Tahitiki's carvings - new bone carving - 01/08/11 - page 22

Hi,
I finally found the time to post some of my carvings.
So, here they are.

This was my first carving, a while ago. You might have seen it in another thread.

From left to right:
White coral sand from a Huahine beach in Tahiti.
My 2nd one, the yelling Moai,
#5, the Broken Tiki was only a stain test, but I couldn't let it go.

Next one is #4, which took a long time to carve, the more I waited the harder the eucalyptus wood got. Not fun to carve but my favorite so far.
My toddler calls it "Big HeHe"

I still need to finish couple things on him... but I'm almost done.
He's about 12" tall from head to toe.

#6, I still have to work on the stain.

#7, I needed a pair of cufflinks for a new shirt.

I'm working on a 2' Moai's head and will post it asap.

Thanks for checking out.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2011-01-08 16:11 ]

Man, those are beauties! I like the Big Hehe a lot. I love your use of texture and curves. The stains and finishes you've used are top notch. Great stuff all around. Please "find" more time to keep us current with your work. Progress shots are always nice :)

You've made some really great small guys, your talent speaks for itself. Have you ever tried to go big? I would really like to see what you could do with a 5' log!

-Gman

Dang...great clean lines and style. Job well done. If you have some pics during the process I'm sure we'd love to see em. Keep it up.

Nice work! Very impressive for your first attempts....hell, impressive if you've been carving for years. Keep 'em coming!

Josh
http://www.whollycatsband.com

Very nice work, squeaky clean, and good that you started out doing full body stuff...You'll be a monster soon doing work like that!

Veeeeeery Nice! I love the tiki with the guitar and the BighHeHe is extremly well detailed. Good Job!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Wow... those are sharp! And you live in San Jose, too! Extra sharp! I'm over here in Willow Glen...

Nice tikis!

Great work. Lets see more!

Thanks for the all the great feedback, I really appreciate.
I have some process pict somewhere, so when I get to find them, I'll start adding images.

GMAN,
No I did not try to go big yet, but I can't wait to do so. I'm trying to locate some palm wood or the prefect log. I would like to try a 8' log, but at the speed I'm craving it's probably going to take most of my life :)
Your last Maori is pretty cool.

LOKI,
I like your back alley, and can't wait to see the Marq done.

Basement Kahuna,
Thanks for the compliments. From your comment, I guess I'm going the right way.
I really like the... too much to list.

KAHAKA,
San Jose... Willow Glen? I'm close to ebay.
Cool lamps by the way.

Sneakytiki,
I like your Ritual of the Savage drawing.

AlohaStation,
Your stuff is really cool.

Tahitiki

Here is the 2' Moai head I'm working on:

Tahitiki

Cool stuff man! Like the tiki with the uke man - nice lines

Tahitiki, looks like you have done this for a long time. Beautiful carvings. It is not easy to get such precise, sharp detal, and you get it like it is Old hat. Excellent. I'll be looking for great things from you. Just keep up the carving. Thanks for sharing too.

Dig the uke-playin tiki.
When you decide to re-do that guy (or one like it) in 5-6 foot size - let me know.
That would look great at the Lagoon Lounge.

Great stuff!
Post more!

Dude! You are a true pro! Big Hehe ROCKS! So does you other stuff. I wanna grow up to be you! What kind of wood is the moai at bottom?

Hi Surf-n-turf
I'm not sure what kind of wood that is, just a log I got from the last storm.
Sorry.
I have another one with the bark on, I'll try to post a pict later.

Tahitiki

very very very good!!! Top class!

Very nice clean work. Your style rocks too. You have to post more.
JP

My new year resolution:

Post more carving images to Tiki Central

So, here it is, the "Tikilele" or my first attempt to customize a uke.
No done yet but getting there slowly.

Carving the head:

After stainning

The bridge:

Gluing the bridge:

I'll try to get more images up next week.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2007-01-03 21:18 ]

Thanks for bumping this thread, because I never saw your old stuff - it predates me joining TC by a couple of months. WOW! Beautiful clean pieces with really well resolved forms. I sure hope you've got some more stuff coming.

Yeah! Thanks for bumpin' it. That uke is sweet! Very nice job! What's the chance we'd get to see some posts about actually building a uke?

Awsome work. That first carving is great! :)

Thanks for the feedback,
Tikigap, I don't know if I'll ever build one, even thought I could get into it,
Here is some image of the original Uke, I changed the head and the bottom of the neck to "look" more like a Martin.

Like Paipo said, I've never seen your stuff because it predates me on TC. Where have you been hiding?! You're carvings are great.

Isn't Eucalyptus fun? There are groves of it near me and when the trees blow down, the city workers will chainsaw them up and leave the logs. It's really hard to find ones that aren't split real bad though. Oh well, what do you want for free?

Your uke is looking sweet. Looking forward to seeing progress on it.

Cool, rad, bitchen!

Excellent tikilele, Tahitiki. from the looks of your earlier pieces, this will turn out to be a real Collectors item. Very Well Done.

Hi everybody,
Here is my latest Tiki.
I created it for a friend that's from Guam and it's about 2" tall.
The design is based on the shape of the Latte Stones of Guam (used as pillars in the construction of the huts there) the back is inspired from the petroglyph found in Guam too.

Here is how the huts looks like, people would usually store their canoes under it.

Thanks for watching

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2007-01-14 21:34 ]

Nice work!

It is cool to see something a bit regionally different from what were are used to seeing. Nice cuts and clean work!

That hut would look good in my backyard... taking notes. :wink:

Whoops... just looked at the scale again with the people in the background... much bigger than I first thought! Not going to fit in my yard!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2007-01-14 21:39 ]

Beautiful ukulele and very nice latest tiki.
Good work.

Benjamin.

Thanks Lake Surfer, yes those Huts are huge!

Merci pour le compliment Benjamin.

Here it is, a new tiki, it's about 2" hight, my daughter call it Tikila.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2007-01-26 22:24 ]

That Guam tiki is kool

It's nice to have a french answer, thanks.
Your last small tiki is a masterpiece. where do you find the influence? Was it like the guam ?

Benjamin.

More Excellence from Tahitiki, I Really love that Hut and would plant it right in my Front yard for ALl to enjoy.
The Guam tiki is cool too. Love your detail.

Benella
The last Tiki was kind of weird. I started with the inside of one eye and went from there, I didn't draw it, I just did it. I guess the inspiration comes from the thousand images of Tikis I've seen on TC.

Thanks Ben

Here is a bigger format (at least for me) It's a Marquesan head, with a small Tahitian Tattoo behind the right ear. This is my fist palm log. It was fun, I was so freshly cut it was like carving a pumpkin. He is about 13" hight and 9" in diameter.

Tahitiki

Awesome! Love the uke!!! I have a lanikai uke and the bridge just popped off :( Wish I had your bridge to re-place!
Scott

Some of you might have already seen this pumpkin I carved for Halloween, for the other, here it is:

Tahitiki

NIIIIIIIIIIIICE work, Tahitiki. My style receptors dig!

Here is a process shot of the Marq.

Tahitiki

Really Nice stuff Tahitiki, The Pumpkin was great and the tiki before that was Excellent and this last one is remarkable. I Love the care you took to curl the center of the eyes like you did. Your detail is Immaculate. You need to get Serious about this stuff and do some tiki!

That's great head. Love it!
I'm still waiting to try a Palm, yours came out superb...soft as a pumpkin eh?!

Thanks Benzart,
I finally finished that Moai I started a while ago,
here is a pict when I was still working on it:

and here is the final result.
I wanted to hang it outside, but I had to bring it back inside for the winter. Not sure he would have make it through the rain.
He is about 18" tall.

Tahitiki

I am speechless... beautiful.

That is a stunning piece of work, excellent. What wood did you use and what sort of stain.
Regards
Flynny

Beautiful work TahiTiki!

Mahalo

McTiki

Thanks benella and McTiki.
Flynny, I do not know the kind wood I use, but I'll try to post a pict of a second log I've got of the same wood

Regarding the stain, here what I did:
1 coat of black ebony stain
1 coat of walnut stain and varnish
1 coat of mahogany "stain and varnish" the gel kind
it was too opaque so I got rid of some of it with a steel wool pad
it was to red so I added
2 coat of walnut stain and varnish
It was too shiny so I tone it done with the steel wool pad again.
It was a long process but I'm happy with how it came out.

Tahitiki

Excellent piece there Tahitiki. But I liked it better before you stained it. The grain was beautiful. A clear marine varnish would have brought it out nicely. Carve another piece with that wood and maybe we could do a trade if you're up for it.
Come on out to Modesto sometime and I'll buy you a few drinks at Minnie's. Maybe drunken Hat and Tikicleen will show you their Dark Marq room. It's da' kine.

Smooth work. Did you ever find out what type of wood you carved the moai out of? Looking forward to seeing more.

Aloha Mr. Hand

[ Edited by: theded1 2007-02-21 14:02 ]

That is a great tiki. The grain on the wood was nice as well, but the stain came out really good and it shows you put a lot of time into it.

I admire you guys who have the patience to sand that much.

JP