Tikisbytyler - Carvings From Neptune - Lono and pals

Tyler,sorry to hear about your dilemma with the damm neighbors
but on a positive note your new work space sounds kool and free
of distractions,so now you can chop away and make asmuch goddam
noise as you like.Cant wait to see more progress on the big guy.
Cheers Watango

I heard of people living in storage units Tyler. Your stuff is looking fantastic , good luck with everything.

[ Edited by: drasticwagon 2009-07-30 03:59 ]

bummer about the cops tyler. i really like the look of your moai. so now that you have moved to the storage unit, what exactly are you going to do about the neighbors? my suggestion is invite as many carver friends of yours over and crank up the chainsaws and grinders. and when the cops show up, tell them you are having a carving party, invite them in for a drink and the chance to carve one for themselves. they'll either think it's a great idea or teargas you. akeep up the good work.

bd

I'm with everyone else, tough about the cops/neighbors. That's a battle you can never win. Anyway your stuff is lookin Great, Where are the Bone carvings, I think we need to see MORE of those.

Thanks to everyone for the positive energy!

Thanks for the reminder, Benz!
I'm actually behind on a couple of commission pieces in the bone category.

Just a little scared to work on anything around here anymore.

OK... so I haven't posted in a while
Looks like there is no shortage of work going on around here tho.Great stuff guys!!!

Lotta Moai lately. Very few pics tho.
I did get a really fun commission piece for the Hurricane Swim Club in Louisiana.
This is to be presented to their coach at the annual banquet this coming weekend by the senior class swimmers.
The team requested some very specific features in this carving:
-swim goggles
-semi-crouched stance, in position to dive
-perched on a separate starting block, featuring the names of the senior swimmers
-the team logo in the headdress
-features of Akua Kai, prominent water figure, brother of Lono
-a honu tattoo, the coach was given a honu shell as a gift while working with a youth swim team in Hawaii

Made for a great carving experience with a challenging form I had not attempted or seen before.
Lotta fun here - really hated to let this one go. Seems like it is going to a really great guy tho!
Any how here's a few pics:

Sorry bout the pic quality! My phone is the only working camera i had. :)
More pics soon. Weather is cooling down :D

Later!

I Love this last one Tyler, good to see you getting in there so deep.

tikityler!! just wanted to drp in and say aloha! i think your carvins are awsome!! luvin the swim guy !! very cool!! cheers!

Hi all!!!
Went down to lakeland this weekend to finish up a project I've been working on down there.
Figured I'd post some pics since I been slackin so bad.
This guy is in a stump still rooted and concreted into a patio area.
The owner will be building a table around him at about waist hight (on the tiki).
Height is about 8 feet although I never did actually measure it.
No lower body, but two faces, back to back joined at the elbow on both sides.

And I was looking at this guy again, just wanted to share one more pic of him.

Lovin all the great work goin on round here!
You guys rock!!!
Thanks for looking, lemme know what ya think.

laters,
Tyler

tyler! luvin that 8 ftr!! that is realy cool !! lovin the tungue! and the swim guy again is awsome!! cheerz!

HUGE work....simply HUGE , congrats and good to see as well !

very nice work Tyler
I really enjoy the super sizer's

very nice work Tyler
I really enjoy the super sizer's

Way to bring it on! Looking good. Double face tiki.
I really like the small guy also. He looks tiki Indian.

Thanks to all for the kind words!!!
Hope to get back to some bone carving next weekend with a little luck.

Scott, T'Ville & Kino, I really enjoyed this size myself. In fact I'm curious if anyone has any advice on going larger. The spot that hosts wake-boarding events down here has had me carve on site at a couple of events now & they have a stump from a tree they cut down they wanna know if I'll carve for em. Catch is its an old growth hickory tree & the "stump" they left to carve is 17 feet tall. I'm interested, but holy cow, how do I get up there?

Seeks, thanks bro, I did kinda feel like this guy was reminiscent of my grandfather's native style carvings. Looking forward to seeing something new from you, man. What's on your chopping block???

Later ya'll!

I would suggest NOT doing it this way.

Check out HaiKai's thread
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=17252&forum=7

NICE!! Tyler as for advice Im afraid of hieghts ..so i wouldnt know.
Alohastation Wow no net /a running chainsaw/ superb balance/ a15 foot drop
PRICELESS lol.

Hi all!

some great stuff going on around here.
I finally got around to finishing up the big Lono I started last year:

Also been playin around with this little guy:

I dunno, some marq influence? minimal features, not sure where he came from just havin fun

Couple of Moai:

And a group shot of the lot I'm taking out to the Jacksonville Boat Show this weekend:

Anyhow, good to see all the new carvers around here and all the wealth of information and technique.
Working on a couple of drums right now, looking for words of wisdom in that area.
Anybody got any advice on this adventure?
Nothing fancy in the carving department on these 2, couple of simple guys.
Got a couple goat skin hides on the way and no friggin clue how to bridge the tiki to drum gap.

Thanks for lookin ya'll!!

Aloha station, that ladder/scaffold/steps combination thing is still friggin crackin me up.

That big one in the hickory tree is on hold till sometime next year now, the guy who owns the property lost his father and is out in the mountains somewhere in the northwest dealing with it his own way.

So drums....

I'm pretty happy with the way these guys turned out, they sound outstanding.

They don't have the finesse of buzzy's Marquesas style drums but I like em.
Ended up stretching the rawhide and tacking into place inside the groove i carved into the rim.
Then ran a cord over the tack heads and tightened it down with a series of simple cinch knots.
Finally the natural fiber rope over the top just to give it a finished look.

Any suggestions for improvement on the next ones?

Great stuff. Love the style!

What's up fellow Floridian?

Very cool stuff bro. If I ever get up your way to surf "the poles", I'll have to check you out.

Hope the neighbor problem has leveled out. I had a problem with one of my old neighbors, basically because I was putting an old car together in my carport, and he did the same thing to me. The cops came out at 3pm on a Sunday to say the neighbor was complaining about noise, but essentially they couldn't do anything because LEGALLY quiet hours are from like 10pm to 7am. The cops even told me that I could make a reasonable amount of noise, and that hand tools were reasonable.

Then he called code enforcement and told them I had "a junkyard at my house" (which consisted of a completely running and restored 1965 Riviera, and a primer black 1948 Ford pickup that didn't run, but was complete). They came out and told me to put the truck out back & everything was cool.

So next time I saw my neighbor he gave me the stink eye and I pretty much told him to suck it.

He moved within 6 months, and all my current neighbors are cool (a few free tikis helped).

Tyler, Excellent stuff, Love the lono and that whole herd of tiki looks impressive, good luck at the show!

Hello Tiki Central!

Awesome to see so much killer work going on here!

Been a while since I posted anything I know, but I happen to have picked up a nice little project doing some tikis for a new restaurant coming to my home town. "Da Big Kahuna" will be just across the street from the pier I surfed growing up.

The owner has commissioned 4 carvings from me, one around 5' and 3 x 8 footers. He wants all more traditional styled pieces, which is a nice change from the typical toothy grin stuff I get requests for here.

Some progress shots:

Lots of sanding and chisel work to go but coming along!

Only about 2 weeks till opening, so got I'd better get back to it :D

Thanks for looking and KEEP CARVING!

Well done! the big guys are looking very nice.

Yeah! Nice and mean lookin'!!!

So glad that yer at it again !
Still really dig the big one I got from you a couple years back...
The other two are resting well up north as well ,
Great work and keep it up !

awesome!

Florida in the house!!!

Look'n good man,great to see you back on the tools.

Very nice!!!

Nice work on the big Lonos Tyler...good job on the headdresses.

I love the traditional stuff and those look great. Waiting to see the finished product.

The big guys are looking good! Da Big Kahuna should be stoked! Hope you got some of that swell that hit last Friday & Sat, was good down here.

Outstanding! Love the big toothy Lono.

Those are all great looking tikisbytyler!

Very nice!

Some great "Kona Style" going on in these guys!

Nice and big too!

Good luck!

On 2012-04-26 13:04, tikisbytyler wrote:

I think the guy on the left needs to take a leak ;]

seriously though, nice work, particularly like the headress of the guy on the right. looking forward to seeing them finished.

Some updated shots...

Coming down to the wire on delivery date, few more coats of lacquer and a bit of time to dry. He wants to open this weekend.

I never like trying to move these guys with such a short curing time on the finishes, but...

Wish them luck!

Thanks for looking

Nice mix it up on the stain colors.

YAH! Nice carvins'.
Yeah that would be great to tell us all what stains you used on those guys.

Thanks, guys. So color...
I keep around a basic array of Minwax stains: maple, Puritan Pine, Sedona Red and special walnut. Then depending on the density and color of the wood and what I think each particular carving lends itself to, I mix from there.

The Lighter colored Ku above was particularly solid stock and has some nice natural variance in color that I didn't want to cover up, so stayed light with maple and pine shades.

The taller Lono is full of nice chisel strokes that don't really come through in the cell phone pics, but he is pretty much straight Sedona Red enriched with a bit of walnut so he has good color, but not so much it covers up the texture up close. The dark Lono is pretty much straight special walnut and the short Akua Kai is another blend, but heavier on the dark end.

Thanks again for lookin, more pics once they are in place and the surrounding artwork is complete.

man, those are really good!

Very cool! Great job on all those fellas!

Way kool Tyler!

Couple shots now that there is some other decor in the place :

Got a few more eight footers drying out right now for some new guys this same buyer wants for another location!

Thx for looking