New stuff added!!

The damn fish bit me today! If you don't think those teeth are sharp - you would be dead wrong! The puddle of blood on the garage floor is proof enough for me! Fish float is done and just needs to be put on. Pics soon.

Venereal Disease and Dental Work? Why do we care about your health issues Tom? :lol:

The fish looks great, and yes those fan palm thorns are killer! I have a Medjool date tree, the thorns are like foot long needles and you itch & swell up when they poke you :(

Tom, that kicks ass. Killer idea there!

Can't wait to see the finished pictures!

Great work on both the pepper mill (very cool) and the killer fish

Its been a while - I have been busy and hope to have some pics soon. Till then I'll give you a tease. This was going to be another peppermill but I turned the wood to thin. This started out as a branch of mahogany and progressed into a Marq Muddler. The muddlers are fun.

Some other stuff I have close to completing are several pendants, another grinder, the fish +1, my big Moai and whatever else I may get started.

Wow! Love that muddler Tom! Amazing work!

Thanks Robert.

Here's another project that I finally finished. 4' Palm Moai. It sat in my garage for several months before getting motivated/dry enough to finish. Clean finish with paint.

Cool Moai Tom, What took'ya so long??

Beatiful mudler! Love the tiny spiral ears!
Very well done!

Also very cool tatooed Moai...

J.

Another pendant - carved in Walnut.

Wow great new stuff. You're on a roll lately. You really rocked the moai! Sweet.

great maoi tom.......you've been out for a while. nice to see ya back

You really do some nice work. So many different styles too! I think the Marq Muddlers are really cool! (Not that other the stuff isn't!)

Thanks for comps.
Chimp - Not on a roll just catching up with some photos. I was talking to someone and they asked if you would consider coming the Carving Jam? I can not make it due to family obligations, but it should be a good day to meet some of the people around here in person.

GP - I am a fan of all style of oceanic carving and carving in general. So I try hard to mix things up - I'm working on several projects at a time, so whatever catches my fancy gets attention.

Here's an example. Carved two heads and one body - now what??? These were fun, I was trying to work out some fine details in the mouth (based ona CoCo Joe's).

Excellent stuff here! Nice to see some new inspirations.

Thanks for sharing!

McTiki

Here's the piece that I had in Harold Golen's art show at The Hukilua last year. Carved in Mahogany with Palua eyes. This was a difficult piece to photograph because it is so tall (stands just over 36'). Would make an awesome weapon! The surfer, board and wave are one piece of wood. The board was tough to shape because the wood grain swirledd and started going in funky directions. That's why the rails are not perfect.

[ Edited by: AlohaStation 2011-04-07 13:17 ]

that is a beautiful piece! great job...and please tell me you mean 36 inches right?...lol

Man! Just loaded with ALOHA charm!

awesome!

He looks perfect to me, AS. Beautiful work and stylings.

Got selected as a Daly Deviation yesterday...

http://today.deviantart.com/dds/?day=2011-04-11

Over 7,000 views in one day!

I agree with Big T, it looks perfect. You are your worst critic

It was great to actually see your work in person at the Hukilau!

What was the name of the company you mentioned for the hook knife? Too much rum, can't remember

An update is way past due. I first want to say thank you everyone that came by my table and supported me. It is always a fun event and I only wish that I wasn't stuck at my table vending while everyone is partying. Getting everything prepared for the Hukilau took up most of my time beforehand. I created several pieces that I regretfully did not photograph before the event. Most notably were a peppergrinder modeled after the Tahiti room columns in the Mai Kai, a 6' lizard, several pendants and a mask. If you purchased any of these pieces I would greatly appreciate a photo. Here's what I've got for now...

After last year's Hukilau I was approached to do the next year's pendant. I mentioned that I wanted to base the design on this.

So I started the design and completed it as shown.

Another project that I enjoyed was tying flashing fish float necklaces. It was a fun project that I shared with my daughters. They tied the floats and I finished them off with the flashers and weaving the necklaces. I have to get them re-motivated and hope to post some in the Marketplace soon.

I did a lot of plastic this year - pics soon. Here's a tease...

Several people at Hukilau had asked if I've ever done tatoos. Personally I do not have any - however this was done by a guy in Romania...

Tom, as always it was great to see you and your work at Hukilau! I love seeing how all us "old schoolers" have progressed over the years. You're doing some top notch work and I look forward to seeing what your future carves are!

Thanks Dave - Its nice seeing your work up close too. You have really stepped it up lately as well! To bad you didn't drive I would have sent you home with some of this...

On my way to the Hukilau I stumbled across some tree trimmers. A quick U-turn later (along with some major repositioning of all my Hukilau stuff), I filled my truck. Mahogany!!! I had to do some rearranging in the wood shed to get all to fit.

glad to see some post from you FINALLY! .......missed hukilua this year. would love to see what your pepper mill looked like.

Surfer dude looks swell(pun intended).Got meself a nice big piece
of ash with a c/saw cut 3/4's thru about a ft from the end thats scream'n
surfer dude tiki! Cheers Watango

Anyone need some Mahogany? Found this on the side of the road. If my wood shed wasn't already full this big guy would have a new home. For now its still on the side of the road waiting for a savior.

One of my recent log acquisitions has been prepared for carving. Mahogany branch turned and bored on the lathe - it will be another tiki grinder.

That piece looks good already!

A little more progress.

The Mahogany is making it difficult. The top of this piece of wood is where branches split, leaving several swirling knots. The wood grain is constantly changing. Its gonna be beautiful - if it doesn't shatter when I hit it with a chisel.

very cool!

More progress. The ceramic grinder mechanism is in front. When put together the whole thing works great.

Almost done. Still needs a few more coats of clear. Glamour shots soon.

The next one has already been started.

That is looking great! Very smooth and perfect lines. Very nice.

VERY cool...as usual. The lathe thing is an awesome idea...can ya come over and do some of my 3' logs for me???

NICE! I thought maybe some of those different grain colors would show through.

The color is different it just didn't come thru in my crappy cell phone picture. The difference in color between the sap wood and heart wood is really in the luminance of the wood. The sap wood is somewhat dull while the heart wood has a transluscient look. I wanted to smooth out the tones a bit, thats why I stained it. Most of the time I like the difference in the color and all of the spalting, but I didn't want that for this carving. I think the next one will be a Moai salt shaker (if I don't change my mind a million times)- I've already got the blank turned.

Here's the finished Grinder. Pretty happy with the way this one turned out.

If you haven't seen my buddy Will's grinder, check it out here. Similar projects, different techniques.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=39705&forum=7&start=45

FRIGGGGIN SWEET TOM!!!!!!!!!!

thats-a-nice pepper thingy ya got there. just beautiful

Very nice....functional tiki! Looks beautiful.

Awesome!

This is for BigT and Conga - they all grind. All 3 are carved in Mahogany. I started small and went bigger till Will made his monster. Then I made the one in the middle. I still need to take some glamour shots of the smallest one (9.5" tall) the biggest is 14".

OMG!! how cool are those... Awesome work brada!!

Look great. I know the rafia is just a small touch compared to all the carving and sanding and staining, but it adds a large visual impact.

You been really grinding out dem grinders! Good stuff. GROG like.