TikiGap's thread - Tiki 20 and other travels - Page 22

Damn,,Murphy's law strikes again! Sorry to see that after all that work. Chalk it up to more lessons and cover that one Spot!.

Just a note to add to the sanding thingy. Same as sharpening cuisels, if you move on to the higher grits before the tool is sharp enough, all you will be doing is Polishing a dull tool, or in the case of sanding, you will be polishing those scratches. I think we ALL have done it. How many times have any of you finished a piece and put the first coat of varnish or whatever on and had those ugly scratches show up like a sore thumb.
On to the Next bat before you go Batty.
I was very familiar with that Bamboo piece, my pleasure!.

On 2006-12-31 12:05, tikigap wrote:
Damn! I have a totally padded floor in my shop - except for one little spot. I dropped the stone bat today - right on that spot.

Maybe 2007 will be better. NOT!

Oh, sorry TG, happened to me last week, Painful, my condolences....

Amy

Gap, sorry 'bout your bat but at least it wasn't you that fell and got broken! I broke something that way once after waiting weeks for it to arrive from Japan. Since then I always open my packages ON THE CARPETED FLOOR. BEtter luck on the next piece. Your friend 8FT

Thanks for the condolences, everyone.

Benz - so correct - I now know that lesseon all too well - on to the next bat!
Queen K - sorry to hear about your recent loss too. I guess I should prepare for more of those.
Buzzy and Foamy - I does just go that way sometimes - I'll keep tellin' myself that!

Thanks again!

Greg

D'oh... That was a super cool bat.. So sorry to hear that happened..

There has been too many broken carvings in the last couple weeks. What did we do, which tiki god did we offend?

Sorry about that, It looks like you had a ton of time into it.

JP

Thanks Capn & Johnny - I actually epoxied the bat back together - and packed it away with the xmas tree ornaments. I don't have a picture before the breakage, but he polished up pretty nicely.

I was just getting ready to put some shell eyes in and a couple of microscopic bone fangs in his mouth when I dropped him.

But now, it's time to move on, I guess. Maybe next xmas I'll stick the decorations on him. Thanks for the comments and consolations.

Bat Tiki Lives!

Ka-Pow! Ooof! Splat! Crash!

Sorry to hear of the breakage Batman... Glad he will have his ressurection next Xmas. Chalk it up to experience (not that there's much to be learned from dropping a piece, Im sure you were already aware that it is an unadvisable action) & welcome to the Butter-fingers Club.

(I have TWO layers of carpet directly under my workbench; hard won experience!)

Chin up, there are plenty of more rocks out there! Hope this doesnt discourage.

Tama :)

thanks TTT -

Naw - hasn't discouraged me. I just covered up the bare spot on the floor with lots of padding - maybe it's less likely to happen again. Maybe we should all be doing this stuff in a padded cell (READ: Looney Bin) :wink:

Glad to be a member of the club (I think!?).

Thanks again!

Now don't laugh too much!

I'm playin around with this serpentine stone and watching Tama closely.
I got the rough out... now the hard part -
sanding...
sanding...
and more sanding...

Jade it aint. But it's free! (Not that I'd waste jade on my stuff yet)

[ Edited by: tikigap 2007-01-05 08:24 ]

tG, this is nothing to laff about. Smile maybe, HappyHappyHappy

Your new piece is looking good. Sorry to read about the bat. You are now a member of a very large club. The "I Dropped It And It Broke, Waah!" club.
:)

Nice one Tgap.

I admire your adventuresness in tackling these smaller projects; most newbie-stoners tend to work very large/heavy to begin with & 'lighten up' as confidence is gained. You seem to have an instintive feel for what a stone/design can handle (when undropped of course!)

Im holding my breath for you - lets see this one safely finished!

Rock on! Tama :)

Thanks a lot you guys - and Thanks especially to Tama for guidance. This is fun stuff!

Hei Tiki done...finally!

My own observations on the first attempt at one of these:
I learned that this kind of guy should be hung from the arm. Well I didn't realize that at first, so he's top heavy. He's short because of a bad choice of stone stock. I'm surprised it came out as ok as it did... next one will be with better stone.

Criticism welcome...

[ Edited by: tikigap 2007-01-09 20:17 ]

On 2007-01-09 20:03, tikigap wrote:
Criticism welcome...

Outstanding!

On 2007-01-09 20:03, tikigap wrote:
I learned that this kind of guy should be hung from the arm. Well I didn't realize that at first, so he's top heavy. He's short because of a bad choice of stone stock. I'm surprised it came out as ok as it did... next one will be with better stone.

Criticism welcome...

*Not a criticism, but...

there are two main 'types' of Maori Hei-tiki: the earlier style was indeed hung from the armhole, but is quite a different shape to the one you have here; which is a pretty decent rendition of the 'upright' version, whose suspension hole was discreetly drilled at the top of head.

There doesnt look to be quite enough room for a hole in this guy (has happened to me Many times!!) so Id leave as is.

Well done! Tama :)

TGap, I believe you really did a Nice job on this guy and most of all you took the plunge and bit off more than you could chew and you chewed it right up and finished it nicely. I Know you learned a lot from this and I can't wait to see the next guy. Check your home depot for their Grey, Mexican River rock. It seems to be very tight and not very porous.

Thanks Aaron! Good to hear from you!

TTT - Thanks again for guidance... somewhere I thought I read that about the string location - thanks - I'll do that right next time. Like you said - I'm leaving this one alone for now. I want better rock!

And Ben! Good to hear from you too! I'll check home depot today! And Thanks especially for the encouragement and guidance as well.

Yours in carving,
gap

Nice hei tiki, very good work and thanks for the tips about carvin' Jack.

Benjamin.

Great first hei tiki GAP. Make one of your mai tais and toast him for me. All you
stone chizzlers must have really good eyes and tons of patience.

No criticism, just a question? How did you get the color so dark?

JP

Thanks guys!

Benella, I love the carvin' jack! It's fun!

Conga, thanks! Magnifying head band... that's the way I see that little stuff!

and JP - it's Serpentine stone, which is green. Oils from your fingers can make it dark, but I hadn't intended on making it dark. I was hoping the green would stay. But, after I put beeswax on it - that is when it happeneed. I heated up the rock a little too, so the beeswax would flow, but the consequence was unintended. It does look kinda neat though, now that I'm done with it.

I think the serpentine stone is ok for learning, but as soon as I get good enuf (if ever), I'll try some jade.

Thanks for the comments and checking it out.

[ Edited by: tikigap 2007-01-11 12:12 ]

Hey TikiGap,

On my thread, you asked for pics of boar eyes to look at as you carved your wooden pig drum. I don't have too many close up pics. I hope these two can help some. I'm heading out to my property this weekend, so if I see any boars laying around...I'll get pics of their eyes for you.

Yummy Yummy!

-Gman

"The saw is family"

[ Edited by: GMAN 2007-02-06 18:20 ]

That's it GMAN! Thanks! Those are pretty damned good! Can't wait for an "update" if there's one or two layin' around!

Cool man! Thanks!

Ayyyyyyy!!!!

Actually, I'd like a pull of that pork... that 4th picture - mmmm!

I like the black pendant a lot! Very nice! Congrats!!

[ Edited by: Clarita 2007-02-08 10:59 ]

Thanks a lot Clarita! Thanks for lookin' too!

Great first attempt, I still haven't tried something as ambitious yet.
Regards
Flynny

So where are the pics of this wood hog that my guys were modeling for?

-Gman

GMAN! Funny you should ask :wink:

I've been distracted from carving for some time now, but tonight, I got my pendant from Paipo and got inspired to try to finish the pig. I've hit a serious obstacle however, as illustrated in the accompanying photos.

I roughed out the eyes tonight. The eye on the left (His right eye) has a huge hole in it that could not be avoided. It's a root ball afterall, so there's holes all over it.

After measuring GMAN's real pigs, I found the proportionate place to put the eyes, and one ended up
there.

Maybe you guys can help me out here. Should I leave it alone, and what the hell? Or should I jam a chip of walnut in there with some glue to fill it in, or should I drill both out and put some inlay in there, or what?

I suck at most things carving, and inlay is right at the top of that list, so I'm skeptical of any chance for success.

Me and the pig are all ears.

And thanks for the models and the inquiry GMAN. May the saw be with you.

gap

PIGHAMMA!

Looks like dinner!

Nice!

McTiki

It looks like to me that the eye is winking. I kinda like it as it is. Maybe you wanna just leave it?

GAP, Roll wit it. It's perfect

I say keep going with it as is. We all have to deal with imperfections in wood - it's one of the things that makes each piece special. Very nice! Is he hollow yet?

-Gman

Thanks for the direction Will and GMan...

Yes, it's hollowed out. It could go a little more too. I'll show a pic of the inside later today. It's sounding pretty good!

Thanks for looking and helpin with that decision.

gap

TG,

Leave enough wall thickness so you can outline some folded legs on there if you want. I'll send you some pics of crocs done this way. I'll send them when I get home. This is a super cool projects man! Nice job!

-G

Thanks GMAN - yeah! I'd like to see those croc pics - sounds cool!

The pig is coming along great. Keep going, you are following the right road.

JP

JohnnyP....shoot him some pics of croc drums with legs carved into the sides. I bet he could make real nice ones that look like the hog is laying down.

-G

I've gotten so far behind. It's been a while.

The pig is almost done. Here's a couple of pics:

Problem is the pig eyes are killin me.

The drumsticks fit up inside him...

The drumsticks (made of Lilac from my back yard):

[ Edited by: tikigap 2007-03-27 19:33 ]

What a great idea Tikigap. I missed the part about the piggie being a drum.
Great concept and the beaters do look like pigs feet...pickle them!

Oink Oink, Sqeeeeel! :D

-Gman

Suuuuuu Eeee!

Conga - Thanks man! Coon Tiki looks good donut!

and GMan... the eyes! I still am havin problems with that - any more pictures you have would be appreciated! (no need to hunt a couple down though! - Thanks on that one!)

I'm gonna lube him up with tung oil this weekend eyes or not. I gotta get 'er done.

[ Edited by: tikigap 2007-03-27 19:38 ]

T-Gap, that piggie's lookin good enuf to roast!. Just stick an apple in his mouth and Light the fire,,Oops, Nope, can't do thattt. Coon tiki tu?

Here's a couple more pics -

Hangin hog:

He really does look a lot better than these pictures show.
The wood is totally cool. It's a walnut root.
His head and ears were underground for a long time.

Hey Benz... I might just show up for Coon tiki again - I can't be sure yet though. Me and Conga might be workin somthin out. It's just down the road a piece from my place.

Cool Gap, I tike this guy.