new work on an old guy . . . last page . .

That came out great. When do we get to see a solid gold one?

On 2009-06-17 06:19, MadDogMike wrote:
Smokin' is right!

Is this one pewter? Just drill & tap and you've got an awesome shifter, right? Speaking of tap, it would make a great beer tap handle for your bar.

it's bronze. i guess i should of pointed that out. pewter is not a bad idea. hmmm . . . .

the solid gold one is hanging around my neck. these babies weigh in at just over a pound.

foo'

[ Edited by: pdrake 2009-06-17 08:47 ]

well, now i only need to put a hole in it and a fitting for the shift lever.

i'm hoping to sell about 4022 of these.

I pm'd you about the little orongo and will paypal you at lunch! Looking forward to adding him to my silver tiki necklace gang!

I pity the foo' dat wears da solid gold tiki hed around his neck :lol:

Perry, my one and only casting project was done in pewter; a snakehead swallowing an onyx egg cane top (I'll post a pic here someday) I used pewter because it was cheap and I could melt it on the BBQ. But I don't think it's suitable for real art like yours; it's heavy and it's too soft & easily marred. Since you have the capability, bronze and aluminum are much better.

thanks, mike. i use pewter for all my 14th century stuff. i cast it in soapstone. it's really authentic that way. pewter melts at about 400°, so it's really easy to work with. it will still burn you. bronze melts at 1800° and aluminum at 900°. you need an acetylene torch to melt it in small quantities. i have to use the furnace for the bigger stuff. there's lots of other variables you need to consider as well. you don't need to worry about those things with pewter and you can cast it right into silicone.

here's a pic with the freshly poured aluminum one.

here's a little pendant i made the other day. it's a sterling silver koru.

i'm starting a new sculpt on a more poly pop piece tonight. it should be fun and functional!

well, that pendant went over like a wet fart.

i resculpted it and am recasting it tomorrow.

got some cool stuff coming up. i didn't think i needed to post progress pics, it's just a wax scraping. people know how to do that. most people have done it at one point or another on a piece of birthday cake. i know i have at grog's party. it seems the whole cake is melted wax from the candles, there's so many.

i'll put it up when it's a little further along. it still looks like a slumpy wheel right now.

arrrr . . . .

neaat -o

Crazy details on that one.

I see a new wax master shaping up :)

yes, you're right. it's coming along slowly. i'm learning that the nicer the master, the nicer the end product.

had to rework this a little. it's hard to please myself while thinking about pleasing others sometimes. opened it up and made it a bit more delicate. this is just a carving master. i'm going to have to mold and cast it in wax and then rework it a little. there are some flaws you can't see unless you look under a magnifier. those are much easier to take out in wax than in silver. it kind of turned into a double sided type of pendant. i can also inscribe the wax for my TC friends. i'll be making these in a small run, probably 5-10 at the most. i'll put them in the market when they're ready or hit me up anytime. mahalo!

Perry, I like the new look of your pendant. It has a lighter and freer look!

the koru came out nice. the moai is looking good too. the bamboo is a nice touch.

[ Edited by: kingstiedye 2009-07-03 00:11 ]

Perry! I got my Orango in the mail yesterday. It's perfect! LOVE IT. I immediately put it on my necklace so it now resides between a little silver Ku and a silver palm leaf that I made. I'll get a picture for you as soon as I can. Thanks!!!! :D
Oh yeah, and a couple of little resin moai's stowed away in the box! I'll be thinking of a way to use them on something! THX!

Retro Modern Wahine......Kiki von Tiki on etsy

[ Edited by: Kiki von Tiki 2009-07-04 08:50 ]

OLD

NEW & IMPROVED

P, I have to agree with Kiki- I like the new look.
What exactly is a "Fart" Koru? :D

On 2009-06-24 23:40, pdrake wrote:
well, that pendant went over like a wet fart.

thank you so much mike and kiki. i thought the rework was pretty cool, too. i don't know if i'll even make anymore at this point.

the little bird man was a cool little project and i'm glad it's appreciated. it made me smile as i made it.

i'm working on the new master marrrrrq!

it's a little blurry on purpose.

glad you looked, thanks, i owe you a drink.

p

Perry, did you re-work the "fart koru" casting or the mold?

mike, you can't rework silicone molds, at least i've never been successful at it. i reworked a wax piece from the original mold, then cast it in silver, then reworked the silver to finish it off. (i have a hard time working with this wax at this size in the vegas summer, i need to get some better wax.) it's now at it's second wax stage for additional smoothing and work. it will then get a final mold made for wax masters.

i'm finishing up the marq tonight and molding that up. the mold material takes over 24 hrs to finish, so i won't have a pic until probably sat. i just didn't want to show it in a globby, unfinished state.

announcing your intentions out loud (or in written form online) is one of the best ways to see the gods laugh at you. the marq broke and i had to start over. that's why i make molds for the working wax pieces. at least i don't have to start from square one.

the fart koru wax finally got reworked and molded. here's a peek.

thanks for peeking.

I'm always very impressed by metal and glassworkers - danger and creativity!

Excellent stuff.

thanks, robb.

i did a whole new sculpt on the marq. made me feel better. the guy i was working with has pretty much flaked. i have to buy some new equipment. that's why i'm liquidating stuff. my art is more important than my collection right now.

here's a preview of the marq. mold it up tonight and add the detail tomorrow.

should it be "woodish" or "stonish"? hmmm . . .

well, i think i'm done futzing with this guy. what does everyone think?

this is on the block soon, too.

[ Edited by: pdrake 2009-07-27 17:02 ]

On 2009-07-27 16:49, pdrake wrote:
well, i think i'm done futzing with this guy. what does everyone think?

He looks great to me. What's it intended for, pendant, valve stems, something other?

oop, sorry, it's going to be a pendant. bronze and silver. maybe resin if there's any interest.

this is the back.

Resin would be cool!! :)

Valve Stem Caps :lol:

Mark the Marq is lookin' damned handsome!

thanks, i never thought of valve stem caps. hmmm. . . .

here's a new sculpt i worked on tonight. it's not the most tiki thing, but it has a bit of significance in maori culture.

here's the brady cave piece. he looked so lonely there at the entrance. people only give props to the cursed tiki and hugo, so i thought this guy could use some love. it looks like fern wood, so that's the finish he'll have.

he'll be bronze and silver . . .

here's the lonely guy all textured up and the start of another sculpt. i'm not sure why, but my camera wouldn't focus on the clay.

That's what you need, a barrel full of 18K gold monkeys! :)

Lookin' good Perry

thanks, mike. the monkey is going to be a big project.

i considered for a few nanoseconds just putting a real one in a mold, but decided to just sculpt my own.

i'm just going to go ahead and tell people here (seems ideas are in short supply in these parts lately.) that these will be one offs of most desings. the monkey will be made as a wax master and then sculpted to make an original monkey. yes, it's similar to what munktiki did with the coconut monkey mugs, but i think it's original enough pass snuff.

there's also this guy sittin' in rubber goo right now. he'll be available in bronze and silver.

well, i'm not going to produce anything that no one shows any interest in.

Good answer, Vincent.

Funny you did the monkey cuz I was thinking of writing you...

Some years back my mom and a friend of her's got into casting silver jewelry. They mostly used pre-made commercial wax pieces but I had an idea...

My good friend Max had a thing for monkeys (way before the current monkeys-are-everywhere trend) and I wondered if a Barrel of Monkeys monkey could be cast in silver.

Turns out it can.

It came out brilliantly and Max tied it to a chord (no finding had been cast into the piece) and disco danced his way across LA until a hot gal and good money nailed him down into a Beachwood Drive house with a vacation home in Palm Springs.

Also the dumbass somehow happened to lose the monkey one day. Right off his friggin neck.

I thought about suggesting to you that maybe this would be the sorta thing you could crap out like so many of us hacks and make a few bucks between actual artsy fartsy pieces.

But then you went and sculpted yer own.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

The leaf is neat, the curve of it's outline and stem are excellent. (People have no idea how important a confidence of line is.) Still, I think it can be moved towards a really swell piece and not particularly with excessive overworking. the weight of the body of the leaf and the "notches" on the leaf don't have the same flow as the leaf's edge and stem. The notches are making it static (or worse: typical), the weight is making it just sit there. At least in this photo.

This I like quite a bit ad I'm kinda surprised I do. It's simplistic and in some ways similar to a few dozen other trinkets we've seen around here but the weight is good and balance...Well, it's the balance that catches and holds the eye. In bronze it would seem like a piece from the golden age of Tiki.

Very cool Monkey pdrake!

Just astounding attention to detail, variety, craftsmanship, multiple materials, carvings, sculpts, WOW!

I like the Monkey too!

thanks, woof, sneaky, sam and tom.

i think i was having a crappy day and bummed i couldn't go to oasis.

i didn't have a mold form big enough for the monkey, so i had to take him to a professional jeweler to have it made. should get it back tomorrow or tuesday (they're closed sunday and monday).

here's the first mold of the cave tiki. i had to remold it since this mold didn't work too well on the back.

I own a barrel o' monkeys sterling silver necklace that I bought from Perpetual Kid a long while ago and they used the game piece and cast from that.

If it had been hand sculpted I think the detail would of been a little more crisp because on the game pieces the detail is kind of hit or miss.

Smart to carve your own...you can tell the overall piece will be full of detail and I look forward to seeing the face.

I like the Tiki too but if you are making it into a charm are you also adding a loop at the top?

[ Edited by: leleliz 2009-08-14 20:18 ]

i sculpted the monkey myself. it will have different types of faces as i left the face blank when i sculpted it. each wax master will have it's face sculpted before casting. i don't have the game piece so i'm not sure if it's bigger, i think it may be. using a game piece is a little cheap if you ask me. it's something i've had sketched out for a couple of years.

the new mold of the tiki will have the hole in the top. the bad one in the picture filled in. there will be a jump ring in it and i'll probably offer it as a complete necklace with a leather cord also.

this is the newest sculpt . . .

"using a game piece is a little cheap if you ask me."

You callin' my mom cheap?