Will carve

Lookin good Will, Thats one Big tiki!

Thanks all for the comments.
This guy's getting plenty.

First up,
Yes CY I'm giving a how to carving lesson
at Hukilau this year.
You going to make it this year?
We're carving soap.
http://thehukilau.com/2016/project/will-anders-diy-carving-101/

Next up
I"m 75% done with the headdress &
working on the legs.

That's looking sweet Will!

Jaw just fell off

Coming along quite nicely will but you better step it up if you want both done by Huki? :)

Looks fantastic Will! Congrats on the opportunity!

So amazing Will!

Will, as always your work is crazy good but this is so massively huge just figuring how you move this stuff is beyond super human. EXTRAORDINARY DUDE!

I'm making smaller piles of chips as
I'm doing a lot of clean up.
I'm down to the face & base & some details.

Stunning!

Saw this video online and thought of you
:)

Very cool, thanks for posting.

Hello Will, You are amazing Love the big tiki you made, I am here to ask you about Pine. Thier is alot of pine available here in orlando but some carvers here stay away from it because of the sap, what are your thoughts on that please.

I like the long needle Florida pine.
Yellow Pine ? maybe ?
They are straight & 15 to 30 in. or more thick.
Tom is carving one now.
I gave it to him.
It came from a tree down the street that died.
I only got one 4 ft piece 18 in. thick.
The rest got cut up into 2 ft pieces.
20 ft. of log like that.
What a shame.

I haven't carved it 2 week.
Rain, an injured wrist & now it's too cold.

Nicework - I have carved a few pieces of the Yellow Pine - here's what I experienced. The sap is in the bark, remove the bark and the wood is soft and easy to carve. The grain is bold and beautiful. It tends to be chippy and cracks when dried too fast. Pine is everywhere in Florida - Northern areas have more than the south. You have access to ALOT of it. I suggest giving it a try and deciding for yourself if you like it. I know that you can get some really big logs in Pine. I do not know how it matures after carving. This is an early carving I did in Pine...

THANKS WILL. ALOT HELP THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!!!!

So Tom gave me this lil piece of bass wood
& an ounce of inspiration.
These lil guys are fun to do although
I'm not as good at them as Tom is.
I'm still working on that big guy & will have an up date soon.

Kool lil dude

Hitting the extremes when it comes to sizes. That big guy is incredible!!

Its very cute. :) :)

Thank you all for your thoughts.

I have a few things here.
First, Some Tongan shields from the Mai-Kai molds for them.
And a platoon of shortyies ready to deploy.
A few clubs yet to do & off to installation.

Next,
It took 3 men & a large fork lift to stand this dude up.
I'm sworn to secrecy not to revel the face yet.
This was a big day.

Super update Will, greatness abounds!

Amazing work.

Can't wait to see it. Congrats on such a monumental task. Then again that's what we've come to expect from you!

Outstanding!

That last lil pendant guy was bass wood but
it must have been old & dry it was hard & tuff.
The whole time I was wishing it was a palm frond.
This one is a frond & what a pleasure to carve.

I have that soap thing coming up in a few months so
I'm practicing my basic Ku head.
That's what we're going to carve.
I don't want to choke in the middle of it.

I'm starting a 6 ft Lono.
In cypress.

We will be here waiting.

Will you are always teaching, the way you lay out the top (bottom?) section is informative.

[ Edited by: cy 2016-04-03 14:43 ]

Sweet

just a 6 footer, eh? should be a breeze for you.

So I'm working on my "minimalistic" Tiki face.
My carving 101 at Hukilau was stretched to
1 1/2 hours and that's kinda short.
I want every one to finish so
I want to keep it simple.
No teeth, no tongue, plain nose,
simple head dress.

These are frond pendants. They look big.
They are. They're for two big guys.
Guys like that make good friends.

Fantastic Will. Both of them.

Cool Will, like the green color, carving 101 sounds like a fun class.

Can't wait to see that lono!

So I carved this,
Maori palm frond
[faux]Abalone shell inlayed
hemp corded pendant.

He has no home.
Where should I go with it?

hmmmm...hard question to answer.

You're gonna need something to wear to The Hukilau!

Lono is looking good BUT thats Not how I taught you to do it? :), Pendants are looking cool too Will!

So this weekend we installed King Kai in the Mai Kai gardens. Just in time for The Hukilau. We aren't done yet - but that's another story. Here are some pics of the install.

This is amazing.

Fantastic Will, congratulations that will be admired for years to come.

To quote the producer from Daffy in Hollywood,"...and it's good too."

Great job Will! Here are a few photos from Sunday's ceremony ...

New Mai-Kai employee Kai (right), a native of Hawaii, performs the ceremony welcoming King Kai and honoring carver Will Anders.

From left: Mai-Kai owner Dave Levy (left) with the prime movers of the new King Kai carving: The Hukilau’s Christie "Tiki Kiliki" White and artist Will Anders.

Fort Lauderdale carver Will Anders shows off the award he received for creating King Kai, flanked by two others who were essential in pulling off the installation: Artist Tom Fowner (left) and Lonnie Dryden.

More photos over on the main Mai-Kai thread: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10334&forum=2&start=last&326 and also in this Facebook gallery: https://www.facebook.com/atomicgrog/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1090162001050304

Aloha!

The first photo after King Kai was installed ...

Kudos Will!! I actually saw the pic of you with the award on facebook!

More great work by Will and Tom and Jeff Chouinard ...

Mahalo to The Hukilau's Christie "Tiki Kiliki" White for spearheading this project. More photos over on the main Mai-Kai thread ...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10334&forum=2&start=last&331

The Week in Tiki * Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide

The official blog of The Hukilau

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2016-05-29 12:49 ]

Here's Will trying to be an even bigger part of the Mai-Kai. Sorry buddy, but there's another tiki going in that spot!