Paipo's Stone Tikis - 1st Thread - Jun 06 - May 08

Sweet man!

Ill try and check out that Maori thing if I get a chance

Cheers Tama , Freddie, GMAN, Flynny, Heath and Hewey!
The tiki production line rolls ever onwards...9 days 'til exhibtion deadline, so I'm just going to keep making as many of these guys as I can. I was going to just do contemporary stuff but I'd rather carve tikis, so i'll be doing half and half for this show.
I thought I'd redo the Marq Masq - but bigger and better this time...the #10 Trad. Hawaiian Style guy is on the agenda for completion today too - more to come....

man, that cannibal is incredible! i love the way the teeth came out.

On 2006-09-17 20:52, kingstiedye wrote:
man, that cannibal is incredible! i love the way the teeth came out.

Thanks Bullet - I was just thinking today how much I enjoy doing the teeth. Tamapoutini was over yesterday and he remarked on them too! I've worked out a couple of techniques that give them a bit of depth, even though the carving is only around 1mm deep. Doing the teeth and eyes really puts the spark of life into these guys I reckon.
More progress on #10 - I didn't quite finish this guy because I decided to add a jade inlay, which added a disproportionate amount of extra work. He's pretty much done though, just need to carve the inlay into something cool and do some minor touch-up/sanding:

Paipo, don't you sleep?????
Excellent work yet again.
Regards
Flynny

More great stuff.

Is there any issues with customs sending this overseas (like Australia :) )?

Paipo,

That is just flat out awesome. This one and the cannibal are just off the charts (if there is a chart for pebble carving?) Wikkid stuff you are making man; and I am enjoying watching your work very much. Hopefully one of these days I can score one.

-Gman

Can't wait to see This guy done. Awesome, Unexpected inlay on this guy too!

top stuff paipo!!
although i do get the feeling your slacking off a bit these last few days... try to keep up with the rest of us ok??!!

Paipo, I think you are channeling the spirit of ancients here! I swear, these stones probably get up and stroll the beach, all by themselves at night or luminesce when happy or sad???

YOINKS!!!

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Flynny, I make tikis all day, go to bed thinking about tikis, dream of tikis and then wake up in the morning thinking about tikis again. But I do sleep!

Hopefully we can slip one of these past Aussie customs at some point hewey :wink:

Thanks GMAN, I am putting more and more effort into these guys and I think they've progressed a lot from the first few pieces. I'd be happy to hook you up with your own personal idol some time - let me know when you're ready - and let me know if the shells are OK!

Cheers Benz...I spent a couple of nights going through 100 pages or so of your older stuff the other day...I found it really interesting how similar our methods are in terms of not drawing much but creating most of the design through the tools. I also suffer from "head-dress syndrome", where the tiki looks finished, but somehow you can always find space to add another layer of detail :)

Harro, I think I need to slack off a little...I started getting dizzy working on one of these guys the other day! I wonder if "head-dress syndrome" is a recognised medical condition?

Jonesey, I'm channelling something at the moment - to paraphrase Vincent Vega I'm a "racecar in the red" trying to get enough stuff done for my show. Things are all on track though, and next week I get to relax and recharge.

#10 is finished - the little jade inlay will have a little more detailing, but the tiki is all done. This guy will be one of my first cast limited edition pieces, and will have a range of different inlays to mix things up.

Hey Paipo - dropped in to have a quick look at what you have been up to - great stuff mate - that latest guy is refined! - gotta get back to it no rest for the wicked!

Paipo. Damn! It´s incredibly intense the way you´ve been explaining how you work. I love it! The only thing is that I don´t really have a clue about what it means, the special names of different burrs I mean. Even burr is a new word for me. Kool! We call it borr here in Vikingland. I will take close notice of your next steps, and get inspiration of it all. Tons of respect Mighty Renderer!

Another Incredible one Paipo, save one of those casts for me, Gotta Have it. Truly inspirationable.

Terrific art. Save a cast for me also. Are you going to cast them in material that looks like the original stone?

JP

Ditto, I want one too!

-Gman

me too...

looking great as usual my friend. I still amazes me how much detail you can pull out of a stone. Simply awesome.

Hey thanks Marcus, I'm still hanging to see that Tiki Beat "signature piece" completed. Have you ever thought of carving a tiki drummer pendant?
El Stingray, don't worry too much about the burrs, there's so many of them and they don't even have names, just numbers, so I make them up! I'm digging the output of the Scandinavian tiki crew - it's great to see little isolated pockets of artists around the globe furthering the cause. Here's some "borrs" for ya:

Benz, you'll be right at the top of the list, along with JohnnyP, GMAN and Loki, once I work out how to get a good looking cast. I did a month or two's research before i even took the first mold - good things take time. And yes, I will be trying to make them look like stone and hopefully get some natural texture happening too.

Pretty quiet this weekend - everyone must be out doing cool things. Me, I'm in the workshop for about the 5th consecutive weekend, not that it matters as the weather is abysmal.
I've done some almost enough pieces for my exhibition next week and the hard work will soon be over. I'll post some of the non-tiki stuff when I take the photos in a couple of days, as it is still quite Polynesian/Pacific influenced and may interest some of you.
Today I'm doing a similar piece to #7 "Tuwhitu", as everyone who saw it wanted to know why I wasn't keeping it for my show. He decided to go out and see the world, so his brother is now taking his place. This one will have some subtle differences to distinguish it from the other, but will have the same types of inlay: jasper tongue, cockle shell teeth and paua eyes.

[ Edited by: Paipo 2006-09-24 00:00 ]

I thought I'd get this guy finished in a full day seeing I'd made one already - wrong! Inlays are so labour intensive. Just some minor finishing to do tomorrow and he'll be ready.

That is sooo nice, beautiful work!

ST

Very nice. The red tong sets it off though :)

Looking forward to seeing pics of the other stuff you carved, Im intrigued now. I really dig stuff like Gmans sharks carved in bones and it still fits in with the whole tropical island thing :)

Check'n stonz paipo...#10 Hawaiian clean'n tight! Tuwhitu will be proud to know he has a twin! You gotta promise to take photo's of him at the show...Tuwhitu & Tiki Kaitangata will send photo's skippin' it at Hukilau!! :D

Clean carves mang! Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Wicked! Pure artistry. Love it!

Hey Paipo!
Just got thru only a few pages of this thread and I've bookmarked it for intensive viewing in the future! Incredible! You got a great eye and keen sense of balance,texture,color,and character! Right on! Talent Truly abounds on TC! Thanks for sharing this Amazing body of work!

Great as usual. Alright, you've inspired me. I am going to give carving stone an attempt. I've scratched a bit on a rock after seeing your posts, but now it is time to really try.

JP

[ Edited by: Johnnyp 2006-09-25 13:08 ]

Paipo, More excellent rock work. Got in late last night after driving all day, then had no I-net today. Nice to be able to finally see whats going on and this is great. Love your new guy.

Thanks everyone, coming here has helped me chill out each day after such an intensive stretch of carving. I hope not too many of you guys start stone carving though, otherwise where will I get my fix of big tiki wood carvings? Still, it's cool to see some of the carving crew taking their first steps in stone - now I think Tama and I will have to reciprocate and start busting out some log carvings!
Still got to do the pics of the non-tiki stuff today, but here's the new Maori guy all done. He's not as scary (or quite as good) as the last one:

[ Edited by: Paipo 2006-09-25 16:29 ]

Fabulous! Don't worry, I wont even attempt to try stone carving. :wink: Your work is always so smooth and clean. Look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

Great stuff Paipo!

Yeah, let's see you bust out a 5' log teko carving! I would love to watch your posts/progress. As for me, that little piece of jade you sent me is likely the full extent of my rock carving career :) I had to at least try it.....back to the big cedar Maori guys and bonz for me. Thanks for the rock and the shellz.

-Gman

"The saw is family"

[ Edited by: GMAN 2006-09-25 17:18 ]

finkdaddy, are you coming to NZ? :) cool! ...or, you may be under the impression I'm going to be at Hukilau? Which, as much as I wish were the case, won't be possible this year...but I now have a tiki trip on the US very high on my "things I have to do" list - I just need to sell about another 50 tikis for my airfare! I am going to be "represented" at Hukilau in a very small way however...I am so envious of the scene you guys have - I really enjoy reading the events forums and seeing some of the exhbitions, big nights out and home bar tours.
GMAN, I think that stone piece may be just be the beginning...you just wait and see :wink:

Paipo, It would be SO Cool for you and Tama to make it to the Hukilau, it would be just Awesome. I know you just can't pick up and leave, but maybe we could get something going to get you over here. I'd donate something to be auctioned and I'm sure a bunch might add on to it.That would be.
I'll stop with that talk now as my keyboard is not waterproof and it is covered in Droooll,Oh well!
You guys send me some of your jade cutoffs and I'll send you some cool carving woods.. I think I hear a voice telling me to carve the Greenstone. I've never heard This voice before??? Strange.
More on this later.

I'll have something on its way to you real soon Benz. I'm a man of leisure now for few days at least - if you call sanding floors leisure!
I got all the new work shot, wrapped and sent today - what a relief. Here's a few of the more interesting pieces - I don't want to post too much off-topic stuff. everything in the show will be on my website next week sometime. I have 5 tikis in the show, but they have been well documented in this thread already.

"Suspended Adze", black jade and cold worked glass:

"Suspended Breastplate", same materials:

"Hidden Charms", greywacke and jade pebble:

"Trilogy 1", pebbles and glass:

Magic mate! Good luck with the show... Tama

On 2006-09-26 03:25, Paipo wrote:
I don't want to post too much off-topic stuff.

"Suspended Adze", black jade and cold worked glass:

"Suspended Breastplate", same materials:

"Hidden Charms", greywacke and jade pebble:

"Trilogy 1", pebbles and glass:

These are nice. I don't think they are off topic, they are stylized ornaments based on authentic South Pacific forms. Keep posting.

JP

Hi Paipo
Off topic, my backside. I have just checked out the gallery on your website, wow, i'm absolutely blown away, such contrasts, textures and shapes, keep on postin.
My commitments have prevented me from doing anything over the last three weeks I'm so envious.
regards
Flynny
p.S. how's tang coming along.

Paipo, These are really Stunning! My, My, My, what a bunch of talent you have there grasshopper, and I'm Totally envious. Hope you have a great and Successful Show. I'm Blown away too/again/still. As I sit here shaking my head. You maori boyz gotz it all.

On 2006-09-26 09:20, Benzart wrote:
You maori boyz gotz it all.

You said it Benz...

those are all beautiful, paipo, but something about trilogy 1 really gets me. great work and i wish you much success at the show.

You are truly a master carver! Those last 4 oceanic-inspired designs ar definetely not off-topic! Thanks for sharing those-part of true art is building upon the legacy we are given, and you certainly apply that! Much luck on your show! Don't forget to smile and have fun during it!

Thanks Tama mate...you've been a little quiet this week, I was waiting for some new stuff once you appeared again. I know you've still got a couple of tricks up your sleeve :wink: Hard luck on the modem - I lost 2 living out there in exactly the same circumstances. Occupational hazard on the coast...
JohnnyP and Flynny, thanks, they are definitely inspired by Pacific adornment, as is all my work. My comment was probably more to do with the fact that I make so much contemporary jewellery, and it would be easy to fill this thread with it instead of tikis, which is what we're here for. Tang is a slow-burner Flynny - I know he'll be good when he's done!
Benz and Loki - I think I'm about as Maori as you fellas! Did you see my pic earlier in the thread? Tamapoutini is the real deal, but I'm a mix of Irish immigrant stock (NZ side) and god-knows-what (Australian side)! I have been heavily influenced and inspired by Maori carvers and culture - when I was a teenager some Maori boys I hung out with showed me my first steps in carving. Their Dad had a set-up in the garage where he had painstakingly carved a hei-tiki from jade, along with some bone pieces such as manaia. That was over 20 years ago now....
Bullet, that is one of my favourites too....very tricky to get the cord to bind all the stones into the outer "ring" - a good example of having an idea, and then spending a while problem solving on how to put it together.
littlelostiki, don't worry, I will be having fun alright. Most of my family and old friends live in the city where the show is, and the other carvers in the show are close friends too, so it's going to be a huge get-together and a final opportunity for me to party with my mates before fatherhood!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2006-09-26 14:05 ]

Thought I'd post the results of my first foray into moldmaking and casting. The first couple went horribly wrong, but with a little thought and care things worked out much better. It's a nice dark grey that is close to the original stone colour, with a paua inlay:

Great cast man! I spied the pic and wondered why you were just reposting it. Then I read the words - awesome, and you definitely hit your mark of having it look like stone.

The 'non-tiki' pendants are great too :)

Yes, this Is an Excellent cast. Except for the Paua inlay, I would have thought it was another pic of the original. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it, it Must be right.

Paipo,

Let us know when these will be available. This one looks great. How did you do it?

-Gman

What's the cast material Paipo? Just in case you're working it out by yourself:

I used to make rockclimbing handholds using sand, portland cement, epoxy resin and a plasticiser. The cement is barely wet. Using cement means less resin is required, giving a less plastic feel. Commercial manufacturers use aluminium powder (whatever it is they use in hebel blocks) to aerate the mix, but a concrete entraining plasticiser can do the trick to give lots of small air pockets (small air bubbles stop it from feeling like plastic). Your work might be too fine for air bubbles, I'm not sure. After the hold was set, I'd give a light wipe with resin remover to etch the surface film away. This too might not be appropriate for your work.

I couldnt give exact proportions I'm afraid as its been too long, but only use as much resin as you need to make it strong enough for the job. Theres nothing worse than climbing holds that feel like plastic, I suppose the same would be true for pendants.

I havent done it for 10 years and there might be better backyard techniques by now. What you posted looked good anyway.

Well, I'm back from my trip away for the exhibition opening, which went very well. I had a few presales and some more on the night, but it was best just to hang out with the crew and get some feedback from the public. I'm not sure how the tikis will go in the NZ gallery environment, but the contemporary stuff is walking out the door!

Thanks hewey, Benz and GMAN. G, these guys will be ready soonish, I just need to fine tune the casting process, and I want to try handpainting a couple as well. Once they look right and I can figure out the costing I'll give everyone who's expressed interest a heads-up. As for process, it's fairly straightforward - just making a rubber mold from the original and mixing and pouring the resin - easy to find out the basics and get the supplies, much harder to work out how to get the colour and finish you want.

Tim, welcome to TC, and thanks for making your first post an informative and helpful one. Where's Gundaroo? I'm pretty well-travelled in Aussie (just quietly I'm one myself!) but haven't heard of it.
Regarding your method, I think it would probably be too thick for the detail I need to get when casting - I need the resin to have very high viscosity to get into the fine details of the carving. It would probably be fantastic for bigger sculptural pieces though. I did try sand, but it just settled in one place because the resin was so thin. I guess some sort of super fine ground stone powder might work, but I've actually got a pretty good stone look just using dyes. The two castings that were worn at the opening the other night were mistaken for stone originals by everyone who saw them. They are light and plastic feeling to touch, but I figure if you want it all you may as well get an original!

Paipo,

Congratulations on a good show and the sales! I'm sure it is great to be around people/friends who have devoted their life to similar pursuits as well as receive positive feedback from the public. I'm glad you are back. I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your contempoary designs as well as your graywacke tiki pebbles. I hope you continue to post your non-tiki, or tiki-influenced contemporary work. Also, what is the status of the jade pieces you started a while back? One of them was a hei-tiki remake of your "Traveler."

-Gman