BenZart...MaoriChief, Glass pendant Update Today

AWESOME! You carve the best facial features, it looks so real. I love how you do the eyes, well everything.

Thanks GMAN, Yeah Someday I'll be able to put clothes on my stick people. :lol: Glad you like the teko as I am Happy with how he is turning out.

Pappy, The eyes have Always been a focal point for my pieces even with the pelicans I used to carve. They are very important in connecting to trhe viewer and however you can enhance that, it makes it better. Thanks!

Mooney, Thanks for your Kind words, C'mon over now that you're home!

Robin, Thanks for the great words, I COuld ask for more as every one of these guys is a struggle! I'd like to carve it out as easy as some of our guys make it look. Thanks.

LLT, Big Thanks, Big words form someone nwho knows,I Appreciate that., Thanks.

Thanks Bete, Nice hearing from you always and you Always have positive stuff to say.

T-Freak Thanks for the props, I spend more time on the face and eyes than the whole rest of the piece. Thanks

Heres todays update, again the head and face are finished , almost, just need some body and limb adornment. After sanding with the 380 Sanding mop I buffed and waxed with bees wax.

myspace

[ Edited by: Benzart 2008-04-03 02:12 ]

Wow...just wow. Your work amazes and inspires. I'm still scratching the surface of innocent logs - you are pulling magic out of them. Again...wow

yeah, amazing for sure! I love the wood in this one. What is it? And, as always, incredible facial expression. Another piece of beautiful art. What a collection a bunch of BenzArts would make! I like that square stand - that's cool.

OOOh!!

Spectacular! I love the base---awesome!

Very good work mister !

Ben

yowzer!!! this guy has jumped out of his wooden skin in no time!!!

I love it!

what is the tool you use for the moko Ben?

I typed in danlovestikis to see what would come up and I find you in bandages, what happened? Our tikis look great by the way and this Warrior is fantastic, LOL, Wendy

Wow, you cranked on him! I blink my eye and he's all moko'd and signed! You must of gotten real anxious to see him in his full glory!

Thanks 20Two and Welcome to Tiki Central, Glad to have 'ya. Keep Scratching, the Magic will come.

Thanks the BigT, the wood is KOA and Really hard. Normally I would do the Moko with my trusty Hook knife but with this wood the Burner is the answer. Thanks for the props.

JohnnyP. AHHH Thanks! :lol:

Howland, Thanks, That base just wouldn't accept my "NO" and I finally gave in. :)

Thank You Mister Ben, I appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks Harro, The tools I use for the Moko are the Pencil and the wood burner with a Very fine, flexible tip. It works pretty well but is very Nerve wracking because even breathing can change a line or make you move enough to change it off course. The fine blade is just Very sensitive to minute movements.

Thanks Wendy, Nice to see you 'round these parts again, been awhile.
Bandages? must have been the deviated Septum and Turbinates surgery I had. finally back from that. Glad you like this little guy!

Surfintiki. thanks, Of course you KNOW I get carried away and impatient when it gets down th the mokos. I still have the limbs and trunk to go but Didn't work at all on him today, but will get more done tomorrow.

I got carried away cleaning up my messy garage. I have felt SO Bad physically for so long that I had just let my garage go and there was barely room to turn around in. Well the past week I have finally felt humanly good again for the first time in a Long time and today was Almost the final session cleaning and re-arranging my Work shop, it's No Longer the Garage. I found tools that have been "Missing" for a year and really have a Lot more room to spread out and work more. I have a cheap video camera which I will try my hand in taping some of my carving sessions and sharing them with you all here on TC if I can do that!
I Only have 2 more days to work on him and on Sunday, Sherry and I leave for a week long cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary. When I get back I'll finish him up and then get down to business finishing some of these pieces I have going like for Bete, Gecko, Danlovestikis and Conga tiki. If I missed anyone please see my agent1.hA
OH I Almost forgot, I have a secret project coming up I'll have to do soon.
HAppyHappyJoyJoy

OOPS

[ Edited by: Benzart 2008-04-04 02:47 ]

Hey Ben, if you stick with it, you are gonna get pretty good at this
tiki carving :)

Wow Ben...nice tats! Way to clean up the shop! I love doing that. Have a great time on the cruise to Jamaica!!!!! Maybe you'll come back a Rasta convert.

Outstanding You the man! Only #82?

hmmmmm, secret project. I'm good enough with the video taping!

p.s.
Have a happy wedding anniversary and cruise! We love you!

That maori is spectacular.... He's lookin' like one tough lil' dude. Hopefully you can make that video thing work. I'm sure lots of people would tune in for that. Congrats on the Anniv. Have a good time. fB

Wow Ben. He's off the chain. Looks like you have groupies now too. Sweetness.

Mahalo

TGIF

McTiki

I like the detail on the latest piece thanx for raising the bar further out of reach!

On 2008-04-03 20:29, congatiki wrote:
Hey Ben, if you stick with it, you are gonna get pretty good at this
tiki carving :)

Now that's funny! :D

Ben this carving is incredable as is the one you did for the Swap! I can't wait to see the next one your gonna carve! Aloha , Jimmy

Thanks Conga, I Sure Hope so, after all this time I'm finally learning how o keep my tools sharp!

Robin, thanks, yeah the shop has been needing it for a long time. Hopefully the Moko will not offend anyone!
I am Already a Rastafarian!

Seeks thanks and Yes Only 82 in 4 years and 2 1/2 months! :)

Surfin, Secret project? Where? who? Not me.

Conga, Thanks, maybe You should come on the cruise with me and we'll leave Sherry home? Naww! :lol: :lol:

Freddie, Thanks, I'm sure we can get some kind of video posted and I'm sure we're gonna have fun.Thanks.

Thanks McTiki, nice to hear from you too again. Groupies? WOW.
TGIWF

Thanks VBTiki and I Promise you the bar IS Reachable, you can do more than you think!

Thanks BigT, Yeah that Conga, now He's a Funny guy who May learn to carve some day too!

Hey Jimmy, Yeah this one is for a swap..between me ans fast Freddie. :lol:
The Swap piece is back a few pages and I guess you had not seen it yet even?

I didn't work on anything but the house yesterday, Amazing all the stuff needing to be done just to go away for a week. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and stuff, I Appreciate and love you all, well Almost all! :lol:
First Pic is of the burning tip I use for the Maori's moko and the rest are the shop.

HappyHappyHappy

On 2008-04-05 06:28, Benzart wrote:

Robin, thanks, yeah the shop has been needing it for a long time. Hopefully the Moko will not offend anyone!
I am Already a Rastafarian!

:lol: :lol: :lol: spewing my granola all over the keyboard!

No way that Moko will offend.

have a great time Benz!!

your shop looks brilliant now, and by showing us all those big logs and half finished pieces means you have no choice but to finish them all and show us all how you do it!

lucky us!

Is that the right hand side of your garage? I didn't recognize it without all the wood. Looks like a good place to have a party!

Greetings from the Caribbean just north of Grand Cayman Island.

Sure Benz...take a vacation from the tropics, to the tropics! :P

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes. We had a Great time and it was difficult leaving the boat. I think we were the Last ones off and the crew had to threaten to hose us out if we didn't leave already! :lol: :lol: It was a great vacation but I am Happy to be home and can't wait to get back to the "Grind". SSo much going on and So much to do,,Where do I start? After I re-install Windows I'll post holiday pic's and some work stuff too even.
There are tons of posts I'm eager to answer and Lots of great carvings to check out.
Meanwhile I'm HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY to be Home!

Glad you had a great trip. I checked out your last piece you did, nice job on that! And cool workshop pietures, looks like you have a 6 foot tall Lono going, huh? WOW!

I think we are all MORE Happy Happy Happy to have you back.

Thanks Bete and Seeks, Appreciate the comps and stuff. Still working on the slow laptop till tomorrow night I hope.
I finished the little Warrior today and heres a few pic's. More when I get My computer back up.

He looks Great Benz.

Looks so cool!

fantastic.

i'm offended!! how could you, Benz?;)

On 2008-04-16 15:30, Benzart wrote:
[img]

Thank you! :D See ya in 18 days! :D

Thanks for lookin Seeks, Bete and Bennie and for the props too.
Greenie, it was easy, I just drew the lines and turned on my burner and traced them out... OH, Not what you meant?? :lol: :lol: :lol:
Jen, that message was just for you!
Thanks everyone. Got my 'puter back working and even did some work today on the Spiney/curley lono.




Here are a few pic's of our cruise too.

Aloha Ben!!! The spiney Lono looks Bad Ass my friend especially in person, and your trip pics look like you had alot of fun.Mahalo for working with me yesterday. Your time is very much appreciated always.The kids really love that Maoi pendant(little bug-ers)thanks again my friend,Aloha and have a Great weekend, Jimmy

Coming from sunny so cal how would someone obtain a piece of benz art? Great work.

[ Edited by: King-bilt 2008-04-18 08:17 ]

Thanks Mooney, Come over Any time. See 'ya next week.

Thanks King-Bilt. Look through these pages and let me know what you want and I will let you know when you can get it. The majority of my work is shipped to SoCal, so I guess you just need time and a bit of luck to get what you want. :lol:

Hi benz - great to see you hacking away at a big'un again - and the curly spiny lono as well!!!

can we get some overall pics again to remind us how big it is again?

and man - thats one helluva boat there!!

Both your new carvings are GREAT Benz!!! It looks like you had a great time on your trip too!!

The little warrior is delightful, you do tat work that really makes the piece really outstanding. It is good to see you chopping at the curly lono, it was very inspiring when we saw it at Coon Tiki II.

Thanks Tikifreak, appreciate the comps and yes we had a great time.
JP, Thanks too, Yes I Must get curly done. Just one more side of the headdress to rough out then cleaning up and finishing. I can see the light at the end of the hallway, just gotta get the chips outta the way.
harro, thanks Much!. Yes that IS a BIG Boat, I think the Biggest in the Carnival fleet. The Only issue with it was that it holds too many guests.
"110,000 tons
952 feet in length
116 feet wide
Passengers: 2,974
Crew: 1,160"
Actually they have 4 or 5 Larger ships by 10 feet or so!
Here are some full size shots of the 3 tikis I'm working on now to give you an idea. the "Curly" tiki is a bit over 3 ft tall.

Heres Tamas Swap Piece Hangin' 'round!

This one looks like an LLT painting

On 2008-04-18 08:08, King-bilt wrote:
Coming from sunny so cal how would someone obtain a piece of benz art? Great work.

[ Edited by: King-bilt 2008-04-18 08:17 ]

I met someone once who said "If you want a Benzart, you better get your name on the list, just like Santa's list, it is long, and it gets checked to see if you have been naughty or nice." :D

Not sure if she was just joshing me or not, but I do know that I have always been jealous when I see someone wearing a Benzart necklace.

So, please, add me to the list. And just let me know when my time comes around.

Mahalo

What's that standing next to the Lono? A piece of Walnut?

On 2008-04-18 11:56, Benzart wrote:
The majority of my work is shipped to SoCal, so I guess you just need time and a bit of luck to get what you want.

I've always wanted a poney Ben.