new pieces

ode to buzzy - sorry buzzy i can't compare this to your beautiful setting but it's the closest i can come. out by hamilton's pool outside of austin.

well i've been away too long from carving. been herding cats, spending time in the texas hill country (girlfriend lives there) and killing flying cockroaches before the attack my daughter(and for anyone of you that doubts there are flying roaches, come to texas and yes they are big, at lest 2 inches long).
i finally started 2 new pieces, one in pine - trying my hand at the suffering bastard. hand tools are great but one day i will get myself a grinder and a lancelot, though i did see that sears has a hand held saw that resembles a grinder with not 1 but 2 blades! back, notice the white rubber grommets-he was suppose to lean back but unfortunately i removed too much from the back and all he does is fall over. i'll have to find some other way to make him stand.

the front, he's wearing a grass loincloth - still need to do quite a bit of sanding and stain before he's done.

my little guy is made from southern white pine. i felt like an abusive parent as i kept breaking and resetting his arms while i was making him. still needs stain.

both together - little guy is about 8 inches tall.

i can't find palms in my neighborhood but i did come across these in the throwout pile of a neighbor. after i nabbed most he came out and put a sign that read "bamboo - 7 poles for $10"

and this project kept me busy for awhile. the latest batch of william j. lepetomane memorial beer. 6 left of the gov's double chocolate stout and a new batch of taggert's india pale ale. it's the best place to store the beer because the washer doesn't work.

laojia, should have something for you later today.

There's tons of Palm Logs to be had in Galveston. I was there recently and they are everywhere. Uprooted, big ones, even with root balls. Laying on the side of the road, or in a field, in yards, they're everywhere! It's a tiki carvers heaven in Galveston, and surrounding beach areas. There's even a place there named Tiki Island. Nice houses! A few tikis there too. One carver has made a name for himself there, I don't know what it is. The mosquitos there are fricken bad though! Big flying blood suckers. I got bit in the earlobe and it swelled real bad. Make sure you wear lots of DEET.

On 2009-03-25 10:23, big daddy wrote:
i can't find palms in my neighborhood but i did come across these in the throwout pile of a neighbor. after i nabbed most he came out and put a sign that read "bamboo - 7 poles for $10"

Sounds like you got quite a steal then! :lol:

The big fella is a complicated carve. Lots of things
running thru you head on this guy. You are doing great.

The little fella is really cool nice work.

Nice job Big Daddy , I need to stop by sometime when I am in your area. We go down to Houston/Galveston/Alvin about 5 times a year from Ft.Worth. We usually rent a beach house for a week at the end of the summer on Crystal Beach but that is all gone now , bummer. I am planning to come down with a trailer for the weekend to go on a palm hunt soon though.
Scotty

New work was good, very good, especially the little guy, Roa god from gambier island, I like this sleek style. Solid arms is very sensitive in this kind of statue...Well done!

Be careful ! Your beer stock hide some minéral water bottles...choose the wrong can be dangerous :lol:

J.

I like the African/Picasso-ishness of this guy. Nice one!

Bowie

thanks guys for the comments. i meant to update my old posting but instead wound up starting a new thread, that's what happens when you're computer illiterate and the child is in school.

thanks for the idea von and yeah i know about tiki island. unfortunately it doesn't have alot to do with tiki's, maybe back in the 50's and 60's it may have had a bit more meaning and i've only seen 3 carvings in that community. schlitterbahn has more carvings than tiki island.

drasticwagon you can stop by anytime and if i have the time i'll follow you down to galveston. i need to head down there soon myself and start a reclamation project.

thanks seeks, hate to think what a psychiatrist would see in my carves.

bowana - laojia hit it right on the head with god rao from gambier island. didn't think anyone would catch that. made him a little LARGER to compensate for MY short comings.

t - meet the guy later. he laughed when he saw my back yard. says if i want anymore to just go over and help him cut it down.

laojia - even the mineral water has beer in it. i might be dumb but i'm not stupid!

bd

These look great.

Excellent tiki stuff Big daddy and I Love seeing unintended use of tools and equipment(cooler!)That pine looks a lot like our Slash pine here in Fla and is not really bad carving wood but seems to be Shunned by most carvers for some reason. You seem to be having no problems with it except for the arms breaking on the smaller guy. That is natural for that style and the only way to prevent it is to drill straight through and glue in a wooden dowel.
On how to make the Sufferrer stand up, you could have leveled the base before you started but I see lots of tikis carved that way and it always seems that it is a common oversight. Now a mice mahogany or walnut wedge base will do the trick.
Nice Stuff!

laojia
here are the photos of the black walnut. wanna see something good from this and maybe a small piece for my daughter if that's ok with you. thanks for everything.

[img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/9797/49cc6a52.jpg[/img

bd

WOW dude,

The big one's really first class wit hsome pretty neat lines.
The small one makes me think of some Mangareva tiki and he's awesome too.
Will you smooth the whole big one or let it chisel textured ?

Bravo,

Benjamin.

thanks for the comments everyone.

benjamin - i was thinking of smoothing out his arms and legs but leaving the loincloth and head all roughed up with chisel marks since he is suffering.

carved a quick tiki late friday night for my daughter, she turned 13 saturday. i did not have much time for detail work. it definitely gave me a whole new appreciation for benzart, laojia and ellly's work (if i missed a few others that work in miniatures i apologize profusely). you guys rock. hope to get back to the big stuff this week.

I like the african/picasso guy a lot myself. Do you carve his arms from the same piece or are they added on? If so I can not tell. I am asking because I was hoping to add extended arms eventually to something I have been working on

Great job on the little fella.

grand poobah

the arms were included in the carve and i had a hell of a time with them. literally broke off and glued each arm back on at least 3 times. guess i could have run dowels through the arms to keep the arms on but i didn't get that suggestion until benzart sent it to me.

bd

Nice carve for the little guy!!! What is the sensation of carving into the palm of the hand?

a little bit of fear that if i slip i'll gash my hand open as badly as i did my finger back in december. i'm only just now getting enough moment in my finger to play guitar again. you can see the finger here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30291&forum=7&41

in other news, i was trying to dye or stain the god rao i recently carved. i was using beet juice trying to get a red tint on him and realized that water and beet juice will dissolve elmer's glue as i watched his left arm fall off and while trying to reglue it the other arm fell off. and to top it all off the color didn't really soak into the wood either.

bd

Always pay attention to the meaning of the cut, especially when one considers the subject in hand. I've got some scars of my first years of work

On 2009-04-01 22:43, big daddy wrote:
water and beet juice will dissolve elmer's glue

Incredible! beet juice who dissolve glue! Either glue is not good, either beets are dangerous...Don't eat them!! :x
Poor Rao god, I hope you find a good stain...
News soon!

J.

hello again everyone,
been spending time away from home (and carving) in the texas hill country with my girlfriend. i haven't had much time to carve lately and have been trying to finish a few of the pieces i had been tinkering with. finally put the finishing touches on the bday present for my daughter...

sans stain...

red mahogany stain

i finally figured out what i needed to do and i was able to sneak in a few more hours on my suffering bastard. finished him and put a red mahogany stain as well. he may get a coat of tung oil in the near future.

he was suppose to balance on his toes, unfortunately i am not that crafty so he kept on falling over backwards. i had to cut a wine cork in half and give him a set of high heels...makes him look taller.

finished "god rao" but not in time to present him to my friend on his bday. used a shoe polish on him (cordovan) brown with a definite red tint to it.

the photo just doesn't show the color very well.

carved this little fellow one evening after work,

who knew that going to bed a 5am and then trying to go to work doesn't sit well with your employer.

all together now

i had some time when i couldn't carve so i have also been trying my hand at a few other projects.

started on a new piece with hopes that i can actually work on him soon.

buzzy,
i know this doesn't compare to your island getaway but at least it's got a swimmin' hole


known as jacob's well. frigid water temp. of 67 year round. gonna have to take my tools up there one of these days. hope to carve more soon.

thanks y'all,

Excellent carves and the mermaid is great as well. I love seeing the diversity that you've got going. Keep them coming.

Happy to see you back! And happy to see Roa god finished... You've a good collection of finished piece and the little man in the stick: very cool! Work of patience, well done!

J.

Bigdaddy-kool stuff,dig the look of that palm log in the
background,dont see none of that round my way.Watango

hey bigD - glad u got started on some new stuff. Interesting to see the paper mache. Wouldn't mind doing some of that myself (someday....) :lol:

where is this well you have pictured?

thanks guys appreciate the kind words.

aloha - variety makes the world go round

laojia - rao finally goes where he belongs tomorrow morning

watango - found the palm while riding my bike after hurricane ike. harvested another palm (15 ft) but it turned out to be all pulpy and mushy on the inside so i couldn't use it. waiting to see what this palm tells me to carve.

big t - the well is in wimberley south of austin. it's on a 65 acre nature preserve (dancing waters inn) but is open to the public and it has access through a small neighborhood. it has 4 known chambers. the 1st drops 35 ft, the 2nd goes about 70/75 ft down. the 3rd drops about 90 to 120 ft and the last chamber goes in about... well who knows. they have only been able to explore about 1 mile in. several people have died going in too far and getting lost. it's a great place to sit, think, swim. if you get a chance stop in.

once again guys thanks for the kind words.

bd

Big daddy, Lookit you showing all that crisp detail, You are coming along Strong in your skills developments. Your Mermaid is Awesome too, Excellent idea and follow through.. The Hi-heels look cool.
Happy Happy Happy

hey everyone,

been away for awhile doing some traveling and site seeing throughout texas so haven't had much time to carve but i did get to finish this guy in the past week.

the funny thing about texas is that you never know what you can find if you decide to take a road less traveled. somewhere outside of hunt you can find:
1 - out in this farmers field, a complete recreation of stonehenge - large enough, not to be trampled by dwarves.

2 - an easter island reject and a young carol merril (the oldtimers know who she is). she kept me company through the entire trip by burying her nose in a book and providing such witty banter as "are we there yet" and "i gotta pee".

getting to playing an e.n.t. doc - cedarfever hits hard in the hill country here in tx.

3 - sweet little swimming hole just off the highway with not 1 but 2 rope swings. cool water on a 100 degree day, can't be beat!

have a few ideas on some new pieces just have to juggle the time between daughter and carving. hope to have something new shortly.

bd

hey bd, cool! You did a great job hollowing out the mouth. Looks like you're throwing all the tools at it too! A screwdriver?! LOL

On 2009-05-05 15:12, big daddy wrote:

known as jacob's well. frigid water temp. of 67 year round. gonna have to take my tools up there one of these days. hope to carve more soon.

thanks y'all,

Boy, that sure sounds like the begining of a horror movie. :o

The new guy is looking great. I like a cannibal theme.

Hello BD!

Happy to see you back on TC and especially back with chisel and mallet!

Nice pics with moai!! :D

J.

Yes, Great traveling photos, the Farmer was surely handy with the stone work, Love the Moai reject and the Stonehenge is just unbelievable. Yes, Only in Texas. Have seen a few Texas Oddities with my Own eyes to know they exist!
Glad you are back carving a it too as your latest cannibal guy is looking Great. Nice detail and cool tools. Is that an empty gauze bandage wrapper I see there? Cannibal thirsting for fresh Blood?
Nice too seeing you spending quality time with your daughter, memories to last a life time since they grow up and go away in only a few short weeks it seems.

thanks guys for all your comments.

Formikahini stopped by the other day and pointed out that my latest piece - the cannibal

reminded her of this

guess i just like steal...., uhmmm borrowing from the masters.

big t - that's a very thin chisel that i used to scrape out the mouth and behind the head.

finkdaddy - hmmm, revenge of the texas tiki? tiki the 13th? hallowtiki? thanks for the idea, there's a story there.

seeks - thanks, likes cannibals myself. may work a few more that way.

laojia - thanks. been missing the mallets and chisels.

benz - yep, sometimes feels like my daughter ages a week for everyday that goes by. and no that wasn't a bandage wrapper, i changed out the strings on one of my guitars and tossed it on the pile of wood chips. i took your advise about being safe with the tools and knives.

again thanks for any and all comments,

bd

WOW Edvard Munch!! I like so much this painting!!!!

J.

On 2009-05-05 15:12, big daddy wrote:
buzzy,
i know this doesn't compare to your island getaway but at least it's got a swimmin' hole


known as jacob's well. frigid water temp. of 67 year round.

It actually looks a little cleaner than the island getaway. I haven't let the bay water touch my skin in a couple decades. Too polluted. With the fabled Texas heat, I'd jump in old jacob's well. water temps about the same as the bay here.
You should carve a tiki into one of those trees in the background. No one steal a whole tree, right?
Nice road trip photos. My parents stopped going on family road trips with me when I was about 14. I guess a few days for them stuck in a car with a teenage me and loudmouth little brother of mine wasn't a vacation for them. Go figure?

Buzzy Out!

Jacob's Well

Is that yellow pine? If you are carving with yellow pine now then you'll will be able to carve anything out of good hard wood later. Yellow pine is on the low end of wood carvers like to use best. Right next to balsa I think. Great way to hone your carving and sharpening skills. Yellow pine does look nice when carved though. Like the new guy! Very original.

thanks phinz. i've seen that story. i stay at dancing waters inn which is located in the nature conservancy center that surrounds jacobs well. beautiful old cabin from the 1880's.

tikilizard - don't know if it is yellow pine. i like to call it ford pine, "found on road dead". carves fairly easy compared to the pecan wood i started my carving career. have a couple of palm logs i picked up after ike. just have to pick up a few tools to help debark.

buzzy - reminds me of our family trips. "do i have to stop the car and separate you two?!?!?!?" and " i will turn this car around if you two don't stop!!!!"

bd

hey guys,

i seem to rarely find time to carve but i did find a little time and have been working on this little guy. i had a leftover foot rung on an old chair i repaired. this is how it started out.

think it's oak cuz it's rather hard to carve.

still have to finish him and add some details to him and sand him and stain him. don't know how you add soo much detail in such little space benz but i'm trying as best i can. hope to finish him soon.

bd

goin' fishin' tomorrow. good luck to all y'all!

Looking really Good big daddy, especially for that stingy piece of Oak Chair rung. What small tools do you have because if that Dremel and that disc are the smallest, then smaller bits and a Flex Shaft unit will certainly help get smaller detail as will the "Hook Knife". You are Still getting a Lot of detail for that size wood.

Geez, that's taking some dexterity to carve a tiki outta that chair rung with that dremel wheel. Have you tried one of the smaller engraving bits? Looks like they could come in handy on that piece.

thanks benz and t. been carving him with a hook knife. the dremel i didn't think about using until i got to the legs, then i did the rough out with it. sometimes i don't think it through very well.

bd

BUMP! As promised...

J.

Way to go Big Daddy USE that Knife but ALSO use the dremel which has MANY tools for removing wood, the Possibilities are Endless. Explore the catalogs and on line stores'

Way to go Big Daddy USE that Knife but ALSO use the dremel which has MANY tools for removing wood, the Possibilities are Endless. Explore the catalogs and on line stores'