Practice Makes Progress (Have A Great Day) Laz

Nice stash of logs! No need to dry them - they will dry as you carve into them. Your buddy was correct - sealing the ends of the logs will help preserve them. Moisture escapes and enters the fibers at the ends. Sealing them will help - but - Its still palm and if exposed to moisture they will rot, just slower that au-naturalle! Be sure that the logs you seal are dry, or you will be trapping moisture IN (and that's really bad).

Aloha Station. Thank you for your comments and suggestions.How do i know they are completely dry before sealing them I was thinking of putting a piece of paper underneath and seeing if it is dry that way. or is their a period of time that you keep out of water.

What about washington palms, I heard that they rot or sooner than palms are they worth carving,
Thank you for your guidiance

My advice,
Worth every penny you pay for it, is:
Palm should be kept inside. It'll last forever there.
You'll know when its dry, when it's light as a feather.
Leave it inside for a year or 2 & you'll know what
I'm talking about.
Want it to live out side?
Use cypress.

Great advice! Thank you,

So I have all these logs so I decided to cut one and with so many thoughts of ideas this is the one that came out of i dont know but here it is, I am biting more than i can chew but here it goes

Will Carve. Please stay close I need alot of gudiance. thank you so much

Will Carve. Please stay close I need alot of gudiance. thank you so much

Washingtonia are also know as Mexican Fan Palm (California cousin). In my experience it is the best palm to carve - very thin bark and solid most of the way through. Sabals have a thicker bark, but are good carving too. Florida palms carry a lot of water in their trunks, they start out heavy and dry to a fraction of their original weight. Not sure if you are in a position to wait for carvings to dry - I usually carve several in a row allowing each one to dry as I carve the others, then finish (paint, poly...) them all at the same time. Carving wet palm is nice - I often compare it to carving an apple. Drier palm tends to get stringy and brittle. Cyprus also likes being cut when wet and dries very hard.

I'm sure Will is gonna give you advice whether you want or not!

[ Edited by: AlohaStation 2014-12-05 06:02 ]

Well comming right along! I have no idea what to do when i finished, paint, stain, add a pollyurathane can you guys please help me please. I do not have my own style yet so i combined 5 tiki designs in one and came up with this design. I am not finished with it yet. Thank you for your guidiance

Aloha Station thank you so much! for all the info on washington palms, God bless you and your hands, Thanks for giving me hope that Wii Carve will help me if I like it or not, Let me finish this new design and if you can help me make a desision on painting or staining i bought about $100 worth of paint and polyurathane and i believe they are all wrong I i have acrylic and oil and i did not know they dont mix. I think I just want to be a student and let you guys teach me i will save alot of time energy and money. Blessings to all!

Back at it today, This new sculpture I am working on Is very hairy. I guess I did not go into the palm deep enough.
I guess I will finish it today and see how it comes out. Not sure what to do yet if I should stain or paint. I guess
I have to wait to finish, The eyes geez that a tough call the slit is so easy but a open eye is difficult for me.
I am going to make a open eye, wish me luck.

I can't give any advice on carving or finishing palm as I have little experience and have never been successful with it. I will however,give you encouragement. That last one is looking really nice! Keep at it and you'll be fine.

Thank you amate. If you did Im grateful you would help me thank you for the encouragement!
This palm is very hairy I have finished I guess. You can always spend more time. Ok so what do I do now! do i burn it to remove all the hair on it before i stain or paint. Is the hair always a issue the deeper you go the less hair on it?

Nicely done, keep up the good work.

Thank you HillTiki!

Palm gets hairy when you use a grinder or chainsaw. Allow it to dry for a week. By that time it will either get moldy or it will be dry enough to finish. If it gets moldy more time drying is needed (DO NOT seal it with poly if mold is actively growing - it will continue to grow under the poly). Will and I coat palm with poly BEFORE sanding, this allows us to sand off the fibers and smooth grinder marks while allowing the wood to continue to dry. Poly will harden the "hair" and create a solid surface that can be sanded very smooth - repeat 2-3 or more times. If you don't coat it before sanding it will be like trying to sand a pair of jeans. When finished with poly, palm is beautiful.

1. Ok thank you aloha station. So what i need to do now is put the carving as is in the garage for a week. if it builds mold than let dry more.

I guess its time to move on to my next carving I have a tangora design in mind. Hope you like it I think it will be challenging

oh when you apply the poly you sand of the poly sand paper using your hands ?

AlohaStation thank you for all the information you have shared on this thread. When I bought my first carved palm tiki it was sent home with me wrapped in plastic. We left it that way as we headed for a Hawaiian vacation. When we returned 2 weeks later and unwrapped our treasure it was nothing more than mildewed mush. Not liking mildew what was left of the 3 foot tiki went into the trash.

nicework a perfect name for your thread. I loved the story of the palm in the forest. I was thinking as reading...well I liked the end to the story.

Wendy

Hay,
That thing turned out great.
Way to think outside the box.
Can't wait to see the tang.
You know GROG won't like it with out a wang,
don't you?

Well Being a Ice carver alot of ocean stuff is made seahorse angel fish dolphins meremaid has always been my favorite, so when I did some research on tikis , of course I favored the tangaroa ! So whem it comes to original tiki Gods this is the one i will be working on for now,

]

That's not your garden variety tang.
Tradition with a twist, all right.
How bout a Ku?

Well this is my first time staining I used a pecan color that has a poly mixed in it. I just brushed and globbed in the crevest. I just cant aford to spend to much time. I am trying to keep a $75-$150 sculptures., I sold two yesterday one for a $100 and one for $75, the nice guy gave me 180. The feed back that I am getting from other carvers is the the average price for tiki carvings $75- $150 yes I believe that higher price custumers may be out their but I need to eat, put some food on the table, I think if i make a name for myself then later the price can go up. Or I do not know what I am talking about and can be wrong about everything I just said. I am Always open for suggestions.

[ Edited by: nicework 2014-12-11 08:35 ]

I am mentally ill. My Mom use to tell me i was so Artistic, so i began to draw and took a liking to art
As i got older what she was saying is that I was so Autistic. So i ran with the artistic saying,. God knows I am borderline retarded, and that's OK. I make do with what I am.

I say all that to say this, this is why I have to write things down I have a disease of the ism's Instant short memory. this is information that I have been getting from other people here on tiki central and other places,

1. sable palm is good cuts better when wet. ( i wonder if you can re wet it if it gets dry like spraying with water)

2. whashington palm is cool to carve not to much park and can be solid. but has tendency to rot faster.

3 I must suggest to customers to keep indoors or away from water it they want it to last.

4.If staining, geez I don't know. if the carving is inside use a water base stain if out side use a oil base stain.
so i guess the best stain to use would be a oil base so it can be in or out.

5 using poly well if your using a poly and your coating a painted piece make sure the paint and poly are the same either water or oil if not they will not adhear to each other.

6 You can put a oil base paint on water base paint but you Can not use a water base paint on a oil base paint.

7 If painting a tiki you can paint it with a water latex primer and build on that using water base paint like acrylic and using a water base poly but can only be for indoors. this will apply the same for using a oil base keep oil base with oil base and water base with water base.

8 make sure the carving is dry before doing anything let dry for a week if it starts to mold let dry longer.

If any body want to correct anything i wrote please do if any body want to add by all means please do

On 2014-12-11 09:02, nicework wrote:
I am mentally ill. My Mom use to tell me i was so Artistic, so i began to draw and took a liking to art
As i got older what she was saying is that I was so Autistic. So i ran with the artistic saying,. God knows I am borderline retarded, and that's OK. I make do with what I am.

I say all that to say this, this is why I have to write things down I have a disease of the ism's Instant short memory. this is information that I have been getting from other people here on tiki central and other places,

1. sable palm is good cuts better when wet. ( i wonder if you can re wet it if it gets dry like spraying with water)

2. whashington palm is cool to carve not to much park and can be solid. but has tendency to rot faster.

3 I must suggest to customers to keep indoors or away from water it they want it to last.

4.If staining, geez I don't know. if the carving is inside use a water base stain if out side use a oil base stain.
so i guess the best stain to use would be a oil base so it can be in or out.

5 using poly well if your using a poly and your coating a painted piece make sure the paint and poly are the same either water or oil if not they will not adhear to each other.

6 You can put a oil base paint on water base paint but you Can not use a water base paint on a oil base paint.

7 If painting a tiki you can paint it with a water latex primer and build on that using water base paint like acrylic and using a water base poly but can only be for indoors. this will apply the same for using a oil base keep oil base with oil base and water base with water base.

8 make sure the carving is dry before doing anything let dry for a week if it starts to mold let dry longer.

If any body want to correct anything i wrote please do if any body want to add by all means please do

I'm just going to collect all of Aloha's quotes and publish a book...

btw, way to push the envelope on the last couple of carvings. Bravo.

Following Aloha Stations suggestion. add stain and poly then sand by hand and repeat. I am really looking forward to do the next sculpture.

Thank you Big T. I guess part of the fun is going through the prosses of learning,

Well this is my crazy tiki, I was not sure what to do when finished. after painting it i wished i would of stained it and be done with it . I pretty much like the painted tikis so I decided to paint it, I used a black latex primer and I plan to paint over the primer. will see how it turns out . any suggestions are welcomed as far as anydam thing.

Fresh cut

Dried up a week later it started to swell and split a little bit

Paint

Just staying busy sold 5 tikis this week and i have some orders Thank you Tiki Central. and espesialy the carvers who have been guideing me on my thread.. Went to Tampa and visited soul surf tiki his place is cool he gave me alot of helpful tips. Jeff your the Man looking forward to just come over and carve

I put a second coat of stain on this one. this is my first Tangoroa

Figuring out what to do with this one

Thank you Tiki Central. I am also very grateful for the advise I have been getting from my predecessor here on Tiki Central, I Do not want to mention any names because I might miss some one who has encouraged me and has given me helpful advice, You know who you are.

So I say that to say this. This is what my predecessors have told me. Sabal palm is key for tikis and if kept indoors will last a very long time ,if not they can last up to 5 years out side. Washington palm is also good not to much bark. but they can rot faster outside,

Pine is fair but it is very sappy. Oak is good but hard as hell and can split. the choice wood to carve is Cedar and Cypress. Well this is what the God of my understanding has provided for me. I feel uncomfortable mentioning God because some may not believe. But who else can I thank.

ALL MINE! Thank you Jehovah,Jesus Tangaroa Universe, Buda, Ala Krishna what ever it has been the God of your understanding.

I am going to wait to get a sthl 150 with carving bar. This was the tool that Soul Surf recommended. Also a mini sander before I begin,

Looking forward to see if I can carve this new medium I have not carved wood yet just palms

[ Edited by: nicework 2014-12-18 07:55 ]

Awesome!

And then some.

Thank you Tiki lizard and will carve I have something very exciting to share with Tiki Central here shortly!

Nice Work!

Hey I guess they where right all along money does grow on trees. You just have to carve the money out~!!

Happy Holidays! Still practicing and figureing things out as I go, here are some tikis I have been doing since the last time I was here

I turned this tiki into a luge, I am sure you have heard of ice luge where you pour the drink through the Ice.

m

My Wife is Purto Rican it was a spanish pot luck for the holidays I brought the Purto Rican Bacardi Shot dispenser

And then I have been working on theese 4. I still need alot of practice looking forward to do the next one

Just researching Original tiki Gods and getting familiar with them

Ku was the most aggressive and active one and often was associated with war.

Ku (male or husband), and Hina (female or wife) were the rulers of the ancient people and are the earliest gods. They are great ancestral gods of earth and heaven who have general control over the bounty of earth and generations of mankind. Ku freed one from their faults and errors. He is associated with sacrifice and prisoners. Ku represents the East, or the sun rising, which indicates morning. Ku equals "rising upright." Hina represents the West, or the sun setting, which indicates evening. Hina means "leaning down." Ku represents the universal character as a god to worship. The Ancient Hawaiians worshiped Ku for things such as good fishing, long life, good crops, and family and national prosperity for a whole. For example, early in the morning, prayers are said by fishermen to Ku to help them with their fishing. These things are represented in the following prayer:

"Ku, O Li! Soften your land that it may bring forth. Bring forth where? Bring forth in the sea [naming the fishing grounds], squid, ulua fish... Encourage you land to bring forth. Bring forth where? Bring forth, on land, potatoes, taro, gourds, coconuts, bananas, calabashes. Encourage your land to bring forth. Bring forth what? Bring forth men, women, children, pigs, fowl, food, land. Encourage your land to bring forth. Bring forth what? Bring forth chiefs, commoners, pleasant living; bring about good will, ward off ill will".

Kane was the leading god of the great gods named by the Hawaiians. He represented the god of procreation and was worshipped as ancestor of chiefs and commoners. Kane is the creator and gives life associated with dawn, sun and sky. According to the possible late edition of the Kumuhonua legend, he formed the three worlds: the upper heaven of the gods, the lower heaven above the earth, and the earth itself as a garden for mankind; the latter he furnished with sea creatures, plants, and animals, and fashioned man and woman to inhabit it. No human sacrifice or laborious ritual was needed in the worship of Kane.

Lono, usually called Lono-makua(Father Lono) was the most humane of the three primary akua. He cared for the crops, maturation, fertility, forgiveness, healing, and other life-sustaining aspects of life. Hawaiian legends tell of Lono appearing to the people many hundreds of years ago and promising to return someday. Captain James Cook was mistakenly identified as Lono when he arrived in the Islandsbecause of these verbal traditions. Hawaiians who accepted Christianity also associated Lono with Jesus Christ. During the rainy winter months of the year, Lono became the dominant akua because warfare was kapu (taboo or forbidden) during this time and the worship of Ku and Kane were temporarily suspended.

The clouds and the phenomena of storms are also associated with Lono. When the statement, "with head hidden in the dark clouds above" is recited, it is usually referring to Lono. During prayer to Lono, signs of the god are named thunder, lightening, earthquake, the dark cloud, the rainbow, rain, wind, whirlwinds that sweep the earth, waterspouts, the clustering clouds of heaven, and gushing springs on the mountains. Lono brings on the rains and dispenses fertility. Lono is the god of harvest. Lono-makua (Father Lono), is the name given to portray the god during the Pre-Contact time. Lono's role has generally confined to the celebration of games.

Kaneloa was a lesser or secondary akua closely associated with Kane. Kaneloa is the old Polynesian sea god of death, darkness, water, and squid. Under the influence of sorcery, Kane has the character to heal:

"Kaneloa, god of the squid, here is your sick man... "

...and ends with an excellent objective description of squid catching. Fishermen will use him for protection but he is looked upon with distrust as an aumakua. There is a legend that the Ancient Hawaiians told about Kaneloa:

Kaneloa is associated with the Christian devil. His name is associated with various legends of strife against Kane in which Kaneloa and his spirits rebel and are sent down to the underworld. In the legend of Hawaii-loa belonging to the Kumu-honua epic account of the Kane tradition, Kaneloa is the leader of the first company of spirits placed on earth after earth was separated from heaven. These spirits are "spit out by the gods." They rebel, lead by Kaneloa, because they are not allowed to drink awa, but are defeated and cast down to the underworld, where Kaneloa, otherwise known as Milu, becomes ruler of the dead. The legend places Kane and Kaneloa in opposition as the good and evil wishers of mankind.

marquesian tiki researching.

here are a few of mine...

Thanks Soul Surf I spend alot of time finding the right pics, I really like the pictures you posted. They are a big help in larning how to make the marqui

a goldmine of reference material for marqs...

https://www.facebook.com/poeaki.art

Thanks Soul surf, Well this is my first attempt at a marqui. 4 hours then to find out it was a old rotten sable palm .
Oh well at least I am on my way to start doing more traditional stuff, I guess I will try again tomarro. thanks for your experince strenght and Hope

Been a little busy. Practice makes progress. But it also makes you tired, I did my first marqui. and the wood was rotten. but just got to keep it moving , I have a 5 foot sabal palm and its good so i will try the marqui again tomarro, hope fully.

workin workin well i am convinced to stain even though i do like painted tikis, Im just still trying to figure things out as I go along.

Well I am just carving and staining.the dark expresso may not be a good choice for certain designs but its all I have , the Honey stain is a little dark to. I like the pecan but i still have not figured out how to get the black out line do you do that after you stain or before,. do i paint the dark out line before or after.. I am just keepin it moving, the angel fish on top of the tiki should of been a tangora face instead of the happy face tiki. I plan to do that. Oh well I guess i am just going to continue the school of hard knocks, the pinapple tiki i stained honey is splitting and the white wood is showing. oh well i do not have a clue. Hope fully get i wiil get more experrience as i move on

Gave the tiki a break decided to get back to my roots. Sea horse for sunday brunch. Miss my ice days