Tama - NZ Pounamu/greenstone - Last post for '08! - pg99

boing... :)

Tiki-type stuff from 'Surface.Subsurface' 07: (please excuse the fluff..)

Hei-head

His-n-Hers-Headless-Hei-tiki(?)

Hei-Tiki/Toki

Another Hei-head

Another Hei-Tiki/Toki

from a while back.. 'War and Peace' (Marquesan double-tiki-ish..)

'War...

...and Peace'

Hei-Tiki/Tekoteko/Tapa-Taniwha (ok, I just made that up..) :lol:

Hope you enjoyed. Hewey; Im on dial-up too mate. If you're still with me, cheers. :)

In other news, Ive finally gone and secured (paid for) a www.domain. Let me assure you there is absolutely NOTHING to see at: http://www.littlegreenmen.org.nz - yet!!

Ok gang; now Im knackered. :lol: - I forgot to mention; part of the deal with all the travelling was to offload various children on various Grandparents so that the Terrible Almost-Wife and I can get a few days R&R, a bit of gardening, plenty of sleeping in (starting tommorrow and the reason I dont mind sitting up until 1am posting tiki-pikis :wink: ), etc.

'Time for bed', said Zebedee...

Tama :)

Tama, those are all amazing!!!!! The mountain pics look cool too!

Craig

Tama the Tired, Looks like an Exciting outing. Happy to see you back safe and sound. Happy to see you posting your Green Stone works too and Beautiful they are, The precision and smooth finish are Unbelievable as usual as your inlays. Makes me afraid to attempt any more. And THEN there's the Beautiful Stone, Pounamu, SO Traanslucent it makes all my stuff look like charcoal. I MUST have more of that stuff. Love the Hei-tiki heads and the tiki-toki guys. Then War and Peace comes up as beautiful as ever but my Favorite is the strange little "Hei-Tiki/Tekoteko/Tapa-Taniwha". You know me, Always looking for the Different, Out of Step, guy and he is that. Very well done.
I see your stuff here and wonder why I'm not sticking with wood.
Welcome Back Tama, HappyHappyHappy.

On 2007-08-08 05:46, Tamapoutini wrote:
Hope you enjoyed. Hewey; Im on dial-up too mate. If you're still with me, cheers. :)

I'm on broadband now :D :D :D and I definitely enjoyed those pics!

I can't wait to go back to NZ sometime, it's a gorgeous place. Feel free to pst more NZ scenery pics - as you rightly pointed out - it's natural tiki habitat :D

KIA ORA!don't you have any normal rocks laying around?!?! cheers, mate!!! hope the trip did it's job,- sounds like the best part is the rest-up!! beautiful work, Tama!! KEEP ON KEEPIN ON!!

WOW! Tama the :tiki: These are just beautiful. I love the way you capture so much with the simplicity of your designs. Outstanding work.

Can't think of a better place to get 'stuck' for the night. Hope you're feeling refreshed and relaxed, enjoying a well deserved rest.

Tama, those are all amazing! I especially love the war and peace.....wow, wow, wow

Amy

Can too much of a good thing be bad?

"Can too much of a good thing be bad"?

Nope! Not in this case. Thanks Tama. NZ looks pretty dang nice! Since you've got some "hills", I need to mail you my street luge. You would have fun with it there. It's not so much fun here....

-G

Wowza!
great New Zee snowy landscapes and what great work you had at the show! I especially like the War and Peace-very cool! Beau-tee-ful!I like how you mix the traditional elements but give them just a little bit of a sly new angle! Keep it up Kiwi! :D

Great stuff Tama!

Those snow scenes look very much what it feels like here in Canberra!

I particularly like your "War and Peace" marq pendant.

I was wondering though, can you whistle through the hole like one of these things?

:)

WoW! Amazing exhibition!! If I've could stop drooling, I've could write something more...
Beautiful land too!!

Big thanks for your comps and support: Tikifreak1, BenZ, Hewey (BBand? Im jealous..), GreentikiPat (the best thing about 'normal' rocks is that they make pounamu look even better!), Robin, QueenKamehameha, JohnnyP, Gman, LLT, Tipua (the double-Marq whistles in two complimentary octaves! :lol: ) and Clarita... Thanks so much everyone!

I still havent had the chance to snap piccies of the whole show set-up and/or images of the non-tiki stuff - but will...

During the production for this show there were several other pieces that were started but either didnt make the deadline or were abandoned in the effort to create a solid/related group. One such piece (that simply missed the deadline) was finished today:

:D :D :D to be back at the bench...

Tama

oooohhhhhhhh

Another masterpiece from the master.

Sweet!

He is just fabulous. I really like the buns! Very nice touch on a very beautiful piece. O.K. I just stared at him for another 10 min. He's better that fabulous...but I don't have another word for it.

[ Edited by: Robin 2007-08-13 14:46 ]

Amazing work as always Tama, although I am a little concerned...

I remember when it used to be all this... :down:

...But now it's all this! :down:

Not that there's anything wrong with that! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers KiwiShaman, Robin (I dont know why but the wahines' just cant get enough of those butt-spirals*; Im thinking of getting some myself actually), Tipua (see above for why butts and schlongs have featured so regularly lately) :wink: :lol:

A couple more that didnt quite make the show. These two were drawn up in the initial 'oh-sh*t-I-have-an-exhibition-looming' frenzy, along with those that did make the deadline constraint. The only reason I put these two aside was because the Hei-Heads were already represented well enough:

I was also hoping to include this/these guys, but time was against it. Thanks to all who have shown interest in 'War and Peace'; definately the 'public choice' winner (possibly sold..?) The double-Tiki design has long been a favourite of mine and has so much scope for variation/experimentation.. Still not looking too closely at any traditional pieces, but this is a little less Tamafied than W&P:



just managed to start some surface decoration yesterday when interrupted by visitors, doh! Im looking forward to continuing with this, but not today..

--

And something a little different. I took a half-hours 'play' a couple of days ago and had my first experience with US 'pipestone', traditionally used by the native Americans for their pipes. A gift from my man TimidTiki! Peace, man.

Well what a bloody mess - sorry, blood-like mess... Im sure the Natives had a different method. :lol:

You might just spot the beginnings of a Tiki-pipe there somewhere. I only used the diamond tools to get a head start & have only hacked out the most basic block to start with. Will probably carve it with files and/or blade and am intending it to be a sparetime/relaxed/sittin'-whittlin'-type piece... Huu-yuck!
I gave the rest of the stone to my friend Taff (the other half of Surface.Subsurface) to have a play with.

gotta get that drain sorted...

*Not even lunchtime yet - better get back to it.

Happy carving all!
Tama :)

wow! You are seriuosly like a human cnc machine or humanoid laser cutter... The perfection and qulity of your work is mind blowing.....

After years of carving I still dont have the patience of a stone carver...
Again, just amazed!

Hana Hou brah... Hana Hou.

mahalo for everything!

Woah, That is a pretty gory lookin tool bench there are you sure there are no spare fingers lying around anywhere. Did you count all yours? Good thing the neighbor didnt send the coppers out to search your shop for missing persons. :lol:
Your War and piece was one of My favorites too but then there are SO Many I lose track. This new Double Tiki piece looks like it's going to be a real show stopper.
Lookin Good and Then some.

Tama you made me laugh so hard! Thanks for that, and thanks for the pics. I damn near fall in love every time I look at your work. So fine...they really make me smile.

On 2007-08-15 16:19, Tamapoutini wrote:
Tipua (see above for why butts and schlongs have featured so regularly lately) :wink: :lol:

Hmmm... Yes, I see you've been riding on a wave of Tangaroa, possessed by the Great Tripod of the Sea! Although I missed the actual reason why ... Paipo hinted at something a few pages back...

The ladies love them butts though hey? :)

I also see you're working on a tiki-pipe. No doubt you'll surpass my attempt utterly! No matter. I shall look forward to the humiliation! :cry:

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Hey gang. Just a quick update; nothing face-melting..

Kaha ki'i: Cheers brother. I could say exactly the same: after years of stone carving I dont believe I would have the patience for bone carving.. :D

BenZ: The 'bloodiness' of pipe stone caught me by surprise for some reason (all fingers present & correct!) Not as bad as haematite though; that stuff will stain your hands/arms for days, but with a name like that at least you have some warning. :)

Robin: Thanks Sistah! Hearing that my work makes you smile, makes me smile. :) Thanks also for the sneeky-peek at your ceramic work (we have a very talented artist here people!). Far better than I ever achieved with clay although I used to blame my hopeless throwing on being left-handed (despite having a 'reversible' wheel, haha) You could do fantastic Tiki-things with clay! Have you checked out much of the 'other craft' ceramics? *Hold it, this feels more like a PM to me...:wink:

Tipua: Well, its half the Tiki-fun isnt it? Topless 'native'-girls for the guys & outrageously proportioned 'totems' (and patterned buttocks) for the ladies..? how could a Kulture like this ever go out of style..?
Re, pipestone pipe: dont hold your breath.. :lol:

update:

A larger version of the Hei-head. 2 1/4inches

And a somewhat traditional Hei-tiki, but with some small twiddling of proportions, and oval eyes! (try that with your little core-drills Sneak! You'll never get the Krabby Pattie recipe!! hahaha)**

**(private joke, just for me :lol: )

Thanks for looking everyone!

Tama :)

Nice turn on the eyes Tama. They will look great. I've only seen one tiki with oval eyes before and the result was a whole new tiki-personality.

Smiling again...happy to see your new work. I'm running out of adjectives! Love them all, and the nuances that make them individuals and alive. That's the true mark of your artistry...bringing them to life.

Thanks for your kind words about me and my clay work...that makes me smile too.

R.

Hey Tama, More Beautiful stuff.
"And a somewhat traditional Hei-tiki, but with some small twiddling of proportions, and oval eyes! (try that with your little core-drills Sneak! You'll never get the Krabby Pattie recipe!! hahaha)**
"
OVAL Eyes Now? Are you trying to drive us Crazy? I Know How you did it but Only experience can do it That Well. Most Excellent job, and the rest of him looks to be your Usual "Perfection" type piece. It would seem that you may be a bit of an Obsessive perfectionist, No? :lol: :lol:. You must be using different tools than the rest of us because EVERYTHING you create is just Damn Perfect, Must be nice.
Actually I'm with Robin about loving your stuff more every time you post something new. HappyHappy

tama, i really dig the last hei tiki. beautiful shape and great execution.

Amazing pieces as always :D

Whew! Fabulous carvings, Tama.

Hey what ever happened with the pipestone?

Maybe Timidtiki already told you this: I heard it's called Catlinite after George Catlin who was famous for his Native American portraits. The quarry was on neutral ground, so even though there were rival tribe members coming from miles around, no fighting was allowed. That's quite a special piece of rock TT gave ya!

On 2007-08-15 16:19, Tamapoutini wrote:

Oh dear Tama - looks like you been murdering something there! Sure you haven't a body hiding in amoungst those stones? :)

KS

Hey gang - long time, no post.. Actually I think my desktop shortcut to the TC forums page has been showing me an 'out of order' message for a few days longer than necessary..? Ive been missing the party.. :(

After several weeks of producing work for the exhibition and then reasonably slow sales, Ive found myself doing the rounds and being more of a trader than carver these past couple.

Big thanks: Timid, Robin, BenZ, Bullet, Hewey, Bowana & KiwiShaman!!
Even bigger thanks to QueenKamehameha whose speedy manoeuvres secured her the 'War & Peace' piece. Peace!

No further progress on the bleedin' pipestone - as I said earlier it is to be a sittin'-whittlin'-type piece, and I havent had a spare moment to relax lately.. The current project is a covered 'clearlite' roof over our back deck; finally somewhere to kick the gumboots off - outside!

--

Not a huge amount to show..

The finished 'oval-eye'

And a new piece underway, 'Wide-mouthed Wahine' :lol: :lol: :lol:

--

Back to it!

Tama :)

[ Edited by: Tamapoutini 2007-08-30 19:40 ]

Awesome!

Not wanting to beat around the bush, can I have it? :)

Beautiful onslaught of imagery-- that show must have been something else. Great works Tama! Your pipe will be so freaking cool! That's pretty nifty that you're carving a pipestone wakan chanunpa--sacred pipe!!! I want to finish mine someday but I'm saving it for a less busy time.

:drink:

Cheers Sneaky, thats exactly what Im waiting for to finish mine too; a less busy time...

Tipua: You've got first refusal; hows that? (you dont know the price yet - :wink: - nor do I for that matter.. :lol: )

Tama :)

On 2007-08-31 03:13, Tamapoutini wrote:

Tipua: You've got first refusal; hows that? (you dont know the price yet - :wink: - nor do I for that matter.. :lol: )

I'm cool with that... I think. :-?

I'll have you know I can pay for it. Even with money if you're lucky! :)

Tama,

These last two seem so familiar, yet so different. These are both very appealing to the eye and have wonderful proportional variations that makes you look twice and think, but not think too hard. Very fine work my friend. I really like where your work is going. Man, it's like you are making little green candies - and I want them all!

-G

Good to see you back. I was having withdrawal! Very nice new pieces. I like the fleshing out muscular look to the arms and legs at the joints. She's a tough babe. I'm curious. I've seen this hand in the mouth in your work before. Is this a Tama innovation, or does it have an historical reference?

Well lets Not beat around the bush, I want 2nd refusal and I can pay with SOmething, I'll even bid a hundred more of what I'm payin with to get first refusal.
I Like dis bitch. Her hand in mouth means she's Always Hungry so she gotta know how to cook which means I get fed. Plus I Really like her lines, Sweet humanistic beauty/booty :lol: :lol: :lol: Gimmee gimmee gimmee

On 2007-08-31 17:51, Benzart wrote:
Well lets Not beat around the bush, I want 2nd refusal and I can pay with SOmething, I'll even bid a hundred more of what I'm payin with to get first refusal.
I Like dis bitch. Her hand in mouth means she's Always Hungry so she gotta know how to cook which means I get fed. Plus I Really like her lines, Sweet humanistic beauty/booty :lol: :lol: :lol: Gimmee gimmee gimmee

Who's that sniffing around my Miss Inanga 2007? Back off Ben or I'll... I'll... crap! I'll think of something! :)

tama, i really dig these last two. the highlights for me are oval-eye's right hand and wahine's tongue.

What's happenin? You gotta be holding out on us! You must have at least finished that inanga lovely by now?

We must be due for another 3am red wine session... :drink:

(It's a sad fact I live only a 20 minute drive from this man, yet have to pester him on TC to see what he's been up to!)

Hi all. Decided to play hooky this morning. The sun is shining and theres definately a feeling of Spring in the air - not a morning for staring into a sink, haha. Presently engaged in my first proper Tiki-shout too; this place is cool eh? :)

--

Cheers Tipiua; Ill be in touch.
Thanks Gman; the longer Ive been making these tiki-things, the more I am becoming to realise just how subtle they have to be!! The smallest of details/shape/line/form etc can utterly change/make-or-break a work eh?
Robin: I wouldnt say the hand-stretching-mouth is my own invention but I have used it before.
Thanks BenZ: 2nd refusal? You could probably make a better one yourself! :wink:
Tipua-BenZ: Behave boys!
Thanks for watching Bullet!
Paipo: Good idea; I need help with a new cocktail: Lemoncello, Pisco, and...?

Well its Wednesday here and a grand total of NO carving so far this week. A lot of my time has gone into helping a 'chippie' mate build a clearlite roof over our back deck.

Ive now got to wait for the timber to dry out enough for staining and then the roofing can go on. Cant wait.

--

But of course theres always something happening in the shed..

Ive had this guy drawn up for a few weeks now & am simply torturing myself by not starting him. Promised myself Id clear a path first. It seems a shame to trim this skinny fella from such a wide slab so I may do something a bit tricky with the binding and use up that extra space - somehow??

This Rei-puta inspired piece was started at the end of last week. One session and just enough to, stop. In the Box until futher notice. You're right LLT/Jentiki; I need a personal assistant.

And this one. Also drawn up last week & had one session on him. As above, just had to do it and now hidden from sight. Dont ask; I cant explain.


The 'pupils' on the eyes of this guy are going to be little round balls (hopefully).

--

Right. Im off to enjoy the sunshine and have a cuppa. Perhaps unbolt the hot-house from the concrete or move the woodshed..

Happy carving all!

Tama :)

1 almost done/1 halfway there/1 sketched out and ready to go...
Great little grouping there TAMA! Makes my balloon knot quiver! :lol:

On 2007-09-04 16:06, Tamapoutini wrote:

And this one. Also drawn up last week & had one session on him. As above, just had to do it and now hidden from sight. Dont ask; I cant explain.

Tama :)

I want him(?)! Maybe by the time it's finished I'll be able to afford it!

That chevron pendant is super ambitious...I have dabbled with similar ideas and motifs but am too intimidated even at the drawing stage to progress. I actually had one with only 7 projections that was in my box for over 5 years before I took to it with the saw and remade it into something simpler. But - I can see what you are doing. By making the initial cuts and drilling the holes, you commit to the idea. Looking at the ones you had in your show (the two with openwork chevron centres) I know you'll be able to pull these off when you're ready :wink:

The Great Amazing Tama! So much stuff, so much going on, such variety! I likee the rei-puta you put in the box. Such mystery!!! Have you finished the wide-mouth wahine? Ever make a jade crocodile?

-G

On 2007-09-04 16:06, Tamapoutini wrote:

Wow. This is going to be something to watch.

The other carvings are great also. I'm diggin the one you are now hiding from site.

Did I miss the finale of the "Spirit Canoe"??? What happenend to it - is it in the box?

-G

Oh Tama the humbling and talented. These are all so nice.

I love this one. He's really got personality already.

and the composition of this one...very stately fellow.

And this one is amazing.

I hope they find their way out of the box soon. :) No pressure of course.

Hey there, How'd you sneek this stuff past me? Thanks for the construction piccys. If I move over there can I be your assistant? I wanna learn how you do this stuff and, AND, I want to dig through That BOX! I'm sure I wouldn't be in your way, Much.