surf soul tiki

yeah man, things are lookin' up.

You didn't get to haul that stack of sticks home did you? If so, good find!

oh hell no.

My truck is big...but it ain't THAT big!

I just went to check it out, and they gave me some smaller pieces to mess around with. It actually seems to chisel just fine.

And their "small" logs are 8ft x 1ft, and they get bigger from there. Lots of possibilities...

well, the fish are starting to get popular.

this is my second snook. this one is a big 'un at 36 inches.

if he were real, he would be 4 inches over the limit....

Next I'm skinning a couple palm logs for tikis. I seriously need to make some and start making some for this big plant show coming up.

hey pjc5150....is that the cypress mill up in st pete?

yep! that's it.

Drew this one out after lunch...I'll cut it in the morning.

How'd that manatee turn out? I see him there in the background ...

Right on bro...I dig those fish ALOT. I can see why they are in demand.

NOW CARVE SOME TIKIS!

yeah, the manatee had some soft spots on him & his fin broke off. Glued it back on today, going to pour some more glue in there tomorrow & try to fill the rotted areas &then let 'em dry before I put any tools or sandpaper on him. And today my friend Greg named him "NO WAKE CHARLIE"...

And yeah Nixxy, here in an hour or two I'm headed over to a local tahitian-themed hotel to do a little "shmoozing". They have this HUGE dead date palm I want to carve. One of my ex's works there & apparently tonight is their little kareoke night, and the owners hang out for the whole deal, so I'm going there with her to hang out & get the intro. She's a good girl & she's been kinda working the inside track for me so my odds are better than average on this one. A huge Marq would be perfect....

Stay tuned...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-01-18 16:05 ]

Holy S#&t that's a big one! Better be careful carving that sucker. Good luck with the intro!

So I put the grinder on the big snook this morning & started cleaning it up. Lots of sanding to do later.

My meeting with the folks at the Tahitian Inn went pretty well last night. The owner's son was there & he liked my stuff & in so many words said that they were interested.

So anyway, I'm going to go get some lunch and then cut that tiki I drew yesterday.

Notice they get better & better?
Just like magic.

Thanks Will. I need to start hunting down some more cedar...my supply is starting to get low!

and I went ahead and cut this one before lunch...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-01-19 10:28 ]

good luck with your meeting. I hope all goes well. How do you do with the cedar? Does it bother you after a while? I have heard that while bugs don't do well with cedar neither do we. I would like to carve something in cedar, if I can get it. Just for the preservative nature alone.

When you say bother, are you referring to the sawdust?

Because yeah, breathing that stuff gets to you after a while. It's REALLY fine dust...

But it's beautiful finished. Sand it & poly it and the texture & color you get is unreal.

Speaking of which, I need to get sandin'!!! I'm supposed to meet the guy buying this thing in like 3 hours and it's not done yet!

well if your going to the tahitian i think its close to lennys surf shop at 7517 blind pass road st pete. i talked to Lenny and he has some original wayne combs carvings to see and touch......

great work you been doing and A LOT TOO! that saw mill is amazing. when i went up there i saw a cypress stump wider thatn a volkswagon.....sad a little they were going to make mulch out of it. great people and nice as hell!!!

[ Edited by: Creative Chimp 2012-01-20 08:12 ]

Left some worm marks on it, which I like.

And leaving them on there gave it a little more color when I rubbed some poy on it.

I think I'll go ahead & accent the fins.

Then I need to do a littl finishing on that tiki I did yesterday.

oops...you said tahitian inn not tahitian beach resort.....nevermind :)

anyways if your near lennys and want to see them now you know.

i bought a surfboard there and now my daughter has joined the surfing crowd.......i might have to get one too.

yeah, I go surfing over in Cocoa Beach a lot and have seen Coombs studio. He has some nice stuff.

so this morning I got up & decided to pick one up that I started last year & has been sitting out in front of the house ever since.

he's around 5 ft. I did little work on him & put him back in front of the house.

also torched this one...I'll probably stain it tomorrow...

and then I went driftwood hunting and found some...

Nice shhhtuff!! Let's see them pics when ya get 'er all stained up! How 'bout some tahitian designs for the Tahitian inn???

Yeah, that is what I'm going to propose to them...true Tahitian style tikis.

Anyway, helping mom with a few things and then back to work on some stuff at the house.

So here's a few of the pieces of that drfitwood that I brought to my mom's house & put some flowers on & around...

clearing out all my old, unfinished, and forgotten tikis.

this one has been sitting around half done for months.

Finished it today.

On to the next piece...

Chunky,
Looks good
Stain job made that thing

yeah, it stained up nice for sure.

thanks Will.

I'm in "git r done" mode, so I'm not stopping there!

and here's another project...

this weathered plank was part of yesterday's driftwood haul. I'm going to turn it into a super cool "dualing pistol box" style speargun holder for one of my best friends.

Wait & see what I do with this....

rope groove!

stained tiki!

Wow dude you're def gettin it done. All of that stuff looks awesome. Keep it up!

Someone say spearguns? I'm a frequent spearo myself... Can't wait to see it..

REALLY like that one that you retouched from the front of the house... very cool!

the MINI-TIKI ASSAULT (tm) begins TODAY!!!

I am going to make a lot of little tikis this week. Big plant show coming up in March...

one down, a bunch more to go...

rough Marq....

Looks like you have it pretty much Under control Jeff, Tikis coming out very well.

Thanks Benz...

I'm taking your advice about the plant shows....

bling bling....

65 Western Flyer I just picked up from the powder coater...this thing is so sparkly you practically need to wear sunglasses to look at it. It is SPARKLY.... Getting the original "rocket" decals repro'd in a shiny white...

now back to the tikis...

I'm getting this whole driftwood thing figured out....

made these this morning.

got a little attention in the local paper for the big moai...

Good thing you were dressed for the occasion when they took the picture!

hey, newspaper or no newspaper, I am done ruining my good clothes making tikis.

I have several pair of jeans with completely blown out knees, and some beat up cargo shorts, and some t-shirts with woostain splashes & angles grinder holes that have pretty much become "the uniform".

And here's a that little Marq I started the other day a little further along.

I think I'm going to start doing more of these. I like this one.

Dude that is AWESOME!! Good for you bro...you "Tree Artist" you :)

The drift wood is a cool idea, Im diggin it for sure.

yeah bro...just trying to diversify.

this whole "tree artistry" deal has it's limitations....lol...

OK...this one's done.

I absolutely love how the natural bark reacted to the stain...

oh yea...very nice.

well, I got the call from the owners of the Tahitian today and I have a meeting with them tomorrow.

So I busted out this little cypress Marq that I'll detail up a but tonight at the bar. A little gift for the people I'm meeting with...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-01-26 14:10 ]

well, a few details & a little burn and this one's done.

this is a little gift for the owners of the Tahitian Inn.

what can I say...I'm an ass-kisser!

I am very pleased to announce my new "association" with The Tahitian Inn, here in lovely Tampa. I will be carving 2 large tikis on their property out of a date palm and a fan palm that died in the cold winter 2 years ago...as well as some other possibilities like maybe sprucing up their tiki bar, maybe doing a run of ceramic tiki mugs with one of my designs & their info, and who knows what else. The Tahitian is pretty much "the" Polynesian-themed establishment in town, and I'm grateful that they accepted my bid & liked my ideas about getting them more "on theme" with some real Tahitian style tikis & oceanic art. I look forward to making the Tahitian Inn even MORE AWESOME than it already is. Huge thanks to my ex-girlfriend, Esmerelda, who is an employee there & a friend of the owners, and who seriously worked the inside track for me.

Benz, Will, I'm going to be all over you guys with questions and stuff....prepare for the onslaught...

http://www.tahitianinn.com/

A little ass-kissing never hurts! Now wipe the crap off your nose and get busy!

I'm on it bro. I start monday...