The Embellished Tiki

YIPPEEEEE! I got the prize stones this weekend, BIG Thanks timid they are beautiful. Now I'll have to find some things that need "Embellishing"!
I Love these kinds of contests, lets do some more...

[ Edited by: Benzart 2008-06-30 04:32 ]

Seldom see and rarely photographed the SHMOOKI is found only on the remote South Pacific island annex of Dogpatch USA.

Hatched from an unaltered beach polished Big Sur (USA) jade pebble (3 1/2 inches high), the usual google eyes, Chevy fire engine red enamel for the mouth.

Thumb stone inspiration comes from wonderful places . . . the following two thumb stones were created by Steve Donaldson (a New Zealand jade/stone carver):

The following thumb stone pendants followed Steve's inspiration:

Thumb stone #1 - a simple pounamu drop pendant (smooth on the front and untouched on the back except for the thumb depression)

Front -

Back -

Thumb stone #2 - a Big Sur (California) jade pebble (untouched front with natural erosion of the jade and the back smooth with a thumb depression)

Front -

Back -

Thumb stone #3 - a pounamu wood gouge based on the Maori artifact photos in Russell Beck's book "New Zealand Jade" (gouge cut on the front and thumb depression on the back)

Front -

Back -

The photographs could have been better, but we are still learning. That's all for now!

Cool! What tools/processes are you using?

I Love your new tools, especially the wood gough, good idea to blunt it down for pendant wear.The only one I don't agree with is the rough surface with the smooth "thumb depression" . If I were using it to try to relax, the thumb surface would be fine but the rough surface around it would annoy the hell out of me. I Could be wrong tho, I guess I'd have to try it for a year or so just to make sure. Nice to see a post from you too MrT (like I should talk)

Thanks all for comments. In response to your questions and concerns, I offer the following:

TAMA - My tools are probably the obvious choice the typical/lazy/inexperienced jade carver. I used diamond wheels (Diamond Pacific Pixie machine) for rough carving of convex surfaces, an 80 grit oval diamond point for the thumb depressions (Lopaki), and lots of sanding with 3M diamond paper down to 600 grit.

BENZ - Thanks . . . what can I say? It is just like real life . . . a few rough spots make the smooth ones feel much better!!!

[ Edited by: timidtiki 2009-02-25 08:08 ]

On 2009-02-25 08:08, timidtiki wrote:

TAMA: ..an 80 grit oval diamond point for the thumb depressions (Lopaki), and lots of sanding with 3M diamond paper down to 600 grit.

Interesting. I believe you when you say "lots of sanding with.." Any new diamond tool will leave some serious scratching (apart from those grits in the 1000's) and Ive always found new 'spheres' leave particularly aggressive grooves. Are you using the diamond cloth and sandpaper by hand? A good shortcut is to wrap them around rubber sanding 'drums' of matching size (ideally; or slightly smaller if unavailable) to the circumference of your sphere, and spinning them in a horizontally mounted chuck/point-carver. The lower section of the barrel-shaped drum will closely hug the curvature of your carving and makes scratch removal much quicker. Ditto sanding.. Leave a slight overhang of paper/cloth (a couple of mm); using this flexible edge is quite suprising in its 'reach' and uses. For all that youve achieved an amazing surface and shine however you did it - so carry on! :lol:

Ive never tried 3M diamond cloth but am more than convinced by their other products so assume it is as good as it gets. Will look into trying some myself..

Rock on! :wink:

Thanks Tama - Rubber mandrel? Tried it. Works great! Saves about 2 hours of sanding per thumb hole!

The last ThumbStone (maybe . . . but at least my most recent one). I'm not sure what the stone is but it was represented and "synthetic jade" when I purchased it about 1-2 years ago from a seller in China. The material is absolutely beautiful . . . a true emerald green, very translucent as show in the pictures, and very hard. To me it seems much harder that any of the nephrite I have carved in the past so it may be synthetic jadeite or perhaps emerald flux.

The first picture shows the pendant photographed from the front together with a Big Sur jade pebble. It is about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. It is in the form of a "toki" and is not flat - the jade being about 1/4 inch thick with a curved depth of 1/2 inch.

The next two photos show the same pendant (front and back) photographed backlit against a white lamp shade. The color is true on my monitor.

Thanks for looking. Comment are welcome. I'll try to find the name of the dealer who supplied the "synthetic jade" and post it here . . . or perhaps someone else knows and can supply his name.

Pounamu PeaSpoon sans Pea - New Zealand flower jade and ebony wood:

Very good, but for a service is missing knife and fork ,in six exemplary of course!! :roll:

A nice "heart" sized jade cobble from Big Sur (California) about 5x3 inches and nearly 1.5 inch thick. The color is true on my monitor and translucent in the thinner areas. I'm considering hollowing out the back to a thichness of 1/4-1/2 inch and making it into a nightlight. What do you think? The Heart of Darkness/Envy? Thanks for looking.

Front:

Back:

Oh . . . there was a bit of undercutting in the black areas! I'm not sure why but I'm working on it, with a 600 grit diamond finish.

[ Edited by: timidtiki 2009-03-15 09:06 ]

HEI TIKI TOKI ET TUTU . . . soon at a thread near you!

KOKOPU KOKOPU -

On 2009-05-20 13:03, timidtiki wrote:
KOKOPU KOKOPU -

Dammit, Somebody ate his fins off, Git yer money back timed! :o
Man, that's a pretty piece of stone.

I like it! My daugther too... It's "kawaii" work

Long time No See Timid, How you going these days, any new carvings to share?