New stuff added!!

Hang10 - You should have given us a heads up when you went to the Mai Kai.

BigT - the ferns are a work in progress. I have filled the inside with the remnants of what I carve off. The figures will be all new as the old figure would not work on what was left of the root. No rush - hope to get it done before the New Year.

Here my latest. Just getting started.

Unfortunately that part of the trip was way too short
Next time for sure bruddah

Like the new 1

Progressing nicely. Needs to dry before I put a finish on it.

My latest pocket tiki. This was a scrap piece of Mahogany.

Both are looking good

Got on a creative tear and knocked these out in succession. The Dark one is Mahogany and 7.5" long. The rest are a mystery from the wood pile. Will probably do more of these as they make great holiday gifts!

Those look great!

These are why you are one of my favorite carvers Aloha, great work!

I enjoyed doing the first one so much that I decided to do another. Carved in a mystery wood (that is excellent to carve), while my daughter drove us to Disney last week. Got some time and finished him up last night.

Freekin sweet.......

Rock on! - always been a fan of your work.

Its been a while since I've updated my thread. I have been very busy, but still continue to carve and prepare for The Hukilau. The next few weeks should be productive as I ramp up production. In the mean time, here is a new frond. I added a little color to it, but I'm not completely happy with it. There may be some minor adjustments.

Oh myyyyy
Awesomeness

Beauty.

Looks great Tom!

thanks again Tom!!!. had fun in your class at the Hukilau.....my skill level is not to yours on those hats. be you tubing it for sure.....

[ Edited by: Creative Chimp 2017-06-13 08:17 ]

That last pic is a keeper!! :)

So Hukilau almost cleaned be out of tikis, but these three are still hanging around my bar. All three came from the same tree. The bent tiki (far right) is an omage to the dancing tiki I did years ago...

They are all around 4' tall.

Killer

Here is my project from the July 4th extended weekend. Still needs to be finished. Fell pretty good about most parts of it. May practice doing faces before the next one.

Love, love love mermaids, looks great love the twisting and turning feel of it.

The stuff in here is not too shabby... :D

Here's the finished Mermaid. Can't decide if I want it to stand with a base or hang on the wall. The wall may win?? It came out the way I wanted - so that's good. I want the bodies to flow a little more, she's a little stiff from the waist up. More to come - these are easy and fun!

Beer tap handle. :wink:

Practicing form and proportions on a palm frond. Found the perfect board to mount her to. Just need to finish the board.

Looks great Tom!

Another mermaid palm frond. Still not satisfied with the proportions and expression. More experimentation is required.

Looks great to me Tom but if you're not satisfied you could do more study of the female anatomy. I would recommend the 4Play Gentlemen's Club in Pompano Beach :wink: :P :lol:

Sweet carve Tom, but doesn't she swim in circles with only one arm?

The other arm is bent up and pushing her hair upward.

Mike - I like the way you're thinking!!

Me like her

Here's the next one. Getting better with the faces. Still need more practice.

SO hard to make a carving look feminine, you nailed it Aloha, great job!

If I had carved those Tom I would be damned proud! (but I guess that's not saying much :lol: )
I think they all look good!

Those are sweet Tom! I need me some palm fronds!! Your colors, are those acrylic paints or stains?

BigT - Those are done with water-based stains and whatever I had lying around. I like using acrylics too, but haven't tried using them yet...

I landed a pretty cool commission for a bar called Swizzle in South Beach (Miami Beach). I set out on the task of getting an appropriate log. I found one and with some help from WillCarve we took it home.

Once we got it to my house we maneuvered it into position in my carving area. No small task for 2 guys to move a 2,000 lb (best guess) cypress log. As soon as I had it set up, carving began.

This past weekend I got 2 full days to carve. Here's the progress...

Looks great Tom. I'm curious how you lay out a design on a log like that? Do you just eyeball it? Do you sketch it out on graph paper? Do you grid it out on the log in chalk or something?

I had a plan going into this (part of the sales pitch), so it was just a matter of making measurements and sectioning the log. Once the sections are measured, details are laid out in chalk (you can wash/wipe chalk off and start over). The most difficult part is balancing everything and making sure everything is straight. With log laying down it makes this part difficult. There are many cuts and recuts trying to get everything leveled. I actually stand on/over the log to make sure my lines are kinda straight. It makes for a great surprise when we finally do stand it up (with the help of heavy equipment)!

You need a drone so you can fly up and see it from the right perspective, eliminate the surprises :lol:

2000 lbs
Daaaaang
My last carving was 0.5 oz
:)
Looks great
U chainsaw out the big chunks?
Can’t wait to see it come to life
Cheers
Jon

The Swizzle tiki project is coming to an end as we ran into bureaucracy.

In the mean time I have taken up another frond. This one may surprise you when its done.

Your frond work is so darn impressive! Keep sharing, please!

Your frond work is so darn impressive! Keep sharing, please!

AmaZin bro

Love the swizzle tiki.

I'm not happy with the bottom and have decided to grind it all off. I won't show till I'm done 0 for now - here's the top.