A small carving and a Memorial project

that bob is AWESOME!

Has it REALLY been nearly a year since my friend 8FT has carved anything??

8FT Tiki may have you all thinking he hasn't been working on ANYTHING since that great Tiki Bob carving, but don't you believe it!

And here's the proof!

I was given this wonderful carving just before Thanksgiving! Turns out Mr. 8FT has been spending MANY long hours on this piece. It was once a well-weathered 6x6 redwood deck post, but through painstaking (and in my opinion somewhat insane) determination he created this WAY cool Tiki! I'll let him explain the process, but suffice it to say that I could not have mustered the patience.

I will tell you, however, that I've learned HOW he's able to carve like this.

The inspiration for this Tiki (and I recognized it right away) was found at "The First Ever Gathering of All KC-Area Tiki-philes" event during the summer of '07. We all wound up at the Cool Crest Family Fun Center to see the oldest KC-area Tikis still standing.

An impressive little Tiki, to be sure. And one that I believe ol' 8FT was after from the start. When he thought no one was watching, 8FT summoned the mana of this Tiki through some sort of Tiki mind-meld. From wood to hand; from hand to wood again.

There, your secret is out!

THANKS Paul for a GREAT carving (as always)!

Classic Silver Line Boats

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2008-12-08 12:35 ]

Thanks for letting the secret out Silverline, I was just wondering what
you guys have been up to. I like the latest tiki, and I think I notice
some teddy bears on the top of 8 Foot's mantle. Did you carve those
too?

8ft, Great stuff. Love the 3 inch pendant on the left that is lighter. Is it for sale? I need me some tiki mojo. How much to aquire mucho mojo? TT

On 2008-12-08 16:30, congatiki wrote:
I like the latest tiki, and I think I notice
some teddy bears on the top of 8 Foot's mantle. Did you carve those
too?

Hey Conga! Sorry, all interior photos were taken at my house. 8FT delivers, too!

So who carved the teddy bears? :)

Well now that you went and bragged on me, I guess I better explain what you meant. OK folks, I really love the vintage carving at the mini-golf course. It was made from a piece of an old telephone pole. These days we've all learned how unhealthy it is for us to be carving on that stuff, so I was just filing the image of that carving in my mind until I found a suitable log to try my hand at creating an homage to the vintage god of the golf course.
Early this summer my neighbors were having a new deck built. One of them popped his head over the fence and said hey Paul if you want any of this old wood it's yours. I couldn't believe it. There were 4 of these redwood 6" x 6" support columns each about 8 feet long. All I had to do was remove some old nails, screws and bolts and carry them home! I couldn't afford to buy this lumber today. I think this wood has been outside in the Midwestern elements for about 20 years and they show no more deterioration than a graying of the outer surfaces. Inside it is as fresh and bright as when it was milled.
SO now I start thinking I might be able to coax a cousin of the mini-golf god out of one of these columns. I found a clean section and cut off a piece to start working on.
I quickly learned that it was so dry that it was splintering very badly as I used the chisels so I changed to....X-acto knife blades. It kept me from removing too much wood at once and thereby helped me avoid the damage. However, it took a LOT longer to complete the work this way. I was anxious to complete it so I could give it to Silverline but I HAD to go slowly to get the details I wanted. Sometimes, (as all carvers know) the wood tells you what to do and you'd better listen.
It was fun seeing the Silverlines reaction when I uncovered the carving in their home. It isn't an exact copy of the original nor was it meant to be. I just put my spin on it and tried to inject the spirit of the old carving into the new generation.
We had a nice visit too. Our hosts had a delicious meal prepared and played some of the oldest recordings of Hawaiian music I've ever heard. We told some stories and traded some mugs. As we were leaving, Silverline gave me a nice Hackberry log to start working on.
SO that's the story. I'm glad that the old deck post now has a new shape and a great new home!
Thanks again for the comps. 8FT

OK! Talk to me! I want a pedant pal. Cool beans!

I forgot that I hadn't added this picture here yet. Ok now I have. Bye, 8FT
P.S. It's walnut.

Beautiful Walnut tiki 8 ft, I Love the finish and the nice crisp details. You've been working on this guy awhile?

8 FT M.I.A.

Holy canolli, where do you get a walnut hunk THAT big? Nice carves.

On 2009-11-22 11:33, GROG wrote:
8 FT M.I.A.

Grog not see big walnut tiki I post last month???

Maybe I not post enuff pictures for Grog :(
Here is small carving I do for art swap a couple of weeks back:

On 2009-10-23 15:25, 8FT Tiki wrote:
Finally finished my project! Based it on this:

Started with a couple of blank wood blocks from Hobby Lobby.
Stained the large one and carved the smaller one.

Here they are before assembly:

Now after the 2 pieces are joined (side view).

Added the text and then sealer.

Details on the reverse:

Finished piece measures 8 1/2" X 11 1/4"
The new owner is Artosaurus.

OK, Grog call out 8FT. Now Grog smile again?
8FT go back to tools for more carve. Hope you have plenny turkey and grub this week. Maybe next time Grog come out of cave he see new 8FT carving.
Goodbye From Yor frend, 8FT Tiki

Yay!

Hey 96 inches :D

That chunk of walnut would cost you a small fortune to buy, I'm assuming you had a tree (or connections)?

Nice looking walnut tiki

Mike

Beautiful Walnut Tiki there 8-foot!
Love the Simple graphic face and the flow of it...

Nice walnut tiki! Really, really cool vibe to it. I don't know what your inspiration was - but it's awesome. Cool menu replica too. I like that idea.

That walnut tiki is bloody amazing!

The finish, the design, you can feel the care that went into it.

Aloha!

Marcus

No posts since Nov. 2009. What happened to keeping GROG happy?

So, you haven't carved anything new since 2009 when you last posted on this thread?

i think he got scared of your grout,Ernie!

Did you quit carving tikis and just start buying them?

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=37049&forum=1&start=0

Oh Grog, you so funny. Really, I'm just trying to get you to notice that there's more to 8FT than just an occasionally mediocre carving. Now that I have 3 BIG BOY Tikis in my great room, I don't have to worry about finding and carving something huge for indoors and these guys are WAY cooler than anything I can create. So the weight of a giant hardwood log in my house is no longer a concern. I do have one more walnut log ready to be worked on so that's next. Now before I go, here's a little pendant I did for Mrs. 8FT. It's very light weight because I carved it from the dried stalk of a perennial Hybiscus we have in our yard. The woody stalks when dried are much like Balsa wood and hold detail well.

WAY COOL! So, how much does that little Bob hold?

Painting (or glazing) Tiki Bob is a pain in the ass. You got to feel GROG' pain. You're lucky, you only had to do one. Good job on it, though.

MAKE MORE MAKE MORE MAKE MORE (PLEASE) :D) !!!!!!!!!!!

Last night my wife and I were gifted these fantastic, his & hers Moai pendants, carved by our friend 8ft Tiki! I'll let him tell you how they were done, but suffice to say that there was again another unusual employment of the Exacto Knife. They're pretty dang slick, if you ask me!

Thanks 8ft!

Cool Bob 8Foot but I'm with the skeptics in that you won't quench that thirst with the holdings of This Bob. However he is Really cool, BUT the Moai pair are Way cool too and twice so because there are a pair, so what's the story? Love to hear it. I do understnd the Why part, just need the HOW part? :o

Ben, sorry I didn't reply sooner but I didn't know Silverline had put this in my thread. Anyway, the How was simply a full moai carved from Hibiscus and then very carefully sliced in half. This was hard to accomplish because I was out in the woods camping when I carved it and I didn't have very many tools. I did all I could there and then painted, stained and assembled the bases when I got home. As you probably assumed, the Why is because the Silverlines are great friends and I just wanted to make them something special that they could both enjoy. They deserve it!

Now here's another Pendant from Hibiscus that I just finished. It is so lightweight and I really like working with it. It measures 5 3/4"

I used the same green paint that I had originally bought for the tall Pisco moai I carved a few years ago.

I once was lost.....but now I'm found.....

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2010-12-09 21:25 ]

I want to add to my thread this little 6 inch tall carving which is another Hibiscus stalk piece.

I wish I could have done more carving in the last couple of years but my time is mostly occupied with other responsibilities and I sometimes feel a bit guilty carving when I should be doing something my family needs me to do. I'm sure a lot of you are in a similar situation. Let me share with you a different carving project. Having lost my brother and a very good friend both unexpectedly, I wanted to do something to remember their many years of service to Boy Scouting and so with the help of family and friends we designed and made a picnic bench seat to replace a broken one in a park we all fondly visit each year. It was the last place I saw my brother before he was taken from us and I'm sure he would be happy to know we finally fixed that damn bench seat. Here's the board which we will install as soon as we get some Springlike weather here.

What a great tribute! Thats some clean carving :)

I am sorry for your loss and hope only good things come you and your family's way in 2013!