Paipo's Stone Tikis V2.0 - 2011

Thanks again all!
Babs, I love the random yet obviously well thought out nature of that necklace. The biconical (hourglass) holes are a good indicator of genuine neolithic workmanship and were usually made by one of these (posted by Toataiaha in the stone thread):

Artists' exhibition Te Kaha-nui-a-tiki District High School, Te Kaha. Dr Doug Sinclair demonstrates traditional drilling techniques. June 1973
Our first day at "Rock School" involved going to the beach and bush, finding the materials to construct one of these, and then using it to drill through a jade slab (which nearly all of us succeeded in doing).

Which brings me to the latest:

Before....

After!

This one is based on several old half-done pieces I saw in the museum up North, which were just a series of holes and grooves with no real details. This pebble has been earmarked for a pekapeka for over a year now - like the Lono, and the piece I am working on now (another jade), part of a backlog of stalled projects that I have found a new energy for.

Also, after months of bad luck, poor timing and illness I finally got some water time in this week (2 mornings running). I had literally been out maybe twice since April, but I doubled that this week! Only had time for a quick shot out the car window yesterday, but I know you fellow waveriders like to see a glimpse of the sea:

The guy in the shot is a friend of mine who also happens to be a jade and stone carver (and a bloody good one at that). Just the two of us out both mornings!

Interesting angle, and sweeeeet offshores!
Oh, and your carving is F---'ing unbelievable!
I honestly don't know how you do it. Now that I've tried, and hacked and mangled perfectly good pieces of stone...I just don't know. Top notch tools would only help me a tiny bit! I think I'll carve pieces of jade that look like rock slabs...or maybe plain squares! Grumble grumble.

Wassup Paipo? I'm hearing fast and furious working sounds coming from your shed, What you Hiding??Hey? What Color izzit???:P :P :D

Gorgeous looking stone I'm not sure what it is? snake worm?

Good to see and hear about the surf! Yes, you should recharge your self more.

Myself I just came home from another week of surf and carving at the coast good summer for me.

pekapeka

*Pekapeka are named after the small native New Zealand bat (Chalinolobus morio), which they might be said to resemble in appearance. The pekapeka form fuses together two opposing manaia (stylised beaked figures) heads into a single form.

A rare form

Like their reclusive native namesakes, pekapeka pendants are rare relative to hei tiki (neck pendants), which exist in museum collections in large numbers.*

Surfin - I'm sitting in my car on the breakwall, looking down. The takeoff zone was literally a stone's throw away right next to the rocks this day. Gotta love a 10 second paddle to the lineup! Patience grasshopper - top results with jade take lots of time and careful finishing . There is no other material that is so unforgiving when it comes to showing up where the time and attention to detail have not been put in. Get the basics down, then focus on the hand finishing to bring out the best in the stone.

Ben - well, you know what's coming, and it's looking really nice about now but still not quite ready for the unveiling. Soon....still some more of that painstaking hand finishing to go, using every stick and scrap of abrasive in the box of tricks!

Seeksurf - see Perry's reply. I'm obsessed with these bird-headed/beaked figures and have carved all the different styles of them I can find. Still got one more to come!

Perry - thanks! There actually are quite a few of these guys in NZ museums, certainly Te Papa and Auckland, but they never made it into the big-time like the regular manaia or hei tiki. I still think of the koropepe and pekapeka as essentially just manaia figures - sometimes the name can be misleading.

This pekapeka is amazing. It makes me think of Todd couper's perfection.

Benjamin.

Thanks Benjamin. Still a way to go to reach those heights I think, but that's a very nice compliment! I still need to add that book to my shelves too.
Here's my newest bird(?) - "Ariki Manu":

[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-09-19 01:37 ]

This compliment is good for "Ariki Manu" too !
Kahui Whetu is a must have book, indeed, you'll find a lot of inspiration in it, even if to me you don't need inspiration. :)

Benjamin.

Oh my! That's just beautiful! So fluid and elegant! This may be my favorite, Paipo! I'll raise a cocktail to your talent this evening!

wowowowow!

that is incredible. lot's of symbolism going on there. eating it's tail, huh?

Sigh....sigh. Outstanding as always. Your interpretations and refined sense of line is poetic. Just beautiful work.

For YOU Too Paipo, in case you didn't get the message
OK Guyz, Whats goin on down there? you having a bit of a doldrum going on? can't work? Forgot how to carve? Mind's not innit? Well Wake up and forget all that crap, we need a fix here! You need to be posting some more Beautiful stuff, Both you guys, do have to bump up that "Wheres all the Tiki" thread, I Will! Cheerio!

That's so incredible,Paip!

"Ariki Manu"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's got the flow!
how you got that curl on there so delicate and graceful
is between you and the guy downstairs.....
Faustian...
:)

well, Robin said it so well, I just have nothing to add but - wow, awesome, and, like Jen, my fav too.

A beautiful original piece Paipo - congrats.

KS

Yes! Love the curving flowing lines on this sucker. Nice!

I looked into manaia more. Love your area of the wold.

Paipo!!!!!!! Where have you been hiding?

On 2008-09-25 08:51, GROG wrote:
Paipo!!!!!!! Where have you been hiding?

Are you one of these guys in the Opera Australia production of "Billy Budd?"

• • • • • • • • • • Where's Paipo? * * * * * * * * * *

Back from vacation yet?! I am dyingto see some new stonework around here!

Wow! So organic looking! It has an interesting visual reference to Ouroboros: the worm(dragon) eating it's own tail. Beautiful work.

Ahoy! Back from my travels, (sort of) refreshed and brimming with new ideas. Now I just need to find the time to implement them...and to post all the museum pics I took. Tiki is much more elusive in the urban jungles of Oz than here in NZ, but I did discover some remote pockets of savage splendour, and also scored myself 27lb of SA's finest....looks like another visit to Tama's is on the cards :wink:

Not a lot of tiki going down in the shed at the moment, but I did finish this Melanesian style boar tusk amulet, fashioned from some very nice tool-grade argillite:

Better pic of the sweet patterning in the stone. This stuff rings like metal when it is struck:

Thanks to everyone for keeping the torch burning while I was away!

On 2008-10-03 12:33, Tiki Shark Art wrote:
Wow! So organic looking! It has an interesting visual reference to Ouroboros: the worm(dragon) eating it's own tail. Beautiful work.

Only just saw this again, but in relation to the above piece - interesting! Maybe that's why I picked it up again? I actually have a pic of a tusk that looks exactly like a serpent about to consume its tail, complete with gaping jaws and eyes!

This is a Sweet one. Love that stone, the color are nice. Looks like there was a Ton of grinding/drilling on this one Pappy
Nice to see you back in town!

Nice carve.

Rock-N-Roll Man!!!

Very cool! Turbonegro must be destroyed!

On 2008-10-21 03:36, Paipo wrote:

Paipo, This is just plain STUNNING!! It's really good to have you back in the shed. Thought you might have been hauled off by a herd of wondering Gangsta Kangas.

On 2008-10-21 03:36, Paipo wrote:

..and also scored myself 27lb of SA's finest....looks like another visit to Tama's is on the cards :wink:

27lb of stone!? Im going to have to charge you for the use of the saw this time Paip - how does one Maitai per hour sound? :wink:

SA's finest? Show us!!

Welcome home. Nice to see another wonderful Paipo piece.

Love the pattern on that stone!

KS

Yay!!! Paipo is back!!! That's a really nice rock you have there, and oh, the carving job is nice too! :wink: Welcome back, you stoner!

Indeed VERY nice paipo.That argillite has a odd purple tinge to it the stuff iv worked has always been jet black.Must be different variations? Steve was working on a argillite disc the other day and man it woke the whole workshop up man that stuff can sing.

WoW sweetness love it!

Speechless.
Doing those rounded curves are IMPOSSIBLE!

That is incredible. The whole thing is insanely graceful.

How do you even practice to do that? What is the trick?

Got to agree. That tusk is gorgous. Awesome work, man. Can't wait to see those museum pics too!

You, my friend, cannot be completely human to pull something like that off! AWESOME!

On 2008-10-23 20:07, Howland wrote:
You, my friend, cannot be completely human to pull something like that off! AWESOME!

HA!!! As I've Suspected All Along, nice find Howland.

HERE Paipo, I bumped it up for you!

PAIPO!!!!!!

Thanks for all the comments - looks like I just lost my lengthy reply I had typed out! :x
So, we'll have to go with the condensed version:
Nearly all work on the tusk was done with the point carver (chuck mounted on the bench grinder) with fine tuning from the handpiece. The tool grade argillite is unforgiving with scratches and it took many repeat sandings to get the flow and surface looking just right.

New stuff.....
Spirit Mask

More soon....including

NICE SPIRIT MASK PAIPO!
and a NEW Creature coming out of the Quarry?!?!?
Awesome!
:)

Yes, Another mind boggling piece from Paipo. I Really love the empty spaces and can't help but wonder how you get it so thin in so many places. Its like walking on egg shells you never know when you will break through. Another one I can't wait to see finished.

(Will I start off the Ghost page again?)

hey Paipo,

long time no see for me but it's good to see you havent lost your art of killing everyone with unique designs - awesome stuff!

guess what I finally got my hands on the tang you sent me, only a year or so after it set out on its journey! It's unreal I love it :) happy happy happy as the master says around here

I will now set about making sure the other half of the package makes it to the right person in another foreign distant land...

cheers, harro

:o !! WOW!Looove the mask...

Cheers Kinny, Ben, harro and Clarita! Harro- stoked you got your Tang finally. Good luck getting the other guy to his final destination!

I should've posted this one yesterday, but I see TC is still sporting its Halloween colours so I guess I'm not too late. Fresh from the swamp - here's #55, "Revenge of the Creature":


This is one of the smallest stone tikis I've done (especially for the level of detail) at just on 1 1/2" (37mm) long.

[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-11-01 21:59 ]

Awesome - I love it, and the spirit mask.

But your stuff is always awesome. So smooth and refined, simple lines yet so complex.

I really don't know how you do it.

Congrats Paipo

KS

WHOA, Paipo, I think I gave that guy candy a couple nights ago, Scary looking dude. 1.5", that IS Small and i Love the shot of him with his Uncarved rock buddies just lying around on that rock pile.I love his facial hair too, just another "Typical", Unbelievable Paipo creation..
Nice one Paipo