tok-tok, German tiki thing. News + pics on pg. 7+8

Aloha Tok-tok,
Your carvings look great and its great to see another European let the chips fly.
Hope you find a place to carve soon.
Greetings,
Grapa-Ruha

Hi my friend, I'm glad to see you're back.
Your new pieces are oustanding. I hope to see more soon !

Hats off,

Benjamin.

Hi,

thanks for looking. I really missed writing but I checked TC from time to time.
@Grapa-RuHa: Thanks a lot. It is allways nice to get to know another european carver and tiki enthusiast. There are not that many over here as over there. I´m actually working on finding another workspace/small room.

@ benella: Hi Benjamin. Yes, it´good to be back. Congrats to your new arrival. What a surprise.
Nice little bear was that, too.

As I said, here are some more results of my absence and som details of the cherrywood panel.




The pictures shown were the final state befor givin it away, I only put some priming oil on to bring out the natural colors of the wood. Made for indoor use only.

There was this small piece of birch with the stripes in it. I did what Benzart suggested and put some layers of poly on it. Additionally used a waterbased stain which was standing outside in the cold for to long and actually was destroyed/ lost nearly all pigments. The result was a light grey that combines very nice with the wood.

I got the idea of framing some of my pieces from a friend, who also took part at the surfbeat artshow in march this year, KRAZY-TIKI-Art.
I was really stoked of the results he sended over to me and decided the use this idea as well. Ok, framed art is nothing new here, I know.

These two are made of pieces from recycled outdoor furniture

Hodad-Tiki

And this picuture was the hardest piece of basswood I ever carved.
I refused to put many details in it, I simply gave up.

Another tiki inspired piece of skin-art at last. Part of a bigger project in progress.

Mahalos,
tok-tok

Oh there you were! :) great new stuff!

Great new stuff. Nice to see you back! I like the pineapple! The pineapples often don't look like they fit in with the tikis very well, but you pulled it off perfectly! Good job.

Man-Oh-Man, Tok, LOVE the Tat works, Just Awesome work. I see the tick-tock has been getting away from you recently (me too) really Happy to see so much work though. Love the Tiki Pin-up girl too.
Stay Around! :P

Right On! Good to hear from you. Looks like you
have been busy.

I love the cherry wood carve NICE and I really
like the tat of the wood lady COOL.
Keep in touch.

Good to see you back on here.
I'm glad all is well, and that you have been busy. Its always good to see the european carvings..

Regards

Tark

Half a year now since my last picture upload here on TC. That is what I call lousy, but I could not help it. Had some personal problems which I don´t want to extend to much here.
I found a place to store my workbenches and some of my tools but did not manage to carve something big again.
So I spent my time at the living room table. Here are parts of the results.
Small ones, between 3 and 7 cm in height, that must be 1,18 and 2,75 inch.




I left these two above unstained, only rubbed some colored wax on, which as I think gave them a nice vintage look.




With putting some stain on the last I got the feeling that they lost their details. I hope you can see enough. Sorry for not having any progress pics.

I miss carving big projects much. Hope I will find a way. And also hoping, I not to rusted in...
It is a real shame that I stayed away from here for so long. You will get some more pictures as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow.

On 2009-06-14 10:27, tok-tok wrote:

I not to rusted in...

Certainly not!!!
Welcome back nachbar!

J.

Welcome Back TokTok,
Don't worry about the rust, it'll scrape right off and you'll be up to speed and ahead in no time. What else you have in the works?

Welcome back! 6 months time flys.
Good to see you are still hooked on the tikis.
Looking good.

tok-tok, welcome back!

Big or small, you've still got it, no worries there!

I like the little guys, they've got a bunch of personality.

glad you are back, a lot of cool new stuff!

Vzzzt... bleep...ka-ching...

Thanks to all of you for welcoming me back.
laojia: Dankeschön. It is allways a pleasure to see someone new here in Europe interested in tiki styles and especially carving. Nice carving-place you have.

Benzart: You are a mentor for us all. I don´t worry about the rust neither. I´ll get back kneedeep in woodchips sooner or later.

seeksurf: Time flys, your are right. And it is good to be back in the boat. Your carvings are very inspiring to me. Was asked just yesterday, if it´s possible for me to do a north american totem pole. But it should have been ready till next saturday. In general I would except, but with this deadline and lack of space, I kinda unsure.

lakesurfer: Thanks for the compliments. Small was my favorite (enforced) size for the last months. I have to talk to some friends about finding a new shop. Still searching. But it´s not hopeless.

clarita: It´s always nice, that you find your way here. Thank you.

I haven´t been too lazy the last months and rummaged through my tangled mass of pictures to find some carvings "in process". They are not all original tiki but kind of related to. Descriptions above the pictures.

No. 1
Someone here on TC inspired me to do a monster serie. There was a mummy, Frankenstein, a vampire and the Wolfman as wall hangings (Was that Alohastation?)
I wanted to do something similar.
Here is "Wolfie".

For the next piece my intention was to make a classical look. Not copied but inspired by early tiki mugs. It all came from imagination, no drafts. Is it tiki enough?

I read alot about carving and about ancient, pazific or rather midcentury tiki culture in the U.S.. But it comes to creating a new piece I rely on was is in my head. Mostly. So happend here.

I really dig the heads Benzart is doing with these unique proportions.
My bow (without copying).
I left it without any patterns, cause it was made out of spurce. Uneasy wood that is.

NexT: Not much tiki, but each one is carving skulls every now and then, so here is my pole (it has more a pendant size).

Quick one out of a basswood twig. Took me half an hour. As you can see. :P

I dig lonos. This one is ca. 8" tall and made out of basswood.

I guess I call this one "Gecko". Guess why. Made out of oak twig (8" tall as well).

I guess, I have let him hold something in his hands, he is looking quite uncomfortable.

For this one I again totally let my thoughts fly, combining some styles. Grin, headdress, arms, bearing. Basswood (6").

The marquesas style is also an important reference for me. But there are others who can set it up better than me. If you are carving this style seriously, you have to look up your notes more often. This one here is a free interpretation of it.

All other progress pics are slightly cr@ppy, overexposed and stuff.
Next time I bring the pictures of the finished pieces. I mean, they are ready allready, but please enjoy these above first.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
tok-tok

Wow, a literal army of Tikis! Each one unique and with their own voice and character. Great job.

Impressive collection! All carving last weekend? :o
Very good work, my favorite is the lono, I like so much "wolfie" and also the skull pendant.
What is your carving technical? Chisel? Knive? Other?
And what about the finishing?

Oops sorry! Full of question for a sunday morning, I stop here.

J.

Excellent herd of tiki, you are getting some very nice details in your works, whet tools again are you using. Hard too say which one is my fav but the Frank is close!

Nice mix of everything.

Would be cool to see you take on a NW style.

On 2008-12-06 04:23, tok-tok wrote:
As I said, here are some more results of my absence and som details of the cherrywood panel.

Fantastic work tok-tok. This panel is my favorite!

tok-tok,

This thread is really amazing. I think you appeared here around the time I disappeared, and now I'm back seeing your work for the first time. It took me a while to get through it all, but it was worth it. From start to finish you've come a long way and really churned out a lot of great tikis, with some real "breakthrough" pieces at different points along the way. The tiki bug hit you hard, I see! Very nice work!!

Aaron

I totally missed your update. It was NOT me that did any Monsters. Try looking at Clydsdale's stuff - I know he did several Frankenstiens.

Great carves. You need to do some finish work. These will really POP with some stain and/or paint.

Oops, where was I?

Thanks to all of you.
TikiMango: Thanks for the support. The army is growing slowly but steady. Really like, what you are doing to these bones. But I love to see a big one made out of wood again, too. You have an eye for styling them.

laojia: Thank you,too. No, not at one weekend. I am not carving very day, sadly there is not enough time for it. My collection takes it´s time.
I use both, knives and some micro-chisels when carving the small ones. For big projects I try to use the chainsaws alot and also have some electic power tools. I´m always looking for new inspirations to get the work done easier. Kinda tooladdicted, too.
The finishing come further down the line.

Benzart: How was the birthday party? Hope, someone else sliced the cake :wink:. That accident was bad luck. Get well soon. Thank you, man. The wolfman is part of a monster serie I am doing just for fun.

seeksurf: The man from the bog! Thanks. I own a book about NW style carving but I must admit, I never thought about it. Maybe, one day, who knows? In Germany, there is only a small comuntity of people, who really know, what tiki is. We have no such background as you. Most people first think of totem poles when they see tikis. "Daddy, what is the man doing over there?" "Well, son, he´s carving a totempole". Nerving... So, I guess, I really should do that. At least one. But later.

Highlander: The cherry-panel was one of my favorites, too. I was doing it for my home, but there was this lady, who saw it and wanted it immediatly. So it went away from me,sadly. Many thanks for the supporting words.

Aaron´s Akua: Nice to see another wise guy here in my little hut. You are right. I read about you signing of the moderation as I decided to log on. Thanks for the many compliments. I came a long way but I am still on my way.

AlohaStation: Thank you for your advice. But I really couldn´t find, what I meant. I know about Clysdalles monsters, which I really admire, however it was something else.
I have saved the pictures a long time ago and it took me hours to find them again. I will post one now, but at least let me say, that the AlohaStation Style is always very inspiring to me.

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Maybe, some of you will remember this one and give me a hint, who this was?

Here is my interpretation of a some classic movie monsters.

Frankie
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Vlad
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The Wolf
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The Mummy (looking a bit like Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four)
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Happy family
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My finished Benzart tribute, without detailing it. I hate detailing on spurce.
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I have to smuggle some other carvings in here, among the tikis
I did not show up with this one, The piked One-eye. You have seen it unfinshed a couple of pages ago. Reminds me of KONG and KODOS, not knowing, which one first.
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Laquered surface.

Let´s turn over to some more classic stuff again.
Finished marquesan. I let parts of the inner bark on him to get some more effects.
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The one with the gecko.
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LONO. Ready stained and waxed.
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That mug thing.(No, it is a carving.)
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It is late, I don´t know how to explain this one. Look at the mouth, that is what inspires me, when i look at AlohaStation carvings.
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The Skull-Stick.
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On this one I lost myself in detailing the details. Kinda problem of mine.
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That´s it almost.

Three weeks ago I was asked to carve a panel for a stone sculptor.
My first bigger project after a couple of month.
Ok, it´s got nothing to do with tiki, but with carving.
Carving carving tools. For tooljunkies.
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The rune is an traditional guild sign of the sculptors here in Germany, for some hundred years now and still in use.

Oh Man, am I tired or what? Way past midnight now. Good night.

Ta ra!
tok-tok

holy smokes! great stuff! i am really, really liking the skull stack. great idea doing the horror movie tribute. love those guys.

bd

Nice collection finished!!
Good work on the "stone carver panel"!

:o

Lots of wonderful carvings ! You constantly carve, each day ? Spectacular !
Love your big updates.

Benjamin.

Man, you are On Fire, a Carving machine Unleashed and doing another bunch of excellent pieces too! Where is all this pent up energy coming from?

Damn great work. You can see that you getting better from carvingto carving. Hope I'll get that good too one day. Greats from Frankonia.