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

You have been posting some really killer stuff lately, but I really like the last one!

Great sculpt of the taiaha, that will look killer when completed.

thanks, mike, i always appreciate your input. you have a keen eye.

tom, that's pretty high praise coming from a master like yourself. thanks.

tikimango, thanks, i hope you'll stay tuned for future stuff.

the wax is both easy and hard to carve. sometimes it's even harder to work with than bone. it's quite brittle. you can make the perfect cut/shape and it will break off whereas bone won't. i'm going to do a bone piece this week just because i miss the medium. (plus, it may show people that i can actually carve. i can never decide where to post stuff. carving or other crafts? i carve wax and cast metal. hummm . . . )

this piece was fun. i did it in pretty much one marathon carving session. i tried to sculpt it in clay first, but the mold failed and i said, "screw it, i'll just carve the wax". i know it's not as smooth and perfect as a machined piece, but i think it adds character. metal is interesting to work with. i know i can leave a few sharp edges to add detail and they'll work out during the finishing/buffing stage. that's an important thing to keep in mind. if you make it too smooth and perfect it may lose detail. well, in my work at least. wish i'd learned about this art about 20 years ago. now i have to learn a lot of stuff and it makes my brain hurt.

mahalo!

these came out of the rough mold even nicer than the sculpt. will be pouring tomorrow.

hoping to have these cast by this weekend. i hope i can do both silver and bronze. i know bronze is coming, both white and yellow. love to be able to cast a gold one. it's down this week! :P

bronze taiaha. little blurry, but pics are hard at night with my camera.

shrunken head monkey sculpt . . .

just gotta put the cording through the mouth. still working out how that's going to happen.

blown out, blurry close ups don't really do it justice. it came out really nice, actually.

better shot . . .

ask me how you can help change the world!

[ Edited by: pdrake 2009-12-04 12:02 ]

Turned out great, you're coming up with some really cool stuff lately

thanks, mike.

here's the monkey with no cleanup. these turned out to be a lot of work. sheesh. i can't get a good shot of the face, but you can see the cords through his mouth and eyes and his gruesome, wrinkly face.

The work is coming out great Perry...super!

thanks, mike and babs. i appreciate the kind words. here's the monkey all finished. i wish i could take better pictures of shiny jewelry as these pics just don't do anything i make justice.

Too cool for school!

Silver Clay?

new sculpt. rings is hard! it's all about the symmetry. maori bird head motif, men's ring.

progress little by little . . .

just the side details and cleanup (lots of sanding with pieces of sand paper about 1/4" - 1/2" square. woohoo!)

side detail . . . time for cleanup . . .

Nice job PDrake! I like that one.

Buzzy Out!

thanks, buzzy. send me your address and i'll send you one.

i'm done. my eyes and head hurt. any small flaws will come out in the polishing step. :D

I've just gotta ask ....how?..... how do I change the world?

when i put that into my sig, i thought that micro loans would change the world. my thought process has changed a little since then.

i think now that the best way to change the world is just to be a good person and to never be afraid to offer a person a hand up. everyone deserves a bit of respect and a little thoughtfulness.

be not a man of success, become a man of value.

oh, and pick out a cooler hat.

Very cool Perry, now take 2 tylenol and go to bed!

thanks, mike. i'm casting the ring a little later. decided to go from wax to metal then to mold. that'll let me clean up a little on a piece that's a little stronger that 2mm thick wax. i had it pop apart between the beaks. no big deal, just melt it back together on the bottom. i'lll smooth out the rough spot later. i hope these sell well. not too many shopping days until xmas!

Now go shave those hairy knuckles! :lol: :lol: :lol: :D :lol: :lol: :lol:

:(

Cool stuff Perry, I didn't know you had this thread over here.

Nice job on the ring!

thanks, ben, i hope you check back once in awhile.

thanks, sneaky. the master cast came out very poor. the metal i used wasn't well smelted and i'm sure it had a lot of impurities.

i had to make a mold of a cruddy cast and resculpt from wax. kind of like starting over from 3/4 of the way through.

too tired and my eyes hurt quite a bit to take another pic. sorry it's a little blurry.

i'm hoping i can get this to be a thumb ring for me.

ask me how you can help change the world!

[ Edited by: pdrake 2009-12-18 02:04 ]

still have some fill and cleanup left to do.

well, the ring's done as far as i'm concerned. all i can see anymore is flaws.

i do have one thing to ask of anyone who happens to look. should i patina the grooves?

mahalo

Very nice Perry, I vote for patina

thanks, mike. i put some patina on it, didn't stick too well as there's not a lot of deep grooves. gotta love working with liver of sulphur. roses, i tell you, roses.

Liver of sulpher is like magic - but where did that weird-o name come from?! I use it to "age" my store-bought silver jewelry pieces and I've used it on hand made silver clay pieces.

Your work is SO much fun. I really like the monkey!

thanks you very much. i was pretty happy with the monkey. it attracted a huge amount of attention when i wore it out. too bad bar people don't want to spend a hunnerd bucks on jewelry. it is a one of a kind. i'll make more soon in different genres.

i like to have fun with my work. i try to make stuff that i think will be popular and it usually falls by the wayside as i often come up with an idea and then tackle it immediately. that would be my adult OCD showing itself. had one this afternoon and i'm almost done with the sculpt.

it's been an interesting process on this piece. picasso used to work the way i did this. it was a type of deconstruction. he'd often paint an almost photo realistic painting and then deconstruct it to his cubism style.

i'm taking this from a pretty fine piece to a pretty accurate antique looking piece. i try and stretch myself on each new piece. can't learn if you keep doing the same thing. (you'll just get the same results.)

thanks and mahalo again!

sterling silver kaka poria. just under an ounce of silver. i'm almost done with the pounama stone i'm planning on setting in the center. still about half a mil too big.

info:

*Kaka poria are small leg rings usually fashioned from bone or stone materials. They were used to confine the movements of young kaka (Nestor meridionalis) parrots, which, after being caught, were held prisoner by the leg rings. The captured kaka became tame and were then referred to as mokai (captive or pet). During the fowling season, these pet kaka were taken into the forests where they were made to cry out to attract wild birds. Wild kaka, being curious and sociable, were attracted in great numbers by the tame birds' cries.

Snaring methods
As the wild birds alighted on nearby branches, the mokai handlers would be lying in wait with mutu kaka (snares for parrots). Some birds would alight on a snare's carefully arranged horizontal perch, and a cord would be jerked trapping the legs of the birds against the protruding upright of the mutu kaka. The wild birds were summarily dispatched and bagged for the journey home.

Fine pendants
Kaka poria, when not attached to the legs of tame birds, were worn as pendants. Some, especially those fashioned from pounamu (New Zealand greenstone), required sophisticated technical knowledge to make because of the hardness of the material and the finely carved details such as the holes on the outer edges that accommodate the cord. Kaka poria often became valued family heirlooms and were passed down from generation to generation.*

Cool piece and info too Perry!

Nice work Perry!

thanks, ben and thanks, heath. i'm still working on the inlay. i hope to have this one be a pretty fine piece of jewelry. i'm custom making the bail for it as well.

here's my latest little piece. the picture doesn't show it, but there's quite a bit of detail in the face so far. not as much as i want. just need to stop for the night.

Perry, I love your descriptive thread titles - "new...last page" :lol: :lol: :lol: :D

Nice lookin' little Marq

just found a few chisels (great quality) that my dad had given me. totally forgot about them. it made me quite maudlin for a moment and then it was tempered by the fact that he was proud of me and supported my artistic endevours. i think i'm ready to start carving again. i'm sure he wouldn't want me to let anything keep me from being creative and happy. that's one of the things that kept him going, inspired him and pleased him. he always wanted those feelings to carry into his friends and family. there was not much more in the world that he loved more than a person's passion. whether it was for science, art, family, cooking or whatever, as long as you loved to do what you did, that was wonderful to him and he'd listen to you talk about it.

That moai on the first page is exceedingly cool, and the Koru on 5, and the Marq, and the.............

GROG not know how you can sculpt stuff SO small. That crazy. It make GROG 'eyes hurt just thinking about it. Good job P-Dog.

mahalo JT and grog. i'm taking a break from that tiny marq for a few days. my eyes are still recovering from being punished in the last few days. i'm concentrating on a large, palm marq.

i really appreciate the kind words of everyone. i think if you've taken time out of your day to post something nice in my thread it's worth me acknowledging that and appreciating it. it helps to keep a person be enthused and creative.

finally got back to doing a little work. i know my dad would've wanted me to.

the mini marq . . .

i'll probably cast it in vanadium or cadmium or maybe plutonium. not sure yet.

thanks!!