surf soul tiki

...goin' deep, gettin' after the other side, and workin' into the night...

well, I realized that at this point I have enough time into this one that if someone ripped it off, I'd probably flip out & go postal, so it's no longer being left out in the front yard at night.

It is now an official resident of my home. A lot of progress on this one in the last couple of days. I think this is the best Hawaiian piece I've done to date. I'm really excited about it. I'm trying to watch tv but I just keep looking over at it and thinking "wow!!! I totally made that!!! sweet!!!". If you would have told me just under 3 years ago when I made my first piece that I'd be making stuff like this in a few years I would not have believed it. It still has A LOT of work left to go, but I feel like this one is a "milestone"....

Once I finish the eye / mask area I need to start figuring out what kind of designs / tats I'm going to put on the body. He may just get a "surf soul tiki" cholo-style tattoo over his abdominal area.

And you guys have been killing me with these shells and rocks and stuff for eyes, so this one is getting some kind of polished stone eyes....obsidian maybe? Benz warned me about that stuff...so maybe something else...I'm not sure..

And Nixxy, not sure about the color...I was thinking about that earlier. Golden Pecan is pretty much my "go to"...but I might have to mix something special just for this one with some of it & something to darken it a bit.

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-11 20:24 ]

Definately a nice one. I'd like to see you do one entirely with chisels. Power tools have thier uses - but its surprising how quickly you can carve once you get started - and carve deep. Focus more on the bodies and legs. Having a really cool chiseled face and then the body is just a few chainsaw and angle grinder cuts doesn't quite make much sense. One of the things Will and I discuss often is the relationship of cuts. How the chest flows into the crotch and the crotch wraps around into the ass - how the knees flow into the hips and around into the crotch. How the neck meets the shoulders and the arm moves down to meet the hips. Don't get me started on the feet (which I still struggle with). The samples on the following page (and that entire thread) helped me figure it out...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=26630&forum=1&start=15

wow...thanks for that link....

so much in there to absorb I just looked at like 2 or 3 pages and was like "uhhh, I need to save this for later when I can concentrate on it!"

So I whacked a standing dead palm & got these out of it. 3ft, 4ft & 5 1/2 ft.

Killer job on the Kanaloa and I am liking the Moai. Classic gray stain, nice call McTiki.

thanks Keylo.

ok, first log was too rotton...

second log yielded this....

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-12 16:23 ]

no rest for the wicked....

I love the way the light's hitting the headress in the pic further up the page. Have you thought about using coloured lights on it?

yeah man, I'm lucky that I have a regular bulb that works!

anyway, a little more progress on the big kanaloa.

a wise man once told me that one receives "extra credit" for poking holes, through which one can see daylight....

holes poked.

yeah man, I'm lucky that I have a regular bulb that works!

anyway, a little more progress on the big kanaloa.

a wise man once told me that one receives "extra credit" for poking holes, through which one can see daylight....

holes poked.

Yup, so you're going through the legs too right??!

Oh Yea! Nice job on the "daylight" .... I'm venturing there myself so seeing your success is encouraging! The big guy is looking good!

Cha-Ching
I see the light.

yeah man I wanna cut a little holes thru his legs too, but I'm worried I cinched him a little too thin in the waist & the more I cut away down there the more likely that he's gonna break in half, and that's kinda freakin' me out. I've already had one break like that right at the waist, and it wasn't THAT big of a deal, but I've got enough time into this one that I'd be pretty upset if it broke. I plan on just slowly adding more and more detail to this one over time. I gotta figure out some kind of body tattoos or detail.

I think that since this one is my favorite I'm keeping it for the house. I've already got a dude who's expressed interest in it, but it's gonna take some real money to get me off this one. I'm taking it to the "art on the water" art show at Jackson's Bistro here in Tampa in the ritzy "harbour island" area. I probably won't sell a lot of stuff, but the dude who puts the show on really likes my stuff so he doesn't charge me the normal entry fee & usually covers my drinks, so it's a win-win. If I sell stuff that's a bonus. Plus, seems like although I don't sell a lot at these art shows, this particular show seems to attract A LOT of hot, kinda freaky artist chicks, and they're usually fairly easy to pull. I met the crazy nympho hungarian painter at the first one I did....and actually dated her for several months. So yeah, it should be a good time.

I need to make some stuff though....

took a break from the tikis today to play with my new (well, new to me) roadbike. The "Juiced Schwinn"

73 Schwinn Varsity ten speed, converted to single speed ,52 tooth wheel on a 19 tooth hub, some short handle bars I made, and I'm about to run the cable to the back brake (already took the front off). Eventually it will get a white seat to match the other white stuff. It should be pretty fast.

Damn! I need to go to Art on the Water art show!!!!

Look'n good with the big guy and the new schwinn looks pretty neat too!

Looking FWD to going thru your post and looking further into some great looking carvings and surf shots.

Thanks guys.

And good to see that you crawled back out of the woodpile seeks....always liked what I saw in your thread.

So, OK. Kinda scored on a stash of standing dead palms....a whole neighborhood full of 'em. And they're all just sitting and waiting for me to cut them. Apparently some sort of palm disease wiped 'em. So there's probably 20 of 'em waiting around now, and it's like ten minutes from the house. I've taken 2 so far.

Yesterday's haul:

And this 5 footer's gonna be a big moai.

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-19 08:34 ]

Sounds like you hit the mother load of trees like the Hillybillys struck Texas Tea!

yeah man, I scored for sure.

so here's the 5 ft Moai....

I think I'm gonna tat him all up....

The dude organizing the art show asked if I could throw a show-themed piece together on the cheap, so this is it:

and here's my road bike, the "Juiced Schwinn", all finished & ready for the road, as well as my next project: a 72 Raliegh "gold edition" 3 spd. Very stoked on both...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-20 13:41 ]

Good looking stuff bro...is that the gray color stain on that Moai? Look sick

yeah man..."classic gray"...

I love it!!!

well, I was able to get a little more eye detail done and then it started pouring.

Didn't sell any tikis....

But, I met a nice Oil Tanker captain who lives in Rincon Puerto Rico who wants some of my tikis and offered me a place to stay near the good surf spots & a place to work. So I may be going to stay in Puerto Rico for a spell...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-21 15:01 ]

Those look sweeeet bro

A cool pic taken by a guy named Dan Haverty at the show today before the sky fell out...

That's not you, man.
I've seen that post card on the rack
at the souvenir shop.

more eye / mask detail...

nothin' says "I came to party" like a busted nose and some gnarly face tats...

Houston, we have daylight between the legs...

ok, so I need to glue a tooth back in on the kanaloa, and also glue one of his "spikes" back together, and then I'm gonna let him sit for a few days.

I handed over a bunch of tikis to a local restaurant owned by a girl that I went to high school with and her husband. They're way cool and like to display local art, so basically I have some stuff displayed stuff there. Anyway, I need to get some new projects started because I've been focusing too much one one piece. It's making me feel weird. So I'm starting a new big one tomorrow. Maybe a Marq....

And I did like 12 or 13 miles on my new (old) roadbike today. Felt good!

ok, the big kanaloa's nose is healing, so I'm gonna leave him alone for a week or so. At this point the Big Tahitian and the big Kanaloa are my two favorite pieces, but I'm a little burned out on it, so I needed to start another big, serious tiki.

So after kicking it around this morning I decided that it's time for me to do another Ku...but not like all the one's I've done before....this one has to be better. Much better.

It's time to step it up!

I think Will is right about the Post Card. Cool shot.

Im diggin the enthusiasm bro...off to a great start...lets see it!!

thanks guys.

A little progress...

Lookin' good pjc, really nice shot of you carving, makes me want to visit Florida.

Thanks Cy,

and I've got a couch for you in Tampa if you've got one for me in Portland brother!

here's a little progress on the "all nu ku"....and I'm off to the Steel Pulse show...super stoked!

Dude
U r a machine

not a lot of progress...just a few chips here & there. I'm gettin' after it in the morning though....

I'm really concerned about his mouth. It needs to be "right".

diggin...

That guy is really shaping up. Go man!

it's coming together...

[ Edited by: Atomic Mess 2012-04-28 05:00 ]

a little more progress last night at the pub on the all-nu-ku...

and today's project is face tats!

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-04-28 14:33 ]

face tats...check.

the ku is starting to get the look I wanted. Stoked!

You should be stoked pjc those look superb!