New Tikis from Germany!

Great Tikis and a lot of fun making them, that's what i like the most! :)

Man that's some talent! Beautiful stuff, and I love those bar stools with the little foot supports, they look solid as a rock. Keep on crankin' them out!

Wow...those babies are huge. Love em...nice clean lines.

Awesome nice to see some more larger scale work keep chippin away man

wow Kai - its a pleasure seeing your pics - awesome carvings. I love the bar stools with the foot rests. Don't take so long till your next post!

Aloha,

thank you all so much for your entries and your kind words and all your congratulations. I´m so happy that I can give pleasure with my pictures.
Yes, the big carving jobs are always great and a big spectacle. Many viewers were really impressed, while I was carving live.
I think it is a great chance to show the people how many time and effort it needs to create a tiki.
Than they understand why it is artand not cheap to make.

But I have also done some other jobs. I created some new paper-mâché masks and carved some smaller tikis.
However first I will answer your questions.

Benzart, yes it´s right, next week I will be in Miami for Harold Golen´s Kaiju art show and we like
to visit the Maikai at the 4rd December. If somebody like to have a cocktail with us, please come.
AlohaStation and Loki will also be there. In one of the next posts, I will show some pictures of my work.

GROG, I try to work careful and compare often the proportion and the distance between the lines.
For the finish I use a angle grinder to get clean lines. That´s all!

AlohaStation, what will be our first drink next week? I am looking forward to order a Black Magic at the happyhour.
Hmmmm...

crazy al, I hope we will have no unforeseen occurrence and arrive just in time to Miami with our Kon-Tiki Boat.
I heard there is sometimes a crazy pirate, sailing on a beach ball and always like to fight. :)
Cannonball!!!

congatiki, yes a TC Bandwagon would be cool! We could make all togehter a big carver tour and preaching the word of Tiki. :)
Who will be the busdriver?

Lake Surfer, yes that was a great party on the beach. Great that we met us there. We have to do it again!

Clarita, yes you are right! Fun is very important to work creativ. I made also other experience and
so I try to be careful not to overwork myself and losing the fun.
I think if you have no fun, you couldn´t work very creativ and you will not be happy with your finished work.

marcus thorn, I saw your last pictures at TC. Wow, your last work is highclass with all the textures.
I would also like to start such a piece. I have a really big and heavy oak log, but if I start with it,
it also means a lots of hours in the cold garage. Brrrr... Last Friday we got the first snow this year!

Okey, now here are some new pictures.
They are not so spectacular like the big tikis but I hope you like them also. Please if anybody have
a tip for me or think I could make something better, please feel free and talk to me.

Here you can see the masks I made for our decoration inventory. They are all out of polystyrene and paper-mâché.
It´s great to use them for decoration jobs, because they are very light and easy to transport.
In the background you can see the first mask I created 2 years ago. A big PNG Trader Vics mask.

The next Tiki is well known! You all know the original. I carved the Tiki for an Tattoo shop in Nürnberg.
I finished it last week.

This is my finished Ku. I started to carve this Tiki a long time ago. I think it was in the beginning
of this year. In August I hand it over to his owner and he gave him a clean grinding and some wax.
I´ll try to get som pics of the current status.

The Tiki is out of cherry wood and about 25 iches high.

This is my first Tiki, which is standing in France in a pine forest near the atlantic ocean.
I used oak wood and a high-grade steel pole to fix it.

The pole is under the old strings, which I found at the beach.

Thats the Mai-Tai I enjoyed after wook! Cheers :drink:

The Beach...

and my first try to carve in sand. The Moai is waching over the sea. Perhaps into the direction
of the Maikai :)

Captain Crab is planing to build a float.

Ahoi!

Unbelievable stuff Kai, the Sand tiki is Outstanding! How long will/did it last? The Ku is another Awesome tiki, darn, All your stuff is incredible!.

WOW o WOW o WOW The Ku is killer work my friend what kind of wood is that ?

Benjamin.

More beautiful work Kai!

Love the Ku! Spectacular detail work! Wood, sand polystyrene paper... you're unstoppable!

The masks are all very cool too.

Thanks for the photos!

We also had our first snowfall of 2 inches today and lately it has been too cold to work outdoors.
I have a 8 foot log I have to carve in the cold garage.

He He - Kai's got crabs! (someone had to say it)

Excellent stuff as always! I really like the way you made the base on the Ku.

Awesome stuff, Kai. REALLY like that Ku, looks fantastic. Good to see you back in action!

Nice Nice Nice!

Not a bad looking beach over there!

AMAZING!

Aloha,

Benzart, thanks! :) I carved the sand tiki in the beginning of August
and my parents spend there holidays at the same place one month later.
They returned in the middle of October and told me that the tiki survive a long time,
till a storm was comming and washed the sand away.
His good mana is still standing there and look over to you. :)

benella, hope all is fine in Paris. The KU is out of cherry wood.
I would be great to arrange a little meeting together with all the other european tiki people.
Perhaps next year!

Lake Surfer, I am not unstoppable! I have never try to work with tougher materials like stone or bone.
I have a big respect on what Benzart, Paipo or Tamapoutini are doing. Sand
and polystyrene paper are toys for kids. :lol:
If you would work in my frosty garage, you could have a mouthful of hot cuban rum.

AlohaStation, look out! The crab can bite. Next week, I will bring him with me. :)
I can already hear the sound of the wood truss of the Mai-Kai.

Howland, thanks for your nice words.

seeksurf, yes the beach is really beautiful. Sadly, I made this picture on a cloudy day,
but the beach is perfect to beachcomb and to feel like a pirate. Only the ocean, the beach, dunes and a pine forest. No hotels!

Howland and tikithomas08, thanks for your nice words.

Next Saturday I will be busy again in the Netherlands. A new giant will be born! So I hope I can post on Monday some new pictures.

So, here are some pictures from my new diorama for Harold Golen´s "Kaiju Monster Invation" art show next week.

SHOW LOCATION: ART CENTER OF SOUTH FLORIDA
800 LINCOLN ROAD MIAMI BEACH, FL
33139 305-989-3359
Admission is free!

OPENING NIGHT : Wednesday December 3rd, 2008 8:00pm-10:00pm
ARTISTS SIGNING: Friday December 5th, 2008 8:00pm-10:00pm
KAIJU THEMED COMPUTER MUSIC CONCERT: Saturday December 6th, 2008 8:00pm-10:00pm,

For more info look at: myspace.com

The diorama call´s

PLAN X FROM 666

Golly Gosh!
After a long time Dr. Katashi rerelease Japan´s secret weapon.
The dreaded vermicular Eyeball-Eruca! TERROR! SABOTAGE!

What´s up?

Rongo Rango II is entering and changed the creature into a Tiki Devil with his laser ray eyes.
The big battle about the monsters has begun. It´s a matter of life and death.

You are multi talented.. How do you find the time?
I always enjoy your photos. Its exciting to see things being made so beautifully in European countries. It is inspiration to me here in the UK as we must have similar wood and products available. And its good too see what can be achieved.
Can you tell me how you got the finish that is so dark and aged on the familiar one that you gave to the Tattoo studio?
Cheers
Tark

Aloha!

Thanks, Trader Tark! First I colored the tiki with a dark wood stain and then I polished it with wax.
At last I brushed the wood and thats all.

I have some new pictures for you from a live carving show at the Netherlands, two weeks ago.
The tiki is out of spruce wood and about 6.5 feet high.

Wow! Last HUGE Tiki is so cool!

Another giant masterpiece. The guys with the hot rods must have loved all the dust!!

It was great getting to hang out with you guys at the Mai Kai. We seem to have a lot in common, other than carving tikis. Keep up the great work and I hope to see you to see you again soon.

Tucson Tiki, thanks for the compliment!

AlohaStation, thanks for your entry. Hope you are felling fine. Do you got my email last week?
Yes you are right the hot rod guys were all wondering about the dust on there cars. First I had a bad conscience :wink:.
But they all enjoyed my work on the tiki so much, that it wasn´t a problem. It was a funny time to stay there with these guys and their incredible cars.
Now the Trashers CC has a new mascot.

It is only a relly easy tiki. I used only simple and clear forms, because I had not really much time for the carving.
But I think such a big tiki doesn´t need much deails. Anyway, two dasy ago I started with your wallnut piece.
I works very well and makes a lot of fun. It will need much more time to finish it, but I will definitely post pictures.

Thanks so much for all your time, gifts, and your great hospitality. Please say it also to Will.
We had a great time in Miami and I hope we will come back soon.
Or you will visit us in Germany, feel free and come over. Some hard pieces of oak wood are waiting for you. :)

Great work Kai. I love your dioramas! Emailed you back but I am not sure if you got it.

Kai, you always seem to have the big logs ready to go!

Another impressive piece, and yes, less is more on these big guys.

They have a huge presence.

We are into such a bitter winter that it has driven me to the warmest and smallest corner of my studio.

Maybe by spring I'll be able to drag out the saw and get to some big logs! You've really got me craving to carve up a big tiki.

Keep up the inspiring work!

Kai!
havent checked in for a while-your stuff is looking SWeeet~!
the sand Moai is just awsome- and that Ku on the last page is Really cool~!!
Looks Great!

Hey guys,
thanks for your nice entries. I already start with a new carving, but I just have no pics of it, yet.
It will be a little tiki figure out of walnut wood, which is a gift from AlohaStation.
He gave me the piece of wood, when we met us at the Mai-Kai two weeks ago.
Tom, thanks again for that!

Tiki Diablo, I send you a personal message at TC and the same message to Myspace. I hope you will get it.
Your email address don´t work and returns always back. Don´t know what´s the problem???
Please give me a short feedback, if you got the mail.

Lake Surfer, thanks so much! :) Yes you are right! It really sucks to carve when it is cold outside and the tool
are freezing on you fingers. But it is the season, when I would have the most time to carve. Stupid!
Thats why I am carving a small one at my warm flat at the moment.
Next time, when I will visit the US and meet you again, I will bring you a bottle of hot cuban rum for your studio.
Looking forward to see the first pictures of your next big log project. We could start an competition at TC:
"Who will carve the biggest Tiki" :)
This morning I talked with a friend and he told me that he got a log with 4 feet diameter. Black cottonwood!

Tiki Duddy, thanks so much! To carve the sand tiki was very funny. It worked very well and it was easy to carve it clean.
The sand was very hard and so, the tiki stand there for 2 or 3 month.

I wish you all a great time and a wonderful Merry Christmas, Kai

Love the simplicity of the large guy.

Just right!

Hi Haikai

great pics of your last Tiki's
The big one is great - it is your Tiki Style
i love the simply lines for your Big Tikis

after some months without Tiki Carviing i will try to post some new pics on my topic
take a look on it

see you hopefully soon

einen guten Rutsch

Akuae

Kai,

You are just plain amazing sir! Every time I visit this thread I get chills. Please keep posting; we all wait on the edge of our seats for the next works from you.

STUNNING!

Aloha Tiki friends,

this is the poster of my next tiki artshow in my hometown Regensburg/Germany.
The "Grand Opening show" with exotic music and drinks will start at Saturday - 7.00 pm - 3th October 2009.

Kopfkunst
Corner shop
Schwandorfer Straße 24
Lappersdorfer Straße at Regensburg

The show includes many different artworks of the last 5 years, from the first tiki to the last. I will also report about
the unforgettable impressions uring my tiki time and show two new tiki dioramas.

Perhaps one of you gals and guys will be in Germany during this time. So I would be happy to meet you at the opening show.

Wow... I was just going through your posts and.....wow. You are my mentor and Tiki God. Thank you for sharing!

I 2nd that.

Really impressive stuff! Sehr gut! ;-D

Hi Kai I really wish I could make it but you are Just a couple miles too far for this time. Great seeing you here again, Any new tikis you want to share?
Cheers

Kai,

Gruss Gott! It looks like you have been keeping busy and continuing to improve your skills. I hope all is well for you. I will be over sometime in October but probably stuck in Tubingen and Tuttlingen again. Have you tried JapGo in Tubingen yet? They have an incredible rum selection and one of the bartenders bought an old Trader Vic's drink book on e-bay so their cocktails are getting better.

Chuss!

Matt

On 2010-09-03 13:18, 4WDtiki wrote:

On 2010-09-03 05:25, AKUAE wrote:

GREAT job on this one!

I hope you're bringing that chainsaw to Aotearoa...just don't put it in your carry-on!

On 2010-09-08 18:17, Paipo wrote:
I hope you're bringing that chainsaw to Aotearoa...just don't put it in your carry-on!

Tiki looks way cool my friend!
Paipo, you should have seen the look on the x-ray guys at the airports when i was traveling abroad. Ha , it was too funny. I had a small resin tiki figure with me to explain what I carved with my tools.

Classic! Love the style, size and the balls to move this guy around.

AKUAE, thanks for posting that picture. It was a pleasure to met you french guys from the "Tiki Tribe" there.
You guys are really make a good job and it always looks like you have a lots of fun. Let the chips fly and
hold on spreading the word of tiki in Europe. :)

Paipo, hahah! Sandly, it will be not possible for me to take the chainsaw with me. I can take only 23 kg with me.
It´s really not easy to packa bag for 1 year with only 23 kg. But definitive I will bring my chiseles with me.
I looking forward on our upcoming carving session and to have some surf lessons with you. The countdown has just began.
That´s the last 8 days in Germany.

Tiki Diablo, thanks for the compliment. :) I hope all is fine. I often remembering me on the great Hukilau party, where we met us in 2008.

seeksurf, thanks so much. Yes you are right, that log was really heavy and we need 8 guys to pull it up.

I must have missed something?? A year in NZ? What's up?

Kai,

if you ever spend some time in Hokitika, the touristy "pounamu capital" of the south island, visit Steve at "Bonz'n'Stonz", he's a very nice guy who has the only workshop I know of, where you can carve pounamu with all the equipment provided. You propably have better options to carve over there, but if you're in the area, say hi to him. When I was there, he was very interested in non-maori tiki things for a change. If you talk/show him some of your work, I'm fairly sure you'll have a good time together !

Well, he will have access to a fully equipped stone workshop at some point when he gets down to my part of the country, but I can also recommend anyone visiting Hokitika to check Steve's studio out - he's a super nice guy and probably the only carver in NZ doing Solomon Islands style pieces (cause that's where he's from).

Kai is indeed now in NZ and has already clocked up some travel miles and tiki touring, but has had very intermittent internet access. I did get an update via email a little while back which I can now share - this was from his first stop in Auckland:

NZ Kauri...pretty cool eh?

Maybe he can change the thread title to "New Tikis from New Zealand"!

SWEEET!! Great ears!

On 2010-10-24 18:10, Paipo wrote:

Maybe he can change the thread title to "New Tikis from New Zealand"

Way cool! :)

GROG like!

GREAT STUFF!!!!!

Badass!!!

Great to see he's getting to know a few locals - wood like that doesnt grow on trees..

Im also hoping to catch up with Kai while he's here. Paipo and I are an hours drive apart these days but what better excuse for a get together? Kai will have to endure an intense stone-talk session.

Im glad you got to meet Steve G in Hokitika Traderbob, he's perhaps the nicest carver you will meet and serves as a great ambassador for his adopted home. Im not far from 'Hoki' so will be sure to show Kai around or at least point him in some worthwhile directions.

Stunning !