TikiMango's Carvings- P31, Bone Hawaiian Tapa Hook

TikiG, thanks. I wish you could get it in your hands and play it. I know you'd tell me your honest opinion.

GROG, me like that Grog like.

BenZart, thank you. I might be able to bring it down one of these weekends soon. I'll let you know.

Surfintiki, tell Mooney to get it in gear! I'd love to his what he comes up with.

Tikilizard, I can only hope it'll Rock, but it won't happen in my hands.

Outstanding!! Nice way to break into new ground. Now get busy and learn how to play!

IMPRESSIVE! Never wouldv'e guessed a guitar. Now that's what I call, "music to my eyes."

Florida...three months...

AlohaStation, thanks! Some people's brains just aren't wired for foreign languages or music, I have one of those. I wish I could play!

Coconuttzo, I'm glad you like it, thanks.

TikiG, 3 months seems like a life time away.

Whooaa! Wicked guitar!!
i havent been around too much but your stuff is Badass!

awsome

Very very cool Mango, keep rocking :)

Bee-uu-tii-ful work, man!

Nice work on that there git-fiddle, Ray!

Rock it, bro.

Bowie

OK OK OK, I thing it's time you got back to work!!!

Tiki Duddy, thanks for dropping by!

Clarita, I try and try... thank you.

Basement Kahuna, thanks for the compliment.

Bowana, thank you for the kind words.

Benzart, so right, time to get some carving done.

Not much of an update today, just a couple of pieces I've been working on here and there. I'm not sure if its some sort of planetary alignment or what, but I've ruined more bone the past couple of weeks than I have finished. You peeps ever have one of these dry spells?

First up is what I call a contemporary hook. It doesn't really follow any particular style, but might pass for something Hawaiianish.

Cow bone with black cord.

Vents! Can't have too many of them. Am I right, or am I right? This was fairly porous, but sort of like the final outcome.

This was just a chunky piece of bone, so I wanted to work with it's thickness. A bit blurry.

Next is a circular pendant, I still need to decide how to run the cord.

I decided to try a Hawaiian relief on this. Adding to the Hawaiian vibe, I decided to make the sides and edges take on a lava-like look.

Little teef...

Smoothed out back...

And a bit smaller than what I usually make.

Thanks for looking!

Oh my! It looks like a new form of currency! I am curious how you're gonna attach a cord. How 'bout setting it in a circular, dark piece of wood, with an eyelet on the top? Your braiding looks tight. Is that the standard type braid you're doing? And what's the material, artificial sinew?

Surfintiki, you caught me while I was still online. Thanks for the comps. Yes, the cord is your standard 4-plait, braid, which makes for a nice round cord. The material is artificial sinew, I suppose a waxed polyester fiber.

I like your way of thinking, as I was afraid that making a hole through the medallion would remove too much detail. I'll look into the addition of wood, thanks for the suggestion.

Very nice! great detail there on the coin looker.
To bad they don't use a design like this on or coins.

Mango that coiv is SIIICCCKKK!!
what kind of tools are you using?

Killer Ray!

The contemporary hook is exactly that...not too Hawaiian looking to me but more of a MOD look maybe. Still captures the TikiMango sense of thinking out of the box though...nice.

The medallion is to die for! Just beautiful carving there...a macro treasure and a whole new genre of Poly-Pop art I suppose. It could be hung by a jewelery finding secured from the top - you know, something from the Fire Mountain Gems catalog - a thin wire w/ toggle loop at the top either glued or mounted in a small drill hole and glued.

The more I think about it though, a set of five or six of those would make KILLER BUTTONS for a vintage Polynesian suit jacket :o - Just a thought!!

Thanks for posting new things - I was getting worried you had burned-out or something :wink: G

very nice, the "coin" is superb.

Seeksurf, could you imagine the coin collecting that would happen? I'd collect them.

TikiG, you are too much. Thanks for the mad props. I made one 'button", you can make the others! :wink:

JohnnyP, thanks for stopping by.

Tikigodz, thanks for liking the "coin", though I'll still consider it a medallion. As for tools that I use... I must first apologize to all the tool fanatics in TC Land, for my humble collection is worn and rusted. Its hard to keep things shiny and bright in this Florida humidity, especially when you are 3blks from the beach.

I have a Dremel that I use only with sanding drums. I use it to smooth out a chunk of bone that I have cut on the scroll saw and for basic shaping. I use a Foredom rotary tool for all my other burs. A polishing wheel is installed above.

Here are most of the burs I use on a regular basis. Various sizes of inverted cones (left), round balls (right), diamond coated burs (top), and a few different shaped ones (dispersed around). The penny is for scale.

Finally, I use a small collection of jeweler's files, normal and diamond. I'm not sure what you call some of the shapes. Top left only has teeth on curved edge and sides, which is nice if I need to take something down without taking something else away. Middle left is triangular in shape, and lower left has an oval cross-section. I use this the most, as when I am trying to smooth something as there are no hard edges to gouge lines in things. I don't use the diamond ones that much since they leave more scratches that my normal files, but various shapes there for different things (flat, triangle, and round).

Finally, the yellow stuff in all the photos is 320 grit sponge from 3M. Really nice stuff if you haven't tried it yet. Being on a sponge, it is very compliant to various surfaces, but still has enough "bite" to get something done while being forgiving enough not to mess anything up.

Just tuned in today & WOW! You never cease to amaze us man. Stunning detail man. I'm loving the vents, I've heard of aerodynamics but is there such a thing as hyrdrodynamic(fishhook in water). Also, I agree with surfntiki, the coin inlaid in darker wood would be my pick, either round or make it Toki shaped, that way you could lash it on instead of worryin how to drill that without messing with the integrity of the piece as a whole.

i like the coin, ray. it would make a cool cover chip in a poker game. i have a bone maori mask i like to use.

On 2010-03-23 16:31, TikiMango wrote:

Cow bone with black cord.

And a bit smaller than what I usually make.

Very modern Hei matau! A succesful! Also the medallion.... full of detail in a so small surface: the BenZ way!

J.

Coconuttzo, thanks for peeking. I'm still playing with the wood idea.

Kingstiedye, cool idea on the poker chip cover... if I only played poker. Is that like Go Fish? :wink:

Laojia, thank you. If only I had a percentage of Benzart's skill I would be most happy.

Little tiki update today. Sleep was elusive for me this last night, so I started this about 5am this morning. If I could always get that early of a start that would be great. I had sketched this little guy out for an idea for a palm tiki, but really wasn't interested in making that much noise in the wee hours of the morning. I took a design direction that most reminds me of the mid-century poly pop movement, which is to bastardize some cultural element and make it tongue-in-cheek at the same time.

I wanted to get tiki back to it's phallic/fertility roots.

I tried carving this as a full size tiki would look.

I stained the whole thing with ebony, and quickly rubbed off as much as I could. Being bone, there were some discolored areas, and that is what I was looking for.

I tried to keep things "primitive" looking, so went simple on the hands and feet.

Facial detail. He's a happy tiki, gladly doing his part to ensure a strong and fruitful village.

For scale.

Every time I look at this thread I'm simply floored. Outstanding work and you always inspire me to do more on my projects. Your body of work is so impressive.

Looking forward to chatting with you a Hukilau this year!

Thanks Again
Tiki 65

I love the spiral eyes, especially how in the straight-on shots they look like concentric circles!
I may have to borrow that. :P

Aloha Tikimango!!!! Wow you are on fire my friend!!!! and one TALENTED Artist!Everything you carve has such a Great flow!Keep it up my friend. I'll be up your way staying in satalite beach and entered in the Ron Jons standup Surf contest should be fun! Aloha your friend, Mooney

Oh Yeah! I'm glad the village is saved! And will be fruitful!
What kinda blades are you using on your scroll saw. Mine SUCKS! I have blades MEANT for bone, and all that happens is I push the bone into the blade, and it bends the blade all the way back, and does very little. Barely makes a mark on the denser 1/2 inchers. Band saw is where it's at! I have had SOME luck, if it's with the grain, soft and thin. But mostly LAME.

5:00AM in the morning?!??

Damn Ray...another Mango classic!! Hoo-rahh! G

dang!

Tiki 65, thank you. I look forward to chatting it up with you as well. Less than 2.5 months to go!

4WDtiki, feel free to borrow, but I want it back. :) I think I've seen the spirals on mugs and a few other things. Clarita's bamboo carvings come to mind.

MooneyTiki, thanks! I'll PM you to see if we can't find some free time while you're here.

Surfintiki, I'm doing the same as you my friend, push and push and maybe get lucky in that the blade will scratch the bone. I've experimented with fine, medium, and coarse, broken all of them! I think now I am using a medium blade for wood, and giving myself plenty of space to sand down with a drum sander on the Dremel.

TikiG, just couldn't sleep. I made up for it this morning though, didn't get out of bed till 7:30am... wasted the whole day.

Crazt Al, thanks for cruizin' by.

Another hook out of the shop. This one was really challenging, as I ended up having to use mostly files and a ton of hand sanding. I always hand sand, but this required heap big more. I wanted something that looked like a hook, but not really like a hook. I'm not sure what I ended up with, as it looks sort of scorpion-ish or exoskeletal, or like something molting or sheading. So, be careful when you get a design in your brain, as sometimes the design doesn't allow for great tool angles. Anyways...

Front-side of the hook.

The design demanded that I treat the back the same. What a needy front-side.

I undercut some of the joint/folds/sections. The really deep ones are at teh bottom and at the very top.

For scale.

Very nice Mango. I drop by the carving side every so often just to see what you guys are up to. I love this design!!!

On 2010-03-28 12:04, crazy al wrote:

dang!

Dang indeed! Awesome, Ray! Just love this design.

Incredible stuff Mango.

On 2010-03-28 14:25, TikiMango wrote:

For scale.

A little touch of H.R. Giger for this last one... Good job!

J.

Mango, this last hook is really Excellent, definitely a carvers nightmare but you finished it perfectly. Both your last pieces have really been Incredible, is this a sign of things to come??

Sweeeeeeeeeeet!

vERY NICE!!!!

You Boners do some nice work.

Wow, very inspired piece TM. I like the form. It's very fish or whale-like to me, almost like it's bent back on itself. Nice job, man. Extremely nice.

oh wow, this last two are extra beautiful, great designs.

MadDogMike, thank you for stopping by again.

Tiki Joe's Pop, thanks for the kind words. Maybe I was watching too much TV when I designed this one. Not sure where the inspiration came from.

Benzart, you're the one with incredible stuff. Thanks for your kind words.

Laojia, yes, it does have an organic feel to it like H.R. Giger's art, though not nearly enough of the creep value.

JohnnyP, thank you!

Tikigodz, thanks, your stuff is coming along great as well.

Seeksurf, we Boners try. Thanks.

The BigT, thanks. It does have some movement to it for sure.

Clarita, thank you for the compliments.

OK, time for a little update. I took a break for a while to work on my Shrunken Head Jack-in-the-Box for the art swap (which ends today), but am now back to inhaling bone dust. Offered for viewing are three new pieces.

First up is this hook, played around with different ideas. I wanted something substantial but not heavy looking.

I also tried making the hole for the cord to pass directly through it. It guarantees that the piece won't flip on ya.

Next is this little koru pendant. I wanted to get more of the fern look in on this one.

Sorry for the grubby fingers. I should wash-up before taking photos, or get a stunt hand.

Lastly is this little curved pendant. A spin-off of my medallion that I carved a few weeks ago. Shallow relief of a Hawaiian styled hei matau.

I really liked worked on this curved piece, as it allows for some great light action, which is great for such shallow relief work.

Thanks for looking all! If you're in the USA, today was the day to file your taxes or an extension. I hope no one forgot. Aloha and enjoy your impending weekend!

everything you create is eye candy tikimango! love seeing any post of yours....great work

On 2010-03-28 14:25, TikiMango wrote:

So, be careful when you get a design in your brain, as sometimes the design doesn't allow for great tool angles. Anyways...

I feel your brain pain, Ray! Curse those brains! Does yours make you wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and won't let you go back to sleep until you've
at least done a quick drawing or description of said idea?

Awesome work as always, though! Are you coming out to Oasis this year?

On 2010-04-15 17:31, TikiMango wrote:

This one is really AWESOME!!!! :o

And don't worry, the other are so good also... :wink:

J.

My jaw has dropped a couple of times going trough your pages.
You're taking this to a whole new level.

Creative Chimp, thanks. Where abouts in West FL are you?

Tobunga, thank you. My brain (and the rest of me) wants to go to Oasis, but my bank account sez No. It's gonna be a big event for sure this year.

Laojia, thanks for the kinds words.

Grapa-RuHa, thank you for that compliment. I try really hard to push myself in different directions.

Ok, time for another weekend update. I started both of these after work this week. It's really hard to get motivated to do anything after I've been zombified for 10hrs staring at a monitor at work all day. Then I'll get in a groove and the next thing you know it's 11pm, and I'm hungry, and got to unwind and try to get 6hrs of sleep... then do it all over again. Yea me!

Hammerhead hei matau, with paua shell inlays.

I almost tried to put teeth in his mouth, but knew I couldn't pull it off with the tools I have.

Kind of disappointed with the inlay close to his head. It matches the other in color, but only at one angle. Almost every other direction is looks more pink.

This is just a simple hook, but tried something different with the lashing up top.

What's cool about this one is the shape of the bone. The barb really sticks out there.

I think this one is the perfect size, not too big, not too small.

Play safe.

I was just browsin' the forums and you post these two new pieces - cool!

Impressed with the quality of your work as usual Ray. Clean design, clean lines and clean inlay work. I'd say you hit the target again 'cause these pieces exude that special TikiMango appeal that's immediately recognizable.

Thanks for sharing. G

Cool hammerhead matau! He remind me someone... And the simple hook... Wow! Too pretty!

J.

very cool love the hammer head.