My 3rd and 4th attempts. what do ya think?

I haven't lost the bug! With the hurricanes that came through Florida came a few unique opportunities. I was cleaning up some wood that fell because of the hurricanes and started thinking that there has to be some good palm wood around that fell.. Up to now I have been carving wood that I recovered from trees that I had cut up. The majority of the wood comes from the ear tree. The wood is fairly soft, but very stringy. The wood holds detail ok, but tends to crack when drying.

The other day while driving home my dream came true. Sitting on the side of the road was a 20' palm tree. I immediately stopped and cut the good wood out of it and threw it in the trunk! I ended up getting two 3' pieces and one 2' piece.


They are both about 7-8" round.

During all of this I finished my last tiki. It is about 4' and made of ear wood. This is also a tree that fell in the neighbor's yard. I used all hand tools except for sanding and the eyes. I dug out a chamber in the back of the tiki, and drilled the eye holes to connect to the chamber. With the airflow entering under the chamber door and exiting the eyes. I put incense in there and the eyes smoke. I finished him by using a blow torch to turn the wood. After he cooled I coated him with semi gloss poly.

I took to 2' section of palm and decided to work on it first. How the heck to you guys get the bark off? The red stringy bark gave me a fight. I ended up driving my hatchet between the wood and the bark, then twisting it a crowbar. There has got to be an easier way... The wood itself was a pleasure to carve. I didn't know how nice it would be, but the stuff cuts like butter with a semi-sharp gouge! I finished sanding him and
I started staining the dark places.

What do you guys think?
Tikinewbe

[ Edited by: tikinewbe on 2004-09-16 14:28 ]

[ Edited by: tikinewbe on 2004-09-16 14:34 ]

Only took me 4 tries to get it right! jeez....

[ Edited by: tikinewbe on 2004-09-16 14:37 ]

[ Edited by: tikinewbe on 2004-09-16 14:38 ]

Great job! I continue to be amazed at all the creative talent TC has-keep carving and keep posting!

Newbe,

Looks great, I really like those a lot. Do you realize that if you keep this great work up, you'll have to change that username real soon?

BTW - How did you manage to cut off three fingers after only two tikis?!!??

On 2004-09-16 14:27, tikinewbe wrote:

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"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2004-09-16 16:14 ]

Aaron's right you will need a new name pretty soon, the newbie does not fit. Those tikis are outregeous. Very ingenious to make the eyes smoke. Keep up the good work.

I can't belive you have just started carving! Your Tiki's Look great. I was wondering Do you do an outline before you start carving? This is probably a stupid question but I still want to know. Keep up the excellent work!!!
Later,
Spermy

Thanks for the input guys! I appreciate it..

Hopefully the next one won't cost so many fingers!!! lol... :)

Yes I start out with a outline. First I stare at the piece for a while till I start to "see" what is in it. Then I draw on the wood the basic outline of what I want to carve. Then, let the chips fly!!!

Hey Spermy!

Check out this posting on Page 2 of Rodeotiki's string. It has my unexpert advice and Octane's very expert advice on just what you are asking - How to get started on the outline, profile, etc... Basically the means and method to getting a tiki started.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=10417&forum=7&start=15

Hope it helps.