The Birdman

Ok, I don't want to stuff other topic threads with my progress pics, so I'll start this for the stuff I'm doing. Here is the first of what I hope will be many. But before anything else I need to say thanks to all the SD choppers that have been really cool to me, generous with advice, friendship, and much more, encouraging with their excellent works and expertise, and all-around good nature. I might have wallowed in ignorance for a long time were it not for you folks, many thanks!

The 4th of July week was hectic for me, family visiting, the "Dreaded Honey-do" list, being Dad & husband all got in the way of getting started on #1, but I managed to get started day before yesterday for a few hours, and a few today.

Got the basic layout & shaped cuts

worked on the eyes and brows

then the mouth and teeth

This is the log that 4wd gave me at the chop (Thanks again bro!) and some of the things I've learned on this one already is to strip the log down sufficiently before you start the choppin! I believe I didn't do that on this one well enough and found the areas that I planned to be pointed and tight became stringy at the surface and I had to make changes to fix them. I'll not make the same mistake down the road. I tried to keep things symmetrical using Buzzys way of mapping out the lines before hand, but I believe I also could have chosen better which side to start with, and might have ended up with more symmetry instead of having to "fix-as I-go". But I'ts not a museum piece, it's just my first.
The Birdman

Yup, it's all about the learnin'! Looks good so far, are you bringing it to the chop?

TBird, this one scared me! You gonna carve some blood dripping out it's mouth?

Wow Tbird! Great first! The eyes and eyebrows look really nice, very well shaped and smooth. Looks like you've already done some sanding on it? You're off to a great start!

Lookin' fab, Birdman! If you check other carver's threads (including my own) you'll see the same woeful, frustrated rantings about rotten, splintery wood and asymmetry in the carving. You're in good company, Bruddah!

that's a great start! keep on going and doing what you're doing.

make sure and put a bandana on its head and a chain wallet on it. :D

You the Bomb Birdman! Man, this work looks like you been carving tiki for a grip now! Keep at it...your ruling this log.

Man, You all are really good about keeping a guy on his toes!
4wd- thanks, yeah, he's coming along, and um, can I borrow your draw knife again?

cammo- sorry he scared you, he's going to be one of the on-duty guys for the pool area, but I think the blood on the teeth would be counter productive to his job function as pool guard.

Mieko- Thank you as well! You bring up an interesting point I was wondering about because I was carving and sanding as I went along, maybe cuz I was wanting to see the eyes through to a point I was happy with. Is that not the norm or is it dependant on the chopper? I think I might be slowing myself down a bit by switching around from sanding back to carving, any thoughts?

Tikidav- Muchos Gracias Senor! I was forewarned about taking it down past he splintery stuff, but I didn't heed, got anxious!

Pdrake- This buds for you!

Babs- I am not a bomb, you spelled it wrong, thats BUM! Compared to you folks, I'm just a rook! But thanks for the flowers :D !

The Birdman

Great first (2nd, 10th) piece!
Are you going to stain it or burn it?

Well thank you! More than likely both, there are some areas I'll cut and burn some tattoos, and will stain and varnish it because it'll be in the pool area and could get wet.

The Birdman

ARRRR, Excellent first tiki there Birdman, just don't stop there, we want MORE!

great start out of the gate birdman!!! your days of watchin are over...now here comes the pressure as we start to expect something good out of you every time!

Hey all, past few days didn't do much on #1, didn't like the way it was looking so I performed a "Rhino-plasty" procedure to him, I think it works better than the "Whale-tail" probiscus he had.
before....

during....

and just after....

I think it works better this way, more traditional, less Jimmy Durante! I had to let it sit in the sun for a day to re-think it, and went to work on stripping a few logs down with the draw knife I got on Ebay.

cut that one in 2 stool size pieces

and started stripping another

Of course, my "Mini-me" has been bugging me to get him going on a Tiki of his own, so I started his lesson plan on using a small, cordless Dremel which he did pretty well with, so I gave him a scrap piece of plywood and a few hand chisels and he loved it! Actually had decent technique with the chisels!


So that's it for now, will see a bunch of you at 4WD's place on Saturday!

The Birdman

Improvement.
Interesting to see your workspace and tools as well.

man looks awesome , and that pool looks nice too ha ha

Thanks guys. I put #1 off to the side because at the Oceanside chop @ 4wd's place I took a short piece to start #2. I had no real ideas for this one except a few features I liked from other folks work, but got it started anyway. Clysdale and several others (4wdtiki and Buzzy) have made it their mission to ride my butt and actually chop while at the chop (go figure!) so I did! Dave gave me some much needed tips on the use of chainsaws other than just slicing through logs, but I think I need more thought into where my cuts should be before I slice away. I wasn't too sure while cutting and the lil' guy didn't look right to me when I left. But back at home base I looked at him more and saw some potential even after I hacked it up! This lil' log is WAY wet inside, so he's lounging in the sun by the pool for a few days now also.

I also got a few tips on Mapp gas and tikis, I think this guy will find himself under the gun when done (if I don't like him it'll be WELL DONE!!). Thanks again for the encouragement, hope I can make it to Oasis!

#2 is coming along but the center is real wet, making it tougher. I worked out the problem I had with the mouth and how I cut it with the chainsaw, it took me a while to see where I wanted it to go.
kinda looks like a largemouth bass!

but it's better than it was I think.

The inside of the mouth will see lots of sunlight before I get back to him.

so I might just start on #3 till 1 & 2 dry out a bit.

cool birdman. For your first 3 pieces - they are GREAT!

I like the probiscus improvement too!

Keep up the good work.

KS

Thanks Kiwi, this guy has been pissing me off from day 1 so I put #1 off to make this one go away! Had Problems with mushy, stringy wet guts, parts that seemed to be oil soaked, uneven coloring, you name it this one taught me a lesson or 2! So I fixed the mouth, the nose, the eyes, whipped out the torch (was tempted to cook him longer!) and gave him some age!

took care of a few other problems, paint, varnish

and all thats left is a cushioned bandana for him to make it a stool!
I'll be glad to move on to something else!

TBird, you RESCUED it! It looks great now. And if you can't see it, it ain't a problem.

Looks great, Birdman. I really like the colors you put on it.

Thanks guys, I think I'll take Cammos advice & put it out of sight-out of mind! I just finished cutting this lil guy, he's the piece of Orangewood I've been playing with while playing Poker!


I have to say, it was a joy to work on Orangewood, when I was sanding it, the scent in the air was Radical! It cuts nice, smooths out nice, just gotta find some larger chunks or logs!

I wish I could whip out the torch with some of my stone carvings. Unfortunately stone doesn't burn very well.
The makeover on the palm log turned out sweet, and the new guy looks very promising too. I love the beautiful colours in that grain! Orangewood - from the fruit tree?

Birdman - they are both sweet. the orangewood - wow what lovely grain - like what Paipo says :)

And that palm log - I think it turned out good!

Keep it up - I like what I see.

KS

Hey Paipo, I looked into it to be sure and it turns out it is from the fruit tree, sure smells great when cut or sanded. I'll be on the prowl for more for sure. And thanks to both of you, I must be on NZ time, I'm kind of an early morning dude, Lol!

Well, this one is in the bag! I cut 3" of nice foam padding, glued n stacked on top, and covered with a nice, heavyweight tropical material, and a little 3/8 fiber rope to finish em off.


This one ate up a lot of time and effort, gotta keep him under control!

he he he

Awesome Bro

KS

Very nice! Love the paint job, and the hat is great! Love the little orange wood guy too!

Thanks Kiwi and Robin, muchos gracias! I went back to #1 today, got a little detailing, but got a call to go back to work!! YIPPEE! I'm going to work on a pilot sitcom I did 2 months ago that got picked up at Universal so I'll be out of the loop for a while, but will keep an eye on things here for sure! I don't know if I'll be able to make the Oasis, but I'll know more after production starts Aug.6th. (Cammo, you can still make a pendant with T-Bird on it, can't you :wink:??) But here is what #1 looks like at the moment.

I squeezed a little time this past weekend to work on #1 again, slowly but surely he's coming along. I did some more dental work, I like the hollow look better than the continuous teeth thing...


did a bit of cutting on the node again, then the brows, and a few lines around the face area

and put him under the flame a bit

so here he is as of now, need to clean up a bit, but that will have to be on the weekend.

L8tr all.

Birdman-
Great work!! The hands look so realistic, amazing.
ray

wow birdman, those look pretty cool, im still messing around with the coloring on my tikis, and will eventually get to bruning the wood, but since im a slight pyro that will have to wait. lol. great work though, love it.

Thanks Moondance, details, detail, details, you know! Well, this one is in the bag, he went through some surgery since the begining...

but I'm ok with him now

Time to move on, slowly but surely, on to #3 which is a request from my 89 year old neighbor, he's kinda like a father to me, very cool fellow, who clipped a picture of a Stone Tiki out of the newspaper and asked me to carve it for him, and he wants to do the finish work. I know he isn't the burliest old dude, so I have a 16" limb of Eucalyptus branch that I started for him. It should be easy enough for him to carry without hurting himself, and big enough for him to enjoy doing the sanding and finish work. Here is the start of it.

Back to 16 hour days at work this week, will play with this one when the weekend comes, so may all your cards be live & your pots be monster!

thats a cool looking design, im gonna steal it, lol. my friend has requested a happy go-lucky looking tiki for her place, cause her life is just stressful and tiring at the moment, and thats one of the happiest looking tikis ive seen. lol. plus it will give me more practice with my tools it looks like, haha. thanks for putting that up there birdman. mahalo.

Haven't posted for awhile, but have done a few things while at work,
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/7415/46df9773.jpg[/img
this is a 4x4 we used to chock the Starwaggons on the show, inspired by Bill (4wdtiki) and his recent stuff.
[img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/7415/46df982a.jpg)
One of the grips on the show saw me carving and brought me a piece of Magnolia that he cut down in his yard and I gave this one to my boss. The grip that gave me the wood is nicknamed "Bone-head" and has dug up some tools he had at home, and is now considered my "Protoge" because he sits and carves on set also,

Another lil' guy I was playing with isn't finished yet, we've had power outages here alot lately, last one lasted 42 hours! But I'll finish him.

He will have the bandana & Pony tail, maybe my signature LOL!
And last is the mask I started at Oasis, just haven't had a chance to work on him since then (the lil'ones are easy to do on set during filming!).

One of the really funny factoids about the carving for me, I was on stage working the "Picture car" for the show while they were shooting "Green screen" scenes, and the car needed very little attention one day and I was carving the lil bandana'd dude to keep busy. After a few hours had gone by, I put him and my tools in my bag, and the next thing I knew, I was getting slapped in the foot to wake me up as I was snoring during a take! Several of the crew were laughing and gave me the "Thumbs-up" and the director, a very cool dude, approached me later and suggested I carve as long as I need to to stay awake! I snore loudly. Gotta get more small pieces when on stage for sure!

See you SD folks at the chop on saturday (if my power dosen't go out again!)

this one didn't come thru last post

or this 4wd inspired one.

Those are great, Birdman. I really like the contrasting colors of wood. Very bold shapes.

Congrats on infecting another carver!

Thanks Dave. Hey...who made me a Socialite? I thought I was a Centralite?

Your stuff is looking GREAT, Birdman!! Nice and clean. You became a tiki socialite after your 100th posting, man. Congrats!!

Birdman, you keep knocking out these great little tikis and having a great time and it shows in the faces of every piece. Keep doing what you are doing as every piece is practice for the next one.
Good Show!

High praise from you sir is greatly appreciated, and yes, it is fun for me! Thanks for looking in on me.

Very good new pieces.

Hey, don't you all love weekends?? I do, I got to finish the mask I started at Oasis


this one my daughter wanted so it's gone!
I also started a "Caricature Tiki" of the co-captain of the show I'm working on, he's one of the most mechanically inclined persons I know and he did me a huge favor working on my A/C on my truck, saved me at least $500. and I wanted to do something for him, so I started this mask today


This is the only pic of him I had for reference

Hope to give it to him this week at least.
And I also have another set of "Caricature Tiki" faces to start soon, recognize this guy?

Chow for now!

Your Tikis are rad, Birdman! When the heck are you going to stop with the phoney excuses and come chop with us?!

I must be really uncool. Who is that guy?

Dave, the last thing you are is uncool, you're one of my mentors, and a constant source of inspiration! Thanks for being you!

Hey Birdman, you did an awesome job on the mask! I really like how the grain looks in the eyes, and around the nose and mouth. Nice work with the woodburner too! Those patterns really make it. You're daughter's a lucky girl to have that one.

P.S. I recognize that guy. He just got married to someone else famous. :)

Zaya

Thanks Zaya, and yes he did just get married recently to someone famous, Rebbeca Romaine Stamos AKA- "Mystique" from the X-Men movies, and he is Jerry O' Connell, from "Sliders, Crossing Jordan" and others. Nice guy, and they make a great couple, both very approachable, down to earth, just nice folk! He let me take a pic of him doing his Tiki-face. The rest of the cast of this show are equally cool and fun to work with! I hope the show takes off, would love to be part of it for a long time. They did a scene the other day with a pair of 6' matching tiki's in a living room shot, nicely carved but too much paint on it, I thought (Prop house colored it up). The show is called "Carpoolers" and it airs on Tuesdays @ 8:30 pm on ABC starting Oct. 2nd. Let me know what you all think if you watch it.

Great looking stuff birdman! like said before, the contrast makes them really pop!

Jerry O' Connell was also the "fat kid" in Stand By Me. :)