I 2nd Babalu's motion of working next to Ray's assistants. They look like they could teach anybody a thing or two.

RAY - can I please have that TikiChick #3's name and email address. Just PM me the details. I have a pendant she can wear, but I need to get all her info first.

Believe it or not, a Buzzy poster may be happening real soon! Our new "Mr. August" is getting pretty popular!

Her name is Amie Decker and she will be in the 2008 West Coast Choppers calendar tiki/chopper/hot chick photo/pic/thingy with my tikis that month which ever month it is cause Im not sure cause I havent seen it yet cause Jesse James doesnt want me to stop carving tiki's and start making my own chopper bikes so we just have to wait till October to go to Wal-Mart and buy the calendar.Does that clear things up for you ? Now , while your mind is numb I will throw out this pic just for Cammo.

Hubba ,Hubba !!!!!!!

THANK YOU RAY!

Demo-shmemo---too much drama. GROG going to join Bamboo Ben and try and set everybody's logs on fire. Burn baby burn!!!

[ Edited by: GROG 2007-08-04 10:18 ]

That ROCKS Grog ! Plus I can almost see your leopard print thong too . SCHWEEEET !

Current Carver Count for the Village is ---

23 Guys
10 Girls

Total
33 Carvers!

Hey Grog - is Bamboo Ben coming??? What's up wit him? Does he have a booth this year or what???

Are you kidding? Any chance to have that many people in one place that he can be drunk and mischeavous with.....

And if you think I'm joking about the possibilty of B.Ben attempting to light people's carvings on fire, then you don't know Ben. That will probably be the least crazy thing he does. And, if he's got any fireworks left over.....

mr.noname, my friend who's a photographer from national geographic sent that to me. he said it drives the native women wild. you know what huge hands mean . . . . .

huge gloves.

On 2007-08-04 21:15, pdrake wrote:
mr.noname, my friend who's a photographer from national geographic sent that to me. he said it drives the native women wild. you know what huge hands mean . . . . .

huge gloves.

Big nostrils.

News Bulletin #4!

Buzzy and I have been working (well, not really working more like goofing off and talking about working) on a show poster for the Carving Village. It turns out Ace hardware may sponsor us, so we have to make this look like it's more than a bunch of pals having a big parking lot party, which of course is exactly what it is.

So I got out my trusty but rusty fisheye lens camera, and you can vote on the picture you want on the poster - just PM me or shoot yer mouth off right here -

I think these came out not too bad....

Buzzy #1

Buzzy #2

Buzzy #3

Buzzy #4

Buzzy #5

Buzzy #6

Buzzy #7

Buzzy #8

And yeah, I'll be bringing the fisheye to the Oasis, so you folks will all look 100x crazier than normal!

Laytah

#5 is a good pic, but #8 has a more interesting look except you cant see Buzzys face. Re-shoot #8 with lighting so we can see his face. The silhouette look is cool, but I think we should see his face, otherwise I vote #5.

So hard to choose from all those great shots of Buzzy's nose hair, but I'm gonna have to go with #6.

Six is the best, but can't you re-shoot, using Zaya, or Kate w/boots???
That mug may scare people off...:P

Hey, those are all good shots, but no one's gonna recognise Buzzy; he's not naked!

did you take those with your camera phone??? man, ansel adams you are not..... :wink:

reshoot....or posterize/bitmap or duotone those bastards and see if that helps...

so if you cry, throw down your tools and threaten to leave you get to be the poster boy, nice gig :wink:

On 2007-08-05 17:53, Tiki Lee's wrote:
Hey, those are all good shots, but no one's gonna recognise Buzzy; he's not naked!

But he's showin' some leg in #6.

On 2007-08-05 18:12, Clysdalle wrote:
so if you cry, throw down your tools and threaten to leave you get to be the poster boy

The requirements were very stringent. I had to be sitting around with nothing to do in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week; have big pile of tikis and wood chips just laying around at my disposal; and have the ability to answer my phone when it rings.

I seem to have met all those requirements last Thursday.

Ugly Buzzy + Big nose + fish eye lens = a mug on a poster that will frighten people from this event.

I vote for #8.

Or, we all send in a tiki picture of something carved at a chop and we just make a collage. But I think we do not have time for that.

It's too bad I'm so ugly.
Buzzy Out!

"reshoot....or posterize/bitmap or duotone those bastards and see if that helps... "

Hey Clyde, get with it! Fisheye, or lomography, as the biggest thing in photography now! It's all about anti-digital, schemp, get with it before you get lost in the dust! (cough, cough)

Lomography pulls in like 1000% more light than a regular lens, forcing the film surface to either go deep black contrast or intense color. It's the hottest thing with extreme sports photogs, you can't get your hands on a waterproof fisheye these days, they're sold before they're made.

I'm doing a surfing ecommerce site right now that's gonna be 80% lomography, it looks KILLER. Posterizing is so 90's, mine the fisheye!

http://www.lomography.com/fisheye

You're not ugly bro, you're my hero! (But I would avoid fish-eye lenses in the future, just a thought.)

On 2007-08-05 21:14, Cammo wrote:
"reshoot....or posterize/bitmap or duotone those bastards and see if that helps... "

Hey Clyde, get with it! Fisheye, or lomography, as the biggest thing in photography now! It's all about anti-digital, schemp, get with it before you get lost in the dust! (cough, cough)

Lomography pulls in like 1000% more light than a regular lens, forcing the film surface to either go deep black contrast or intense color. It's the hottest thing with extreme sports photogs, you can't get your hands on a waterproof fisheye these days, they're sold before they're made.

I'm doing a surfing ecommerce site right now that's gonna be 80% lomography, it looks KILLER. Posterizing is so 90's, mine the fisheye!

http://www.lomography.com/fisheye

hahaha....fisheye new....I did photography in the mountain bike industry in the late 90's and fisheyes were played out then. Great more xgames/skater/gnar gnar/grindage looking photos....

Who still shoots with film anyhow...even glamor shots in the mall has switched over!

Dang Cammo!
How did you get a REAL artist to participate? (just kidding you carver guys out there!)

This Mr Howell guy is incredible!

On 2007-07-16 10:13, Cammo wrote:
Our Tiki Carving Village Special Guest this year is Richard Morgan Howell. He carves stuff like this –

He learned to carve in the South Seas, during his full time work as a fisheries expert. He’s lived everywhere, carved with natives in Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, you name it. He came to Babalu's Lemon Grove Chop, and let Clysdalle use a real adze for the first time. We got along with him right away.

Richard's incredible website;

http://www.oceania-art.com

On 2007-08-04 10:47, Cammo wrote:

Hey Grog - is Bamboo Ben coming??? What's up wit him? Does he have a booth this year or what???

ben will be there and will be boothless

Free Munktiki mug to the man who can convince Boo to work (ie carve) during his vacation
(it has to be a real carving, not a few whacks at a log)

Ok you big Babies!!! Enough with the arguing and on with the real work! :wink: Here's what Hot poster guy Buzzy, Billybobalu, and I were doing today while you guys were all fighting over who the better photographer is! :)

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Whoa Whoa Whoa!

These guys will think I'm crazy, but I had fun! Except for the blisters on my hands, but that's ok.

Oh yeah, and I say definitely number 8 for the poster. Cam I'll take an 8x10 glossy of number 7 for myself though. :)

Zaya

So Billy Bee's most precious and beautiful dream came true at last! There he is, rolling, hopping, nesting in a giant pile of uncarved logs. Can't wipe that grin off his face, all that and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon too!

And the poster of Buzzy isn't a payoff for dragging his butt back into the ring, he's just the closest guy to where I live who has a backyard full of hand carved Tikis.

I've never seen Bam Bam Ben do ANY carving, on vacation OR off, how the heck can ANYBODY git that guy to whack up a Tiki???? He's welcome, anyway, I guess, but keep him away from my Black Ulu'a fish.

Oh, I had the time of my life, man......Vista is a HOT place in the summer and by "HOT", I don't mean it's big with the masses. It actually took us no time at all to feild-dress and load 11 great logs, while taking time to admire their bloated, sun-dried carcasses.

Log stripping party next Sunday? Got some great ideas to share, even if it's just me, Buzz, & Cammo, but it would be nice if others could join us.

7 for sure. You people need to definitely look outside the box....let's let loose and go with the daring one.........take a chance.

I think #7 is cool as well.

Who's looking INSIDE the box? Where IS this freakin' boox, man!!!?

Who's got the box? I wanna see what's in it. You guys need to share the box. If I had the box, I'd share, that's for sure!

You guys are SO CLOSE to the answer, ya cain't even see it!

THIS IS THE POSTER.....

Just add some text and do your Photoshop Magic. I'd LOVE to see what you arr-teests come up with!

GROG vote for #8.

If you go with #8 (my choice), I'll take a t-shirt too.

Buzzy...you got a your Xmas cards done Bro.

You guys should have called me....I would have brought my big truck and helped. Will sharpen the draw knife for next Saturday.

Otto, that Mr. Howell is a very talented fella...real nice guy too. He has traveled all around the world, and stayed for long periods in many different exotic places to learn his craft.

It will be great fun to have so many people carving at the same time.

I can't go anywhere next weekend cause I'll be picking up some sixpacks of my newest addiction - (blue) Romulen Ale at the World's Biggest Star Trek Convention in wonderful downtown LAS VEGAS!

But Buzzy, I'll stop by and help out this week.

Billy Bee - heat schmeat, get off it brah, there's no masking the elation on your face.

Show Poster coming soon, I'll hand over scans of #8 if anybody else wants to do T-shirts, but it's getting kind of busy around here right now!

Yup, I was elated, alright......like a 10 peckered rabbit in a brothel with a company credit card!!

HEY BABALU!! New mug idea, man! Billy the 10 peckered rabbit!( sort of like Khali, but different)

"like a 10 peckered rabbit in a brothel with a company credit card!!"

I think that's the funniest thing I've ever read on TC.

GOOD FOR YOU, BUGS!

My vote is for #8...I like the mystique of the shadowing and tiki in the background.

So how lame am I? I never actually understood that a Chop was actually just doing a bunch of carving. I thought it was a bunch of people really into messing around with motorcycles. Guess it helps to actually read the threads.....
Anyway, I gotta get to a Chop! Sounds like a good time. Looks like the Carving Village for Oasis would be good times but I only got these crappy logs at home that still need to be skinned.
If carving a crappy log doesn't DQ me, can I show up on Saturday? Do you have to buy a ticket to attend the chop? Wasn't planning on attending Oasis this year since it's gotten so bloody expensive, but I can jet down from the OC for the day and finally get back to work on cutting off my finger.
Please! I need to be accepted by other people! I can't handle rejection!

Josh baby,

YOU'RE IN!

Just come to the Oasis, head over to the Carving Village, and ask for Billy Bee. He'll set you up. We may (you'll have to check with Buzzy) have both logs for cheap (if you want one all to yourself) and some test chisels for you to use. Don't worry, I'm not kidding, come on down, everybody is invited, everybody's more than welcome.

I think we'll have a demo log that anybody can try carving on, and one for old hand pro's to carve a section of...

Buzzy and I will have logs available for first time carvers and old-timers as well. That's what we're doing in the pics that Zaya posted-getting the logs ready for the Tiki Village.
Most will be half-rounds but I think Buzz said he'd have a couple of full logs, too.

And TIKI VILLAGE IS FREE!!!(just make sure you bring us drinks and stuff!)

News Bulletin #53

Ace Hardware is sponsoring our event! Yikes! I fast-talked my way (shoulda had Billy Bee with me, that guy can schmooze like lightning) to the owner of San Diego's newest Ace store, and he's a great guy from South Africa who loves Tiki stuff. His very cute blond daughter runs the store, and she's all into it as well. That means we get our drop cloth and red duct tape for FREE! Which is always good.

The show poster is coming out soon, sponsored by ACE, the Folks Who Like to Help!

Hey Cammo , What is the basic length and width of the logs so I can plan a design , how long do you need me to carve as I have a booth as well to tend by myself . Can I get the log Saturday to work on while I vend and then finish it Sunday with the chop or what is your plan ? I can bring my own if you want , Im just trying to plan my weekend and get it all done my friend . Oh and send a pic of the blonde daughter as I sent you info on my model . (only if shes over 18 yrs of course ) hahaha .

On 2007-08-06 16:52, Cammo wrote:
News Bulletin #53

Ace Hardware is sponsoring our event! Yikes! I fast-talked my way (shoulda had Billy Bee with me, that guy can schmooze like lightning) to the owner of San Diego's newest Ace store, and he's a great guy from South Africa who loves Tiki stuff. His very cute blond daughter runs the store, and she's all into it as well. That means we get our drop cloth and red duct tape for FREE! Which is always good.

The show poster is coming out soon, sponsored by ACE, the Folks Who Like to Help!

True, I can talk the knickers off of a nun and would have gone for broke, man.......red duct tape, drop cloths, stains, lacquers, the blonde daughter, sandpaper, you name it, I would have gotten it ALL!!

VERY cool, Cammo!! Ace is the place with the helpful hardware.......chick!

Raymond -

There ain't no rules, bro. I'd bring a log you've already started, or at least drawn out. You can chop at our place anytime from Friday - Sunday. Log length? Start chopping and when it's finished, STOP!

Why not just bring over the one you're working on at your booth and chop at our place for a while, then take it back?

I'm planning on doing a small (2 foot) mask on a halfsy log, and keep it real simple. Will have it drawn out but not worked on until I get there. Plan to chop it, stain it and finish it in three days flat.

LETS GO! I HAD IT WITH THE BLABBERING! LETS CHOP!!!!!

No power tool rules but now we can use Ace stain ? I never stain , just use heat for shading . Hey , did I just make a rule ????????

Bud, try stain. It works great. Why not???

I'll be using stain.......either to shade my tikis, or to sniff on a rag!

I just havent , the real wood says enough for me .

Ramone, Ramone, Ramone, if you're putting any kind of finish on the wood; spar, poly, laquer, shellac, it's changing the color of the wood. It is.

Now don't get me wrong, I love your tikis and the natural look you got going on there.

And I love that twisty guy you just posted! Holy trade winds, that one is freaky!

But - I've been getting these amazing results with using a dark stain, then sanding it down a bit after to show the wood grain even more, then finishing with a top coat. It really makes the woodgrain come out more, not less. And mixing two types of stain on a Tiki, using a paint thinner to keep the thing wet at all times so they blend, gives you amazing results.

That's what I'll do a demo on at the Chop. If you still hate it, fine, but don't sniff yer nose at it like some skinny French Cheese expert; Africans have been staining with fire soot for thousands of years!

Yeah , i didnt realize how snooty I was getting till I started reading these posts . I guess its rubbibg off on me .Ill just be quiet and carve . See you there .

Bamboo Ben is stocking up. He's building his arsenal nicely.