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

We had a change in the sunsets over the weekend:
Sunday:

Yesterday:


It's supposed to rain in the next couple days and get a little bit colder. Hopefully a "little bit colder" means it will be down to 70.

Carving Update:

I tried to carve all the legs on the conga drum in a couple marathon sessions the last day or so. I started by drawing out the bodies of the three and carving one on Sunday night. It took longer to carve the first one, so I finished that one early Monday morning. Before sunset yesterday, I had all three bodies carved and the faces ready for layouts and carving:

After a short rest, I started on the faces

My heart was into it, but my body failed me and I finally collapsed in exhaustion last night and only got two of three faces carved.

I almost carved three 18" full bodied tikis on the drum in less than 24 hours yesterday. I'm pissed that I got tired and couldn't finish it. I hope to have it finished by the start of Taco Tuesday at 3pm. I should have more than enough time.

I usually do not name my pieces, but this one is called "The Rarotonga Conga." It seemed obvious...

Factory Update:
I've still been working on getting all my logs sorted and stacked. The last couple loads I got were just dumped in a big pile wil no room to move and sort them out. They've been sitting there in disarray for a few months now. I finally got a lot done to get them stacked and sorted the right way last week
I have all the short stumpy ones separated from the long and good ones

That stack in the back is 5-6' tall

I have all these to organize still:

Still have a lot to do but at least I don't have to worry about wood for a couple years

I managed to get a lot of good wood out of this. The few I've used have been of superior quality. there's a lot of dogs in the lot too, but they have been disappearing quickly.

Now to carve another face...
Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2009-01-20 12:15 ]

Buzz, the drums are wonderful creations!
They will make many happy new owners out there.

I've got some log envy going on over here. What a haul!
It should keep you busy for a while. :wink:

You're doing some top notch work... looking at the sunsets and the warm, lush surroundings its not hard to see you're living the life of a Tiki Guy. :wink:

I'd trade my basement studio and my cold, dead, snowy backyard for just a couple days carving in your environment.

Well, at least I can look at the pictures.

"My heart was into it, but my body failed me"

I hear ya brother. Those drum legs are going to look great! You are one amazing fellow. Much respect, Sir.

-G

Today's sunset:

It rained for about 10 minutes, twice today. I was kind of disappointed because the local news had me expecting much more.

I went outside to sand today and it started pouring rain. Since the weather dudes all said it would rain all afternoon, I cleaned up my garage and started sanding out there.

Since I finished sanding later in the day, I figured why not go ahead and stain it too?:

I went for a two tone look

I kept trying to decide if I wanted woodburnings or carved patterns on the drum, but in the end I decided to use the smooth and clean look.

On 2009-01-20 14:15, Lake Surfer wrote:
looking at the sunsets and the warm, lush surroundings its not hard to see you're living the life of a Tiki Guy. :wink:

I'd trade my basement studio and my cold, dead, snowy backyard for just a couple days carving in your environment.

I am now taking the ideal of the island tiki lifestyle to the extreme... Instead of simply having a tiki bar and declaring myself a Tiki Guy, I have transformed my house, yard, and standard of living to that of a typical third world island paradise. Total committment to the tiki island lifestyle on my part, and it's authentic. Trash, dust, sun, heat, palms, pests, poverty, and rampant unemployment... It's a sacrifice, but you can't beat the weather or the lifstyle! Unless you need money...

Just get out here...I have a hut in the back with plenty of logs to carve. Just make sure you go to your doctor first and get the necessary shots for your stay. Might help to brush up on your Spanish too.

On 2009-01-20 18:17, GMAN wrote:
Those drum legs are going to look great! You are one amazing fellow. Much respect, Sir.

Thanks G! It's all a product of my environment! :roll:

Some day the formerly rich will come to me for advice on how to live in poverty.
Buzzy Out!

GROG need Roratonga Conga.

GROG need ROOM for Roratonga Conga.

wow buzzy, love the conga drum and looking forward to seeing it finished. lake hit it on the head with the envy thing, that's a hell of a bone yard you got going there. did you work out a deal with a tree company?

bd

I am now taking the ideal of the island tiki lifestyle to the extreme... Instead of simply having a tiki bar and declaring myself a Tiki Guy, I have transformed my house, yard, and standard of living to that of a typical third world island paradise. Total committment to the tiki island lifestyle on my part, and it's authentic. Trash, dust, sun, heat, palms, pests, poverty, and rampant unemployment... It's a sacrifice, but you can't beat the weather or the lifstyle! Unless you need money...

Just get out here...I have a hut in the back with plenty of logs to carve. Just make sure you go to your doctor first and get the necessary shots for your stay. Might help to brush up on your Spanish too.

How funny. Yeah I think a lot of us could live this lifestyle if we REALLY wanted to. However, our spouses might have something to say about that! :lol: :lol:

Sunset from over the weekend:

Today:

Here's the Rarotonga Conga after it was stained:


I put one coat of shine on it already. In a few minutes, coat #2 will go on.

I also started another small one on a split log section today:

I hope to work on it this evening after I deal with the drum.

I also had some time over the weekend to work on some clay stuff. Here is one of the two pieces that I finished:


It's the Lucky O' Buzzy's Irish Tiki Pub Chug Mug from the St Patricks Day Luau in 1974

On 2009-01-22 23:54, GROG wrote:
GROG need ROOM for Roratonga Conga.

I can make you a room...

On 2009-01-23 05:35, big daddy wrote:
did you work out a deal with a tree company?

Arborists have to take training classes to keep their certification current every year around here. I went to the park where they had the class last fall with 150 flyers explaining what I needed. I put a flyer on the windshield of every truck in the parking lot with a tree service logo on it. I also went to all the seminars and handed a flyer to every tree guy who was awake. About a week later, a guy called with a job he got that entailed taking down about 40 trees at a hotel near by, and he could deliver all the wood. About two months later, I had all those logs in my yard. And that was only the first call I got...

On 2009-01-23 07:35, TheBigT wrote:
However, our spouses might have something to say about that! :lol: :lol:

If you make sure that they know what is good for them, then they shouldn't...

Buzzy Out!

WOW! on the 3 pecker guys NICE!

BUZZY!! You are sooo bangin' down the doors! The mug is cool, but that latest drum is frickin' out-a this world!

Are you going to use nails on the skin for this one, or are you going to experiment...top groove?

Got the drums down Buzz. I've only made one and it was one of my favorite functional tikis.

Yep, that Rarotonga Conga is some carving magic, Buzzy.

Gonna look sweet when its complete!

Gimme another Bay Park Sunset to warm my cold bones... its -5 degrees.

"WOW! on the 3 pecker guys NICE!"

This is the highest compliment I've ever heard here on TC or anywhere else. The Pulitzer Prize is nothing compared to "WOW! on the 3 pecker guys NICE!".

I'd suggest that the entire Tiki Ohana give the "WOW! On the 3 Pecker Guys NICE Award" forthwith hereafter on any and all truly exceptional work, starting right here with Buzzy's drum.

On 2009-01-28 01:02, Lake Surfer wrote:
Yep, that Rarotonga Conga is some carving magic, Buzzy.
Gimme another Bay Park Sunset to warm my cold bones... its -5 degrees.

Thanks Lake! Here's yesterday's to warm those bones:

And today's:

Carving temp at sunset today:

Yep, looks like winter:

I worked late into the evening a couple nights ago and got this guy finished:

He's just a practice run for a later effort

Today was finish the big fat drum day:


Tiki face details:

sanding time! Ugh...

I also finished the finishing of the Rarotonga Conga:

I'll probably do the head tomorrow.

On 2009-01-26 21:54, seeksurf wrote:
WOW! on the 3 pecker guys NICE!

Thanks seeks. Coming down the home stretch on this one...

On 2009-01-27 19:10, Babalu wrote:
Are you going to use nails on the skin for this one, or are you going to experiment...top groove?

Naw, fixed head for this one. I was looking into hardware for another one down the line. I also want to try one with a goat skin to see how that sounds. Hope I have enough wood for all these ideas...

On 2009-01-27 19:59, Tiki Diablo wrote:
Got the drums down Buzz. I've only made one and it was one of my favorite functional tikis.

Thanks TD. I know what you mean about the functional aspect. Having a great looking tiki sitting in the room is cool, it's even cooler when it serves a function as well. And the function the drum serves is FUN FUN FUN!

On 2009-01-28 07:06, Cammo wrote:
"WOW! on the 3 pecker guys NICE!"
I'd suggest that the entire Tiki Ohana give the "WOW! On the 3 Pecker Guys NICE Award" forthwith hereafter on any and all truly exceptional work, starting right here with Buzzy's drum.

It might function better to use it as a comparitive device instead. Such as: "Wow! That's better than 3 peckered drum!"
Sounds kind of redneck. Which is cool...

I hear someone needs a Tiki Guy evaluation out there...
To the rescue!
Buzzy Out!

Nice work, Buzzy. The drums are very cool. You are not paying your gopher apprentice near enough.

Oh, and you'll be sending me the blueprints so I can get started on mine, right? Thanks.

Holy CRAP this looks nice, and it ain't finished yet.

Yup, here it is. Buzzy takes it again. You can keep this in the clubhouse until the next match.

wow the 3 pecker drum is turning out beautiful. gonna want to hear what it sounds like. maybe you and johnnyp can put a little concert together for the masses and serenade us.

bd

I'll second the concert. Man Buzzy, this last drum is looking FINE, Excellent finish.

Mine.

This sunset was from a couple days ago, but it looks just like today's:

I finished sanding the big fat drum and got it stained:

I just put the second coat of oil on it:

last night I got the head on the conga drum:

It still hasn't dried all the way out yet so I don't know how it sounds, but so far it's LOUD!

On 2009-01-29 19:38, Bowana wrote:
Oh, and you'll be sending me the blueprints so I can get started on mine, right? Thanks.

My next one is a Moai drum and I'm just using one of your Moai for "inspiration", so you can just go ahead and get started. It's still MY idea, but I don't mind you running with it...

On 2009-01-29 21:44, Cammo wrote:
Yup, here it is. Buzzy takes it again. You can keep this in the clubhouse until the next match.

I'd like to thank all the people who helped make this happen, as well as my many sponsors...
That's going to look great in my trophy room!

On 2009-01-29 21:49, big daddy wrote:
maybe you and johnnyp can put a little concert together for the masses and serenade us.

I'm up for it but johnny has to come out here because I'm allergic to cold air. No really, I am...

On 2009-01-30 07:11, Benzart wrote:
I'll second the concert.

You want to roadie for me when we go on tour?

On 2009-01-30 09:22, GROG wrote:
Mine.

I thought you didn't have room...or a job.

The drums are almost done!
Buzzy Out!

Big Fat Drum needs KAVA!!

We All Need KAVA!!

must have kava ceremony soon!!

Buzzy make KAVA BOWL !!!

Congrats on the 3 pecker trophy!

Thanks for the giggle Cammo.

Today's sunset:

And now, a brief, but comprehensive, overview of what I have been working on since my last post:

I got my first clay commission recently, which consisted of a pair of salt and pepper shakers and a few other matching pieces. I made two sets just in case something happened during the firing and glazing

The other part of the job was a set of napkin rings:

Once again, I made a few extras just in case:

Then I made and army of little guys to use as cheap pendants and glaze test pieces

I cannot wait to sell the ugly ones as limited edition custom glazed artist proofs!

I took this sucker out of moth balls and finally put some finish on him:

He's in the kitchen drying because my garage temperature is far below the range recommended on the manufacturer's directions.

And, in an attempt to produce the most irreverent and unsellable tiki product possible,
I'd like to introduce my new line of tiki ice cubes:

I was inspired to make these after looking at Bablu's garnish thread over in the drinks section.

You can just barely see the cow hide in the rawhide soup in my bathtub:

At about 11 tonight I'll be able to put it on the big fat drum. Then all my drums will be finished.

And lastly, right before sunset I was able to clean off a big log for the next project I've been called upon to do:

It's a little over 7 feet tall.

It was a slow week workwise because I had a case of the stomach flu for a few days, but now it has passed and I'm ready to turn it up back up a notch.

Now if I could only get the rain to stop!
Buzzy Out!

I took this sucker out of moth balls and finally put some finish on him:

He's in the kitchen drying because my garage temperature is far below the range recommended on the manufacturer's directions.

This one's a winner! :D

buzzy

you army of replicants reminds me of the qing army of ceramic soldiers guarding his tomb. really cool. can't wait to see the drum finished. good luck with all your projects.

bd

Today's sunset:

I guess the stupid rain's coming back. :(

It took a little longer than I anticipated for the drum head to soak the other night. Therefore, I found myself stretching wet rawhide until about 2:30 am. Damn that was a long day! The results made it all worth it:


My whole house shakes when I play this thing because it is so LOUD! The soundwaves rattle stuff all over the house.

Project next for me is the 7' Maori guy. After hammering out the final details of it this morning, I made a scale reference diagram to lay out the piece. Usually I wouldn't do this step, but with the log lying down and being too heavy to move, I cannot get the proper perspective to make sure the proportions are correct.

Next step was to transfer that drawing to the log:


If it rains for the next three days like they predict, then I'll have to start on another smaller piece that I can bring inside. Nothing against the next piece that I have to do, but I'm really looking forward to working on this guy right away.
Maybe if we all yell real loud we can stop the rain. No Rain, No rain, No rain...!

On 2009-02-09 20:51, Murph wrote:

This one's a winner! :D

No actually, this is a Winner Tiki. That one I did is a Lono. :lol: :lol: :lol:

But on a more serious note:
I'm totally jealous of the owners of this piece because they have such a nice tiki now.

On 2009-02-09 21:12, big daddy wrote:
good luck with all your projects.

Thanks BD! I could use some help from you though. Could you put on a Country Joe MacDonald and the Fish CD and go outside and yell, "No rain, No Rain, No rain!" so it stops raining and I can get some work done. Thanks!

Speaking of rain, I'm so pissed off that I was a baby when Woodstock happened! I really feel like I missed out. I hope after this whole eighties revival thing gets done, hippies come back in style and there is another real Woodstock, not like that crappy 90's Woodstock sellout thing they did for the anniversary of it. Unfortunately, I think the flannel wearing big skater pants grunge look will come back first. Glad I still have my old flannels and my Smells like teen spirit cd maxi.

Tiki Carvers are a specialized type of tree surgeon. I actually consider myself to be a plastic tree surgeon. I can make face logs look better!
Buzzy M.D. F.A.C.S, Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2009-02-11 19:17 ]

Good looking log there buzzy. The clay fellas reminds me of
the Chinese burial ground with all the soldier's buried with the ruler.

NICE DRUM CUZ-ZY!! Can't wait to see how you smack that large log around.

Freakin' rain....I think the idea is just to keep changing up Weathermen until you find one that gives you the forecast you want, or better yet, just hit the little blue button on that time machine of yours, and go back and carve that big log a couple of weeks ago.

sorry buzzy, no country joe and the fish cd but i did send my daughter outside to sing "rain rain go away" for you. hope it works out.

bd

Nice work on the big drum Buzz!

I could hear it over here on the other side of the country last night.

Think of how tall your grass will grow after all this rain.

Come on....tell me how "WONDERFUL" hippies are....

[ Edited by: Babalu 2009-02-12 10:09 ]

You can just barely see the cow hide in the rawhide soup in my bathtub:

At about 11 tonight I'll be able to put it on the big fat drum. Then all my drums will be finished.

Oh man. I think I'd need an alternate method for soaking the cowhide. My wife would never let me live past this one! :lol:

The Rarotonga Conga! Haha, catchy!

A little sunset action to start things off with:


It rained a little last last night and a little this morning, but it turned out to be a beautiful day.

And what better way to spend a beautiful day than to have a couple friends over and do some carving.

Here we see Jabtiki carving away in my front yard:

He looks overjoyed at the prospect of finally finishing his battle with the drum

A short time later, Cammo dropped by to get some work done:

Here he is chopping away at his latest mod creation:

I got a good deal of progress done on my guy as well today. At the end of the day, I almost had a whole trashcan full of chips. Here's where I left off at day's end:

I hope the weather holds because I'm ready to take care of some business tomorrow.

On 2009-02-11 19:43, seeksurf wrote:
Good looking log there buzzy.

Looking good and gettin' better looking as time goes on. Just like me!

On 2009-02-11 19:48, Babalu wrote:

Freakin' rain....

All the hippies at Woodstock tried, and failed, to get then rain to stop through inactivity and shouting. But apparently all it really takes is for Big Daddy's daughter to sing Rain Rain go away...
Nice job hippies, enjoy your mud!

On 2009-02-11 22:14, big daddy wrote:
sorry buzzy, no country joe and the fish cd but i did send my daughter outside to sing "rain rain go away" for you. hope it works out.

Worked like charm. Muchos Thankos!

On 2009-02-11 23:05, Lake Surfer wrote:
Think of how tall your grass will grow after all this rain.

I actually have some grass growing in piles of sawdust on the patio right now. Are overgrown lawns tiki?
They should be...because that's why I do it!

On 2009-02-12 09:55, Babalu wrote:

Come on....tell me how "WONDERFUL" hippies are....

OMG! The long lost House of Buzz tapes! Oh the joy!
Okay. Hippies are actually my favorite things.

As long as I don't see, smell, hear, or think about them. Or their music...

Babalu, you're not a hippie. You're a longhair...

BIG difference. Longhairs are fine.

On 2009-02-12 13:09, TheBigT wrote:

Oh man. I think I'd need an alternate method for soaking the cowhide. My wife would never let me live past this one! :lol:

You could try to convice her to change her mind by saying, "C'mon honey, it's just a big old slab of cow. It's not like I'm washing a hippie in there."
That would work.

On 2009-02-12 13:19, TheBigT wrote:
The Rarotonga Conga! Haha, catchy!

It was WAY obvious! Well, at least to me. that was a case of coming up with a cool name and then making a piece to match it.

Keep on singing daughter of Big Daddy. I need to get some work done tomorrow.
Buzzy Out!

buzzy

she dressed up for her starring role before singing her little ditty to the rain gods.

(actually this is from halloween a couple of years ago but i couldn't resist). enjoy the fine weather if it holds.

bd

On 2009-01-08 20:43, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
I thought it was kind of funny because he was the hard luck gopher who ended his hole under my log. I figured the gopher hit the log and just moved on.
When I flipped the log over while moving it, I saw that the gopher actually continued his hole up into the log:

This is about 8-9 inches deep and 4 inches wide. I wonder if he thought he hit some real hard dirt and just kept on going? I should train him to hollow out the drums...

I missed this last month. That's pretty damn funny. We don't have any gophers - just moles. But still... I wonder if anyone has written a Training Moles for Dummies book yet?

OOOOPS! Missed the sunset today, but I hear it was raining anyway...

I didn't get much work done on the big guy today because my back hurt a lot from yesterday. Still, I was pleased with the progress that I made:

I think I'll rest for a day or two now...

On 2009-02-13 05:32, big daddy wrote:
she dressed up for her starring role before singing her little ditty to the rain gods.
enjoy the fine weather if it holds.

Thank her for me BD! I appreciate it. You can tell her to come in now and stop singing because I need to rest for a couple days, and rain would be a great excuse to take a break.

On 2009-02-13 12:20, TheBigT wrote:
I missed this last month. That's pretty damn funny. We don't have any gophers - just moles. But still... I wonder if anyone has written a Training Moles for Dummies book yet?

One of the funny things about that was the fact that there was no sawdust in the hole. He took it all away somewhere. I guess there's gopher with a nice bed made out of palm dust under my turf somewhere. He came back a couple days after I found him and filled up his hole. I guess he didn't like the notoriety he recieved after I posted him on the world wide web.

The Gopher blames Al Gore for ruining his life becuase Al invented the internet.
Buzzy Out!

On 2009-02-13 22:31, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:

Buzz, did you use a chainsaw at all to get this far, or is it all chisel?
Just wondering. I think I know the answer, but had to ask. :wink:

Lookin sweet, Buzzy

rainin tools there? :P

Today's sunset:

Once again, what was predicted by the weatherpeople as the storm of the decade, turned out to be about 45 minutes of drizze right before sunrise. Since it was such a beautiful, sunny day, I skipped a day of rest and went back to work on the big guy
He has feet now...

...as well as an ass and some ankles

With the major work on the body being pretty much finished now, I drew up a scale drawing of the head:

The hope is that it will look like kind of like this when it is finished:

Hopefully more tomorrow...

On 2009-02-14 07:21, 4WDtiki wrote:
Buzz, did you use a chainsaw at all to get this far, or is it all chisel?

All chisels so far, and a little drawknife on the legs...I didn't use the chainsaw because it's a big piece that's taking a lot of work and I don't want get slowed down on it with the power tools.
Did you guess right?

On 2009-02-14 09:07, Tiki Duddy wrote:

rainin tools there? :P

Yep. Tools and not much else...
Today's rainstorm:

There's another one coming...or so they say.

Buzzy Out!

Always a Treat when I vizit your sight. :D

It was another day of "Rain's on the way..." that never saw any rain arrive.

So, for me, it was another day of outside work on the big guy. I started by rounding out the head:

And since it was early afternoon and the rain still had not arrived, I started on roughing out the facial features. Here's where I left it:

I came in after a hard day of work to hear that the storm was on its way. Whatever...

On 2009-02-15 14:33, Benzart wrote:
Always a Treat when I vizit your sight. :D

Stop by anytime Bennie, I always have plenty of treats here for my friends and visitors!

Tomorrow's forecast calls for tiki.
Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2009-02-15 20:40 ]

the new maori guy is looking awesome buzzy. lucky youve got dry weather, i was in SF this weekend and it rained non stop

How's your wood pile Buzzy? You gonna make it through winter??

I didn't work yesterday, but I did manage to get a shot of the sunset:

It actually rained yesterday...

Today's sunset:

Sun was out today, so it was back to work on the tall guy

I finished roughing out the head this afternoon

Now I have to do a ton of sanding and put on all those fancy swirly designs and stuff all over him

I tried to stand him up today, but he's too damn heavy! I'll have to enlist some help in the next day or so...

On 2009-02-16 12:47, tikithomas08 wrote:
lucky youve got dry weather, i was in SF this weekend and it rained non stop

You mean 'Frisco?

On 2009-02-17 18:54, TravelingJones wrote:
How's your wood pile Buzzy? You gonna make it through winter??

If all goes according to my new master plan, then ** NO! **

I'll never have enough logs!
Buzzy Out!

What's the battery for?

the big fella is starting to look good. shame about your weather out there, been kinda misty and nasty here and the wood chips are piling up on the dining room floor. gotta get outside soon. good luck with the weather.

bd

Today's sunset came out blurry, so here's yesterday's:

Pretty clear day, it was.

I needed a day off of working on the big guy because working stooped over the last few days finally took its toll on my back. So, yesterday's adventures included starting on cleaning a stumpy log for my next project. It's not a drum, but a table made to strongly resemble a drum:

It's hard to tell the scale, but it's about 27 inches tall.

Yesterdays other project was bringing another person into the tiki carver's exclusive club. Meet new TC member xtsnpatx:

That's his first tiki that he learned on. I did it coach Benzart style and carved one side to show him what to do and then had him carve the other. For homework, I sent him home with a blank log to draw up his own design on to bring back next week and carve up himself.

Today, it was back to working on the table. I roughed out the legs:

I didn't leave much space between them so it was hard to clear out the wood in between them:

Boy it was a nice day, today. Real sunny and warm.

On 2009-02-17 21:53, RevBambooBen wrote:
What's the battery for?

They tried to charge me some California legislated crappy battery disposal fee, so I figured I'd get rid of it next time I go night fishing in the bay. Unliscensed fishing, of course...For now,I throw that in my truck when the taco shop runs out of used cooking oil to run the other engine with. I now have an ultra double hybrid battery run with biodiesel converted green truck. Well, it's painted green, at least.

On 2009-02-18 08:15, big daddy wrote:
shame about your weather out there,... good luck with the weather.

Today was one of those southern california dream days! (At least until I heard that the sales tax, income tax, the new tax on the income tax, as well as the vehicle license fees all went up here. )

I think the only reason it was warm today is because there is so much carbon in the air. No love in the air today, only carbon.
Buzzy Out!