Buzzy's work: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

6 daze....no post

you must be busy?

Today's sunset wasn't that good, so here's yesterday's:

On 2008-09-10 21:08, RevBambooBen wrote:
6 daze....no post

you must be busy?

No. Not really. Just been resting up a little bit and taking care of other stuff that needed to be taken care of.

I did finish the carving part of the 4th chair:

It's got Tiki legs

The first set of four all lined up:

and I did just a little more on drum #2

Almost all the crappy part of making a drum is finished. Now for the fun part!

On 2008-09-03 16:10, Babalu wrote:
Time for you to make a bowlie Buzz Master!

I started a new project at my night job a few nights ago:

It's a bowl...

More work soon...
Buzzy Out!

Buzzy, are you leaving those chairs rough? Are you going to seal them? Are they going to be outdoor chairs?
I like the 4th one best.

Did your first drum get hollowed out all the way through like this one, or did it have a bottom?

So many questions...

Tiki Oasis 2008 Journal part 7: Saturday morning vending fun pt 2

The original plan was to be as follows: Wake up. Finish loading. Go to the hotel. Set up. Finish the drum. Change my clothes. Start selling stuff. Have a good, relaxing, day.

Plans change. Once I started taking out and setting up the vintage stuff, it was go time from then on. I didn't even have time to blink for about the first three hours, much less change out of my dirty work clothes into my poolside attire. After the initial rush, things slowed down enough that I could periodically break away and try to actually finish that damn drum!

Here's how the next couple hours of Oasis went for me:

The drum was where we left off last chapter. It was about 90% dry by now and starting to sound real good. I still had to hide those nails in the recess with some rope, and then it would be all done. In this picture, you can see the rope in the background waiting for a break on the action so I could attend to it:

People would say, "Nice drum! is it for sale?" I would have to say, "It still isn't finished yet and I need to change out of my work shirt."

Tikiyaki checking it out. I had a spare second so I then grabbed the rope and placed the drum on an improvised work table to FINALLY GET IT DONE! And then I could change my shirt.

I started wrapping and fastening the decorative rope...

then I had to pause while I had a business meeting and filled my calendar for the next few weeks.

I went back to it, determined to finish, but then GROG wandered by.

GROG: "In the picture, it looks THIS big!"
Buzzy: "It's actually bigger in real life: More like THIS!"
GROG: "Wow! You are indeed, Mr Tiki."

There was still a big piece of rope hanging off the drum, my dirty shirt was starting to stink, and I had to give a seminar on "How to Determine the Age of Your CocoJoe's Figurine" before I got back to it.
Here I am demonstrating the "Peek at the back of the tag age determination technique."

After the panel discussion portion of my seminar, I was able to tack the rest of the rope on to it. 4wd stopped by right as I was done and we snapped this photo for our memory albums:

Then this German tourist guy stopped by and pestered me with and endless barrage of questions about Cocojoes. I told him I had a book in the works and all his questions would be answered in it. Then I told him that I'm not a library and if he's not going to buy the catalog, then he had to put it down. Then he bought a lava piece off me and said something about putting it in a book he was writing. Damn copycat!

I secretly hoped that I wouldn't sell the drum so that i could take it home and play with it for a while. that thought held fast in my mind for the entire twelve minutes between when I finshed it and then sold it.

The happy couple with their new drum that I never got to play:

Here is the only picture that I have of it finished:

I did actually get to bang on it two times, but the owner told me to stop because he didn't want me to mess it up.

The head was about 97% dry and it was sounding real good

Squid just happened to be walking by at that point, and him being a drummer, I said "Hey Squid, check out the drum."

The guy was happy to let Squid bang on it, because he's such a tiki celebrity and all. It was fun watching Squid play the drum that I made and sold!

I ended the morning's festivities with the annual Squid vs. Buzzy Tan Line Contest!

The trophy stays on my mantle for one more year! Glad to see all that early base coat tanning I did last spring paid off! Next, I hope to take on Bigtikidude for the international Sock Tan Line Title. I feel good right now, but I know I'm not ready to make a run at that title yet. This year, I'm going to train hard and enter just to see what it will take to compete at that level, and eventualy try to win. It's a long road, but the rewards make the pursuit well worth it...If I win, that is...

I never got to change my shirt.
Oasis journal over 50% complete. Still more later, hopefully sooner than the later. TO 9 is on the horizon...
Buzzy Out!

On 2008-09-12 06:11, 4WDtiki wrote:
Buzzy, are you leaving those chairs rough? Are you going to seal them? Are they going to be outdoor chairs?
Did your first drum get hollowed out all the way through like this one, or did it have a bottom?

Here's the story with those chairs: They're for [censored: location sensitive information witheld by request]and have to be done by[censored: time sensitive information witheld by request] so I still have to[censored: design sensitive information witheld by request]. That's about it.

As for the drum: The first drum was hollow with a big hole in it too.
Side story of interest: I weighed it last week and it was 50 lbs. I let it sit out to dry for a week and reweighed it. It lost 5 pounds of water weight just sitting out there. I think the other one weighed 40 lbs when it was done.

I have all the answers!
Buzzy Out!

where is all the pics of the proud recipients of your bromance print?

well?

I can't remember when this sunset was, but it wasn't today:

Maybe day before yesterday?

I did a little more on the drum:

I also did some work on it this evening. The bigger tikis' eyes are almost done now.

Today was special guest day at Babalu's house. Check the Babalu clay thread soon for the whole story.

I did some more on the dog bowl while I was there.


I have to let the clay sit now and get a little wetter to start fusing some of the pieces together. Right now, it's made from 7 unattached pieces.

Tomorrow, back to the chairs...
Buzzy Out!

Drum #2 update:

I carved the recessed part for the nails that hold the head on and did some work on the leg tikis

I'm nearing the home stretch on this one. Hopefully I'll get everything done on the lower half tonight, leaving only the decorative work on the drum to do

I also(mostly) finished the carving part on chair #5:

I also got the first set of many,many logs delivered today:


Good news is all of them will be defronded!

That's it for the early part of my day.
Buzzy Out!

Mister Buzzy, I'm Loving your journals and the parts that aren't too! Your drum turned out great and I'm HAPPY you finally got the chance to beat it for awhile, the Main thing is that the Squiddly had the opportunity to christen it Properly. I hear you get Lots of those German tourist y types at these tiki gatherings. You'd think they were writing s book or Sumpthin, Jheesh! That one you photographed looks kinda familiar too, does he hang around these things a lot? Better watch out for him, he's Up to something I can tell! :P
Keep it coming and keep it Cool

On 2008-09-15 17:50, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
I also got the first set of many,many logs delivered today:

One of those logs has Peyronie's disease. :lol:

That drum was the cats ass great looking dumb Buzzy.

Buzzy said he had 68,657 logs delivered today but he has plans for all of them so I can't get any until the next shipment in 2010.

On 2008-09-17 18:54, Cammo wrote:
Buzzy said he had 68,657 logs delivered today but he has plans for all of them so I can't get any until the next shipment in 2010.

Cam's right, I have plans for every single one of these:

Or at least I have plans to make some plans for some of these:

I just opened the San Diego Tiki Factory Unfinished Tikis Retail/Wholesale Log Sales Department

27 more trees to come down on this job. God thing I didn't spend the last couple years making my lawn look nice.

Welcome to the log yard!

In other tiki news, another chair roughed out:

I'm going to get three more chair size logs tomorrow, and have them roughed out over the weekend. They go quick when I actually work on them...

I haven't done many parties this last year. They don't give me as many jobs any more because I have such a bad attutude on the job sites when I'm there. So now they only use me when they are totally desperate. Since they have no choice, I can pretty much get away with anything. One of my favorite things to do when I'm setting up a party is to lie to the tourists when the bother me with their stupid questions. For example, I was once asked by a lady in a rental minivan full of toddlers how to get to Childrens pool/Seal shitcesspool in La Jolla. She was just north of where she should have been. I happily gave her very good directions further north, to Black's Beach, where she could find many a naked gay man tanning, playing volleyball, mating, and frolicking on the beach. Combine messing with the tourists and fighting with the catering and event staff, I am a job site nightmare most of the time. Even worse, since I know I'm the only living person available to them, I demand even more money than before. Higher wages for worse work. Only in America, baby! Feel like I'm in a union now!

Speaking of America, I set up the annual party on the deck of the aircraft carrier Midway this week:

When an annoying tourist would come up and ask what the party was for, I had a good lie cooked up. I would tell them that a Marine CH53E would be flying in and dropping Jimmy Buffett off on the flight deck to play an acoustic set for John McCain, who was being thanked with this party by the Navy for his long time support of them. Man, you should have seen how excited people were when they thought they would be seeing Jimmy Buffett. A few people asked me if it was open to the public, and I would inform them that the public was paying for the party through their taxes, but not invited to actually attend the party. That brought some disappointment to a few.
That guy in the phone in the corner of the photo is calling his uncle to tell him Jimmy Buffett and Jon McCain are on the way

When people would ask what was going on at the party, I say, "I don't know! All I know is that when I come back here at night to take this stuff down, everything smells like beer, pineapple juice, and piss."

The cruise ship was in next slip over, so there were a lot of people to lie to all day. Welcome to San Diego folks!

Suprisingly, I have another party to do today at VacationVillage Paradise Point. I can't wait to go mess with the tourists. I'm going to send them to all the fine boutiques and restaurants in the seaside community of Imperial Beach! Since there was a murder on the trolly yesterday, I'll tell them to take it there. Oh what fun!

On 2008-09-16 19:16, Benzart wrote:
I hear you get Lots of those German tourist y types [there.] Better watch out for him, he's Up to something I can tell! :P

Wow Benz, That new signature is kinda BIG. Looks like a sticker on my kitchen trash can.
I can more than handle myself around these touristy types. Especially those Euros. Lot's of practice, I've had. That's what they get for being so close to France.

On 2008-09-16 19:59, 4WDtiki wrote:

One of those logs has Peyronie's disease. :lol:

Custom grown to be an entry way arch...

On 2008-09-17 07:43, seeksurf wrote:
That drum was the cats ass great looking dumb Buzzy.

Thanks Seeks. Still working on that damn dumb drum #2 too. As soon as they remember why they don't like me to work on parties anymore, I'll be back to carving on it.

Today, I will try to get a tourist to swim in the polluted waters of Mission Bay.
Hepititus anyone?
Buzzy Out!

On 2008-09-18 11:03, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
... I would tell them that a Marine CH53E would be flying in and dropping Jimmy Buffett off on the flight deck to play an acoustic set for John McCain...

:lol:

Ya think that with all those animals, and all that wood just kind-a showing up at your cosa that some higher power might be giving you a sign?

It looks like smoking in Buzzy's backyard could be hazardous to the whole block and perhaps even Sea World?

Buzzy, you so funny!

Hi Buzzy....it's been a pleasure spending time with you and your work this a.m. You really live large.

Went over to Buzzy's today to beg for some logs and he said
"Nope."

Then I begged him again - I said "Who's yer bud, Buzz? Who was here when you were whittling popsicle sticks on the street?"

Buzzy said "Kiva?"

So I begged Kiva for some logs and Kiva shook her head, "Nope" too.

Here's the pile. I think he should share just one.

And here is a pic of exactly how old these trees are. Thy're like yer gramma's age. These holes were pecked by woodpeckers long dead. They're pecker holes. In fact, they're so old they're petrified pecker holes.

So Buzzy finally relented and said I could have the SMALLEST one on the BOTTOM of the pile. I can maybe have it in June of 2010, when he carves down to it.

Here it is, man that's a sweet log, there it is on the very bottom with my name on it.

See?

Anyway, I went back home real happy until I saw this tree on the corner. It's like right beside Buzzy's house.

It's a freakin' gigantic dead monster palm.

Here's the top sawed off. Monster. Just this part is like 15 feet long.

And here it is on end. The stuff of nightmares. See that chair in the back? That ain't no dollhouse chair, that's a full size chair.

I don't know what this means. Maybe Buzzy has superpowers and trees just wilt and die, lay down ready to be carved when he looks at 'em like Cyclops.

Laytah!

Today's sunset:

This weekend's excitemant around here included the Thunderboats:
This boat was in the lead:

This guy was chasing:

Another race:

Look at them go!

These boats were slower and smaller:

Tiki update:

I'm proud to introduce my new Hawaiian inspired Tiki chair:

I put the sunglass Tiki dude on the front part:

I think it works

I also have a Maori chair in my furniture line:

This side has just a couple more touch ups

Side view:

the two newest ones:

The seven finished ones:

I'm also sorting logs based on size and quality:

I have a bunch of little piles like this all over. I cut the marks off Cammo's logs and mixed them up in the piles. He wanted the best ones. The log expert tree guy told me those holes are from the tree spikes the guys have used climbing up year after year to cut off the fronds.

I'm the ChairMan of the Bored!
Buzzy Out!

No pic of the boat that crashed??

"I cut the marks off Cammo's logs and mixed them up in the piles. He wanted the best ones."

Of COURSE I want the best ones, I don't want the friggin' bad ones!

Was trying to describe to my wife how Buzzy's log pile looks, and said it looks just like those guys who buy a cord of wood for the winter and it's all stacked up against the side of their house, but Buzzy's are all 8 feet long and they cover the entire yard, like somebody's watering them and they're growing all out of control.

Really nice work on the chairs, Buzzy. Wish I could have a whole set lounging on my deck.

BuzZay!
the chairs look great! the double features rock
really like the maori one

The seven finished ones:

How much do the chairs weigh? Does a free hernia come with each one?

On 2008-09-24 13:54, Naneki wrote:
The seven finished ones:

How much do the chairs weigh? Does a free hernia come with each one?

A hernia and free toppings :)

Nice Buzzy love the tiki chairs they would look great
at the tiki bog.

They must not weigh too much. A small girl could beat Buzzy arm wrestling, and he can move those chairs around.

Things have got to be pretty routine around here these days...

The sun sets...

another chair is made...

the sun sets...

more logs are dropped off.

There will be nothing different about my day tomorrow either.

On 2008-09-22 19:38, RevBambooBen wrote:
No pic of the boat that crashed??

I think they're already trying to ban this event because of all the gas that leaked into the bay from that crash. I was thinking that if they filled the bay with gas, lit it on fire, then that would take care of the gas and the raw sewage. I'm a pragmatist..

On 2008-09-22 21:54, Cammo wrote:
Was trying to describe to my wife how Buzzy's log pile looks, ...

You can tell her it's even worse now. Like the universe, it's ever expanding...

On 2008-09-23 16:50, TIKI KAIMUKI wrote:
Really nice work on the chairs, Buzzy. Wish I could have a whole set lounging on my deck.

Just grab four big logs and some tools and you're good to go. It's easier than it looks.

On 2008-09-23 19:50, Tiki Duddy wrote:
BuzZay!
the chairs look great! the double features rock
really like the maori one

Thanks Duddy, four more on the way, including more Maori...

On 2008-09-24 13:54, Naneki wrote:
How much do the chairs weigh? Does a free hernia come with each one?

I have no idea. I'm so strong that the weight was never even a consideration. I guess I'm lucky to be so powerful. And handsome...

On 2008-09-24 15:47, HOUSE OF KU wrote:
A hernia and free toppings :)

Some people pay a lot of money to go lift weights at a gym. The Tiki Guy gets strong for free from moving his tiki chair when he goes on his afternoon drinking binge. Saves gas too. My chairs are aiding in the fight against global warming. Maybe I should get the Nobel peace prize for my tiki chair work.

On 2008-09-25 07:55, seeksurf wrote:
Nice Buzzy love the tiki chairs they would look great
at the tiki bog.

They'd be in fine company out there. Too bad they're so heavy that I can't move them there. They'd probably sink in the bog anyway...

On 2008-09-25 08:36, GROG wrote:
They must not weigh too much. A small girl could beat Buzzy arm wrestling, and he can move those chairs around.

I took the whil that you left at babalu's, molded copies of it, and made a chair moving cart with them. Thanks for posting your work on TC so I could steal it.

As long as other people come up with good ideas, I don't have to!
Buzzy Out!

Hmmm.... just about time for another contest?

Something happened to the last three pictures I took today, including today's sunset picture.

Here's a picture of Kiva wearing my Cammo made hat instead:

Here's the other side of the chair that I posted yesterday:

The log I worked on today gave me a whole lot of trouble every step of the way. I probably should have just skipped it, but I had to do something today and it was roughed out already. Here is an early progress picture of it:

Tomorrow, I will go out and look at it first thing in the morning. If my first reaction to seeing it is positive, then I will coninue on it. If I have any reservations about it, out it goes. I remember liking it after I touched it up a bit after that last pic. We'll see how I feel tomorrow..

In other important news...
Yesterday was Ringo's birthday:

Happy birthday Ringo!

Jentiki: I still have to make the prize from the last contest.

Freddie: I'll start it any day now... :wink:

Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2008-09-26 21:13 ]

happy birthday Ringo!

WOW! :o Buzzy's LOG-O-RAMA!! :o Krikey, that's alot of peckerwood yer piling... hmmm... I wonder what the need for so much wood stockpile and surplus??

AND the chairs...my Lord...why the need of so many chairs???

:tiki: Oh well, Tiki Guy is all knowing... :tiki:

:P HAPPY BARKDAY RINGO! :P

Hola Buzzy! No rush....looks like your hands are full...full of sawdust :) Those chairs are looking awesome! I'm still debating on who looks better in that Spiffy hat...
Good to see posting again Jonesy....Aloha, Freddie

On 2008-09-26 21:10, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
Happy birthday Ringo!

On 2008-09-26 22:05, RevBambooBen wrote:
happy birthday Ringo!

On 2008-09-27 11:32, TravelingJones wrote:
:P HAPPY BARKDAY RINGO! :P

Ringo says, "Thanks Guys!!"

It was nothing but a party all weekend! Here he is still celebrating today on his actual 1st birthday with a couple of his new toys.

Now he can't wait for Christmas!

Zaya

Wasn't the same without you and Cam today, man. Was fun, but there were some things missing.

What's Billy talking about? I had lots of fun today cutting the grass, moving rocks, trying to yank a stump out of the yard, drawing the design for my next hand-worked mug, writing a history of the American Guitar (did you know Ben Franklin played, and wanted to be a pop songwriter but his parents talked him out of it?) and buying Speed Racer toys.

The yard, by the way, looks great.

Must be nice, man......my yard still looks like a shit farm.

I just watched the Speed Racer movie a couple of days ago........talk about sensory overload!

A recent sunset:

I've been finishing up a batch of chairs these last few days. Here I have a bunch of them in various stages of sealing waiting in my kitchen:

They've been waiting for me to finish sanding and staining this guy, so I could haul them back into the garage and finish sealing them:

Here's a couple of the first ones I finished:

For log fans, more keep coming about three times a week...

This is the presorted pile of really good logs

These are the shorter ones:

Friday's delivery:

I spent the early part of the week hanging out with celebrities and rock stars at the Rob Machado Experience Golf Tournament.

sales were slow at the merch booths

I ran into the band KISS out in the lobby:

Beyonce played a quick solo set to start the after tourney party

The King came back outb from hiding and played a set. He's been hanging out with Bruce Lee in the jungle all this time

KISS was the headliner and they rocked!

This chick was the emcee

They even sent in a display from the rock and roll hall of fame. I got to see elton john's pants!

I walked away with a ton of swag too. Most of the golf stuff i got I already gave to the tree service dudes. They're the ones wearing the Nike golf hats. I got 50 dvds of that movie and was giving them away like I was Santa Claus. I took all the shirts for work shirts. Wear once and throw away...I also got Rob's autograph on a piece of paper, but I traded it to the girl at the bank for a stack of money.

Shamrock got cut?
Buzzy Out!

Wow, Lots of crap goin on here Buzz, All the celebs and the King even it's a wonder you're doing any work at all. The Chairs are really looking great and I finally figured why you are doing so many So you can sit down on the job and call it work. Seriously though they Are looking Excellent!

I like how you stain next to the gas water heater.

" Living on the Edge!!"

That new tiki bar in Seattle

is gonna look real nice with all those chairs!

Do you have a picture of the 16' er we're doing

for the A-frame entry??

Cheers mr. Buzz!

Today's sunset:

There are the "two trees" from the first contest. That means "sunsets on the ocean" season is upon us and all the nice stormy sunsets are coming soon. And, if that wasn't enough to look forward to, It's Fire Season!

It's awful crowded around here with all these damn chairs!

I finally have these finished. Now to get rid of them so I can have enough room to get the next batch in here and finished...

On 2008-10-05 14:09, Benzart wrote:
I finally figured why you are doing so many So you can sit down on the job and call it work.

That reminds me: I can't wait for a long winter of on the couch carving little crap while watching some TV! Now that's living! I mean work! the lines are blurred. I need to sit down and think about it.

In other tiki product news:

Looks like my first three mugs made it through the first firing. They're in there somewhere. Now I just have to wait for Cammo to finish his glaze samples and I can go a glazin'
Read about the wonderful world of ceramics here on Babalu's thread.

On 2008-10-05 18:05, RevBambooBen wrote:
I like how you stain next to the gas water heater. " Living on the Edge!!"

Do you have a picture of the 16' er we're doing for the A-frame entry??

I use the "many fans right behind my ear to blow the fumes out the always open door" safety method.

Based upon the high wind vortex I can create with two 16" fans cranked up and the very small workspace I have, I can make the following safety comparision:

Imagine you are driving in a Chevy Surburban that is ten feet high and you are smoking a cigarette. All the windows, including the large back one, are rolled down, and you are driving at a constant speed of 60 mph. In the back of the Surburban, I am putting stain on a tiki. Do you think that your cigarette, under these conditions, would ignite the interior in an explosive inferno? Probably not. And I feel much safer doing it this way in the garage because your smoking while driving is distracted driving and IS NOT SAFE! Therefore, I can logically conclude that I am using the safest method available.

THE 16' entry way tiki? WTF? I thought I was supposed to do 4! Well, at least I have some spare carved 16 footers lying around. Know anyone who needs a few? Wow, now I know why he freaked out that my bid was so high. At least he paid!

If my water heater explodes and catches fire, then the chairs will burn up and I can start all over again!
Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2008-10-06 22:26 ]

These turned out real nice Mug Dude...time to bring one of those chairs over to sit in while you do some glazing.

Most excellent.

Is there anything you can't do, Buzzmeister?

I carved most of the second Maori chair yesterday.

Just a little more to do on this side:

I'll put some decorative carving on the front blank part too

Leg guys:

I was also able to drag all the finished chairs out for some nice picutres yesterday.

here we go....

More finished chairs soon!

On 2008-10-07 23:21, GROG wrote:

Is there anything you can't do, Buzzmeister?

There's a lot more that I will not do than I cannot do.

But for starters: House and yard work...
seems to come to mind.

On 2008-10-07 23:09, Babalu wrote:
These turned out real nice Mug Dude...

I think I'm going to start collecting mugs, but only my own mugs. That would be cool.

I bet none of you will ever guess what I'm going to carve tomorrow!

Hint: It rhymes with "hair."

Five seconds Bob...
Buzzy Out!

Aloha Buzzy! Dem chairs are lookin pretty bitchin'....is a chair mug the next step? :) Freddie

I finished the carving part of the second maori chair today:




Didn't do much after that, I'm afraid...

On 2008-10-09 13:24, HOUSE OF KU wrote:
is a chair mug the next step? :) Freddie

Hola Freddie! The next step is a chair with a cup holder in the arm rest. The next step after that is a chair mug to go in the arm rest of the matching chair. And then another littler mug to go in that armrest, and then more and more smaller ones until negative 1 times infinity number of chair armrest mugs are inside of each other.

In other non chair tiki carving news:
More logs and...

no more yard.
Most of these will not be carved into chairs.

I think I have enough logs now to build my tiki log cabin.
Buzzy Out!

Second Moari Chair is my favorite of the series so far.

Chair mug, :lol: that'd be great!
Or you could carve little chairs, to be elevated coasters, or "Drink Docks"TM. :P