My carving

very good job !!!!

I appreciate your encouragement Eric. I checked out your myspace page and you have a lot of cool photos. Need more tikis though so carve up some new ones :wink:

Yup, I will be there Saturday.

The bird man is AWESOME. The other new ones are merely Very Cool. :wink:

On 2010-01-03 15:41, amate wrote:

Last few pieces of all beauty...
What's kind of wood for the maori? Nice grain!

J.

amatae!!! you been busy!!! these guys are awsome!!!! again luvin the wood too!! very nice grain and finish!!! you have a great style that has some emotion in it!! very cool again cheerz!!!

Big T., Jerome, BTS, - Thanks, The marquesan is heart wood of elm - very hard. The birdman and maori are both chinaberry. (not to be confused with chinese tallow) It is considered an invasive "trash" tree. The chinese tallow is also an invasive non-native but likes the wetter conditions along our coastline. I have never carved it. The chinaberry tree presents the carver with many challenges but I use it because it is abundant, free, and has an attractive grain.

NICE! you have some real talent there my friend.

Wow! Really nice work!

Seeksurf/Bowana - Thanks for having a look and the flattering comments.

I've been working a lot of hours and have not made much progress on new carves. Today is my first day off in two weeks and I want to post something just to keep my hand in.

A few weeks back, the cold snap had me trapped indoors and looking for a way to be creative. I took this guy out and gave him a moko-ver with my wood burning pen.

I have had this guy forever but he just received some new eyes and stain.

Amate, I Totally know what you mean by being held hostage inside by that little cold spell, it attacked me violently it seems. However I'm reminded of the Peeps further up north who are happy when they see any temp above 20 degrees. But it's all relative I Still can't handle anything under the mid 60's.
I Really love the Moko design you gave that tiki, not only is the design difficult to create but even burning it takes lots of steady hands with no shivering/shaking and it looks like you had no issues at all.
Believe me, I still come to everyone's carvings for inspiration, just because many people hang a "Master Carver" name tag on me doesn't mean I'm perfect or that I don't make mistakes, you can definitely see some any time you look.
So keep posting your great pieces and know thateveryone sees the good in them.

Nice update Amate! I like your carving style on
both of them, enough "tiki" to be "tiki" but also a little touch of
African or modern style.

I also can relate to the horrors of being confined indoors. I was going
to do a little power tool clean-up over the weekend...but 10-15 degrees
still seems too cold. Hey Ben, who don't you come up north for a couple
of months, me 'n' Lakesurfer will toughen you up a little :)

Hey amate, i will join the Too Cold To Work club with you. I think this winter has toughened me up a teensy bit. I will now work if it is 50 or so haha.... :P

Haven't used a wood burning pen before. Looks fun.

Big T - I don't remember why I got the wood burning tool but it seems I'm using it more these days. My earlier stuff isn't burned. Just another paint brush in the kit to add some accent I guess. Or maybe just too lazy to carve. :wink:

Conga - I love all primitive art and have many influences both alive and dead. I really like the pre-Columbian American stuff most notably the Olmec. I don't really mind if styles get mixed up in most cases. I do have one carving in my closet that can't figure out if he's from Peru or the south seas. (or perhaps the carver can't figure it out) I believe it's too late to change course. I'll have to pull him out and stare at him for a couple of months and see if I can salvage him. Wasted my best log on him too. I hate when that happens.

Benz - Yes that burn took much longer that I thought it would. . .almost three hours. And take heart, in our more southern latitudes, spring is just around the corner.

amate!!! these are awsome makeovers here!!! that is realy cool and im realy diggin the tat!!!! cheerz!!!

Very cool carves amate, I love the birdman, really great!

Wow! I finally dropped in on you, and look at all the wonderful stuff you're doing. Great designs you've been doing. Keep 'em coming!

Don't hold out on us Amate, let's see it all, even the stuff in the
back of the closet. I can relate to what you are saying about influences
getting all jumbled up in one piece, I'm working on one of those now :)

BIG tiki Scott - Sorry for being so slow to respond. Doing the makeovers is a low risk way for me to experiment with different finishes. The bloom has gone off the rose for me on many of these older carvings and I don't care too much if I screw up. These last two saw and improvement so I intend to keep doing the makeovers.

Clarita - Thanks, I have always had a special fascination with the culture of Easter Island. I hope to post the finished Birdman soon.

Surfintiki - "Droppin In" is only considered bad etiquette out in the line up. Thanks for having a look and you are welcome to visit any time.

Conga Tiki - If I reveal everything I have hidden in the closet, I may destroy my image as an international man of mystery. :roll: Many will re-emerge after they receive a makeover.

Thanks to everyone that stops by for a look. I am still trying to remember who everyone is. I try to look at everyone's stuff even if I don't post a comment.

On 2010-02-15 07:38, amate wrote:
BIG tiki Scott - Sorry for being so slow to respond. Doing the makeovers is a low risk way for me to experiment with different finishes. The bloom has gone off the rose for me on many of these older carvings and I don't care too much if I screw up. These last two saw and improvement so I intend to keep doing the makeovers.

Clarita - Thanks, I have always had a special fascination with the culture of Easter Island. I hope to post the finished Birdman soon.

Surfintiki - "Droppin In" is only considered bad etiquette out in the line up. Thanks for having a look and you are welcome to visit any time.

Conga Tiki - If I reveal everything I have hidden in the closet, I may destroy my image as an international man of mystery. :roll: Many will re-emerge after they receive a makeover.

Thanks to everyone that stops by for a look. I am still trying to remember who everyone is. I try to look at everyone's stuff even if I don't post a comment.

The finished birdman?! We can't wait for that. Let's see him now!!! :P

Here you go BigT.

The original idea was just the feathered wings and the two "weeping eye" motif Makemake images on the legs. There are so many great images associated with Rapanui culture that I had to fill all that empty space on the back.

I might as well throw this guy in while I'm logged on.

This YouTube video is of Mustang Island. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QksTzOG7TCI
We have several barrier islands that dot our coastline. It gave me an idea for another carve. Now I need to find a 60 ft. log. :D

bird man is awsome!!!! luvin the other guy too and as for the 60 ft log let me know if yah need a hand id like in on that!!!! lol!! cheerz!!

On 2010-02-21 04:07, amate wrote:

WOW :o :o

uh huh, I knew you were holding something back!

Oh yeah! Awesome. All the Easter Island markings are always a great touch, I just did some myself!

All good stuff! I like the other-than-tiki influences blended in. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.

Where do you live, Amate? Is Mustang Island here in the US, or Australia, or ?

I appreciate everyone's input. I wasn't serious about carving a canoe. Just being a smart x again. It's a bad habit I guess I never grew out of :oops:

4WD - Mustang Island is in the Gulf of Mexico on the Texxas coast. Thanks for stopping by.

Holy Cow! How did I miss this till now. Great stuff Amate,
wish I had more time to look. Commercial during 24. I'll be
back to peek more later.

Hey where are you, did you fly away on your great birdman? come back!

Hello Clarita,
I haven't been on here for a while due to internet connection problems and stessful family issues. "When it rains, it pours" as they say. So, I haven't made a lot of progress on any thing new but here are a couple of things I've been thinking about.

This Yipwon caught my eye on my last visit to the museum.

I hacked this small one out of a 2x4 but now I believe I may do a larger one... maybe 5ft or so. The museum piece is about 8 ft.

These grade society figures are also on display.

I started this one a couple months ago along with the Yipwon.

Here is how he looks as of yesterday. Tree-ferm is hard to come by around here so I carved mine out of hackberry. I'm pretty sure it's almost the same thing. :) I will definately finish this one up and maybe a couple more to keep him company.

The next two guys are older carvings that I spruced up a bit. They promised to behave themselves so I let them out of the closet and back into the sunshine. I will try to catch up on everyones threads when I get a bit more time. Thanks for your interest.

Ahhh, back to carving...the cure for all ails!! Keep posting!

A good start for the Yipwon figure, also the other PNG...

Good continuation, I stay tuned.

J.

nice work on the museum-inspired carvings. Never tried a yipwan...bet
they are tricky..huh?

oh great start on such cool projects, i'm sorry about your family, hope everything it's better now.. i'll stay tuned to see the progress on this guys, much aloha to you amate.

Hey amate, great to see you have something coming along. Hurry up on that 5-footer! :)

Surfin T. Yes, carving is good therapy.
Laojia - As always, thanks for your encouragement.
Conga - The yipwon is not so difficult to carve but it's hard to get into all the nooks to sand it. At least on one this small.
Thanks Clarita.
Big T. The five foot yipwon is still just something rattling around in my brain. I did start a six foot PNG but my chainsaw broke down while making the step cuts. Now they tell me the part is no longer available. :x

This 3 foot cottonwood log will also be a PNG inspired piece. I'm not sure where I'm going with this but it will be a composite of several carvings I admire. As is usual for me, everything I look at goes into the mix. If any of you see elements of your style in my carving, I hope you will take it as a compliment and not something I'm trying to rip off. I start off with a general idea of what I want to do but I seldom know what the finished product will look like.

On this yipwon, I was experimenting with a staining technique that would resemble the museum piece. Since it was I trial, I did not do a lot of sanding on it. When looking at this photo, I see many things I could do to improve it but I'm anxious to move on to larger projects. I may leave it as is or just wax it.

I'm getting close on this society figure. Just a little more refinement, sanding and stain. Thanks for looking.

Looking good! Keep them coming.

Thanks Seek. I have several larger logs that are now seasoned and ready to carve.

Your carving is awesome, just been trough your thread and it's all great.

Grapa - Thanks for the compliment and taking the time to go through my thread. It must have taken a good 2 or 3 minutes to go through all 6 pages. :lol: Come back and visit anytime.

Heya Allen, the cottonwood piece looks intriguing. Get to work, man! :)

tHEY RE LOOKING GREAT AMATE KEEPEM COMING!!

Releasing tikis into the wild! I am hoping to establish a breeding population on the barrier islands of the Texxas coast. I hope the oil doesn't get them.

Big T. / Tikigodz - Hey guys, I'm still pretty slow on this carving thing but I'll post as often as I can.

Great pics and louv the stain on those guys.

very nice. love the glam shots. Keep that dam oil off them.

Those photos were a challenge because the wind was blowing over 20 knots. You might notice the blurred leaves on the morning glory vine. The Maori simply would not stand up in the wind so that's why he is lying down in the sand.

This one is coming along but I'm stuck on what to do with the hat.

I finally got some stain on this next guy.

I've got a couple more under way but want to make a bit more progress before I show them.

This one is coming along but I'm stuck on what to do with the hat.

Looks like a Fez hat of the Shriner's Freemasons. Maybe inlay a Freemason's logo/emblem out of bone or fossil ivory & sell it to some master mason as a Freemason's tiki. Hope I didn't offend any Freemason members if there are any here on TC.

Looks like the FOM hat to mee and I Think I saw that guy at our last carving get together!!! :P :o

cool stuff Amate

coconuttzo - The headdress I had in mind didn't work out because of two knots on either side of the head that weren't cooperating. So, I'm having to improvise. I see what you mean by the fez though. I'll probably stick with something a little more traditional though. At least my version of traditional.

Benzart - I suppose it is possible that you have seen this guy. He has been grounded several times for sneaking out at night and he might be back to his old tricks. :)