Conga....Wisconsin stuff!

Beautiful mirror finish on that guy, Conga!

And yes, a lucky piece of basswood with some grain in it.

We've hit the bottom today at 15 degrees, but things are looking like 50's next week!

Spring arriving finally!

Oh wow! I'm in love! I don't know what else you have in mind for this guy, but right now I think is simple and drop dead gorgeus! drooool...

Many thanks 4WD, Daddy, AlohaS, Lakesurfer and Clarita! I thought
I might have a keeper here but you don't really know until your
contemporaries see it. Thank you all for validating my decision to
"keep it simple." I appreciate your comments and your own work that
keeps this place interesting.
And for Big Daddy, it's basswood. Very plentiful up here in Wisconsin,
wonderful to carve, but this one has much nicer grain than normal.
Lucky I guess :)

WOW, Conga, No Wonder your Mud Man is so Happy, He's got GRAIN! Where did you find that one? Excellent work as usual there Mister, Can't wait to see the weather up there allow you to work at full speed. Don't forget, you can still come down here to warm up any time. We have Palm tree shade with your name on it and of course some toolz to use under the shade too. :lol:

This guy came out great! what a strong message i get from him.
You need to put your carving at the tribal counsel on Survivor
they would fit in so well.

Dude, are you part mud? You got the primitivism down.

Hello friends in Tiki!
Benz...where you been? Oh forget it, I have been pretty quiet around here
too. The weather is better, still too cool, but good enough to start
working on some bigger stuff. The big chunk of pine in the background on
one shot is all carving disc, thanks for the tip on speed control and
safety. Those things are wicked, I have had too many close calls already,
but I still have ten digits.
Seeks, thanks and sorry for the delayed response. Why don't you talk to
those "Survivor" people for me, I'll cut you a percentage :)
And Jungle Trader, thanks much. I sleep, eat and dream "primitive."

And now for something new. I have about five hours into a larger "Abelam"
figure. This one is gonna get the full Conga treatment, if you know what
I mean.


Still a little snow....


The taller figure is...of course...basswood. I am happy that I think there
will be some nice grain in this one too. The log is a chunk of Wisconsin
pipe that I have had sitting around for a looooooooong time. I
think it may turn into a bird, but who knows :)
Now lets get rockin' everyone and lets see some cool stuff!

Very nice Conga!

Making good use of those pictures again! :wink:

You got lucky today... we got hammered with 7 inches of heavy, wet snow.

Back to the basement with me for another week.

Good to see you are finally rid of the snow... hopefully until next December!!!

Yes Lake, spring is a wonderful thing. Perhaps not so wonderful in
your neck of the woods. Even tho it melts pretty quickly now, it
still sucks!
And...I still am getting some ideas from the pictures you sent a
while back. Beautiful stuff and always an inspiration. Not tiki
I guess...but we have a lot of peeps doing tikis :)

:o :o :o

WOW, the way you separated the face from the swod is ... spectacular !

Ithink you stopped breathing 'til an asphyxie !

Excellent carve that I can't wait wearing his Conga Treatment !

Benjamin.

I really really really like these carvings. The figure on the right is outstanding. I agree with JT, you must be part mud.
I think it would be tough to differentiate between one of your pieces and an original in a museum.

New one looks challenging! but it wouldn't be a congatiki if it wasn't challenging somehow! is the spear part of the same piece of wood or did you add it on?
curious minds want to know....

Looking sharp! That would take me 10 times as long
to do.

Hey, thanks a lot Benella, Polynesiac and Seeksurf!
The spear on the new piece is not a separate piece of wood, that
would make things way to easy. This is my second Abelam style carving,
first one was much smaller and thinner a few pages ago. This one will
get much more of the paint treatment and other embelishments. If it is
possible for me to do a "masterpiece" I am hoping this will be the one.
However, I am fully aware of the danger of slinging TOO much paint so I
will be careful:-)

Thanks for your comments on the "mudman" Polynesiac, that one also is
not finished. I plan on some dramatic embelishments on that one too, I
just have to wait until the wild turkey season starts up here. I am
not a hunter but my boss is going to help me out with this one.

Hey hey hey, Conga, I'm Still here!
Nice to see you unafraid of that Abelam guy with the big Stick! I guess he knows you Will shorten his stick if he gives you any crap. He looks like he will be one of your better guys too!

Glad to see that white stuff finally making an exit, That's gotta really up yer production for a change,although I gotta say you've been steadily turning stuff out through the winter. That's DEDICATION for 'ya.
Now we just gotta get you down here so we can work on that Tan!!

Hey Ben...be careful what you say. It's snowing again up here in Northern
Wisconsin. If we get ONE MORE DAY OF SNOW (before next September) I am gonna
be at your doorstep! Can I bring the dog too?

Luv all the latest stuff Conga! Killer drum! Where did that come from? Is that one of your pieces?

I have a woodpile sort like yours but my logs get infested with dead wood borers after a while. I guess you guys up there in the tundra don't have that problem?

Thanks Big T. I did not make the drum. I bought it on EBay a few years
back in a package of goodies that included a few "tourist" tikis...
tiki letter openers...sorta like a bag of Tiki Stocking Stuffers.

As for a log pile...this weekend I will post a pic of my log stack from
some brush removal and clearing that I am doing on a small chunk of property.
You won't believe it. Even if I carved as fast as Bay Park Buzzy the
stack would last literally forever.

Thanks to all for visiting...progress stuff this weekend too.

Howzit, Conga?! That abelam piece is lookin' great. That mudman carve is spectacular as well. Lookin' forward to seeing it all finished up. Hope your stayin' warm.. We're gettin' hit with a snowstorm as I type. Hope all is good.

Man, I'm feeling sorry for you guys, still getting pummeled! It's over for us out here on the Cape...but lots o' rain.
Lookin' awesome Conga!

Hello again from the beloved Congatiki! Many thanks for visiting the
Conga thread FreddieBalls (we will get together sometime this summer,
sort of a Northwoods tiki gathering) and Surfintiki. Although a little
more snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, I believe we have turned the
corner into spring. I've got 75 miles on the road bike, took the motorcycle
out of the garage for the first time this afternoon, and did some more
work on a couple of spring tiki (?) projects.
Here's a little update on the latest Abelam carving...some progress at
the top end



Gonna try to do a bunch of final sanding tomorrow and then it's
on to the hook knife for some detail stuff.
Also working on the big pine feller...right now it thinks it is going to
be a big-ass hornbill...but it could turn into something completely
different...like maybe a Cuscus. Look that one up :)

Mr Abelam is turning out Fantastic! Looks like a ton of
work put into him.

I looked up the Cuscus looking like a furry rodent
sounds like a cool carve.

Quote:
"Hey Ben...be careful what you say. It's snowing again up here in Northern Wisconsin. If we get ONE MORE DAY OF SNOW (before next September) I am gonna be at your doorstep! Can I bring the dog too?"
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

YOU Bet, Bring'um on Down and throw in a coupla loggies too.
Lets see it should be snowin now so you should be here by Wednesday, Right?
Might as well bring yer latest too so we can have sum fone with him!

Your latest is top notch. You chose to do a difficult carve with the spear. Another Conga north woods masterpiece.

Is that a tinge of green I see in your grass?????

Thanks for visiting Ben and Johnny. Ben, it looks like I won't have
to move in with you quite yet, it seems as though spring is here.
ALL of the snow is gone and the grass is starting to turn green,
finally.
Appreciate the remarks on my big "Abelam" guy Johnny. I've pretty
much finished the carving and it's time to start slinging paint.
Well, maybe after a little more detail with the hook blade.
Here's the latest from "Up Nort"





That's it for now, should take another week or so to get things
wrapped up. Thanks :)

Up Nort, aye? Would that mean we's in the Sowt? That is some fine chippin' Mr. Conga...and a very interesting piece of wood. I love how nutz you are (you do know you are nutz, right?). Thanks for the pics.

conga

the abelam is really awesome. love the idol on the tip of his sword, but what's really wonderful is the knot on the left horn of his helmet. great job.

bd

Very nice, and a single piece of wood to boot?

Very interesting, Congrats!

More Excellent, Crazy work Conga, what is different with this wood that it has grain?
Glad you are having good weather again, but I was Hoping for more Snow!
:o

More good chops, Conga!

This guy looks like he was a discovery deep in the jungles.

Great 3-D work!

Glad to hear Spring has arrived for you... shorts and t-shirts can't be far behind!

Many thanks GMan (Nutz...me?) Big Daddy, Tiki Mango, Clarita, Benz (Nutz...me?)
and Lakesurfer. This one has been a lot of fun.
A little more progress....Happy Easter!

Conga,

It is amazing what that little bit of paint did to accentuate the carved features if his face, That is too good! I think we can let you out of your winter prison cell now.....you have earned some warm weather. Make it so....

-G

Oh, right on!

That's the snizzle right there Conga!

Nice work man... the color makes it POP!

Supposed to hit 60 degrees this week!

Enjoy!

Great carve! I love it! one of my favorites from you.

Ah, springtime in Wisconsin!
And another "Congatiki" is born...




The tale of the tape...5'6" basswood, single piece,acrylic paints,
wood and shell embelishments.
Thanks to all of you who keep me motivated and someone off track :)

wow conga, he's turned out beautiful. i love all the embellishments you have added with the paint and shells. i didn't realize the "horns" were actually birds until just now. he is just great. must be spring up there i see how green and lush your yard is in the background of the photos. fall must be ... what 6 weeks away for y'all up there? congratulations on a beautiful carve.

bd

Really beautiful piece! Most beautiful with the sunlight, the colors are shiny and the stain is so nice!
congrat conga...

Conga, that is an amazing carve! I love all the details and although I don't like paint, yours is beautifully done and enhances the piece, great job!

Amy

This in one kick ass carve! I love the carved in stick!
and the birds up top. man that stick had to of always been in the
way when you where carving near it.

Yes you, youz nutz......and this carving is GREAT! I'm glad you made it through the winter...now we can look forward to a steady stream of big old Conga carvings made in the great outdoors. Excellent!!

Hey tiki friends, thanks for stopping in!
Big Daddy...yea spring is a wonderful thing around here. Not sure
how long it will last. Seems that we have reminders of fall every couple
of weeks!
Laojia...thank you...I like what you are doing over there across the
pond.
Queen Amy...many thanks to you. I know that you have a real eye for
quality (based on your backyard project). This style of "tiki" usually
gets buckets of paint so it was a bit of a challenege to highlight the
carving without getting gaudy. I take it from your comments that I
succeeded :)
Seeks...thanks also. The stick gave me a lot of trouble getting
underneath it, and it also broke at the top end where it was supposed to
stay connected. Thank goodness for gorilla glue. Here's one more
shot to illustrate.

And GMan...Nutz is right...just like you...nutz about creating stuff
outta wood. But is it even remotely possible to be more nutz than the
wacky croc hunting and pig-hammerin' GMan? Thank you!
Have a nice day everyone.

Conga, Really WELL Done on this guy and Excellent balance between painted and clear finished areas. Just enough to make him POP and not enough to make him ugly.
Now that Summer is here you need to come down and work on that Tan, You be too white. (Nutzz too!)

Hey Ben, thanks for your kind remarks on the ole Abelam figure,
and now that spring is here I am really excited. Wait, what is
this stuff?

Oh well, can't complain. We had a real nice summer last friday
and saturday, yesterday was fall, and now its winter again. I
never really had a chance to work on the tan.
Thanks for popping in Ben, hope you are well.

HEY, WAIT!!! Didn't you say "One more snow and I will head to Florida"??? Seems that I remember that and it is even posted Here?. Ha
See you SOON!
:o
:D
:P

Right on conga another gem for the collection.
Yes the glue. I have a couple that are held with glue myself.

Nice snow shot? 71 in Seattle today last week snow @ my place
also?

Great stuff Conga! I agree with Ben...I really like the way the light paint work looks next to the clear finish on the wood with this one. A+

Many thanks Ben, Seeks and Babalu! I am always motivated and inspired by
your works and words :)
Well, what a state that I live in! In Wisconsin it's either "frost on the
pumpkin" or "Snowy Moai."

Snowy Moai, oooh baby, we gotta go now!

Great work Conga, I really like the colors in the newest one. You have some of the coolest ideas.