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Iokona Ki'i
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Sun, Nov 15, 2009 4:22 PM
Yeah, what they said x 100! |
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Tacky Tiki
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Sun, Nov 15, 2009 6:05 PM
Eric, you always amaze me! The Empress card was so well thought out! And the Tikiyaki costumes are great, and you 2 look so cute in your Tikiyaki PJs! But the whole Duk Duk thing-the cards and the costumes, were great! You are so amazing...from tiki animation style art to cloth design to cards and amazing velvet art to Duk Duk costumes, and then there is the Islander menu art...you are amazing!! What is next??? Can't wait!!! Congrats on your anniversary last month!! You guys are a great couple! :drink: |
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tobunga
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 5:43 PM
Happy New Year everybody! And MAHALO to everybody for the kind words of support... I'm trying to post more frequently... perhaps with the new year I can make that a resolution... nah... So here's what I was doing as 2009 raced to a close... I had a commission to create 14 tikis for a post production facility called Shapeshifter. Their offices are decorated with Tiki and Hawaiiana art, and they had recently purchased a few pieces from me. The tikis sport the Shapeshifter logo on their bellies. I then turned my attention to Tiki Christmas ornaments. I gave these to my family for Christmas, since I couldn't really afford to go all out on gifts this year. It turned out to be a good thing I was working on them, because I got a PM from Grog asking if I wanted to do the Tiki Wonderland show at Tonga Hut, when one of the artists scheduled had to drop out unexpectedly. I immediately said yes, and then realized I had three days to get stuff together for the show. I had a couple of pieces that I had started, and a couple in mind for a while, and decided to kick them all into high gear. I made more pendants/ornaments: And then I created a painting based on the pendant (8x10, acrylic on watercolor paper): Which I then turned into 4.5x5.5 Christmas Cards: I also made an 8x10 Tiki Hanukkah painting: Ever since I made the framed vinyl maps, I wanted to make framed vinyl tikis. I had all the materials I needed, so I got them done, finishing the last of the stitching the morning of the show! I made cookies for the cookie contest. I made them look like Duk Duk dancers! I also created these Duk Duk Christmas hats, to carry over the theme from our Halloween costumes: For the last Rumpus Room before Christmas, I made some PNG Tiki Cookies: And since it was Tyler's first Christmas, I made an ornament for Kirby and Polly. It says "Tyler's 1st Kalikimaka" and features Tyler wrapped in a tapa blanket, held by a Kirby-style tiki (that was Manuel's idea, to make it look like a Kirby tiki... great idea!): For Christmas, I made some Duk Duk wrapping paper to decorate the gifts I gave to Manuel: And then, to keep the theme going, I created Duk Duk Christmas ornaments: I needed a box to present them, but I didn't have one... so I made this triangular box in the shape of a Duk Duk mask: So, to finally run the Duk Duk theme into the ground, I made some 2010 cookies for New Years: I also made a pair of Duk Duk 2010 New Years hats. The hardest part was figuring out how to turn a flat piece of paper into a cone of the right size and shape! Well, that's it! Thanks fer lookin'! [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-01-06 22:52 ] |
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little lost tiki
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 5:58 PM
Love that Happy Hannukah Tiki! |
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abstractiki
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 6:14 PM
Wow, I knew about the pendants and artwork but I didn't know you made all these kind of crafts and treats and such! Shows a tremendous amount of thoughtful originality, skill and talent. Great work Tobunga! |
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leleliz
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 6:28 PM
Hands down you are the most versatile artist on here Eric! Can I just tell you how utterly fantastic I think your self image duk duk ornaments are? So freakin creative! I think you may need DDA-Duk Duks Anonymous however! :) That menorah card is fantastic also. I hope you bring lots of goodies up to NorCal when you come for Tikiyaki! Great post! |
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4WDtiki
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 6:43 PM
Framed vinyl tiks rock, and the Duk Duk ornaments made me laugh out loud! |
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Slacks Ferret
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 6:45 PM
I like all of it, but I really need that Menorah Tiki for next year's Hannukah cards. You've got 11 months. |
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hiltiki
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Tue, Jan 5, 2010 6:52 PM
You are out of control funny. I specially love the Christmas ornaments and everything else. |
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Tiki Shark Art
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Wed, Jan 6, 2010 10:46 AM
Wow! An amazing amount of work! I really liked the Rip mobile and Godzilla destroying the Quiet Village! |
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TikiMango
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Wed, Jan 6, 2010 3:42 PM
I agree with everyone else, these vinyl tikis rock! Looks like they'd go great with any decor. Another super-sized post from you, great stuff. |
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tobunga
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Wed, Jan 6, 2010 4:54 PM
Mahalo for all the kind words! Kinny, you ARE inspiration! abstractiki, hiltiki, Yeah, I just create what my mind dictates, and apparently, my mind is all over the place... leleliz, Working on lots of new stuff now for the Tikiyaki show! 4WDtiki, TikiMango, Yes, I was pleased with how the vinyl tikis turned out, especially considering the idea was trapped in my head for so long before I had a chance to actually do them! Slacks Ferret, Hoping to have cards ready before next Hanukkah, stay tuned! Brad, Yes, I think I went a little Duk Duk mad, but I'm better now... no wait, I just finished a 12" Duk Duk figure last night! |
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minitor
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Wed, Jan 6, 2010 7:42 PM
OMTG! (oh my Tiki god). Fantastic stuff!! glad your thinking of making the Tiki Menorah into a card I want those too ...or maybe it should be cover art for a Mashugga Beach Party christmas album? |
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Tobor64
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Wed, Jan 6, 2010 9:44 PM
Wow! You are a force of nature, Eric. Always a treat to see what you've been up to (and the Duk Duk cookies at the Tonga Hut show were delicious!). |
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MadDogMike
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Thu, Jan 7, 2010 12:39 PM
:lol: :lol: :lol: So much crazy stuff! Looks like the menorah tiki is a hit, the wreath ornaments are great, and it just happened to be MY Tyler's first Christmas too (grandson). Keep grindin' the gears Eric |
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TikiG
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Thu, Jan 7, 2010 1:10 PM
Mr. October, I think it goes without saying that your creative bursts enrich our lives - WOW MAN - busy dude!! Thank you for posting all those goodies. |
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Swamp Fire
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Thu, Jan 7, 2010 1:53 PM
Looks like someone is having fun. |
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tobunga
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Tue, Feb 2, 2010 8:16 PM
Aloha everybody! This is the first piece I completed this year, for the January mug swap. I was sending a package to Abstractiki, and I wanted to send David a something special to thank him for all the Urban Archaeology legwork he's been doing uncovering Stockton's tiki past. I painted him this 11x14 map of Stockton, highlighting all the tiki establishments on which he's uncovered information. The logos roughly approximate their establishment's locations in the city. The next project I tackled was a new pendant/card set for Valentine's Day. The set is based on a PNG tiki, since the faces of some of them are kinda heart shaped. The card measures 3.5 x 6.25 with an opening in the center for the pendant. The pendant is painted resin and measures 2" square. I continued the exotic tiki isle map series with this 11x14 map of Alameda. The last time Manuel and I were at Forbidden Island, we were talking to Suzanne about how Alameda is an island with tikis on it, and I scribbled down a quick drawing of this idea. I styled the tiki after the FI tiki, and put an "X" on the map where the bar is located! I continued the vinyl wall hanging tiki series: I also made two 15" diameter circular tiki heads, a Marq and a Ku: And I now have a tiki drum trilogy with the completion of these two 11x 14 acrylic on watercolor paper paintings: Bongo Beatdown Beaky Tikis, 11x14 acrylic on watercolor paper This 11x14 piece was inspired by a song that was introduced to me by Tikiyaki's own Marty Lush, Hawaiian Cha Cha Cha: I also made some 8x10 prints of the Tiki Torch Song Trilogy paintings, and the Maori Racer painting. I hand painted tapa patterns on the frames. I had wanted to do a Stockton Islander painting for some time, and receiving some Islander bamboo from Abstractiki was the impetus to complete this piece. Well, that's it fer now, hope to be posting again soon! [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-02-02 20:25 ] |
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leleliz
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Tue, Feb 2, 2010 8:30 PM
Eric the Islander painting is one of the best paintings I have ever seen from you. It was doubley awesome in person. I showed some coworkers your Valentine cards and they were in awe of how talented you are! Thanks again for the pendant. I am looking forward to getting one of those vinyl maps from you in the near future. Keep posting more often! |
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Swamp Fire
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Tue, Feb 9, 2010 9:39 AM
Love those bongo beat down guys and the Islander piece is fantastic! Cool stuff Eric. |
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TikiG
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Tue, Feb 9, 2010 9:48 AM
YEAH! Eric - the Stockton Islander painting turned out fantastic - and with Stockton Islander bamboo incorporated as the frame? YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! I'm stoked you started laying paint to canvas on that one in my living room a couple weeks ago at the SFV CHOP :) |
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beadtiki
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Tue, Feb 9, 2010 11:26 AM
Wow - those vinyl Tikis are really fun! They would have looked great in the built in bar in the house I grew up in - we had a full-on built-in in the basement with bright yellow formica countertops and the padding around the bar was that dark brown "nagahyde" with the buttons! I still have the swivel bar stools my folks bought for the bar - well I have 3 of the 4, my dad kept one and put wheels on it for some reason! I wish I still had the lighting from there - they were the metal cones with punch hole designs in them. I miss that bar! But I digressed! Nice work and neat idea! |
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little lost tiki
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Wed, Feb 10, 2010 8:49 AM
Lovin it all! |
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tobunga
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Sun, Feb 28, 2010 1:12 PM
Mahalo Liz! So glad you like my work! Hey, see if you can get your co-workers to buy some of it! Hee hee! So in keeping with my trying to post at least once a month, here goes for February... short month, so I didn't finish a lot of stuff... You may have seen by now the tiki I made out of Cheetos Snacks... I posted it in a thread about the event on the 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica where it was on display. The videos with the Cheetos Tiki I did have been posted, check 'em out here: For Valentines Day, I made Manuel a card and plush tiki. I was toying with the idea to make a duk duk valentine, and did some drawings, but I decided that duk duks at New Year's was a good close to that motif. I then started thinking PNG... So I made a Plush PNG Valentine and card. Here's the packaging and envelope: Here's the card: The plush tiki doll is 9" tall and has a body of red velvet, with vinyl, corduroy, and flannel details. And then, near the end of the month, it was Kirby's birthday! I found out only hours before heading out to the Rumpus Room that week, but I had enough time to whip up this black paper card of the Rumpus Room tiki that Kirby carved. Well, that's it! Not much this time around, but I'm workin' on it! Mahalo fer lookin'! [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-04-07 17:59 ] |
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Matt Reese
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Sun, Feb 28, 2010 1:59 PM
The Cheese Tiki is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. At first all I could think was "why?" then I realized "why not?". Classic. |
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beadtiki
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Sun, Feb 28, 2010 11:38 PM
Your Cheetos Tiki is GREAT! Your medium is akin to that of the chef who made a turkey meatloaf Moai centerpiece for his thanksgiving a few years back. There's a thread here somewhere (food section I imagine) that shows the entire dinner and what happened to the Moai! I'm happy to see ANYTHING made into Tikis! Your rock! |
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little lost tiki
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Mon, Mar 1, 2010 10:16 AM
That PNG Valentine plushie |
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tobunga
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Wed, Apr 7, 2010 12:48 PM
Ok, so my posting at least once a month plan isn't going so well, since I completely missed March, but only by a few days! I actual worked on this a while ago, but it was sort of under wraps... the Tikiyaki Orchestra will be coming out with a new DVD of a live performance at the Mayflower Club in North Hollywood. Scott Mabbutt (Joe Banks) directed, and gave me to OK to post pix of the cover art... I saw some of the footage, it looks FANTASTIC! Can't wait for the release! Then, I was among several artists asked by Mark and Maggie of Velvet Glass fame to contribute a piece for the raffle to benefit the Hope Animal Shelter that will be held at the Relight the Night event at the Kon Tiki in Tucson on April 10th. I did an 11x14 black paper drawing of the Kon Tiki sign in all it's fired up glory. The Kon TIki liked it so much, it's their new avatar on Facebook! Sweet! Speaking of raffle, I'm holding one of my own, to raise funds for the trip out to Tucson, and to Tiki Caliente... There are 50 tickets, and each ticket consists of a 4"x 6" numbered, hand-rubbed linoblock print of the map (suitable for framing!) and a 2" resin tangaroa face pendant. Tickets are 10.00 each. Here's the original thread: Also, another project that I had to wait to discuss is a painting I did for iTiki... They wanted to give away some posters of original art featuring their cool iTiki iPhone cases. I PMed TerenceG (one of the guys behind the project,) with a suggestion about how he could interest artists through his post here on TC looking for artwork, and I ended up getting the gig! Their idea was to have a human-sized iTiki and a pin-up type girl in a tiki bar surrounded by memorabilia from classic tiki establishments. I did a drawing that he liked, and went from there to the painting, 11x14, acrylic on canvas. Some of the imagery changed around during the course of painting it, as you can see from these progress images. The finished piece: Here's a link to the website: We went to San Diego on the 20th for Manuel's mom's birthday. We tikified the bar in their den, and I created a couple of 6' tall foamboard tikis to help decorate the den. I also created a few menus of the drinks we've created using our hand-crafted syrups, like ginger, black pepper, lemongrass, hibiscus and cardamom/cinnamon. The menus incorporated an updated version of our Changitos logo. (Changito being short for Changito Amorcito [little love monkey], our nickname for each other... Changitos being the name of our "home tiki bar"). Then it was time to prep for the Tonga Hut parking lot sale! Continuing my obsession with the Stockton Islander, I created an 8x10 frame made from Islander bamboo that I acquired from Abstract tiki and used it for a vinyl Bumatay Islander mug. I made an 11" vinyl plush Marquesan Tiki... unlike most the other plush tiki dolls I've created, this one stands! I also made some "regular" plush marq tikis. That is, plush tikis made from corduroy, not vinyl. I had an idea kicking around in my head for almost a year now, a Moai Bob... I did a drawing months ago, but didn't know what to do with the idea until I then did an 11x14 painting of Moai Bob. Marty Lush asked me to do some artwork for his upcoming Lush Goes Latin show at Tonga Hut on May 1st. Check out the original link to his show here: I was among several artists asked by Baby Doe to contribute a piece to the Keep A Breast project, and I received a plaster cast of "boobies" a couple weeks a go. I wasn't sure what to do, then inspiration struck. I hope we're allowed to turn 'em this way... Then it was Easter, and I made some actual Easter Island Eggs in a basket for Manuel. Not actually from Easter Island, but actual hard boiled eggs, not the papier-mâché and paint versions I've done before. Three resemble those, and one says "Happy Easter Changito!" with a marq tiki face, reminiscent of our Changitos logo. (Changito being short for Changito Amorcito [little love monkey], our nickname for each other). So the last things I'll finish up before heading out to the Kon Tiki Relight the Night event is once again, my Islander obsession... Oh, also, videos with the Cheetos Tiki I did have been posted, check 'em out here: Thanks fer lookin'! |
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Queen Kamehameha
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Wed, Apr 7, 2010 5:06 PM
very talented Eric! Amy |
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zerostreet
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Wed, Apr 7, 2010 5:34 PM
Quite an update! Great work! |
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leleliz
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Wed, Apr 7, 2010 5:41 PM
Eric love the bumatay concept...and pretty much everything else! |
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4WDtiki
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Wed, Apr 7, 2010 7:48 PM
Whoa, another avalanche of insane amounts of creativity! |
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tobunga
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Tue, May 4, 2010 12:11 AM
Yeah, their bar is pretty cool! Manuel's dad built it, and did the upholstery himself! So here's new stuff from the past month... I really want to get in progress shots posted while stuff is actually in progress, but I have not yet managed to find the time! But I'll post some here, plus some pieces I didn't finish in time for Bamboo Ben's garage sale (Caliente II, here they come!) Here is a Birthday Card I did for Atomikitty, Suzy Mosher, 4x6 colored pencil on black paper. I tried to picture what Atomikitty conjures in my mind! This is a 4"x6" Birthday Card for Polly, wonderful Rumpus Room hostess! I decided to do acrylic washes on watercolor paper of stylized Polly as a wahine... not really sure if Polly is into tiki, or is more tiki by association, so I didn't go full-on tiki with the image. I suggested to Marty Lush that he take the artwork I created for the Lush Goes Latin website and do something with it. I was out shopping and came across some honeycomb pine apple decorations. I look one look and said "hey, maybe I can do something with..." and before I could finish the sentence, this idea started to form in my mind... I grabbed several, and came up with this Table Decoration for the Tonga Hut performance on May 1st. Each one stands 18" high. Marty then mentioned that Hiphipahula was working on a special drink menu for the show, and Kelly and I collaborated on this 4"x5.5" tent card Lush Goes Latin Drink Menu. I wanted to have some new stuff for Bamboo Ben's garage sale, so I created these Tiki Bob Keychain and Luggage Tags 2"x4", vinyl and fabric. Here's an idea I was kicking around for almost as long as I've been making tiki art: TIki Business Card Holders. I figured they would be cast in resin, from an origninal sculpture. At the time, I had a basic grasp of resin casting, but had never done it. Now, over half a dozen resin pendant designs in, I decided to take a stab at it. This piece would be different in that it would be larger than anything I've done up until now, and more importantly, it would involve a pieces that would be almost completely enclosed in the silicon molds. The pendants I've done have flat backs, but this piece would have a front and back. I decided to make the sculpt in two pieces, the body and the headdress. The body was fairly easy, but I kept re-sculpting it, adding more bulk to the legs, then re-doing the face, then filling out the body. Here's an early point in the sculpting, before pretty much everything got re-sculpted. Here's the final sculpt. The molding of the body was not terribly difficult. Since it had a flat bottom, it was similar to the molds I've made in the past. The headdress was much harder, and in fact, I had to re-mold it twice, since the first time I positioned the sculpture in a way that didn't allow for the silicon to completely envelop it, which I didn't discover until I pulled it from the mold. I had to rethink how I was going to suspend the sculpt in such a way that would allow the front, back, sides, top and as much of the bottom as possible to be molded... but finally, success! And here's one of the things I'm doing now... Here is the drawing where I'm working out all the measurements and angles and stuff, making sure they'll all fit on the same piece of paper. The plan is to have it fit on an 11x17 piece of thick, acid-free paper. Here is the first test of the assembly. I'll be ready to test the recalculations soon, and hopefully, I'll have time to post in progress... got some other things in the works, so hopefully I'll have a new batch of stuff that will get regular updates (yeah, right!) Mahalo fer lookin'! [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-05-04 00:38 ] |
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TikiDaye
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Tue, May 4, 2010 1:15 AM
Eric, quick question: when sculpting for the resin biz card holder and your pendants, what are you using as a medium for the sculpt? wax? if so, what kind? I do some sculpting myself and would love any insight you might offer... peace, |
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tobunga
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Tue, May 4, 2010 11:22 AM
Thanks Jason! Not sure that I can offer anything that could be considered insight, but I can tell you I use Sculpey! It's a polymer clay that you can bake in your oven. You can pick it up at any art supply store! |
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Hiphipahula
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Tue, May 4, 2010 1:33 PM
It's all very impressive works of art Eric, you just keep getting better and better. I enjoy the uniqueness that you strive to make in every piece and your a hit! Thanks again for all that you do and create for us as collectors, tikiphiles and of course all that you willing create for our bars and shows, you make us a hit! |
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bigbrotiki
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Tue, May 4, 2010 7:21 PM
The paper model of the Islander is amazing! That'll show them, WE can resurrect the Tiki temples "they" tear down! And I love the I-phone painting: Ideal to play "What Tiki lounge did that come from?" You picked some real special ones: So did you notice the "Tiki Baby" in the Lattitude 20 sign/matchbook in that other thread? Ideal for a plush Tiki, I'd say! :) |
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tobunga
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Tue, May 4, 2010 9:00 PM
Mahalo Kelly! I'm blushing! Just trying to do my part to keep tiki culture alive! Sven, glad you like the Paper cutout Islander! I'm working on the full color version of it now. I did see your comment in the Hop Louie/Islander thread, and a plush version of that tiki is a great idea! I was considering doing a pendant of the little tiki, and probably will if I ever get around to it! I already depicted it in a painting that I did for abstractiki that I included when I drew his name in the mug swap from earlier this year. I used the matchbook cover from the other post as a guide for the painting, and images from his urban archaeology for some of the other logos. [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-05-04 21:01 ] [ Edited by: tobunga 2010-05-04 21:13 ] |
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TikiDaye
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Thu, May 6, 2010 1:25 AM
Eric, Sculpey... right on. I use sculpey as well, still getting used to it though. Do you sculpt everything pre-bake or do you do some carving/sculpting after it is baked? Sorry to bug you but I love all the crazy stuff you create... Peace, |