My carving

Well, since I'm the new kid in town, I'm not real sure about protocol. So I'll just jump in and post a few more of my pieces.

Nice and moody! Dig 'em!

Thanks for sharing with us, amate :)

Those are very cool. Great stuff. :)

Nice designs and great carves! Good call on starting your own thread, it makes it easier to keep tabs on you as you update this with pics of your new stuff.

Excellent stuff Amate, Yeah, I think its time you started your new thread too

Glad to see you starting your own topic. Great stuff and keep them coming.

nice work Amate....really like the mask in the third picture.
Keep 'em coming.

Thank you all for your encouraging comments. I've realized that I need to find some larger logs or get smaller tools. All I have in the way of chisels is two carpenters chisels. And yes TikiG, I like to keep things moody. The carvings seem to come to life in the dim light. In fact, it can get down right spooky around here late in the evening.

very very nice lovin your stuff amate!! whats the wood on these guys? all are sweet! the mask is awsome!! keep it up! you got a fan here!!!

great character in those carves - mystical

Big Tiki/Nomolos

I appreciate you compliments.
Photo#1- is oak
Photo#2- Elm in the foreground and sycamore in the rear
Photo#3- The wood was recovered from a brush pile. Judging by the bark, I'm fairly certain it is cedar elm.

PICS, PICS, PICS!!!!! lol! just teasin amate! just goin crazy waitin too see whats up!! holla!

where you be!?! lol!

I haven't found the time to start anything new but I feel I must post something or I'll lose my momentum. Here are a few more of my finished carves. The mask is 9 inches made of Sycamore. The Moai is 11 inches also of Sycamore. The head is 12 inches made of China berry. I don't recall how I got started making these heads but they seem to be popular and I get requests for them. So, my question is . . . can you put a headdress on a face and call it a tiki? I haven't seen anything quite like this during my short membership and wonder if this forum is the appropriate place for these carvings? I just ordered a copy of the BOOK OF TIKI but I'd be interested in hearing your opinions until it arrives. Thanks for looking.

I like the two tone. good touch

amatae!!!!! long time no see!!! gotta keep the momentum baby!!! seems like you got lots o good stuff in hidin!!! all of your stuff is awsome and i agree the two tone is cool!! and i loooovvee the fact that you use nice wood for your stuff!!! and as far as doin a headress on a head i think it would be cool!! maybe not politicly correct lol! but i do think my self included would love to see it! and i mean no disrespect to anybody thats into the traditional poly/hawaiin carving! i just think it wld be a cool twist!! cheerz!

FYI - the two tone was created by useing RED MAHOGANY stain on the headdress and CHERRY stain on the face. Glad you liked it. I don't get on here as often as I wish but it's been busy lately. November doesn't look much better. I'm trying to finish up another mask. I appreciate your interest.

Nice work bro!!! Lookin real smooth definitly love the 2 tone.. keepem coming..

Amazing stuff here !

I like the way you finish your works.
The 3 last ones are perfect to me.

Benjamin

Tikigodz/Benjamin - Thanks for the comments.
Ben- I'm starting to get the carving figured out but I still ruin a few with the stain. I just visited your website- I believe you have much to teach on finishing.

Wow! the talent on this site is amazing. None the less, I will share another view of my island. This one's been on the shelf for about a year now. . . more or less. I've got to get in gear and start something new.

Excellent Moai Amate.
Glad you brought him down from the shelf!

very cool pic! I'm glad he came down the self so we could meet him :)

Benzart - your kind words always give me a lift. Thanks
Clarita - I have to admit I like the photograghy almost as much as the carving. But in truth, it's a diversionary tatic designed to distract the viewer from flaws in the carving. ha!
Thanks for stopping by.

amatae!!! you are a tiki hoarding dude man!!! lol! you gotta showem all then you will have to carve a new one for sumthin to post!!! just teasin!! lol! cheerz!

Yeah Big tiki S. I do have a lot of stuff around here. I just get a bit intimidated by all of the great artist posting on this site. Have you seen Tahitiki's thread? Makes one humble.

yes ive looked at all of them!!! and there are tons of great stuff on this site but if you dont carve cuz you think you gotta live up to somone elses work or praise or whatever( no dis respect for anyone here cuz all you guyz and girlz are AWSOME)then you are sellin yourself short!!! you are a great carver it shows in all your stuff!!! yes tahitikis stuff is wicked sweet and damnnear perfect and so is benzez and 4wd tikis and surfin tikis and lakesurfers and buzzys and so help me god if i leave outcrazy als stuff AMAZING!! but they all started somwhere and theyKEPT ON CARVING even when they screwed up or made sumthin that wasnt up to there standards they just kept goin and look at them now!! and i realy belive this site is for sharin each and every one of our diff skills ideas and imaginations not a compition where we are to be judged by others!! we all love this stuff and enjoy lookin at everyone stuff so carve up a masterpiece and let us all marvel at what wonderfull things you can carve!!! and ive seenit already so i now you can doit!!! cheerz bro and nuthin but luv!!!!! again if i didnt say your name i just didnt have the space and i REALY DO LUV ALL OF YOU GUYZ STUFF ALL OF YOU!! cheerz!

AMEN!!!! Brother... If us new bees have nothing to strive for whats the point.
I started in feb this year, and with the advice from these guys and gals theres telling how far any of us will get!! HERES TO MORE CARVING AND POSTS..

HELL YEAH!!!!!!!! LETS GO!!!

Amate, thanks for the big compliment. You know, the cool thing about this site and all the amazing carvers, painters, mug makers and Tiki bar builders is that I still feel the way you feel when I check some of the threads out there. I never stopped being amazed by the quality of work on TC. It's so neat to see that some of the newbies that started carving when I did are now Master carvers. Pretty cool stuff.
Nana

WOW, you're killing me with that Moai.
Who's next ? :wink:

On 2009-11-08 06:49, amate wrote:

Benjamin.

[ Edited by: benella 2009-11-14 05:53 ]

This mask was inspired by a piece a saw in a museum. My intention was to mimic and not copy the original in order to avoid any bad juju that may result from that kind of thing. I have been taking notes on finishing techniques posted on this site for several weeks now. I refinished this last week end. It's now exactly what I had in mind but it is an improvement. So, I will take those lessons and move forward.

I love it!

Me Too, Very nice mask.

Yes, very beautiful mask! What's the museum where you find inspiration?

J.

Very nice, now you can start on the rest of the figure. :wink:

First, thank you all for your encouragement. Your comments are always welcome.
Jerome - This museum is in San Antonio, Texxas which is about 50 miles from my home in San Marcos. I also have family in the Houston and Dallas area and visit there often. All three cities have excellent exhibits of oceanic art in their museums. I am fortunate to live in such an inspiration rich environment. The Museum in San Antonio also has a Moai Kava Kava. I had just decided that this would be my next project when you posted yours. I still may carve one in a year or two once I put a better edge on my skills. I also intend to try that hot linseed oil treatment. I like the antique look.

BigT - I have considered doing a full (or half) size version on this Papuan ancestor figure. I'm looking for an appropriate log.

I still need practice on my finishing technique so many of the carvings on these shelves will be refurbished. I've already started on some.

I recently ran across this photo of a head I gave away some time ago. I would love to give him a face lift as well but he now resides in Florida. At least do something better with the headdress.

The next three are repeats of photos I posted on another thread. I'm just moving them over to keep things together. By the way, Kon-Tiki went under the knife and now has a set of toes!

I have been working a lot lately but finally got some leisure time this weekend to rough out a few.

For that last one, I wanted to try something different than my usual fare. This head was inspired by many of the carvings I see on this Forum. I call him T.C. Initially, I was just testing my versatility by carving a short nose for a change. Mostly because of the obscene remarks my smart alec neighbor made about the nose on that Papuan mask. What a comedian!

And just for the record, I don't always spell Texxas, but when I do . . . I prefer Dos Equis.

amatae!!! i was right you do hoard tikis!!!! WOW!!!! you have great talent and one nice collection of carves!!! keepem comin!!! luvin the new guy w all the details!! cheerz!!

Definitely what he said. TIKI HOARDER!! I Love it, Nothing wrong with it, just keep on carving them and hoard all you want!

On 2009-11-29 16:09, amate wrote:

BigT - I have considered doing a full (or half) size version on this Papuan ancestor figure. I'm looking for an appropriate log.

I have some pine logs if you'd like a couple. They're all at least six feet and six inches to a foot or two in diameter. Since you come through Houston, come on by if you'd like to look.

Holy WOW!

I love both the authentic posture AND the awesomely varied surface finishes. You, my man, is a master carver! There is so much mana in those guys I get the shivers.

Aloha!

Marcus

HA HA! You have finally opened the treasure cave. :D Thank's for sharing!
There is a lot of things that look beautiful ... and my favorite is this beautiful Moai that we have already seen. A real journey through time!

J.

Big Tiki - I don't think of it as hoarding but rather astute management of my resources . . .blah, blah, blah . . . Oh hell, who am I kidding! I've got more moai stashed in my closet than they have on Rapa Nui. I'm a hoarder!

Benzart - I still have new ideas and lots of things I want to try to I don't plan on quiting any time soon. I may have to add on a room to store all of my duds though. The closet is pretty much full.

BigT - I sent you a personal message. (I think I did anyway - haven't used that function yet)

Marcus - I am honored by your compliments. Your work is magical and has struck a chord with me. As for the finishing on these, it is completely random and accidental. I have much to learn in this area.

Jerome - Yes, I am happy with the way that moai turned out. They are hard to get right. That's why I have so many in my closet. They were just for practice.

The mild weather and long weekend allowed me to continue working on the carvings I started over the Thanksgiving weekend. Here are some progress shots.

I love the Maori style and would like to learn more to make my carvings more authentic. I found a good book in the library. Until then, I started this carve that I consider a caricature. When I began the detail, I ran into soft spots where the wood began to crumble. I gave it a coat of polyurethane to try and stabilize it. It seems to have helped so I will continue with the piece. I'm making this up as I go so forgive my breaches of tradition.

Once again, I had difficulty coming up with a stain I liked on this next one and worked for several weeks redoing it. I took longer to sand, stain, re-sand, re-stain etc than it took to carve it. I finally settled on this finish on my fourth attempt. Of course, with all of the sanding, my wise guy neighbor kept coming over to harass me about spending so much time out in the garage "sanding my tiki" as he calls it. haha the guy is a real riot. :roll: I can't believe that he doesn't have his own comedy program on TV.

Finally, this is a refurb of one on my earlier pieces. Guess what...when I didn't like the original finish, I tucked him away in the closet. So, this is the new improved model. I've discovered that if I dim the lights and have another beer, he looks just fine.

Looking Good Amate

Really great stuff Amate! Seems you can do any style you choose, awesome.

Cool stuff Amate, really love the wings on your birdman. Very cool.
Your marq is also starting to look like a museum piece, keep em coming.

Thanks guys,

Scotty - thanks for checking in. Your welcome any time. Have you ever been to the Dallas Trader Vic's up there?

Tiki Mango - My carving has been in a rut for a while now. I've been doing a lot of the same old stuff. These pieces are my break out.

Conga T. - I debated myself on whether or not to go with the feathers. So for, so good. I'm glad I went that direction. Forces me to stretch.