RIOTURBAN-Tiki carving process

Nice work on the Marq.

hi folks,
if some one is interested, here`s a little article about me and my carvings.

http://covanaut.com/art-fashion-tiki-talk

I enjoyed reading the article. The writer asked good interview questions about the creative process. Might be par for the course - being an "Art & Fashion" magazine.... but is definitely a plus when the interviewer has an appreciation & understands a head of time what they are writing about and then encourages the best responses from who they are interviewing.
Must be kind of cool having your tikis in a public venue for people to see.
... and I had no idea how large that Marq really was - until seeing that photo!
Thanks for sharing the article - good stuff :)

Nice article RIOTURBAN, you're now famous!

Great article, it's Always nice to get that kind of recognition,
Excellent work at the top of the page too!

@Rioturban:

The big, great, beautiful tiki you have carved is made out of spruce, right?
I saw in the video on youtube that you got the log from a sawmill.
I suggest the wood, to that point of time, was fresh/wet? Wasn't it?

I have now a question on finishing the tiki.
If you have carved it out of the fresh log, you have to sand it.
How you do that?
Do you wait until the upper layer is dried?
Was the log dry from the first step on?

Wet wood is ugly to sand...
My tries every time end up in a disaster.

Thank you very much!

Hi Takatuka,
you are right its spruce.
i can remember the wood was wet.especially when you make deep cuts.the upper layers get dry pretty fast, after a few days the wood starts to get cracks all over.
for the rough sanding work i use an angle grinder with a flap disk.even so you can sometimes see the water coming out of the wood it works pretty good.when you sand it make sure your disk sands not along the fibers but in an 90°angle,that destroys the fibre and so it works better( hope you know what i mean)learning by doing!
rough sanding is always a messy work but i like it!
for a smooth surface i then varnish it,sand it by hand to get rid of all the little dust particles and little wood fibers in the varnish.then i varnish it again and boing! you have a nice surface!
best wishes!

Thank you very much!

I think you speak german?
Yes? That would be great, I am from germany too.

I have another question about the varnish.
Which varnish do you use?
Is it shellac or is it a normal wood varnish?
Where do you buy it?

In the construction markets in germany the most varnishes are really expensive, so I am looking for a good alternative.

Hi Takatuka,
du hast recht ich spreche Deutsch,komme aus München!schön hier mal einen Landsmann anzutreffen, da gibts es ja leider nicht so viele.
zu deiner frage,
für die feineren und kleineren Arbeiten nehme ich meistens Schellack,der is am angenehmsten zu verarbeiten und trocknet schnell.Für die Grösseren nehme ich oft zuerst Beize um die gewünschte Farbe zu bekommen und dann lackier ich mit Klarlack drüber.Ich habe zum Glück einen sehr guten Farbenladen um die Ecke die mich gut beraten.
Für Tikis die draussen stehen sollen würd ich eine holzschutzgrundierung nehmen die pilzbildung und fäule verhindern.Dann farbgebende Lasuren oder ähnliches.Gute Farbenläden können da über zusammenpassende Produkte gut beraten.Was super is für Draussen ist ein französischer Bootslack( eigentlich ein Öl) namens "Le Tonkinois".Ist aber nicht ganz billig.
Stay Tiki

On 2013-01-18 12:04, RIOTURBAN wrote:
hi ,
this time i`m carving a marquesan style tiki,
about 6 feet high.

the design

now the stencil for the log

now i clean up all the edges and apply the ornaments
photos will follow next week!

[ Edited by: RIOTURBAN 2013-01-18 12:07 ]

Hello RIOTURBAN,

I have another question about your great work.
With which method have you created the stencil for the log?

To get the cylinder surface the frontal view and the side view must be combined in some way.
Is this be done by "Eye" or have you used a special method/programm/tool?

Thank you very much!

That Marq is fantastic! Classic design with a modern touch, clean lines and great detail, not to mention a finish that makes that wood GLOW.

Congratulations on the press as well! Very beautiful work, I look forward to seeing more!

Thank you Polynesiac!

@Takatuka:
i combined the two views by eye.to get the pattern onto the log i took half of the circumference and the height of the log.i painted center lines in the front,at the side and in the back of the log . i then divided the stencil into sections and transfered these rectangles true to scale onto the log. at the center lines the stencil is drawn true to scale, between the center lines the stencil must be a bit deformed ( draw it "longer", that's why the stencil on the cardboard looks a bit strange)to get a right looking pespective on the log. i just tried it out and happily it worked pretty well.good luck!!!

Two little pendants," New School and Old School "

very little fella, eyes are 7mm in diameter

Hi Folks,
here is a little close up how i go for my pendants

first steps are the rough carving

following steps is to sand the surface and apply wood stain and shellac

next step is to carve the the ornaments

and last step is to put in the mother of pearl eyes and another layer of shellac.Boing!

Cool small pieces Simon, I enjoy seeing the process.

Can't wait to see that Maquesan done! Great body of work man.

WOW, nice work RIO. Respect.

awesome.....

jon

Incredible work. That tattooing looks impossible at that size. I love seeing the progress pics. Thanks!

again the Marq, this time a compact process pic.i tried to get the pic displayed bigger,but its not working.

[ Edited by: RIOTURBAN 2013-06-23 02:04 ]

Very impressive work!

Cut your image in 2 equal halves and make each half 8.89 inches at 72dpi. Post them side by side with no gap between the photos and it will appear this size. (blew up your small photo)

P.S. Nice Marq carving.

ah ok i give it a try-just a moment...

well- good enough! thanx Grog!

me Carving a Moai, unfortunately no photos available,but a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wELpbR7Yf-8

[ Edited by: RIOTURBAN 2013-06-27 14:21 ]

Killer

Another sweet tiki carving video and I like the Funkadelic music too!

crackhead tiki

clean and simple, very nice.

Carve Deeper!!

Nice symmetry & design.

The old way of Copy&Paste,
how i sometimes mirror designs
First i draw a design on one half of the log,then i trace it with a transparency film and flip it to the other side.i take a nail or something and put a lot of holes in the log trough the transparency film.

now you have a lot of dots that you just have to combine

and finally you have an ( almost) perfectly copied desing

Most excellent Rio!

NICE. Let's see some more pics of that guy!

Thats sweeeeet.... and yes, more pics.

Sweet

Kool lines

Thank you my friends,
Ill post photos of the finished piece soon. I already stained it and now ill put on another two layers of clear coat.
I'm really locking forward to finish this one. Cheers!

All of the above, cool, sweet, excellent, any other superlative will work too.

I really like that!

very cool brother!

Nice work on your last piece.

soooo , its finished !
really like this one! the distance between wood and torch is ok, checked it. but he the tiki could also hold a bunch of flowers instead.

oh wow...

THAT is very cool bro...

well done...

Real nice work and nice finish.

Wonderful, inspiring piece. How tall?