Conga....Wisconsin stuff!

thanks everyone.....
McTiki....you are right...lotsa work sanding...over three hours last night just working on
the carvings' right eye and cheek....it will take another couple hours just to do the
headdress on that side of the face....

TikiGAP...The basswood is great...I have a great supply from my boss who built a house out of
basswood logs and is now working on his garage....but I bought this piece and another one from
a local sawmill....$30.00 for two 8 foot-plus half logs...

I feel like this is my "Sistine Chapel"....it's challenging to fight the feeling to get done
soon....this will take me several more weeks......stay tuned.

The "Sistine Chapel" is looking wonderful. How are you doing that detail with a hook blade?

JP

Basswood is like mana from heaven compared to most anything else. That tiki is already a keeper, Conga...one of the most interesting things going on around here right now. You're up in Leroy Schmaltz territory with that one.

Mahalo Johnny and Basement
All the design cuts are with the hook knife...at least one of the three different blades i
picked up at Coontiki....
Wow BK...not sure if i warrant that comparison...but I REALLY appreciate it. Working
really hard this weekend...next progress pics will show some of what i'm up to!

Really nice work. The detail is just beautiful. I'm speechless.

Very excited to watch the rest of your journey with this piece.

thanks "I Dream Of..."...I have spent a lot of nights dreaming about this one...having a lot of
fun now....here's a few update pics...including one of yours truly...still red-faced from playing
tennis on our hottest day of the year


and finally starting to clean-up the tiki on the bottom

so....I forget....is this two tikis or one?

Wow Conga, that is looking truely wonderful, filled with detail from head to toe(and head to chin)! Do you think the basswood would be nice to carve on a small pendant sized scale?

aloha congatiki. i've been following your progress since the beginning and just want to say that this is an amazing piece carved with so much talent and creativity. keep up the great work brah!

[ Edited by: kingstiedye 2006-05-28 16:24 ]

Excellent work on this carving Conga. It is A Nice carving of 2 tikis.. Don't slow down to try to figure it out, Carve, carve and then carve some more.

great work conga! less tennis, more carving. (more sunscreen helps in both cases)

Wow - conga! very nice progress on the big guy...

Sweet!! Carving hard and not even breaking a sweat!

Conga,

Looking good! I'm glad you are enjoying this guy and letting him tell you where to go and what to do. It's easier that way. If you had to plan this all out it would be too much like work! Just let him do all the work and you just cut where he tells you to. It works for me.....

Beautiful stuff man.

-Gman

alright....I finally busted away from the carving after three hours of exploration and another
half hour gazing at it....communicating...and all of this without intoxicants.
Thanks to all.
Finky...the basswood is wonderful to work with...but...occasionally crumbles at fine detail points...
you would have to ask a real expert but I think it might be really tough to hold detail on the
pendant size stuff.
Kingsteidye and P Drake...thanks for stopping in to take a look....I might cut back on tennis but
if I spend any more time with this guy I could wind up divorced. Actually my better half is
very supportive of what's going in the garage...and she knows I'm obsessive/compulsive.
Thanks TikiGAP...you handed me my first mai tai at CoonTiki...I'll always remember you for that!
and Ben...Johnny and GMan...many thanks...you have always been very supportive of my odd-ball stuff...
I want you to be proud of ole' Conga on this one!
You understand how it works GMan...this ain't workin'.
This has been a long process and I really appreciate all the "sugar coated" comments on this
feller...first post was April 22 and 28 pics later I still have a hell of a long way to go.

[ Edited by: congatiki 2006-05-30 21:29 ]

Sanding and more sanding this week....but a little update on some detail work...this first one
gives you an idea of the nice shadows that will be created by tiki room lighting...but I can't
really photograph that cuz of my cheep camera



Thank you.
Everyone is posting such great work....it's an exciting time around here.

Way to go Conga! You are going to town! Keep going....this is going to be so great! I love what you are doing. Don't stop!

-Gman

Conga, it looks like you have been taking Going Overboard lessons from someone!! This guy is getting better and better every day. Every update I say to myself, "How much more can he DO to this thing" and then you comew along the next day and blow me away again. Very Nice.

WOW Conga! I don't know how you're doing it! I'd have broken him a dozen times by now!

That is AND will be an amazing carving!!

Keep it up Conga... Then we'll all be EXPECTING this stuff from you! (as if we're not, already)...

You're just causing trouble for yourself!

Great stuff! I'm waaay amazed!

He is finishing off very well, the detail cuts enhance it. Thanks for the close ups.
JP

the detailing is looking great! thanks for all the progress pics.

That's lookin mighty fine there, Conga. You can see a lot of heart and soul going into this one. Don't rush because of us, just continue doing what you're doing because it's obvious you're enjoying it.

Great original ideas. And...Whoa! What patience!

Thats awesome man - love the detail in that wood.

Wow...many many thanks to all of you guys...and I notice a couple of new visitors from Hawaii and
Australia...thanks for stopping in. This carving is really a hoot but the wood is releasing me....
I think it's done with me and wants to cast me aside. I am already thinking about the other half
of this log sitting on my garage floor. Next pics will probably be the last shots of this project...
thanks again and stay tuned.

OK....we want this one to look old....very very old....

Conga... incredible.

I've been at this 5 years and that blows me away. That is a once in a lifetime piece... but I hope that your next one can be as great as this one.
Your skills have progessed amazingly... it was only yesterday you were looking at my hackings at Tiki Pai'ina... now you're blowing me out of the ocean!

That makes me proud, man...That's a hell of a job. Looks like it came out of a Haus Tambarin. Great job, Conga.

WOW! I have no other words....

unbelievably awesome.

The aging finish really adds to it and makes the piece. It really makes it a stand out piece of art that has a tremendous amount of character. So any plans for the other half log?
JP

Well thank you all...and it's not even done yet...gotta do a little polishing and a bit more
"chalk" in the detail cuts.
Lakesurfer....I appreciate the comps....you remain the dean of Wisconsin carvers...remember this
took me almost seven weeks! Yeesch! In that time you knock out probably 25 or more carvings
that are spreading the tiki spirit. Thanks.
BK....I'm proud too....very proud that you noticed this guy and offered a great deal of
encouragement and support early on...
Thanks a lot Loki....Sax and Johnny P.
Not sure what I can do next Johnny...gonna be hard to put as much heart and soul into another
piece of wood for a while...maybe I'll quit polynesian carvings and do Mexican wrestling
masks....I'll still show em here.

On 2006-06-06 05:29, congatiki wrote:
OK....we want this one to look old....very very old...

It looks like it should be behind glass at a museaum.

Beautiful work....

Excellent work Conga, How'd you make him look so Old. However you did it, you really put it across. It looks Very Old. Are you sure this isn the one you did and not a real one you put up in its place?? Come on Now,,the Truth...
Verrry Nice.

Way to go Conga! That piece is awesome! Would love to see some aging process shots if you've got 'em!

BTW- Had my new Holland pic framed! Looks fabulous near the bar. Mahalo brotha!

I just keep coming back to this. I can't beleive how good the finish makes this piece look. The whole thing just pops to life. Terrific! We need a full body shot. This guy's brother is hiding in that other half of the log. It's calling--do you hear? .... Conga .... Conga ....Conga

JP

Ben...you are too wise...I thought I could fool everyone, but you must have recognized the carving
from one of your earlier lives. Actually I just returned from New Guinea, where I rented a rusty
old Datsun pickup and drove to one of the Iatmul villages, where I stole a canoe. My companion and
I paddled down the Sepik river to Chambri Lake, where we snuck into the local Haus Tambaran...stole
the ancestral spirit figure and dragged it back to the canoe amid a hail of arrows and blow darts....
narrowly escaping with our lives. The return trip went well until we were confronted by another
group of Iatmul villagers who chased us down and cut off our left arms. Once we got back to the
good ole USA we carved up some replacement arms and all seems to be going well. Good eye Ben...
congratulations on uncovering the ruse.

Thanks to all....a few final...full length pics with some "aging" techniques coming up in a
couple days.

Wow - that looks awesome! Some aged pieces look cool, but you can tell theyve just been aged. That one looks dead set artifact material. Nice

Looking forward to learning more and seeing more pics

just keeps gettin' better and better, conga!

mahalo to all. these are the final pics of this one...I promise! Sugar coated comments are
not solicited (you have all been generous in your comments-thanks). The aged look was created
with torch burning...no-gloss provincial stain...good ole' blackboard chalk (smashed up and
brushed into the detail) and finished off with furniture paste wax







that's it for this one.....good night and good luck!

Sugar coated comments to follow----->

WOW! He turned out awesome! The aging was great... chalk is a great idea... You turned it up!

Conga, that is a keeper for sure.

That's a nice space for him too... very nice job indeed!

I don't know Conga, I Think he might look better on My wall. You can send it down and we can try it out. I'll send you pix and you can see if he looks better or not then we can decide how to tell you thay he won't be coming back.
Seriously, this guy looks as if you have been carving for Many years. You have really outdone yerself this time. Excellent!!

it's been great seeing all of the progress on this piece, seeing it finished and put into it's new home. great job with it! now let's see what you come up with next.

Conga- That is a great result! It was a lot of fun to watch the carving progress. Now that it is finished, what are we going to do? I know, you better start something else cool now!
BTW, I suggest you find a way to work this carving into the next CD cover for the Mensters! (CongaTiki's musical group)

off the hook ... nice work ... I realy enjoyed watching your progress on this one...

i'm very impressed. when i get a basswood log can i come to you for advice?