Conga....Wisconsin stuff!

Really great Hut! Love all the details, can't wait to see the finished product.

Oooh, i love it, can't wait either..

love the hut!!! very cool and whimsical, in a good way..... very different and great imagination!

Well done conga!

Very nice hut! That is what a little fun with chisels and mallet...

J.

Hello again, thanks everyone, going to have a lot of fun with the
hut.
Laojia...all of the carving on these pieces was done with what you
see here...my arbortech power chisel and numerous attachments...a hook
knife and a couple of small gouges

The arbortech chisel is wonderful. The chisel and attachments cost
around $320.
Once I have things pretty well roughed out I fire up the angle grinder
and do some preliminary sanding and shaping...like this

From this point, my tools will consist of sandpaper, hook knife and
small chisels for detail work.

Conga, Man Lookit you GO, Love the toolz and the details. Pretty darned good for a beginner! ??

Yer right Ben, I will ALWAYS be a beginner compared to you :)

Hello everyone, time for a little update on what I am thinking will be
some sort of Maori warrior. Or maybe he'll be an Indian chief, I just
gotta keep chizzlin' till I find out. A few progress shots for the
past week...

He sorta reminds me of Larry King, what do you think?

Ahoy Conga! This fellow looks a lot like a pic I leaked to Benno a little while ago. Too bad Benno is cheating on me again.... This bloke is/was to be my next BIG project. Oh well, better that you took a poke at him first so I can see where all the perile is. Love him. Love the "action." You rawk dude.

-G$

Thanks GMan, nice to see that you are not out hunting pigs or crocs.
The Benz is cool, he didn't slip me some GMan inspiration photos. I
doubt we have the same source...mine is based on something that I found
once online and printed...and cannot find again to save my life. And also
the "thinker" png carving that is...I think...at Stanford. Doesn't matter...
you would do a better job on it anyway :)

He's a cool guy where ever you found the pic. Keep on trying old man, one day you will surpass my abilities.

Nice chizzelin' there Cong! I love all the angles you got on the body Looks like a Maorian "the thinker"!

A beginner who grow up! for sure!
Amazing work work on this guy conga! perfect chiseling, proportion and especially expression...
Your style of sculpture is frequently an expression of calm and wisdom that we see not often here.

J.

Thanks for visiting Ben and Surfin'....always appreciate the kind nudges!
And Jerome...thanks for noticing the "calm and wisdom" in my stuff. I
really shoot for more of a "protective" feel in my carvings...like ancient
spirits keeping watch over us....and keeping the evil spirits at bay :)

Great lookin' carve there, Conga!! I think U should definitely do the maori w/ this guy. Sooo many native american pieces up this way. Lets get him finished up by Thanksgiving so I can pick him up on my way thru your village on Wed. or Friday.. :D Hope your lovin' the nice weather as much as me.. Have a good holiday, freddieB

Hey Conga - great new stuff from you. Glad the weather is permitting you to get some work done. So you like the arbortech chisel huh? I looked at that recently. I'm trying to find one that will really take a lot of abuse. It looks like this one is tougher than the wecheer and foredoms.

Conga, with that stance he HAS to be a Maori warrior! Great piece, and I can't wait for the finished results.

Hey, nice to hear from everyone!
Freddie Balls, no way he's gonna be done by Thanksgiving, I've actually learned to
take my time and relax. Seems I used to want to race through the whole process,
now I just let it happen. Heck, I hope I'm done by Christmas :)

Big T...really enjoying the nice weather up here. It won't be too long and I'll have
to really bundle up to work outside. Thanks for your comments. I really love the
arbortech power chisel. Seems really durable but I have also been really careful not
to burn it out. I use lots of cam oil to keep things cool and only push it for about
15 minutes at a time.

And Mango, definitely turning into a Maori. Just have to determine what type of
weapon he will be brandishing. I have a couple of small polynesian clubs that
might work...or else I will have to create a suitable whacking device.

Keep up the great work guys.

a very interesting one, i'll stay tunned to see what happens next!

Updates, updates??? I've been watching and waiting.

Very unusual and cool piece. What type of wood?

Thanks for tuning in Clarita!
Won't keep you waiting Johnny, nice to see you:-)
Thanks Amate, it's Wisconsin basswood.
A few pics before we get to finishing....

Gonna be colder with snow this week, I finished the outdoor phase
just in time!

Lookin' beautiful, Conga!!

Keep it up old man

Nice chops Conga!

I love the direction this guy is going in!

Great depth and details, and I can tell he's just going to get better and better as you go on!

Batten down the hatches... the bottom falls out end of this week!
We've been spoiled all November but I think Old Man Winter is going to win this war eventually.

Good time to crank up the heat and head indoors with him!

Pour yourselves a good stiff drink!

Fantastic Conga. Love the gradations in the nose. Really cool. Cool hands too.

Hey look at this - SNOW in our forecast for Friday. Brrrrrrrrr. :P

[ Edited by: TheBigT 2009-12-01 11:14 ]

The posing on this guy is out of this world. You can feel the power and tension, as if the image is ready to just stand up right there and then.

Aloha!

Marcus

Yea snow in Dallas too. To cold and wet to do anything at this moment.

Hey guys, Freddie B, Mr. Benz, Lake, Big T, Aweulekuula, and Drasticwagon,
many thanks for visiting and prodding me along. Lotsa great stuff on the
threads right now...inspiring.

Well...another week...another progress update.

Still another week of work on this guy...need to paint the light
part of the eye socket...then I need to rough him up a little before
final finishing. I was him to look like he rolled around in the
bottom of a ship for a couple hundred years.

And....Petri the "wonder dog" wants to say "hi" too

On 2009-12-07 05:00, congatiki wrote:

What a personality! Your carvings are so unique and lively that they could be characters on some tiki movie! Maybe about a shipment of tikis that crash lands up north and have to cope with savage winters.........

Looks great. The accented tattoos turned out really good.

Conga, Awesome job on this guy, His Tatts are Really Excellent and of course the Nose is Way outta here! The Eyes,, 'Fess up, Howd'ja do it to get that weird lighting effect?? Love it..

Nice wrap-up on this guy Conga!
Lot's of character and personality!
Love the curious expression on his face.

Hunker down and throw another log on the fire... looks like a powerhouse Winter Storm ready to wallop us!

Many thanks Big T, Ben, and Lakesurfer.
Alright Ben, I'll explain the eye procedure :)
I found some abalone earrings that I shaped into eyes...and
fixed them into a wood filler base in the eye socket. Then...
the step shown here...I painted the filler black to match the tats....

Will be all done after a couple more coats of tung oil. Final pics
this weekend.
Getting purty cold up here....brrrrrrr.

Lookin' good, Conga... R u ready for the 10-18 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow night???? Or is it gonna miss you. My snow scoop is awaiting.

Yea Freddie, winter has arrived :)
We got about 12 inches yesterday...our first dump of the year. Spent
almost 6 hours outside yesterday...between snow-blowing at home and plowing
our car lot at work. The first cocktail...and second...and third...went down
real easy last night. So did the eyelids :)

Hey guys...not a lot to report here...just that the Crouching Maori
is finally finished.
Look out now...he's coming to getcha



He found a couple of friends to huddle with during the cold winter months

He's finished off with mahagony and walnut stain...light sanding
after staining....shell eyes...and a couple coats of tung oil. We like
him around these parts :)

Great stuff Conga. This last guy really pushed your skillz by forcing you to include all the movement and turns. Good show!

I think we could sell the rights to a movie where all your guys come to life at the Conga Lounge from 12:00 am until last call. Maybe?

-G

We like him round these parts to.

Til last call, when they have poor Conga all tied up...........

Excellent top shelf carving there Conga Man and he just fits right in Perfectly. Lets just get the next one done a little quicker, Hey?????

Many thanks Gman, Johnny and Benz, if I can get your attention then I guess I
succeeded.

Hey Gman, I like that movie idea. How about "Night Of The Living Tiki"..."Tiki Roadhouse"....I'll work on some other working titles. You could co-star as
a croc hunter....Johnny could do the soundtrack with one of his giant drums....
I could get tied up....terrorized...and drugged with RUM. And then Benzart could be
the sheriff who saves me.

And then I woke up....

Looking good on the last fella. The face really coming out strong.

On 2009-12-07 05:00, congatiki wrote:
Hey guys, Freddie B, Mr. Benz, Lake, Big T, Aweulekuula, and Drasticwagon,
many thanks for visiting and prodding me along. Lotsa great stuff on the
threads right now...inspiring.

Well...another week...another progress update.

Still another week of work on this guy...need to paint the light
part of the eye socket...then I need to rough him up a little before
final finishing. I was him to look like he rolled around in the
bottom of a ship for a couple hundred years.

And....Petri the "wonder dog" wants to say "hi" too

this carving is too cool!
and hi Petri I'm sorry I've called you a he :)

great stuff conga
the eyes are scary
bye
Akuae

Hey thanks for visiting Seeksurf, Clarita and Akuae, always appreciate
your kind comments.

Best wishes to all for the new year, hoping it brings you peace, joy and
lotsa cool carvings for me to drool over.
Here's the latest...smaller than my usual stuff...

I have a couple of other things I need to finish up...and a really
nice 6-foot half log in my basement...time to hunker down for another
three months (ha ha...more like five!) of winter.

Nice work Conga!
A contented little fellow.

He looks cold though... get him a jacket and hat. :)

5 months of Winter is right. What happened to the mild El Nino Winter we were supposed to have?
Looks like they got the forecast wrong again.

Stay warm, and keep carving!

Thanks Lake...winter is definitely here...cold and icy up north today...
Best wishes to all...Conga's first of the new year

Conga,
When I first discovered this site, your thread is one of the first ones I remember. Love your work!

Conga, Excellent way to ring in the new year. This guy is really cool and I'm sure has already staked out a great spot in the Conga lounge.
Pretty soon you're gonna have to start getting rid of some of your tikis Or build a Bigger Conga Lounge??
Happy New Year Conga.