Some new photoshop pics (with moai!)

Yeah!! Love that tongue!

Thanks everyone for the kind words. :D
I'm actualy very uncomfortable with the big stuff. I think maybe it's because I don't have the right tools for it.

Here's what I started working on today. This is different for me because I had no idea of what I wanted to carve. I just grabbed a piece of wood and started working it. I'm still not sure where it's going to go.
Benzart is a big influence on me and this is actually a piece of wood that he gave me. I think it's called Abezia wood.
I love how Ben takes such an unreal subject like a tiki and makes it look so real. I try, but struggle, to put that in my pieces.
Anyway, I'll post more pics as they come.

Off to a great start. Glad to see you getting active again. I'm looking forward to seeing how recharged you are now.

i hope to some pixs soon
great lines on this little Tiki

bye
Akuae

One of the things that got me to keep checking in on Tiki Central on a regular basis back in the days was the excitement of seein what finkdaddy was carvin up, and you were a big influence to me.. Im glad your getting back into it.and posting again.. this pendant has classic finkdaddy written all over it..

Thanks guys!
Wow Kirby, what a wonderful thing to say. :blush:
I should be posting more now that I'm home more.

Excelent begins on this small azebia hunk! Already nice line for the mouth...

J.

Dayyum Finky, Careful or that tiki will be spittin' out your finger! Nice job on this guy.

The color and the grain of this wood look wonderful and perfect for your carving.
Nice work,

Benjamin.

You have a talent there. Looks like its alive.

I love how Ben takes such an unreal subject like a tiki and makes it look so real. I try, but struggle, to put that in my pieces.

Lies all LIES! Your carvings have plenty of life in them my freind!

#1 still has pride of place in my collection mate :D He even featured in a hot rod and kustom kulture art show at the Aussie hot rod nationals

Hewey, my friend, I miss chatting with you!! That is so cool about the art show, how on earth did that come about? Did you have pieces in the show too? Thank you very, very much. What an honor!
Are you racing that wagon yet? PM me and tell me what you've been up to!

Thanks everyone for your comments.
I put that last carving down for a while because I completely f'ed up the eyes and I need to figure out if I can even save it or not. I have another new piece, but I wont have pics until I come back from my wife's family reunion today. They're all heavy drinking bikers, so I should have a lot of fun.

Later all!

OK, I lied. I wanted to finish it up so I could wear it today.
You can't really tell from the pic, but the color and grain of the wood is quite beautiful.

Thank you for looking!

Awesome stuff fink! I wish I was ambitious enough to carve I can't get beyond a 5 minute pen drawing

Wow, there is just something about the big nose guy that I just adore! He's just got this laid back attitude to him that seems so alive. Is that Koa wood? The grain does look really nice, it almost looks a little lighter in the front, not sure if that's the wood or just the lighting.

It's too bad you're not happy with the eyes on the other guy. I'm always nervous about what I'm doing so I usually don't take progress photos.

On 2009-06-14 22:04, mieko wrote:
Is that Koa wood? The grain does look really nice, it almost looks a little lighter in the front, not sure if that's the wood or just the lighting.

No, I think it's called Abezia, but I'm not 100% sure about that. It's much softer than Koa and is easy to work, although it wants to break apart when doing smaller details.
That is the color of the wood, not just lighting. It looks really pretty up close.

Thanks for the nice comments!

On 2009-06-13 06:39, finkdaddy wrote:

Love this guy! How about another pic from a different angle?

It's Monday morning, despite two days of bikers and beer, I'm not hungover at all. Maybe I'm not that old after all. :wink:
After several years of being denied, I finally got my wife to say I could buy a motorcycle. She took a couple of rides on the back of my friends bike and was completely convinced that I need one! Now all I need is a job so I can afford one.
Oh well, one thing at a time, right?

Anyway, I finished this one last night, I just need to make a real chord for it.
This one, as you can probably tell, was completely unplanned and sort of took some wierd turns. I'm still not sure how I feel about it yet.

Thanks everyone. Now I'm off to take my two boys to their first baseball practice!

Just finished up a grumpy little moai.
I got really sunburned today watching the kids at baseball. They had fun though, catching grounders and just learning the game. I couldn't be prouder! :thumbsup:



Thanks for looking!

Wow mate, you're really pumping them out :D Nice work

Excelent work on this one!
Your grumpy moai is also well done.

J.

I'm with Laojia, excellent works.

Benjamin.

I'm with those guys as well, Very well done.

Don't even Joke about putting away your tools, I'll put mine away first. Man, you have really jumped a few levels in your skills and the stuff you are doing now is just downright Sick. Hang on, get More woods and sharpen your toolz!

wow, cool beans. that wood finishes great and you've got a really nice style.

Quite a few hours into this guy. Still a lot to go though. :roll:




It's just a tad under 5"

Bravo! Very realistic creation, impressive details, well done!!!

J.

Finky you rock, great concept here.

Love the lizard...nice design.

Alright, that's just crazy carvin'! Under 5" and all those voids?!? What kind of wood?
Great movement in the lizard, and delicate petals on the hibiscus!

Very nice work, Fred!

Love the concept and the execution on this!

And top notch on the tiny detail work!

On 2009-06-20 20:21, 4WDtiki wrote:
What kind of wood?

Walnut I think...

Finky that Lizard is going to be Spectacular, I Really love how you are taking the time to get the great details. It takes a lot of time to clean up all the ragged edges and do it right. Yeay for you, Excellent works

Thanks guys! I'm not certain what type of wood it is, but I think it's called Abezia. Is that right Ben?
It does have a walnut-like look, but I think it's prettier because of the many variations in color. It's way softer to carve too.

Here's where I am today. It's hard to see what I've done in these pics, but I removed all of the negative wood from the bottom, which was pretty substantial, and cleaned up a lot of details.
There is still a lot left to do, but I'm much closer now.

The top:

front:

and bottom:

Thanks for looking!!

Now I have to cook dinner and then it's off to my two boy's first baseball game!

Visit the The Leeward Lounge

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2009-06-25 18:35 ]

Hey let's hope that the kids kick butt in baseball...just like the
"old man" kicks butt in carving. The Lizz is pretty cool.

Man you are talented with the carving!

incredible! and a baseball game too! Over-achiever!!! keep it up!

Conga, thanks! The boys did great and we had a lot of fun. At their level it's pretty chaotic, so my sides are still sore from laughing!

Leleliz, thank you very much, :)

Crazy Al, you're not the only one who's crazy! :lol: Hopefully I'll be finished today. I'm thinking of adding a bit of color to some places on this one. The ball game was great. Getting 6-year-olds to try and catch the ball or run in a straight line in the right direction is pretty comical!

Here she is! After it dries over night I'll add a chord to it.
I tried a little color in the flowers. It's a bit light, but I didn't want use too much until I saw how it looked.

Mahalo, on to the next!

I am so looking forward to the day when I can purchase one of your pendants!

The lizard is really life like. I am more impressed with people who can carve on a smaller scale so this piece really is awesome.

Cant wait to see what you come up with next Finkdaddy!

That came out - perfect! Beautiful job - thinking outside the tiki bar!

WOW!!! That is MORE than awesome! Way to think "outside the box"!

That's an amazing carving there. Gorgeous.

Amazing man, I love it. Another masterpiece from Finky :D

Beautiful Work!! :drink:

Sweet! It's cool to see a piece that looks assembled yet it's cut from one solid block of wood. Nice detailing, love it, Finky!

Excellent work Finky,
I'm So Impressed with how tight you got all the detail, even drilling out the bamboo ends. It's Great that you have so much more time for carving now, I'm expecting some Awesome stuff from you this summer and this guy is starting it right off the bat.

Very inspiring lizard, beautiful style you have on every piece...!

leleliz, thanks. I feel much more comfortable doing smaller stuff, so it works out fine.

Aloha Station and Surfintiki, thanks to you too! I wanted to try something different.

Tikimango, Hewey, Savage Daddy, and Clarita: I appreciate the comps. It's why I do what I do. :)

Aaron, thanks for that. It was something I really wanted to try. The wood is fairly soft, so I kept worrying it would split at the "bamboo" joints. Luckily it didn't!

Ben, I always think of you trying to push me harder to make things better. I always stare at a piece that I think is done and try to think of what you would want me to do with it. You still influence everything I carve. Thank you!

Still working on stuff for the Chef Shangri La shindig.
Here's some hand-painted resins I'll be selling on the cheap: (terrible, washed-out lighting)

Here's a thin Marq pendent I just finished up. The color of the wood is amazing when seen close up. It's made from Ziricote wood and was a complete pain-in-the-ass to carve. The wood is very oily and hard, but beautiful.
Right:

Left:

Front:

Back:

Mahalo!