem to work anymore.
Real sorry to hear about your Dad, looks like he was pretty cool.:(

I went back and fixed all of the missing pictures in all of my threads that had been moved by shutterfly. Hope you get a chance to go back and see them now. Meanwhile, here is an older shot of the 8FT himself.

Mahalo, 8FT

thanks for fixing all of those! that must have been a huge job(stupid shutterfly)

what a great living room you have there, I love the little shelf to the left of mr. 8'

8Ft, that 8footer really looks great, he looks so Small in your Huge living room!
Did you find an easy way to fix the shutterfly pix, or did you have to all, one by one? It would seem I have a couple hundred to fix.

On 2006-08-26 05:23, Benzart wrote:
8Ft, that 8footer really looks great, he looks so Small in your Huge living room!
Did you find an easy way to fix the shutterfly pix, or did you have to all, one by one? It would seem I have a couple hundred to fix.

Ben, I had to fix them ONE AT A TIME! I knew I should just sit down and take care of it so it really wasn't so bad. I encourage everyone who has a similar shutterfly problem to get the pics up to date here on TC because we all hate the little red x's. :x The only ones I couldn't get back are those which I did not have on shutterfly when our hard drive died. Those are lost forever. anyway, I did the best I could.

After re-posting the photos of our great room I realized I haven't put up any since we redid the room. Here are a few.

First we chose a better color and repainted the walls.

Then we bought 8 rolls of reed fencing 8'x15'which I put on the ceiling. Man it was messy but the old popcorn look is all covered up now WOO-HOO!
The whole transformation took almost 2 months working in the evenings and Saturdays. It really helped to warm the feeling of the room and makes old 8FT look more at home too.

will add some more later

Wow , what a transformation.

Nice job!
I was going to mention how PREFECT that room would be for a tiki transformation, but it occured to me that you might not want to change it. I can imagine all sorts of lamps hanging from that ceiling, it's perfect!

Nice pad 8FT. Kinda scary working up over that staircase, huh? It gives me the creeps just watching ya standing on that board. The big tiki looks great in there.

-Gman

Here's a few more shots.

Wow! How in the heck did you get the reed fencing to stay put without sagging? Didja glue it, staple-gun it, or nail it? And didja have to fire-proof and insect-proof it first?
It looks SOOOO much better than before, which didn't really look bad at all in the first place! :)
Great, wonderful, fantastic job!

Wow, that room looks great! I bet 8ft is much happier there now.

That room is the best place in Kansas City followed distantly by Mill Creek Brewery.
JP

On 2006-08-28 10:33, Tiki Lee's wrote:
Wow! How in the heck did you get the reed fencing to stay put without sagging? Didja glue it, staple-gun it, or nail it? And didja have to fire-proof and insect-proof it first?

Thanks Lee, good to hear from you. We ordered the rolls from a supplier in CA. I didn't anything proof it and I used nothing but a staple gun and over 2000 staples. Let me tell you folks, working over your head is tough when you are holding a 15 foot roll of reed fencing while balancing on a ladder 15 feet above your carpeting. I had to trim the reeds because they were not the perfect width or length to fit between my ceiling beams. So I had to tack the top end and then trim a foot or two off the end, staple it up and then move down and move the ladder and climb back up, get clumsy and drop the scissors, climb down, pick them up, climb back up, run out of staples, climb back down, drop the roll of fencing, re-staple everything that pulled loose while I was trying not to fall...........

After I had completed the first two panels and was getting a rythym going, I stood back and looked up to see that every little staple was gleaming at me like little stars.
So you know what I did? I went back up on that ladder with a little bottle of yellowish craft paint and a brush and I painted every one of those things until they were not visible any more. Then My stupid brain said hey man, why don't you paint the whole bunch of staples before you put them in the staple gun and then they will be painted when they go up? I wish he would have said something earlier but I was very impressed he came up with it at all. So I did just that and saved a bunch of time and frustration.

On 2006-08-28 10:41, JenTiki wrote:
Wow, that room looks great! I bet 8ft is much happier there now.

You're right Jen, he is. In fact WE ALL ARE!

On 2006-08-28 10:48, JohnnyP wrote:
That room is the best place in Kansas City followed distantly by Mill Creek Brewery.
JP

That's quite a comp. JP Thanks and next time you're in the area let me know. You're welcome to stop by any time and we'll hit the brewery too!

Thanks everyone for the nice words. If you want to transform a room, the ceiling is a "fresh canvas".
GO FOR IT !!! 8FT

I just wanted to share this photo with everyone. It was taken by my good buddy Silverline who came to our home with all of his photo equipment and together we set up this shot of the 8FT. The Coon-tiki gang is familiar with it but I hadn't shared on TC so here you go. I like it so much I even added it to my signature!

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8ft tiki 2006-11-12 15:07 ]

That print is Massively awesome 8ft. Very nice. It's hanging in my "gallery", if you can call it that, awaiting the tiki bar I will build someday.

I really like what you did with the ceiling in your living room too.

Excellent piocture from SilverLine and Nice job on the room 8Ft!. The only scary thing was seeing you up on that "Scaffolding" (does OSHA know about this improvement?). Were that me, I would have broken a leg or two as I tend to walk off those things as I'm a klutz from the word go.
What'cha been carving recently, anything?

Well here it is a mere 10 months since Coon Tiki but I am FINALLY finished with my Tiki Diablo Tangaroa Mask assignment. I got distracted with a lot of things and had to set this aside until I could return to it. I may lose some points for turning it in late but at least I finished it instead of burning it!! OK Danny, How'd I do?

After I finished the carving I used my Arbortech wheel to create a concave backside in the half log and reduce the weight of the piece substantially.

I chose the colors to compliment the room and other tiki pieces in there.

Since this is Tangaroa the fishing god of the Cook Islands, I decided to put a fish net with a few cork floats up on the wall behind the mask instead of just hanging it up by itself.

I like it! So... I guess it's time for me to finish mine !?!

Looks great, as does the room make-over :)

COOL. And About time too. Very Well Done 8ft.

Great Finish to a L-O-N-G run!

Is that your actual log from the house, or did you start over like I did? Nice colors, too. Are they wood stains or oil paints or what?

Excellent presentation. 8ft gets a "10"!!!