Conga....Wisconsin stuff!

Happy weekend! Mr. Pointyhead, the cedar panel, is done. Here he enjoys the holiday weekend
with friends in the lounge.

And the Tiki head is progressing, started doing some detail and hook knife stuff today

Gotta put the chisels down for a while, playing congas with the local blues band tonight. See
ya later!

Nice updates Conga ! Always enjoy seeing what you've got cooking out there in the northwoods. Lounge is looking great too.

Keep having fun,
Buzzy Out!

Conga, YOU Working on SUNDAY TOO? Cool!. I Really Love Mr Pointy-Head, he has an Incredible presence and looks great with that group of Mis-fits hanging around your place. I wouldn't spend too much time with them as they look like Trouble brewing.
Nice stuff Conga.

Mr pointy head rocks! you've got some wild visions! I really like the guy in the second picture, second from left behind the conga - I don't think I'd seen him all finished up...I'll need to go through your post again and check out the other cool stuff I missed!!!!

That new tiki is progressing very nicely. That bass wood really looks like butter. I like how just when most carvers would be finished, conga gears up the detail and then turns it into something wicked!!! I'm looking forward to see what becomes of this one.

Have fun at your carving demo!! sounds like a blast! (free breakfast is always nice too!)

Geez Conga, you've got just about the coolest tiki collection ever! Pointy head looks terrific, and I can't wait to see the new guy pan out.
Is the weather up-north staying warm? It should start snowing any day now. :wink:

great work conga! tiki face has so much character. i know you like to populate your lounge with your creations, but if you ever wanna let one go, lemme know.

Many thanks GMan, Ben, Finky, Polynesiac, Buzzy and Kingstiedye. You are right Ben,
it's a pretty seedy bunch in the lounge, they scare away most visitors and keep all the
rum and good tequila for themselves.
I have six big slabs of the cedar with intentions of making a number of profile pieces like
pointy, with different looks but a similar vibe. Kinda thinking I am gonna find some
inspiration in the new Sven book, but I don't want to do actual Witco designs. Seems
we have a member who does a pretty decent job at that.
And Kingstiedye, I would feel honored to be represented in your gallery of tiki art.
I'll PM in a bit and we'll talk about something. Thank you!
Working on the hands of the big tiki right now, I think you guys will like where it's
going.

Conga's makin em. You do as well in cedar as you do in basswood. The pointiy headed dude looks pretty darn good.

Always a treat to stop in here.

Man, I just Kow you're having a wild party there and I Know All of us are invited, Right?
Love your new guy but the Old guys hanging around sure are nice too.

Many thanks Johnny and Ben...and Ben...you know that the Conga Lounge is always open!
Had a rare opportunity yesterday to spend a lot of time carving. I did my carving demo at
the 10th annual Forestry Field Day that is sponsored by Kretz Lumber Company in my
hometown. Draws around 700 people for free breakfast...tours...educational stuff..and
fun things like tiki carving. I couldn't get any pics with people around my stuff
cuz I had such a good time chatting with everyone...but this was my set-up before
the peeps came.

and I was able to spend around six hours carving. I started this one

and continued to work on this guy.

I hope you all have had a great weekend of chizzlin....let's see some pics.

That's a huge pile of wood chips you made. :wink: The hands on the last one are coming out really nice, that is some deep chiseling.

Johnny...that is one really big pile of chips for just my two latest carvings, you should
have seen how big the log was! Have been spending a lot of time on the hands...deep cuts
as you pointed out. I've actually hollowed-out the small space inside the hands...plans
are for some sort of "atmospheric light" that will shine through...like he's holding a
"Pearl of Wisdom" or something along those lines. Thanks for visiting!

Way to go Conga! What a perfect sponsor, a lumber company...love it. Carvings are looking great! Good weather for chiselin' and shnizzlin'!
Can't wait to see 'er all done.

Conga,

That looks like a great time! Nice to see you out showing them how its done.

-G

What a way to hide an Ugly knot, make the guy pray with it. How COOL Izzat?? That just dawned on me why the hands were there. I think you Deserve all your house gue3sts there :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh and YES, I'm Running out of Hook blades, those we split must have been defective as they keep breaking :lol:

myspace

[ Edited by: Benzart 2007-09-18 17:11 ]

Conga! Conga! Conga! Your a wild man! The work is over the top awesome as usual brother!

Conga... it looks like a tiki moonscape. Wild!

Good to see you're keepin' on up there after your first frost of the year! We lucked out down here. :P

There's a rumor I might be persuaded to pick up some chisels at the Foundation Tiki Bar party this weekend... I hope there aren't any cameras around. :wink:

Many thanks for the comps guys, Surfintiki, Johnny, GMan, Benz, Babalu and LakeS.
I really mean it when I say that you all provide a ton of motivation to keep evolving at
this tiki carving thing. I'm sure Dave can relate to this, but most people in Wisconsin
wouldn't know a tiki if it bit them in the ass. The most common question I get around
here is "why do you carve THAT stuff?"
So...this one only took me a month, I'm getting faster!


Not sure if I am done yet, but pretty darn close.

WOW Conga, that looks really good! I like the finish on him.

Craig

Very nice bro! Nice lines, great job on the arms & hands, bitchin' overall!

Yeah! Nice! What did you use for the stain?

Thanks for stopping in TikiFreak, Birdman and Surfintiki. Excuse me while I concoct a cocktail for
you!
The finish started with a light torching, followed by one coat of sanding sealer, one coat of
honey maple stain, and two coats of spar varnish. He's a companion piece to my version of the
Tikishark tiki that I finished a couple of months ago.

Hi all!
Nice fancy stuff on the board lately, but I'll put a stop to that.
Conga goes modern, simple.

Stormy night in Wisconsin, studying shadows and pondering what to do next.
I think I'll have a mai tai!

[ Edited by: congatiki 2007-10-02 20:08 ]

ooooooh-ahhhhhhh!!!

Very choice Conga. He does look very modern indeed! I really love that simple line right down the middle of him.

"Cheers" my northern Brother!

You deserve a mai tai after that. Sit back and enjoy the dark stormy ambiance. Very nice clean fresh design, yet it looks like it came from the 50's.

JP

Wow! More photos!

Yet another distinctive Congatiki piece. I like the candle idea!

That's fucking awesome, er pardon my French! WAAAAAAAY cool!!!

That's awesome, and kinda creepy too. I can imagine stepping out onto the dark patio, ready to have a smoke (even though I quit years back)and suddenly a flame flickers into life and that is waiting there for you! AAAAAH!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2007-10-04 13:52 ]

Many thanks guys.
For a long time I have wanted to do something that had a more primitive feel to it...but
nicely carved. I wanted to incorporate some of the witco or bosko vibe without doing a
flat out copy....and Paipo...this is really inspired by all of the cool stuff that you do
with stone. Us wood-workers generally seem to go into a different direction so this is
really a "tribute" to your creativeness in designing your pendants. While I am thrilled
by all of the comments I must say that I am really pleased that YOU like it.
Finky...I wish I had designed this holding the candle but the candle is actually placed in
front of the carving....same effect however.
Well...more work to be done. Thanks for visiting.

YES, I Really Love this Golden Boy. Conga, it seems what ever you do you do it very well and this is no exception.

Thanks Ben...always appreciate comps from the master.
Getting close on Conga-Modern...might even be done...


Kinda simple design...something harder next. Stay tuned.

Wow - great stuff conga - It's hard to believe that we both did Coontiki a couple years back - and you've really taken off. I wish I had the time and talent. Keep it up - your work is quality.

GAP

Conga my man, you have some great looking carving going on!

Great stuff Conga, i Really love your "Conga Modern" approach. You are really setting an excellent example for the rest of us. :) :)

Gap..where have you been? I missed you and I especially miss your mai tais.
Thanks Seeksurf, happy that you find something in here that you like!
Ben, funny guy. No examples being set here, Conga Modern is Conga Lazy, needed to
spin something simple. Thanks.
Really sore arms and hands tonight, digging deep into a pretty good size piece of basswood
for the last few nights. Nothing to look at yet...I still haven't found out where I'm going.

It might be a simple design, but very well executed. Looks like it could fit the islands and feel equally at home in an ultra hip fifties house.

Thanks Johnny...I like him too...he has a sorta "50s" vibe to him....I think.
Back to work in the Northwoods. Another beatiful fall day, not too many left for outdoor
carving in these parts. A polynesian-influenced carving in the early stages...

Thanks for stopping over, do you have time for a drink?

Looking great Conga! He's still looking very South Pacific to me. Cool beans!!

Nice chops Conga. It is always a pleasure to see you work your craft. I'm a big fan of the Conga-style. Enjoy the weather while you have it. We're just getting into the good carving season here.

-Gman

This one looks like the stern one that will keep all the other tikis in line. Your work just exudes personality. Looking foreward to seeing this progress, hopefully soon before the weather breaks.

He is looking great! I hear you about the fall weather.

Man, Conga, you just Don't Quit do you?. Another super conga-style tiki to win our hearts :lol: HappyHappyHappy

Thanks much GMan, Babalu, Johnny, Ben and Seeksurf, I am honored that you guys dig the
"conga style." It's always a great feeling when the personality starts to pop out of
the wood...and it took a while for this one to get over the "blahs." He is pretty bossy
and keeping all of the other carvings on the "straight and narrow." It's one of my favorite
"body" carves and I have a lotta work to do.
Bad news is that he's have to sit untouched for a week. Mrs. Conga and I are off on a long
road trip tomorrow and she says the tiki has to stay home. Here's the best part...we're
going to Branson...the international hotbed of tiki and polynesian style.
We need a little break and we have a timeshare that happens to have a really nice lodge just
south of Branson. Do you think Andy Williams does "Quite Village?"
See ya next week....if you are a football fan...go COLTS.

Nice start Conga. :D

I think the warm weather is over for us. This past weekend was beautiful. We'll be heading indoors to work on smaller projects soon. But the outlook is for a mild winter, so who knows.

Enjoy your break and Branson! I'm taking a break too... Sunday, I drive across the country to Southern California. Hitting the Tiki Magazine art show in San Diego while I'm out there. Looking forward to getting out of Wisconsin for a bit. :wink:

One of these days we have to get a carve party together. I'll even offer up my yard. Maybe next summer!

Drive safe Lake, take a lot of stuff along for the west coasters. A carving get together
at your place sounds like a great weekend to me, we could tangle up with that
hula-dancer-carver Finkdaddy too. I'll talk with you when we get back from our road trips.

Well, as Lakesurfer will attest, outdoor work is getting unpleasant around here. Days are too
short and the temps are too low.
Here is the finished "Proud Moai."


This feller posed a lot of problems for ole' Conga. First off, the wood (basswood of course) seemed
almost "cork-like" in some areas, the surface would compress and the layers underneath would crumble.
I am sure the chisels were sharp enough, right Ben?
And then I was gonna use a "burgundy" stain and there were huge splotches where it turned black.
So then I decided to cover the entire sucker with a dark walnut stain and that turned disasterous as
well, the poor bastard looked like Carol Channing, just too much stuff covering up too much crap.
So Ole' Conga decided to sand the entire carving to get back to the original basswood, just leaving
some of the dark areas as a sort of "burn."
The end result is this. Sanding sealer topped off with a little mystery spray.
The feller in the back is one that I started prior to seeing Bosko's Moai trio...too late
again. I was gonna just quit and toss him on the burnpile but since we are all friends and no one
is gonna attack me for tiki-plagiarism...I'm going to finish him.
Sorry to ramble.

He doesn't look stern anymore, he just looks cold standing there. Better get him inside and cheer him by having him watch you drink a hot buttered rum. The finish you ended up with shows him off well.