Will carve

I've started on my pile of palm logs.
This looks like any one of my
minimalistic Moai frond pendants..
However, its 4 ft &200 lbs.

Hell of a necklace
:)

Awesome

I really like palm.
It's EZ on the tool & hands but,
I can't finish it now because it's so wet.
It has to go thru the mold &
mildew stage & dry first.

I have 4 new Mai-Kai molds
I'm starting on.

Those are very nice carves.

I like the way this one is framed by the headdress.

On 2017-09-01 13:37, Will carve wrote:

I can't finish it now because it's so wet.
It has to go thru the mold &
mildew stage & dry first.

I think I've only experienced this once or twice.
Given how long it takes me to carve anything, they're usually pretty dried out by the time I'm done and ready to start staining.
And luckily we don't have the humidity issues here in San Diego that you have in Florida.

Anyway, thank you for the inspiring work.

Beauty Will!

Very nice.

Killer carves. GROG like.

On 2017-07-19 08:04, Will carve wrote:
I've completed 3 frond requests
left over from Hukilau.

Outstanding pieces. Those curves are fantastic. Bravo!!

Here's the 4 new M.K. molds.
The first 2 are done by the same guy.
I have at least one other by him may be more.
I can tell by the hands, feet,& torso.

The other 2, I'm clueless.
Who are they & where did they come from?

Sweet

Stylistically, those two grey guys remind me of Barney West. He was really a "big Tiki" carver, and his table top to mid-size carvings were often crude with not much detail.

Those other guys are New Caledonian roof finial carvings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A8che_fa%C3%AEti%C3%A8re

Interesting and intriguing history right there!

We were guessing that the smaller tikis were from Barney West. The cuts were simple, but experienced. He knew where to go with the minimal number of cuts to make a figure. Many of the cast tikis have similar bodies and features. I'm curious how many more there are? So many of the originals have probably succumb to the elements. These won't!!

On 2017-07-07 03:39, Will carve wrote:
Tom & I scored some real good palm logs.
We stocked up.

Geez Will, I wonder just how big is your yard?! :o

So as usual when I cast a new mold
I run to the Mai-Kai to see if I can
find an original carving or at least
an old casting.
All I could find of this guy was the
bodiless head laying in the bushes
with it's Al Jolson paint job.
Go figure.

Will those are cool!!

Will!!! I keep seeing these cool statues that you have cast (out of concrete?) but what's the story with the molds? Are these molds you have made? Are these old vintage molds from the Mai Kai?

I would be interested in the history also.

The short story is:
Late 60s early 70s the Mai-Kai had the big idea
"lets mold our Tikis & cast them in Hydrocal
[cement like stuff] & they will last 20 years".

They did, & 10 years ago, when I discovered them
in their warehouse I began recasting them in cement.
I've done about 200 for them since to repopulate
the garden.

for the long story:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=26630&forum=1&start=0

WOW! Thanks Will. I glossed through Tom's post and will dig into the details later :D Very cool

"TOUCHDOWN"

As usual,
I make 3 for the Mai-Kai garden & paint them different colors.
The extra one goes in the gift shop since
everyone flipped over the last one I put in there for sale.

Those came out GREAT........

:)

Got my hands on one of your carvings
Briefly

:)

Ah yes,
The Monster Muddler.
I remember it well.
You hang with good company.

:)

Here's the next bunch.
New Caledonian roof finial.
Put 3 in the garden &
one in the gift store
yesterday.

Love these guys, would make a great pendant design.

Will, Your work is phenomenal! I got to see it at the Mai Kai the last few years since the renovations of the garden and valet area began. I grew up in South Florida, but moved to Ocala some years ago. I try to get down there at least once or twice a year. I will be going in February for my birthday, definitely stopping in the gift shop and picking up one of your concrete tikis if they are still there.

Thank you for the comps.
Recognition is rewarding.

I found the original wood New Caledonian roof finial.
He was in the inside garden.
I have no idea how long he'd been there.
laying in the dirt, leaning against a rock.
Leaning because his feet rotted off.
No way to tell how old he is. The mold was made
almost 50 years ago.
I put one of my castings there, standing.
So I brought him home, gave him a light sanding,
a Min Wax stain bath & he looks like he's 100 years old.
I'm gonna see if I can get the gift store to
put him in one of the display cases.
He deserves a break from garden duty.

Another life saved

Cheers

Those are so cool Will, great work!

Great job WILL...i need to come down and visit ya and see ya carve in action

I've put 19 cement pieces at the Mai-Kai
in the last few months.
This one is one of my favs.
We've seen this painting made famous
by Zerostreet Robert.

I call that guy in the window the peeper.
How cool is that.
He just stands there looking at every one.
I don't know how long he's been there,
as long as I can remember.

Any one notice he was gone?

He fell over. They scraped up the pieces &
threw them away.

We still have the mold.
New ones live on.
There are 2, back to back.
New paint job looks 100 years old, it's perfect.

Very cool Will!

Long live the Peeper, great restoration work Will!

Love the peepers, future goal for my tiki hut.

Peeping Wills

Thank you every body.
Hilda,
come pick one up.
I have an extra for you.

So, I guess every one liked it and they asked me
to teach another carve class at Hukilau thus year.
I've been looking at the Barney West castings &
this looks doable as a palm frond pendant.
I did a few of them & I'm trying to keep it simple.
Here's the B.W. & in the order I did them where I
think I can take them.

Those are some nice pendants! Happy New Year Will!

Those are some nice pendants! Happy New Year Will!

Have I mentioned how much I like palm?
I'm using the kiss method here.
Not so much time in this so
I won't ask so much for it.
He's 5 ft.,but it has to dry out a lil
before I can finish it.

What is a kiss method, looks good enough already.

Keep it simple sweetie.

That’s funny
My dad was under the assumption the 2nd “S” was for stupid
:)
:)

Looks good Bruddah

Not when Hilda asks.

Cool, clean carve Will.

Will and Jon, you guys are too funny :lol:

Nice carve Will, It will look even better once you've got some stain to define those lines

I've been working on some palm frond pendants
for an up & coming Hukilau project.
They're fun & don't take so long.