JUMBOKU-he's back!--new pix 11-04 p.15

Nice work, brah. Very pro piece!

Brad!
That boat is TOP NOTCH! Master Artisan you are!
You took your time and really put the love into that one!
And you work so well with props!
Maybe you can be a prop carver! :lol:

Superb

Flynny

I'm stoked you've finished this - I had totally forgotten about it. Really nice attention to detail, right down to the little fringes on the paddles. The whole look/feel is just spot-on!

Thanks, Fugu. Georgia, huh? where 'bouts?

Thanks BK--master of the antique finish!

LLT-Thanks man...more time than love put into this one, maybe I can work my time/love ratio out a little better on my next project.

Much thanx, Flynny

Paipo-thanks--I'm stoked that is finished (finally) as well. Glad you like!

Excellent really! are you going to keep it and hang it in your tiki basement? that would be extremely nice... Greetings!

Howland, this project Really finished up Way Outta Sight. MAjor Respect for you from your carving buddies. Very Well Done!

myspace
How did I give credit to the wrong artist? My Apologies. :(

[ Edited by: Benzart 2008-06-09 16:35 ]

WOW- That turned out excellent!

On 2007-06-25 19:51, surf-n-turf wrote:

This was a heck of a project! Turned out great. It is amazing how close you got every warrior, yet they all have their own proud personality. The level of detail really works well and really adds tremedously to the impact of the piece.

If you don't mind, what did you use to do the highlights (light color) in the carved details? It makes it look really old.

This piece is spectacular... Nice chops,SNT.

This is so cool. Looks like it belongs in a museum. The antique milky finish really completes it. excellent!

Had to edit my spelling twice.
[ Edited by: AlienTiki 2007-06-28 16:28 ]

[ Edited by: AlienTiki 2007-06-28 16:29 ]

absolutly beautiful! just amazing. the tiki room will be a very proud home.

Thanks for the props on the Marq-boat. GLAD it's finished!

While I'm still under the Marquesan persuasion...I have here for you kind ohana, a Marquesan post for me bar. Nothing extremely original, you've seen'em before... Mai Kai, TVics, etc. I'll actually have 2 more half-posts to do to complete the project. Seems like it takes me soooo long to do this stuff sometimes, I have a hard time thinking I've got 4 more faces to carve---uuuuggggggghhhhh!

I didn't have any dry logs so I bought some 2x6's --untreated, soft white pine--glued'em up and shaved off the corners till it was round.

sketched out features>

Here's roughly where it will stand when finished. I'll have a half-post against the wall, to the right of the clamshell sconce, probably replacing the vertical piece of bamboo there and another half against the wall that's off the pic to the far right. I'll run some fat bamboo horizontally across the top of the posts--from one wall to the other. Palm thatch on top of that.

Back soon.....

errrr...in case that last bit o' glarble confused anyone, here's a quick visual of what I'm trying say I'll be doing with these posts.
Thanks for lookin'
BH

PS-I will be putting a lower wattage bulb in that clam shell lamp too. That sucka looks like it's on FIYA!

Excellent !
Very nice carving you'll be doing there.
Will you stain it, once it will be finished ?

Benjamin.

Great looking marquesan, and a clever way to make poles.

Thanks Ben--I'll be painting these a wood tone. I would rather stain but since I used glued together 2x6's, I would have some nasty glue lines showing through, not to mention knots.

Thanks Tikidreams!!

Formerly known as 'Surf-N-Turf'
http://www.myspace.com/bhowland

[ Edited by: Howland 2007-11-15 08:12 ]

Beautimous! Good stuff. GROG like.

The marq is turning out great. you can see your attention to detail in it already.

Please keep us posted.

Excellent posts Howland. Even though 'We've all seen'em before" you seem able enough to add your own little flourishes to them making them your own. Well done!

hey howland,

been following the progress of your bar quite keenly - its turning out beautifully by the way. a real authentic haven. these marq posts will really set off the bar area.

how did you find the carving on these glued posts? did the glued area pose any problems for ya? in terms of holding detail? could be a good way to get nice pine logs to carve for those not lucky enough to have access to fresh logs.

cheers,
harro.

Great project!

Why did you use 2 2x6's? Why not a 4x6, or even a 6x6? Home Depot carries those sizes, too...

Just curious! :D

I see it! Wow those are to die for I love it.

GROG-Brad glad Grog like!

AlienT-thanx, man- I'll keep you posted, taking a few days off this project for now.

Thanks Benz. yea, gotta throw SOME originality in there to keep it fresh.

Thank you, Harro. The glue posed no problems whatsoever. The glued joints were on the sides of the wood and most of my detail is on the front of the wood. I imagine it could pose some problems with fine detail work if you were to have to carve on them.

4WDT- thnx! I would have preferred a solid piece of wood -6x6 would've been great, I just couldn't find anything that size other than Pressure Treated wood and I didn't want to get too much of that dust flying around.

Mucho thanxo, Seeksurf!!

Thanx for looking. I've jumped ship on this project for a few days and started finishing my bar so I'll jump back on these guys soon and post ASAP!

http://www.myspace.com/bhowland

[ Edited by: Howland 2007-11-19 20:19 ]

You da man!

wow! I was impressed with the log you made before you even started carving the tiki. Great carvings all of them.

So, when is the Tiki oscars ceremony starting, are you going to host it ourself?

Dang it's been a long time since I posted anything here--too many pots on the fire. Well I have started back with a little bit o' carving/creating. I 'routered' out a PNG gope board for me bar. A little smaller than an actual one would be but I needed to scale it down to fit my space. Just pine then I painted it brown and added some color with some milk paints--tried to keep it true to my inspiration piece--design and color-wise.

Also started 'routering' some Maori inspired trim to finish up some areas in my bar and maybe make some frames with too.

Here's the trim pieces-about 8' by 3.5"

I also started making little spears or arrows out of wood scraps and skinny boo sticks to flank the sides of the gope and also to cross up under/around my clam shell sconce. Here's a pic of one. I found a pic on the web somewhere of a group of PNG arrows that I'm using for inspiration.

SO_after a quick trip to Hukilau gathering some inspiration, I'll get to chopping on this stash of logs I've collected over the past few months/years. Some are dry enough and some might get hacked on while semi-dry, we'll see. The one on the left is a sugarberry or hackberry tree. Never carved it but the chainsaw went through it like warm butter. To the right is a large chunk o' pine that I've already rounded the top/head on. In background is more pine and a piece of sabal palm. Out of the pic is a 6 foot by 8/4 slab of mahogany and a slab of basswood similar in size

Mahalo,
Brad

Aloha Howland!!! Wow you have some Excellent carvings my friend and aweasome Talent running through your hands!Aloha Mooney

Welcome back. Great to have someone with your skill and artistic eye posting again. These message boards are stronger for it.

Some very nice work going on there.

Love the Poly back yard.

Howland, You are Really on a Tear my friend, tearing up that wood. your "Routering" is about as Professional as can be had anywhere but is WAY better because you are Doing it yourself! I Love these planks

Whe you're done you can come down here for a vacation and do some work around here, I Need some good "Routering" and carving.
Not only are your carving skills top shelf but the Interior design skills you are showing, especially with the dramatic lighting, are just plain SICK! I'm really awestruck with the whole job.

Yer lounge is gonna be as good as it gets, in fact it already is.
I have some scheduling issues to contend with but I am still hopeful
to make the Follybeach carving get together later this year, then I could
see it in person.
Always great work, the routered trim is excellent and I always love quality
PNG boards. Cool.

Some great work again Brad! Hope we can get the time to come over and see the place when we are up in Charleston/Folly next week.

See you on Thursday night or Friday!

Howland, way to go. You've moved up to a new level most definitely. Good luck on the bar build.

what an incredible pad!!! wish i could see this place in person.

WOW, amazing new stuff. Can't wait to see what you'll do with the 2 big logs.

Benjamin.

Did you use a full size router for this work or something smaller, like a dremel? It's great work; I'm thinking about doing something similar to use as a crown molding.

Thanx for all the kind props!

Now here's the deal with the 'router' I used. I purchased this machine last September called the CompuCarve. It's basically a home/hobby version of a CNC router. I design the project in the graphics software that comes with the machine, upload the project onto a memory card, insert the card into the machine, insert the wood into the machine and hit the start button.

I've debated with myself about posting projects done with the machine because I figured I might catch some grief about using what some may consider a cheat method. Artistic talent is still a requirement to use the software. Then I figured that it's really no different than an artist who makes prints of their original painting to sell to the masses or a sculptor who makes resin casts to reproduce their work to sell. I've heard that Oceanic Arts uses some type of carving machine to reproduce designs on posts, etc.

It took me many hours to create the Maori style trim pieces in the graphics program and takes about an hour for the machine to spit out the finished product. I'm tweaking the graphics part of the design to carve quicker--basically making the machine carve shallower so as to save some time. It took about 3 hours for the gope board but it too could be carved shallower to save time. I'm still rounding the bends on the learning curve with the software.

BTW--I think every carver should have one of these, especially if you're making a living at carving. I can upload the graphic, insert the wood, and leave the house-or do whatever--go carve something else by hand that the machine can't handle. It has limitations. It can handle wood up to 14" wide and 5" thick but it can only carve 1" deep. I'll have more to show soon.
Thanx again for looking and or the nice comps!

Here's some pics of the Maori style trim from the software:


in the pic below, all the dots are where I had to click to form lines

on the gope board below, I carved it into a board then band sawed the shape out.

http://www.myspace.com/bhowland

The Curse of Howland Island

[ Edited by: howland 2008-06-11 07:07 ]

COOL!
I Agree that every working carver should have one of these. Actually it's Better than Resin because you can take the detail much finer than the machine can "Carve", thus making each piece still individual and quicker. Using this setup to do the basic rough-out would make a lot of sense, especially if you are creating multiples of your work. I would love to have one and would not be afraid to use it often. It costs quite a bit but within a short time it could pay for itself. With it, the peeps would be saying "Wow, that piece looks like Wood,, wow it IS wood" instead of "Wow this resin sure looks like wood"
I WANT ONE!

On 2008-06-16 11:41, Benzart wrote:
COOL!
I Agree that every working carver should have one of these. Actually it's Better than Resin because you can take the detail much finer than the machine can "Carve", thus making each piece still individual and quicker. Using this setup to do the basic rough-out would make a lot of sense, especially if you are creating multiples of your work. I would love to have one and would not be afraid to use it often. It costs quite a bit but within a short time it could pay for itself. With it, the peeps would be saying "Wow, that piece looks like Wood,, wow it IS wood" instead of "Wow this resin sure looks like wood"
I WANT ONE!

I'm w/ you on that Benz. I plan on working up some stuff I can rough-out then finish by hand chiseling to save some time. I gotta make this thing pay for itself somehow--we'll see.

Back on the carving track. Need some big guys to hang around the Jungalero Lounge and I've been eyeballin' this pic from my inspiration files for awhile now and came across a 6'4" x 16" diameter hunk o' pine several months ago so it's time to get started. BTW, anybody know anything about this particular tiki? I think it's from TV London but not sure--any info or other pics greatly appreciated.

Inspiration pic:

Roughing out:

Lil' mo rough out:

Roughin' and cleanin' as I go:

My progress as of Tues. afternoon. Digging out the pie hole:

We're gonna need a bigger chisel!
Off to the Woodcraft store for a nice, big ice cream scoop sized chisel. Hope to make some progress the next few days so check back, jack!

Nice job Howland!!! I know this guy is gonna turn out awesome!!!

WOW Howland, this one will be a perfect piece, really.

Benjamin.

Thanx, Craig and Benj--glad you guys have faith in me, I hope I don't disappoint. Here's a couple of shots from today's session.
A little more work on the mouth--lotsa wood removal:

Close-up. Still got a few blemishes, etc. that need to be taken care of--workin' on it.

WOW Howland this guy is coming along really nice.

Nice chops Brad, I remember that log and it was quite a chunk of wood. Looks hard and dry, but you're handling it well.

The picture you have does look to be the London Vic's Ku, I have a few pictures of that one. It looks like a cleaner version of a pretty common Kona Style Ku.

Here's a picture of one similar, although a rougher carve. Could be age also, because this one is in a musuem.

Thanks again for the Southern Hospitality! It was great to see all your hard work in person!

I'm slow getting back up to speed, two weeks of vacation can do that to you. Just finally unpacked my merch to see what all sold and what I have to make more of.

I have some cool new Marq designs in need to transfer to wood.

Good luck with this guy, looks great so far!

Do you use the ventilator to remove the chips while you're carving ? That is a nice idea :wink:
Good work on today's session.

Ben.