new stone pieces and wood Tangaroa

thanks a lot all you guys!
Ben-i'm glad he didn't go at the huk-otherwise i wouldn't have gotten finished pics!! i don't know about any aces as of yet- but we'll see what the near future brings! thanks again,-and was great seeing you that sat., far too short, though.
Freddie, thanks bro-looks like it'll be a week on that coaster set- got rid of them all today! dig it!
Paipo, what can i say? awesome props- thanks very much.i just couldn't wittle him down any further. he stands so proudly-just ask Mr. Ballsomic.
hey- what day is christmas down there? cheers, man!!

hi folks. here's some shots of the latest, a cool marq. about 3 days of work, he's around 2.5' high. hope you like!





washingtonian palm; sorry there's no progress pics.

Very Nice! I like the finished look you gave him.

AWESOME!!!

Yo GreenPat,

Nice stuff man. Gman Likee! I think you have the gene...... I didn't know you were lookin' for me? I'm around - sometimes :wink: Work is gonna have me tied up for a week or two, but let's get together one weekend in August and maybe you, MBL, and myself can get a session going. I could use a push anyway......

If I get my g8tr tags filled early, I'll be off of work with nothing to do around Labor Day?

-G

wow! I just love it Pat! Love the smooth look he's got, it doesn't look like palm at all! The finish is amazing, great use of burning.

Very good.

Benjamin.

Nice stuff Pat...I dig him a lot. He looks super from the full 360...if that makes
any sense. That "pear" look to the body reminds me of a cool carving outside the Disney
TikiRoom that I have pondered many times but not attempted. Inspiring work in such a short
time.

Very nice. Better keep that one in the backyard!

Mahalo

McTiki

Excellent!! I love the finish! Keep them comin.

aloha! thanks a lot everyone!!
Savage Daddy, Mieko, Aloha Station- the finish look is just the grinder. i don't change the disc until i must. the more worn it becomes, the more it burns as it goes.
Tikifreak1-Benella, Mctiki- thanks guys! as for the backyard, Mctiki- he was a commision, so he was gone that day. i do love the classic Marq style, so i think i'll have to make one similar for my abode.
Congatiki, -thank you. doing the majority of the shaping and linework with the grinder really speeds things up. like the one before, i only used chisels and gouges to remove large areas of wood. i like this aproach quite a bit. not "all hand carved", but it makes the work time/price ratio a fair one.
GMAN- a weekend in august sounds good here. i'm a single dad, so i'll probably need to include my 5yr old daughter, but she loves tikis and carving, so shouldn't be a problem for a couple hrs anyway. i can always use a push, too.

mahalo all!

well folks, here's my first go at stone. like many other mediums, i wish i had started long ago when the urge first came up. but oh well, plenty of time still! love at first grind. with the wood carving and tattooing skills already in place, this seems to be a natural progression. here's some progress.
these first two are the sketch that i drew last week some time.


and here's after about four hours with the dremmel and cylindrical diamond tip. not shure what dia., but you get the scale in the last shot.





there we are! finishing the shaping tonight, probably won't get to the polishing until later this weekend. i'll post more later. to all you stone carvers, MAHALO! i probably wouldn't have attempted this without your insperation.

Holy crap man!!! That looks great!!!

Craig

On 2007-08-10 19:07, greentikipat wrote:
to all you stone carvers, MAHALO! i probably wouldn't have attempted this without your insperation.

Great start GTPat - I can see the Paipo-pebble influence..
Im sure you're going to have no trouble, so Im just here to say Yo & am now going to sit back and enjoy the progress. Dont keep us waiting too long. - Love the Marq too!

Awesome! That is a seriously good effort for your first piece, especially if you did all that with just the burr you posted. I think you can justify splashing out on another one now! :lol:
A combination of tattooing and carving (and talent) are perfect for carving pebbles. It's all about control with the handpiece, which I can see won't be any problem for you. That stone looks very nice from the pics too...dark, fine grained and consistent. Is it one you found?

Looks like another Stoner in the crowd. Well done pat, you dug right in there with the detail like you knew what you waned. Can' wait to see him done.

Wow...really nice...did make me feel kinda lame about mine though...oh well. It's pretty inspiring to see what you've done so far....I'm going with that. Great design.

right-on, everyone!! thank you very much.
Tikifreak1- thanks a lot, man. i'm very psyched.
Tama- thanks much my man. i've got maybe another hour in me, then i'll post the new ones. wish i was able to hang on to that marq a bit, just have to wittle one for myself, right?
Paipo- hell yea, splash out i did. i've moved on to a couple of tappered bits now, and we'll see how they jive for me. like that bur,though. more versitle than i would have thought. thanks a lot for the good words. the pebble? local pet food supply store. they have some bins there, for the fish tanks. picked it up one day months ago, thinking i might be able to carve it. 80-90 cents. not found, but oh well. i'll be keeping my eye out on walks more now, but will also buy more rocks.
thanks a lot, Ben- he'll be done soon. i'm hooked! so much fun.
Robin- insperation is key. if it wasn't for the great artists on this site, i wouldn't have done several of my recent pieces. just keeps me doing more and more!!

well here we go. he's mostly done; mechanical failers asside- the last, finest tapered tip required a smaller collet, but the old one just wouldn't let go. out came the pliers, broke went the collet. so after everything from trying to pry it out to trying to drill it out, i discarded the pen extention and went for the dremel in hand. a bit different, esp for the electrical currant inches from the water part. so here he is, mostly finished. all this also happened to coinside with the bit about getting drunk. tried to time that otherwise. i had the # of drinks, time until finish, rate of consumption, all that figured into play. but when the tool broke, everything went to hell. fortunatly i was mostly in the bag, so everything worked out fine.
a couple touch-ups to go, and he's officialy #1.




so there he is; probably tommorrow i'll post pics with touch ups and oiling. didn't have any decent chord around, so there's with the hemp string. oh, it was another 4 hrs , there about tonight, figuring in all the other stuff. mahalo for checking it all out, CHEERS!!!

Hey GTP, you should get ripped everytime you carve stone! This piece is smokin'!!! Wonderful job man. I can't wait to see him sanded and oiled!

-G

Ditto GMAN, if getting ripped does this, then, well, What are you waiting for?

Ill wait for 'finished' pics before I comment - other than to say it looks 'a ripper' so far! :lol: (kiwi/Oz expression..)

Tama :)

Wow! Skin, paint, wood and now stone - what can't you do. This guy looks fantastic. I'm looking forward to what else you'll do!

I'm thinking of taking up drinking! Really nice.

aloha all! thanks to all of you guys for the great words!
i've had a lot of virus problems with the puter since i last posted, sorry for the delay. let's see if i can get through this without getting dumped.
i 'finished' him up, and oiled. but i kind of like the contrast he had before. i also cut myself off from doing any more, but the itch to just smooth out a few more recesses is killing me. so i'll probably do that.
now to learn how to weave/braid.





mahalo to each of you. the support is awesome. i got some more of the same kind of pebbles, (from the pet store)-so i'll be starting another this weekend.

Dope stone pendant! There's a few stone carver's here bettah keep da chops up with work like that coming out! great job! I still have yet to be brave & patient enough for stone!!!

Maika'i brah! Nice!

A Hui Ho!

kaha ki'i- thanks a lot, man. incredible and beautiful stuff on the makau site. all of it is amazing. here's a couple of phalic pieces a friend of mine has, supposed to be from rappanui?

male and female he said.

aloha all! here's #2 that i did today. between 4-5 hrs. i'll have to get a book on stones, because i don't have a clue as to what types these are.
most of the tips i had are pretty trashed now, wish i could find them all around here. home depot has a couple, maybe they'll order the others for me.
this greenish beach pebble was a bit softer than the black one. real nice color, too. i'll post a couple after it's oiled. thanks for lookin!








mahalo!!

Well...your #2 is sure looking nice. You have a really good eye for design....well trained from all that other work you've done. I'm so impressed with the work you're doing in stone...and a tad bit jealous :), but nicely so.

I talked to Tama about the contrast..which I wanted to get rid of in something I made. T3 says it will come back when the stone dries out again. It's due to the unpolished surface of the incising....so in your case, you may be in luck!
You'll love your new burs once you get them....it's the difference between PBR and Chimay.

Looking forward to #2's progress, he's pretty handsome! So you're getting these stones in St. Pete? I'm going to have to keep my eyes open.

R.

[ Edited by: Robin 2007-08-18 10:25 ]

G.T.P., you are knocking a lot of projects out! Those pebbles are looking really cool!

hey robin- thanks for the props. i'll be ordering some of those burs recommended by you guys. can't wait to try 'em out!
tikifreak1- thanks a lot, man! feels like i don't get much art done, like there's not enough time. so many priorities that need to come first! mahalo, guys!

aloha all! here's #3 started.



there he is after the first night. 3-4 hrs.



and there's after the second night of another 3-4hr.
i wanted to do some tonight, but time is up. time for bed, that is. Mahalo all for looking, and Nui Mahalo for your comments!

Hey there. I was wondering what happened to you. Did I miss the finished #2? #3 is looking very good.

hey Robin- thanks for inquiring- that was all she wrote for #2;for now. i might smooth it out a bit, when i do, i'll post it. right now, i'm just shaping them as i see fit. haven't really finished any yet. thanks for noticing. NUI MAHALO!!!

I can't offer much advice as I can see you're progressing just fine. I think your pebbles are probably similar to what I find here looking at how they are working for you.
It's amazing how many hours can be eaten up getting rid of just a few grams of stone isn't it? I can't wait til I get my hands on some decent chisels and wood and start whacking pebble sized chips out with every stroke!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2007-09-08 02:40 ]

hey Paipo- yea, the time really is sucked up on that. funny you say about removing stone-sized chunks of wood.-my relief when trying stone was the quicker over-all carving time! hey i've got a question for you. do you know what type of rock this is? it's from Rapanui- a customer who visited there 6yrs ago gave it to me yesterday. it looks like lava- or at least what i would picture it to look and feel like. kind of glassy. pretty dense. i'm wondering if i can carve it or if i should just leave it. i can always bite into a corner and see what happens.





if you have any advise, that would be great. i don't want to ruin it if it's only going to shatter. mahalo!!
well here's some more progress on #3. still not shure about the back and top. oh well, i'll figure out what i want. enjoy!!





Mahalo for looking!

It's a piece of obsidian, which is a volcanic glass. Looks like it may have had a bit of tumble in the sea, as naturally occurring pieces usually have razor sharp edges - hence their use as mataa or spearheads. It was also used for the pupils in the eyes of the moai kavakava, and I think on the big guys too? I collected and carved a lot of NZ obsidian in my brief stint as a "commercial lapidary" and it looks very similar to our equivalent.
My advice? Don't carve it- it's a treasure in its own right. An actual piece of Rapa Nui! Wish I had one!
It can be a pretty difficult medium too - it's chippy and hard to get a good finish on. If for any reason you decide one day to make something from it, buy yourself some other obsidian and have a play so you know what you're dealing with. Wear protection (eyes) - this stuff is lethal!

awesome, Paipo- thanks a lot! i'll take your advise. Mahalo and Cheers!!

#3 comin' along beautifully my friend. I think this is the best one so far. Keep tearin' it up!! fB

On 2007-09-08 14:06, Paipo wrote:
It's a piece of obsidian, which is a volcanic glass. Looks like it may have had a bit of tumble in the sea, as naturally occurring pieces usually have razor sharp edges - hence their use as mataa or spearheads. It was also used for the pupils in the eyes of the moai kavakava, and I think on the big guys too? I collected and carved a lot of NZ obsidian in my brief stint as a "commercial lapidary" and it looks very similar to our equivalent.
My advice? Don't carve it- it's a treasure in its own right. An actual piece of Rapa Nui! Wish I had one!
It can be a pretty difficult medium too - it's chippy and hard to get a good finish on. If for any reason you decide one day to make something from it, buy yourself some other obsidian and have a play so you know what you're dealing with. Wear protection (eyes) - this stuff is lethal!

...but if you DID decide to carve it; it certainly is possible & you look to have a very nice piece there. Ive only ever carved it once and approached it in very much the same way I carve jade (and the only way I know, heehee): it was a palm-sized abstact 'fondle'; kinda bean-shaped with a series of small ridges on one side for tactile appeal. Initial shaping was done on a regular diamond wheel and smaller detailing achieved with the handpiece/diamond burrs. Hell of a stuff to clean-up though. I went through several grades of diamond cloth by hand to smooth out the shape & ditto wet n dry sandpaper. The thing is; the scratches NEVER seem to disappear and so each stage (to do it properly) took an eternity; far longer than any stone I ever worked - ever. Im guessing that the glass is really hard & just takes that much longer to wear away the surface and close up those scratches. But once 'there' (anywhere from a frosted lustre to a glass finish) its there; obsidian seems to retain its polish almost indefinately and wont give you any 'drying out' problems like stone can. Worth the effort.

BUT, as for this particular piece Id have to agree with my man Paipo - hang onto it for the wonderful piece of Tiki-ana it is. Obsidian isnt a particularly rare or expensive material (often downright despised in its natural occurance for puncturing tyres and/or the feet of livestock/farmers..) and Im sure you could track some down for practicing on.

GOGGLES A MUST!!! Preferably a full face shield - no kidding, this stuff splinters like glass & how much you wear on your face depends on how well shielded you are from 'spray'. Rub/wipe it carefully under running water, from your hands/face when cleaning up..

Hope this hasnt put you off the stuff; some of it really is very pretty - differing patterns/bands of colour and sometimes even a chatoyant/cats-eye type effect.

*Cool pics of the Moai emerging from his 'egg' - Oro oro oro oro!

Rock on!
Tama :)

daamn Tama- thanks for the great reply! i can't believe i missed that (what seems like years ago) -so much great advise! i think i will get some other samples and give it a shot. though at my current crawl could take a while. thanks again. mahalo much!

so aloha everyone! i've missed this place. no good excuse- just a good mix of life and laziness. know how life can get in the way of things, yea? sometimes for me it lasts a while. and laziness- well you may know about that too.
so anyway- here's some pics of my latest (and only since the last i posted) of my next wood carving. a little marquesian headhunter who likes to get close with his trophies. he's almost 15". oak i think, and will have some accessories. carved shell earrings, a topknot of my old hair that will be held by his teeth(passing through the middle and exiting from the side.) i originally wanted to free up the skull, but the sockets and hands sharing the same space made it imposable. plus the wrists would have been too weak. aside from the chin, hands, and , um, bottom, the skull is carved fully around. my intention was to be able to pull on the end of the lock of hair and make the skull bob up and down. inspired by some of Paipo's works. oh well, the subtlety is still intact.
i'm not really sick or anything, well,..maybe just my sense of humor. i'm really a stand up guy. honest.





i'm going to download some pics i just took and post in a moment. he's come a bit further along.

okay here's some more. into the sanding stages, but still more carving to do also.










well, there he is so far. much mahalos for looking, i will be posting pics of my new painting in progress over in other art.
i also have a lot of catch-up browsing to do. hope to talk with many of you soon.

WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwww

I can't believe that thing !

Amazing work.
Masterpiece, too !

Keep up the good work.

Benjamin.

P.S: edited so that the picture can be seen and not its address !

[ Edited by: benella 2008-03-08 00:58 ]

[ Edited by: benella 2008-03-18 15:45 ]

Stunning job GTP...forced me to dig through your whole thread.
Inspiring stuff.

Pat, that is insane!!! Great carve!! Glad you're back.

Craig

WOW is right! Great carve. Man do you have chisels that have 90's 120', 179's?
or what? That looks like a complicated carve. What a incredible
interesting fellow you chose to carve.

benella- wow; thanks so much! great comps-masterpiece?! -damn, right on!!
congatiki, thanks o whole lot-dug through my whole thread?-wow! i know that takes some doing-mahalo!
tikifreak1-much mahalo! it's good to be back.
seeksurf-yea, i was thinking on this one of custom curved gouges with those angles exactly! but, given enough access points(and a lot of pushing it) all those angles were met without too much difficulty. thanks a lot, seeksurf!
mahalo to everyone who takes the time to check this guy out!i'm going to go post my painting now.

Wow he's great...glad you're back too. So many irons in the fire. Selfishly wondering about your stone work as well.