First attempt (second attempt added)

SO, I had some old white cedar laying around that has been drying for a few years.

I've never carved a bloody thing before, so I got bored this afternoon after finally completing another project, and sat down with a hammer, a couple of marples chisels, and a hunk of the aforementioned white cedar.

I started out aiming for a maoi, but missed the mark entirely. :)

Learned quite a bit.. namely, dry white cedar is a craptastic medium for this.. the layers flake out wayyyy to easily when you are trying to pop out a different piece.

The photo is pretty bad, but it gives a vague idea of what I came up with.

The mutant son of Zorro and Frankenstein's Monster!

[ Edited by: ootwoods 2007-07-17 17:56 ]

Hmmmm.........I dunno, Ootwoods. Maybe you did miss the Moai mark, but this dude has some serious character! Throw some stain on him and call it done. Then get yourself another hunk o' wood (probably not cedar, after what you said) and make another one.

Welcome to TC!

On 2007-07-15 19:04, ootwoods wrote:
I started out aiming for a maoi, but missed the mark entirely. :)

Learned quite a bit.. namely, dry white cedar is a craptastic medium for this.. the layers flake out wayyyy to easily when you are trying to pop out a different piece.

These tikis have a habit of taking on a life of their own as you carve them. This can be equal parts exciting and frustrating! And learning new things with each new carving is good too.

Nice first shot. Now get some decent wood and have another go!

Thanks for the props, cats.

Yeah.. it was just a "well, I'm gonna have to try it" riff, and that's what happened. It ended up getting too dark (I was sitting in the yard, with a beer and Lowbrow, here, just chipping away, till the sun went down) to even it up right.

I want to smooth it out a bit.. even up the nose parts.. but after looking at some of the other great photos on this forum.. I'm ready to hack into some of the maple the neighbor gave me when he cut his tree down. (it's primarily for firewood.. but I have a nice 3' diameter piece that is just tall enough for a head or a coffe-table drum style carving).

You don't learn without trying, right?

Cheers!

Okay.. this one be walnut, from a small tree I cut down a few years ago. It's only a couple inches in diameter, but tons o fun!

Influenced HEAVILY by Buzz on his thread of a million tikis!

Lookin Great, Are you a Dentist? Your teeth are Great!

Thanks. For some reason the teeth are kinda a focal point for me when designing these things.

I don't know why.. but I've been looking at some of the tahitian masks with the sideways-8 mouths and going "ooh.. that would be fun"

Thanks for the tips, your carvings are looking good!!!