bigt carvings

Thanks Jon, Tom, and Bama!

On 2017-01-04 08:17, AlohaStation wrote:
New year - new carves!!!

I'll drink to that!!

On 2017-01-03 12:28, TheBigT wrote:

Sorry to hear that you got flooded out again. You know what they say about Texas weather: “Prolonged drought with intermittent flooding.” We had two major floods up here on the Blanco River in 2016. The May flood set the high water mark for the worst recorded.
You have really whittled down that stack of logs you had on under the shed roof. When I met you, large logs were piled waist deep front to back.

Really like that bat. You have that style down. Looks like Houston’s Tiki scene is picking up. What and where is Howie’s Tiki?
Good luck in your new home!

On 2017-01-05 05:42, amate wrote:
Really like that bat. You have that style down. Looks like Houston’s Tiki scene is picking up. What and where is Howie’s Tiki?
Good luck in your new home!

Hey Allen. Howie's Tiki is on 2920 out my way. Come on over and I'll show you around the new place and take you out for a drink. :drink:

Always great to see progress, your new work is looking great BT. Especially like what you did with the Goodwill mask and the spinning bat is bonus! Also glad you can toss your waders out.

On 2017-01-05 08:23, cy wrote:
Always great to see progress, your new work is looking great BT. Especially like what you did with the Goodwill mask and the spinning bat is bonus! Also glad you can toss your waders out.

Thanks cy!! Whoa can't believe I haven't peeked on my thread since January!

Hey guys!! Long time no talk. Gonna try to catch my thread up a little bit at a time. I pretty much did nothing the first half of the year, except unpack boxes, buy furniture, and fix stuff around the house.

In July, I started to worry about the upcoming (November) Bamboo on the Bayou in downtown Houston. Uh oh, better start making some stuff!! Not only did I suck at getting stuff done, but I didn't take many pictures either. :(

I came across the cut off ends of a 4x6 or 6x6 piece of timber. I've been wanting to make some nautical stuff for a while and these pieces seemed like the perfect size. I rounded off the top of the largest piece and decided to combine tiki and nautical. I give you - the bouai! (patented, trademarked, etc. by me). :lol:

The next piece was a little smaller. Rounded off the ends sort of egg shaped. Added some tiki flava, and Done! Not entirely happy with the rope. It's what I had laying around. My wife came home with a package of some larger rope so I might try retying this.

Somewhere along there, I noticed a totally cool summer artswap going on with only a few days left to jump in before the deadline. I had a thinner piece of that same timber left. Just was barely able to fit my version of the Stephen Crane birdbowl into it.

Finished! Squeaked in just before the deadline...

In exchange, I got this incredibly awesome ceremonial paddle from TravelingJones, which this picture doesn't do justice to. Thanks again Jonesey!

Edited for spelling...

[ Edited by: TheBigT 2017-10-08 08:06 ]

Spent August playing with plastic molding. I've been wanting to cast some plastic tikis for a long time. Finally took the plunge and bought this and this kit and started making copies of some small tikis I carved a few years ago.

This is the first mold hotglued onto a small plastic plate, and 1st resin tiki!

Still working out the bugs in the casting process. These are fill of tiny holes. Don't know if it's the humidity in Houston or what....

2nd mold using a different tiki as the model.

With no dye, this resin cures white.

School Report: The Other Thing I Did This Summer :lol:

Got deployed to California near the end of August for a wedding and took the opportunity to swing through San Diego and Palm Springs. Hit all the high spots like the Bali Hai, Trader Morts, False Idol, the Reef, etc.

Bali Hai

Trader Morts

We met up with this character: the one and only, Buzzy!!

Got to ride around in the Buzz Van and Buzzy showed us some of the cool spots around town and gave us a tour of his house and Humongo tiki collection. Thanks Buzz, you rule!!! (Actually, I'm starting to feel like Buzzy based on the number of pics I posted this weekend).

A real life Buzzy drum at the Reef in Palm Springs.

September's work: pulled out this sweetgum log to finish. I had it roughed out last year and sitting in the garage all this time.

1st coat of stain.

Some coats of shellac later...

Made this little mini tiki as sort of a model to see how I wanted to detail the large one.

Also dragged these two masks out of the garage that I started last year and finished 'em up. Deepened the cuts, added some details. It's actually kind of nice to have stuff that's already roughed out. It's like I'm getting a head start! These are two sides of a pecan log that I cut in half.

This mask from last year didn't sell. So started doing a recarve on him.

Also added to my stock of resin tikis. Starting to build a pretty good stock of these now.

Great new works BT!

Huge T
Wow
What a great bunch of posts
Love this guy

Glad to see you posting
Keep it up
Cheers

Thanks Jon and Cy!! Was hoping to get completely caught up before anyone noticed. heheh

So... October's work so far.. Finished the mask recarve. Hopefully he'll find a home at this year's BotB.

Then finished this little moai. He's another one I started last year and never finished. Mostly because it split while it was drying. I think I was able to patch him up pretty convincingly. :wink:

Started sanding and fine tuning Yet Another carve from last year. This sort of old school mask:

Finished up the (tradmarked) Bouai!

Also, whittled another tini tiki. Hang10, if you're looking, the last two little tikis are made out of a grape vine. I imagine it's sort of like your rattan carving.

I really like the fish ears. That's a great idea.
I see you went ahead with the casting project. Those are lookin' good!

Bouai
Love it

Thanks Amate & Jon!!

So I finished up the little mini tiki and made it into a necklace.

Then put the finish on the vintagy mask...

Also finished this Moai that I roughed out last year. This one is oak.

And made a big ol' batch of tiki necklaces...

Looks like you've been busy--great job with the big moai. Nice n Clean!

Once again playing catch up! Here's all the junk I made so far this year... :P

Jan. It snowed here just enough to scoop up some snow and make a, wait for it.... Snowai !!

Feb. Started garden cleanup. What else do you do with a Sago Palm you cut down? Tiki practice! Man this stuff carves easy. Too bad it eventually shrivels away to nothing. Send me all your sago palms, Im gonna start a new line of Temporary Tikis!! :lol:

March. Bamboo On the Bayou 2017 got delayed to March 2018. So started getting ready. Did a new bunch of Bouai's.

A couple of random necklaces that I never finished...

Took some fish cutouts that I did last year and mounted/framed them. The cloth backings are made from old hawaiian shirts.

Made a new mask from half a pine log.

Made another bactch of resin necklaces:

My booth at Bamboo On the Bayou #2...

April. Made this tiki bob necklace out of a piece of Plumeria branch. We lost the whole plumeria tree in the freeze this winter. :(

May: finished this commission for Lei Low bar in Houston.

Here is the panel being installed this week:

Then I started playing around with this florist foam stuff from Hobby Lobby. It's fairly challenging to keep it from disintegrating while carving it!

June. Started this square ku based on the litte foam guy.

Found a new use for wine corks...

Started a muddler:

There's never enough time to do all the carving you want to do, is there? :P

Nope,
never enough time.

Ton of stuff there.
You used your time well.

Love that Lei Low bar panel.

And catch up you did
Busy busy

The eyes on the mask are perfect
Love the plumeria piece: RIP
Muddler: sweet

Great stuff here

Cheers
Jon

Great new works BT, really like the use of new materials!

Thanks all. Still haven't finished those last couple of things, but did get to take a short road trip for a few days and do some tiki treasure hunting!

Sure sucks how fast this summer seemed to fly by! It hasn't been a very productive one. I had a few done a few practice panels for the Lei Low bar early in the summer. This one was the first one. I cleaned it up and threw some stain on it. Came out better than I expected.

Every once in a while I knock a few chips of this log. Been working on this Ku off and on for a few years now.

But the fact that its ready for final sanding can't be denied much longer!

I recently finished this trio of Moai pendants. A friend of mind requested a Maoi pendant as an anniversary gift and it eventually turned into three pendants.

These are made out of a Poplar dowel from Home Depot. Cuts real nice like a soft wood, but boy does it stain ugly.
A couple coats of shellec evened out the color pretty good, but I didn't get a pic of the finished pendants.

After seeing what happened to the first two, this one got a wash coat of blonde shellac before the stain.

Then it was off to Fort Lauderdale, my first trip to the Mai Kai, and finally meeting a couple of famous TC'ers... more to come later!

:D Summer Update PART II :D

I totally forgot - before we left I made a mold of the moai pendant and cast a few copies for some future necklaces.

Then off to Fort Lauderdale where it was my pleasure to finally meet AlohaStation and Will Carve!!!! I actually remember this carving Will did for the Tiki-Cay home bar. Never thought I would see it in person - super cool!

Talking shop.

Tom and I got nothin on Will.

Was totally stoked to hang at Will's house and see some of his work up close. Anybody recognize this new carving??

The master at work. The little tiny person in the back is me.

Will is a lot more devious than he looks. While we were there, he hatched a plan for me to do a little palm frond carving so I couldn't steal any of his trade secrets while he worked on the big moai.

It also freed him up to spend more time yucking it up with my wife. I'll admit she's cuter, but geez.

I had decided that the palm frond wouldn't fit in my suitcase and I would have to leave it behind. I suggested that Will do a little work on it, and then Tom do some. This palm frond by the three us (mostly those two guys) thus making it :tiki: The Most Valuable Palm Frond In The World :tiki:

Then Tom shows up with - palm fronds!! One of which he had already started a marq!! No way I was leaving that one with Will. It just barely fit in my suitcase. I worried about TSA finding it and thinking I might try to club someone to death with it. But I made it through security, no questions asked. They must see some strange stuff.

Will & Tom - Mahalo!!! Meeting you guys was the highlight of the trip. I picked up some great tips from both you guys.

It's all true.
Go away slowly &
come back quickly.

Nice update BT!

Awesome

Will, Cy, Hang10 - many thanks!!

Finally ready to stain this guy:

Also playing with some more foam carvings. The plan is to pick a couple of these, make a wood version and then to cast some pendants.

WoW! The big one looks great! Cool foam too

That big guy looks great!
With regards to the "most valuable tiki ever"...

I finished my part - I carved the body and cleaned up a few of your cuts. It is going to Will's tonight so that he can finish carving it.

Nice Tom! Can't wait to see what Will does!!!!

Been working on the big Ku and haven't had time to attack these palm fronds you gave me, but they're on the short list. :)

So while I was in Fort Lauderdale last month, I learned a new trick. This is my first necklace using the "Magic of the Beads" slider mechanism.

Thanks Tom!!!!!!!!!!

Big T carve small. Nice!

Ok, so finally finished that Ku last month. Some beauty shots with first coat of stain.

The finished finish.

Then spent the past month making a Bunch of new pendants. This ones a new design I made of a guy holding a tiki mask in front of him.

Some cork pendants...

and another batch of these...

Started this little dude last week. This is a pine branch from a neighbor's yard. It's a small version of a 5/6 ft tiki at Lei Low in Houston.

Youzer I feel like a slacker.
You gonna knock those arms thru?
Just make the waist smaller.
Start from the back so you can see where they
come thru the front.
Piece of cake.
No guts no glory.

On 2018-12-08 09:33, Will carve wrote:
Youzer I feel like a slacker.
You gonna knock those arms thru?
Just make the waist smaller.
Start from the back so you can see where they
come thru the front.
Piece of cake.
No guts no glory.

Yes, you're a slacker!! As far as posting is concerned, LOL

So, tell me what you think. I do plan on making an opening through the arms. It's supposed to have a loincloth around his waist so i need an opening to pass a cord through there. The trouble is this is supposed to be a "travel" tiki. The owner wants to pack him in a suitcase and take pictures of him "on the road". And I'm worried about the arms breaking.

The original 6 footer has openings between the arms and legs, but doing so on this little guy might make it really fragile. Watcha think??

Holes thru a Tiki only give you extra credit
& make your Tiki stronger.
Ask CY
Take it from the waist not the arms.

Lookin good BT, Will is a taskmaster but getting extra credit for punching holes is well worth it and I agree, it will be strong enough with the support from the shoulders and hands to let some light through the arms and torso.

Thanks Will, CY, Jungle Trader for the last few comments. Well some progress. Will's been pushing me to make more light show through this piece. So I finally broke through the arms and legs. Got him all fine sanded and ready for a couple of coats of finish.

That's lovely. What are you going to use to finish?

Wow that made a huge difference. Good work!

Wow
Amazing page
Kick ass KU
And that last one: killer

Thanks Mike!
Jon love tha new one!

SB, to answer your question: gonna be a combination of stain and shellac. This is three wash coats of shellac. i put a coat of stain on it tonight but didnt get a picture. We'll see how that one comes out to decide if it needs anything else.

Nice, clean carve BT!

On 2018-12-30 20:03, TheBigT wrote:

SB, to answer your question: gonna be a combination of stain and shellac. This is three wash coats of shellac. i put a coat of stain on it tonight but didnt get a picture. We'll see how that one comes out to decide if it needs anything else.

That's a gorgeous finish so far. Really satiny-smooth. It makes me want to rub its head and belly. LOL

Beautiful!!! Don't forget the loincloth! :lol:

He looks great

Very nicely done!! That's a beauty and punching through made all the difference.