Paipo's Stone Tikis - 1st Thread - Jun 06 - May 08

Hi Paipo, I'm always amazed at how clean your work is. I like the minimalist approach. I think it's really more difficult to make a statement minimalistically. Nice little rendering of the tongue, and those beady little eyes are so tight. Was a treat to have my coffee with this guy this morning. Glad some doors are opening for you.

R.

Sweet!

What a perfect little artifact.

Looks great :D

Very Nice.....I can truly appreciate the talent and the patience that must be involved with carving stone....Again...Very Nice!!!!

great to see some fresh tikis from you paipo - this is as clean and sharp as any you've made - with that extra creepyness factor thrown in... nice one!

That argillite alien tiki is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY COOL!
Words can't tell you how much i dig on this one!
will an EEGAH! suffice?
Funny, how sometimes the "quickies" really shine and stand out....
I'll attribute that to your instinct and a blast of inspiration
mixed with a desire to do something in the Tiki genre
after your drought! If this is just a hint of what's coming down the pipeline from you
then we are in for one crazy creative year of Rhys Masterworks!
:)

Hey Paipo,

That last guy made me smile. Are you an alien buff? Or are you an alien? That would explain alot..... Supposedly, aliens love making increadibly complex and precise "things" out of stone. Although lately they seem to enjoy crop circles more...... colon smirk colon

My apologies for the slow response - I keep thinking I'll have something new to post and I'll reply then, but other projects are still keeping me busy. By March I should have a little more freedom to loosen up a little....

Thanks to timid, Ben, Hodaddy, Sven, G, Robin, hewey, meheadhunter, harro and Kinny! The feedback really was generous for such a simple wee piece. The Roswell look just kind of happened - there was no forethought or intention for it to happen that way, but like many of my pieces it just seemed to manifest itself. The "ancients" at work...or something more mysterious? :)

Have not taken it off since I got it! AMAZING work! U RAWK!

i like Roswell too, what's happening in New Zealand? did you saw a light and then appeared three days later with no memories of what happened with this carving finished?
:)

SWEET!

awesome work paipo keep up the good work my friend

killer work, tama!! so cool.

Cheers Brad, Clarita, Ben, Marcus...and ...Pat?

On 2008-03-07 22:20, greentikipat wrote:
killer work, tama!! so cool.

:lol:

Anyway, I had a great night with the man in question (out at his pad) a couple of days back, and enjoyed a rare opportunity to have a full night of drunken Stoner rambling - there were 4 stone carvers in attendance altogether :D
Seeing all the tasty green goodies on Tama's bench (including the now-legendary "box"!) gave me the urge to get back into some jade myself. I'm now clear of all deadlines and commitments for quite some time (bar a couple of commissions) so there will be more tikis coming soon. I have two remakes underway already, and a pile of new ideas and styles I want to play with.

Anyway, here's the latest - a variation on the big sculpture I did late last year. This one is certainly a lot easier on the wrists! This stone has worked out far nicer than I expected - it's quite oxidised, but still very tight and is carving beautifully. Definitely a sleeper! I need to remember to take a pic of the untouched stone first next time though....

What a beauty, Paipo your work is always flawless. Simply just beautiful.

Wow...what luxury to be able to work on a chunk like that. Another beauty. I'm very happy you'll have some time for posting a bit. Your confidence and skills are really evident. Curious....do you know where each cut is going to take you from the beginning? Do you see the finished piece before you start?

R.

RESPECT.

:o If I were stoned... I would want Paipo to set me free. :o

Ooooooo! Free time. What's that? Seriously, that is a beautiful stone. Can't wait to see how obsessive you get with it!

now that's one cool head!

Wow! Your stuff is inspirational!!!!!!

I had not considered carving rock until viewing this thread---and I haven't even gotten all the way through it yet!!!

I wanted to ask you what is a good starting setup?

Also,

Since I live on a classical desert isle--all sand and not a indigenous rock to be found ANYWHERE!!!--do you think that some of the rocks at any of the garden centers would do to start? I will post some pics of them when I get to town.

Mustang Island Tiki

Wow is right that stone is turning into
a beauty.

DUh-OOOO!! - sorry paipo, maybe the jade threw me off a bit or something. then, it doesn't take much to throw me off. glad you took it well. cheers man!

Thanks Hil, Robin, Benjamin, Jonesey, Tom, Kinny, MIT, seek surf and Pat (whew!)

Robin, short answer to your Q is probably not - I just grabbed this rock from a small pile I had put aside for sculpting, drew a few lines where I saw the suggestion of a tiki, and went for it. I worked outside the lines and then back into where I wanted it, with a lot of adjustments on the fly to proportions, lines etc made with the toolz as I went. So most of the feel/character develops as I carve. It's a different story with the more detailed little guys, which are usually carved verbatim from a drawing and don't allow much room for improvisation. Next time (probably this week!) I will get pics of (A) the untouched stone and (B)the sketched lines pre-carving.

Tom - obsessive? Maybe...just maybe! I was planning to do a lot of surface detailing on this guy, but now I've seen how pretty the interior is, I'm not so sure. Plenty of work left though - this is still just a few hours roughout with a couple of toolz so far....

Mustang Island Tiki, we have a pretty comprehensive Stone Carving Q+A thread that should answer most of your questions. Your garden centre pebbles will be fine, but don't expect miracles - they are chosen to fill bags, not for their carving attributes! If you are surrounded by sand, there must be rock somewhere?

On 2008-03-10 13:07, Paipo wrote:
Mustang Island Tiki, we have a pretty comprehensive Stone Carving Q+A thread that should answer most of your questions. Your garden centre pebbles will be fine, but don't expect miracles - they are chosen to fill bags, not for their carving attributes! If you are surrounded by sand, there must be rock somewhere?

Thanks for the reply Paipo!

Yeah there are rocks further inland but nothing here on the island. Well, I lie, the bedrock is supposed to be several hundred feet or more below this island! I have been trying to find suppliers for they type of machine you use but I am not having much luck. Those I do find are not listing any prices. I don't mind paying a bit more for quality tools because they almost always last a lot longer. So what does a good machine and a basic set of bits run?

Also, do you have a web addy that lists any of your fine pieces for sale? There are several that I am interested in.

Thanks again!

Mustang Island Tiki

Where exactly are you? A sandy isle in the heart of Texas?!? Intriguing....(edit: never mind, I'm a dumbass...Mustang Island of course...now I see why there's no stone!)
I have one word for you - ebay. You can buy micromotor handpieces, burrs, stone...almost everything you need, then just sit back and wait for it to arrive. Don't get too carried away with top-of-the-line gear when you're just starting out. My handpiece (NSK) cost me over $3K NZ, so you'll want to go for something cheaper if you're just doing it for fun. Foredom make one (micromotor) which I imagine is pretty decent, but they are all expensive - a good heavy duty dremel or foredom (ie flexishaft) will suffice when you're starting out and is affordable too. I used one for almost 5 years before I upgraded. Many of the wood guys seem to already have one of these in their kit too. As for burrs, I think a lot of the US guys are using the Lopacki(?) brand diamond burrs and have said good things about em. Prices I can't advise on, cause I source all my stuff locally! I'm pretty sure Ben and others have supplied info in the Q+A thread on some of their sources...

Regarding my work, I just have a myspace page for my tiki art (see sig), and a personal site for non-tiki stuff (see "homepage"). Usually the only thing available will be what I'm currently working on (unless it's a commission) and I sell in the marketplace here occasionally, or on ebay under the name new_zealand_jade. Drop me a PM sometime and maybe we can work something out!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-03-10 19:58 ]

Man oh man, Paipo. You're gonna bait us in with another monster jade piece, huh? I love it already. Will he be one-sided or two-sided?? You wanna trade for some sharky stuff?

Paipo, I Love the new Giant green head project, can't wait to see how it comes out!

Thanks G & Ben. Slow progress on this one so far, with not much studio time lately - I've been enjoying the late summer weather with some family visitors and doing a few daytrips.

I was actually s'posed to be working on a commission today, but this little guy whispered to me...."go on - pick me up".
Not a great deal to see - the bulk of the work was done in the first session, and now it's just a matter of getting the "vibe" right by subtle alterations. Today involved lots of sanding and tweaking of the features and how they relate (and flow in) to each other. I didn't really get into the nose and mouth yet but they will need adjusting too.

There is something very enjoyable and contemplative about working on these bigger jade pieces, and slowly carving down to reveal the character within the stone.

edit cause I missed this earlier:

On 2008-03-11 18:40, GMAN asked:
Will he be one-sided or two-sided??

You probably worked out from the update that he's half-of-one-sided - what you see is pretty much what you get with this guy. I had thought of carrying some linework through into the uncarved side as a transitional effect - I'm not so sure now. This one is another take on the "emerging tiki" idea (loosely based on the legend of Poutini), where the spirit can transform from stone to tiki and vice-versa. I like the idea of it still essentially being a specimen cobble, with the carved part being 25% or less. It also means I can make/offer something more substantial without charging a fortune.

[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-03-16 02:23 ]

Just lovely Paipo. Love that ear..I hope it's an ear. The transition seems to be working very well as he emerges, although I like the idea of line work....but line work is one of my things, and I'd like to see you do it. :)

Awesome... I love these epic pieces of the carvings emerging from the rock.

I see Gmans feet made it all the way to NZ.

Holy kee-rap!

"I see Gman's feet made it all the way to NZ."

No way Jose, my feetz is still here. Those are stoner toez.

The big jade piece is beautiful Paipo. I still think you should send him to me. Where did your last big one wind up?

-G

Yeah, he's looking More and More Excellent every time you touch him. Don't listen to that GMAN guy, he will never return this guy if you send him to him while I, on the other hand, will return him right away within the allotted time, so just sail him out to me on the next tide and I'll enjoy him awhile and get him right back to ya'. I Love it when they Talk to you!

Oh wow! this promise to be an amazing piece!!

[ Edited by: Clarita 2008-03-20 07:07 ]

That HUNK of green is oh so precious.

word....
that hunk o jade is gettin some major BEAUTIFICATION!
How far you gonna take this? looks like it's almost done...
two thumbs up....

Thanks all!

JP - I knew you'd like this one. There are more of these on the cards (see below) !

Robin - Maybe it is an ear? I see these raised spirals quite often on the side of the wheku-style carvings, but hadn't given it that much thought. More research needed! I caught up (finally) with our mutual friend in Hokitika last weekend. Such a cool guy - I wish I'd had more time to hang and talk story. As always, he was busy with his students though, and I had my wife, mother, sister and daughter driving round Hokitika trying to work out where I'd gone!

Hank - cheers Mr. Tiki-Mod! I can't wait for your little guy to join the crew in the shed!

G -the big boy is in the collection of one of our good TC members and also one of my most loyal supporters - timidtiki. (Hope he doesn't mind being "outed", but respect/acknowledgement is due to the collectors and patrons who help keep us artists alive!)

Ben - one day one of these will be swimming/sailing your way I'm sure. Keep your eye on the shoreline!

Clarita - thanks! My wife just rescued Hoku Ili from my workshop and brought him into the bedroom. He works very nicely in there! If candles could talk... :lol:

seeksurf - it's funny, this stone was a "reject" that I actually bought from another carver for next to nothing, but I saw its potential straight away. It has just got better and better as I've delved deeper into the interior. The colours aren't obvious cause it's still rough and dry, but just wait until the finish!

Kinny - you're on the money - I'm almost done removing stone and it's just refinement from now on. Probably do some shell inlays for teeth and eyes to give it more life, but the jury is still out on the line work to blend the features into the natural surface on the right side. Maybe some swirling lines to suggest the features taking form out of the water or something similar. I'll make that decision when it's closer to being done.

No new work on the cobble yet, but as promised I took a photo of the next one in the preliminary stages - untouched stone, and then drawn up ready to carve. I was going to photograph this one, print out a sheet of them and draw some variations, but as soon as I picked up this pebble (about palm sized) I could see my birdman sitting in his egg trying to break loose...

It's probably a bit on the ridiculous side for a pendant, but I think I'll string this one up when it's done. It's a nice flat, round shape and would look pretty impressive!

A birdman breaking free from the egg! A really neat concept.

And, thanks for posting the prelims. Your work is even more inspiring when I can see how the idea takes shape and then moves towards a final form.

Note: The "big boy" is now a display piece (I just couldn't figure out how to make it work as a pendant), but it is not under glass. It is right out in the open where it can be touched (as it should be).

Looks sweet Paipo!! I cannot wait to see it once you have worked it down some. Do you have anything to give a scale on that piece?

Mustang Island Tiki

Hey Paipo. Funny I started checking the shore-line today, half expecting to find something usable floating in on the tide! Ha It's nice to see you posting more stuff and you mknow the Big stuff gets the biggest response it seems.
Timid when you come down this way, throw that giant green rock in the trunk or nyer car so I can see it too!(carefully)
Thanks Pipes.

On 2008-03-20 16:26, Paipo wrote:

I could see my birdman sitting in his egg trying to break loose...

Wouldnt it be great if he 'hatched' over Easter.. "Oro, Oro, Oro.." :wink:

T :)

I'm Impressed!

Tom

Glad you got to go to Hokitika...nice little town eh? And Steve is one cool guy....got that island wisdom. Ummm...interesting peek into your process/vision with the stones. And thanks too for the prelims. I like this one a lot, seems to have a lot of soul.

hey paipo,
love the big hunk o green thing (the hulk I will call it), and the beginning of this birdman egg. always a pleasure to read through your thread.
cheers,
harro.

Beautiful Rhys!
and you can use the other half for a different pendant same theme! :)
you ROCK!

these pieces are looking great, Paipo. like the big guy a lot.