New Tikis from Germany!

Aloha friends,

sorry, for my late response! Finally I have found the time to answer on your nice entries.
Last week I was very busy, but now I have some new pictures form the big Lono for you. I hope you will enjoy them.

McTiki, thank you! Yes you are right, the cottonwood is smooth grained and so it´s not difficult to make clean cuts.
I realy like to work with this kind of wood.
I´ve never make a fireplace with cottenwood, so I don´t know if it smells like poo.
But thanks for the tipp! So, I won´t try it out. :)
An other handicap is, that you can´t put a cottenwood Tiki outside in your garden.
Mainly here in Germany. The wood is not weatherproof and by the wetness it will molder. What a lovely kind of wood mold and poo!

Thanks Benzart, it´s wonderful to hear such words from the carving master.
I always visit your thread and so I learned many things from you.
So you gave also yourself an compliment. :)
Anytime I will attend on one of your carving seminar.

Hey Paipo, you wrote:

"....I love the museum pieces, it's great to get a look at stuff you may never have the chance to visit."

So you can undersand, how I feel if I ever visit TC and admire your pictures.
You life on so beautiful places all over the world and it´s so far away.
Thanks god for the internet, so we can meet us all.
Last week I met a guy form Auckland on the Oktober Fest and he told me a lot about your country. So I have new information for my dreams.

Yes, I will also create a pendant for you. If it´s O.K. for you, we can change pendants, because I´m also inerestet in one of your beautiful once.
But soonest I could start to carve it in the beginning of November.

Thanks AlohaStation, you caught me! I don´t finished the beach Tiki, yet.
But if the Tiki will be finished, I´ll post some pictures.

Tamapoutini, it´s the biggest compliment I can get for the teko-teko.
Such great words from a New Zealand guy! Thank you very much! :D

Hey Lake Surfer, your are right. Back to the roots!
It´s the best way to carve a Tiki.
Anytime I´ll life on the sea side and enjoy it every day.
Thank you for your flattery.

Thanks JohnnyP, you are right! The Lono is one of my most complex and detail carving. Till now I think I needed about 45 hours for the Lono.
But the next one is going to be faster.

Hey GMAN, I´m honored. Thank you very much!
Sorry, that I have post the pictures so late, but I hadn´t found enough time.
I always need a little bit more time to answer your guys, because my english is not so good.
I learnd it at school but I used it not realy often in the last
few years, so I lost many words. But it´s great to use TC to recreate my english knowledge a little bit.
That´s right, to life and carve on the coast is so awesome!
I hope you enjoy the latest pis from the Lono. Mahalo

IsleConch, thank you! I am very happy about all your nice words about my carving.

Salut benella, ca va? Merci beaucoup pour ta compliment.
Bienvenue chez TC!
I try to finish my works always a little bit different. At the moment I try out to combinate grinded surfaces with cut surfaces.
For the grinded surfaces I use a flex and than a fine sandpaper. For the cut surfaces I use a wide knife.
I love the contrast of the structures.
For the color finish of the Lono, I will use a wood stain.
I have never try it out before and so I´m looking forward how it will work.
I think it´s the most interessting thing to try out always new techniques.

I don´t realy draw my Tikis before. Probably I coulden´t draw my Tikis realy good and I also couldn´t carve a Tiki,
that he realy looks the same like the drawing.
Anywhere, I see an inspiration, like a cool nose, eye, mouth or only an interesting line and than I start to carve it.
Sometimes I make a little sketch, but mostly it don´t realy helps me.
I have the form in my brain and the rest of the Tikis parts will develop between the working progress.
So I´m not quite sure what the Tiki will look like in the end.
Before I start to carve, I give the log a middle line to get the right symetry.
Than I mark the log in the different parts like forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin .....and than I start to carve.
To hold the right symetry, I always remeasure the parts on the two halves.
When I´ll start my next bigger carving job, I´ll show it on some pictures.
Please post one of your carvings on TC!

Hey Basement Kahuna, you are realy right! My girlfiend says always the same.:lol:

Thank you very much Tiki Duddy! The wood is realy great for carving. It´s like butter!

And finaly thanks to Capt'n Skully! I hope you will enjoy the next pictures.

Here are some pictures from the last week:

This is Michael, the Lono´s owner. He helped me grinding the Tiki and I gave him a few carving lessons.

And these are the latest pictures from the Lono. I shot them this afternoon.
In the first picture you can see the fixing of the Tiki. The Lono will fix in Michael´s flat in a corner under the roof.

The Lono with my buddy and colleague Michael (ramba-zamba).

So, I hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope I can show you more next week,
when I´ll make the color finish. Have a great start into the next week!
Mahalo, Kai

Man, that thing is incredible! Your stuff has got so precise and authentic looking in such a short time. Absolutely beautiful detailing - I love the little starbursts on the head-dress (they have a nice 50s feel to them) and the chisel texture you left on the chin. Your friend is a very lucky man!

Ditto everything Paipo said. Excellent Lono. Perfect rendition of a Very difficult to do tiki. Big, Bold and Beautiful!

great work there. hey what kind of tool is that your using? the orange one.

WOW!! Awesome work.. Absolutely stunning!

HaiKai,

This Lono rocks so huge! Your chops are incredible! Were you an artist to begin with, or did you just decide to be one of the best tiki carvers one morning? Wow, this piece is very special. It is great that your friend is getting it; hopefully you will be able to visit it often. Your use of texture and detail is amazing...I can't wait to see what you choose for stain colors.

-Gman

Hallo HaiKai Wie geht es dir?
Very nice work. Go on this way.

I will post picts of my first tiki (moai style) soon.
Thanks for your answers.

On 2006-10-08 13:08, Paipo wrote:
Man, that thing is incredible! Your stuff has got so precise and authentic looking in such a short time. Absolutely beautiful detailing - I love the little starbursts on the head-dress (they have a nice 50s feel to them) and the chisel texture you left on the chin. Your friend is a very lucky man!

Precise indeed! And LARGE! Very nice stuff!

Aloha!

Eventually, I have some new carving pictures for you. Last week I finished the big Lono and
I created a new Lono pendant and a shrunken head.
At the moment I adapt an old first aid box for a voodoo armoire. But I don´t have pictures of it yet.
Before I´ll show you the pictures, I´ll give an answer on your last entries of the big Lono.

Hey Paipo, thanks a lot! You are right I also prefer the chin part with the chisel texture.
The different textures give the Lono more interesting appearance.

Benzart, thank you too! Accurate, to carve a Lono is something difficult.
It was my first one and I need a lots of time to create this big guy. I think Ineed about 55 hours!

Tiki Duddy, you ask me about the orange tool. It´s a Black&Decker powerfile with a long belt.
It´s perfect for small, creek and deep parts.
At the producer´s homepage you can get more informations about that tool: www.blackanddecker.com

Capt'n Skully, Cheers! I have also seen your Tikis on TC. Realy great!

Hey GMAN, your accolade is amazing. :blush: Thank you very much!
No, I think I´ll never be one of the best Tiki carver. There are so many other amazing artists with incredible ideas and skills.
The claim and development of some TC carvers grow up very fast.
And that´s great, so there are always new inspirations and that incite me.
The most fun for me is to follow the advancement. With all the TC carvers it never will be boring.
I hope you´ll enjoy the color finish of the Lono.

Salut benella, thanks for your German words! Yes I´m fine.
I have heard, that in one of Paris museums you can see an original Ester Island Moai.
Is it right? I´m looking forward to see some pictures of your first moai.

Hey tikigap, thank you also for your nice words!

So and now I want show you my latest pictures:

First you can see the color finsh of the Lono.
For the finish I used a walnut stain to gave the figure the right color grounding.
Michael the Lono´s owner was a great assistance. He can´t wait to see his Tiki in his flat.
When we´ll fix it, I´ll take some pictures for you of the Tiki´s new home.

After the stain was dry, we polished the wood with wax.
So the face got very glazed and the grain comes out.

And finaly here is the finished Lono. I hope you enjoy it!

Well, in the next pics you can see the development of a new shrunken head.
It was a carving job for a car´s driving mirror of the orderer.
It´s carved from plum wood and polished with wax.

Look, what an affinity! :lol:

Than I had an idea! This shrunken head need a real bone in his nose.
So my colleague (ramba-zamba) brought me the rest of his lunch.
I cleaned the chicken bones and bleached them with hydrogen peroxide.

Than I cut one bone in the middle and pluged it with a piece of wire. So I fixed it in the nose.
Black hair, shells for his ears, coconut slices for the mouth decoration and ready is the little guy.

O.K. and at last the Lono pendant!
It´s 7/6 inches tall and also from cherry wood like the last pendant.

Mahalo, haikai

Haikai,

Outstanding efforts! Bravo!!! The shrunken head is pure genious. The big and little Lono are spectacular! Thanks for sharing.

Mahalo

McTiki

awesome work guys, love the bone detail

That shrunken head is KILLER. Well done!!

Aloha guys!

Thank you very much to McTiki, tikiracer and Capt'n Skully.
I think the plum wood has the best color and grain.
If you polish it very strong, it looks realy authentic.

tikiracer, I hope you are fine. Tell me, what kind of artwork do you create this time.
Please post some pictures on TC. I have heard about London´s new Mahiki Tiki bar.
Did you draw the Mahiki´s paintings?

Mahalo

It's all great work, especially the KFC* nose-bone, but that Lono is just too much! The subdued finish works really well, it lets the wood and the carving do the talking. It's cool to see you mixing it up with different styles and found materials too.

*True story: I was waiting to fly out to Rarotonga from Auckland Airport, when I spotted a guy with a HUGE bag full of buckets of KFC to take home to his family in the Cook Islands. I guess people always want what they can't get, even if it does taste like crap!

Speechless.

Incredible work and a wonderful variety!

Love it all. The big Lono is spectacular. Bigger is better. What does that sucker weigh?

Clean and precise cuts... love to see the chisel marks on the piece!

Love seeing more hardwoods used for tikis!

The shrunken head is genius. Found materials and spur of the moment!

The bar is being upped so quickly... worldwide!

HaiKai, you're really coming up with some Awesome, Well done stuff. Really raising the bar. We need More, More. Thanks!

Kia ora HaiKai

Ditto what everyone else has said: The world is a better place for having that large Lono in existance!! What an amazing piece/clever carver/lucky owner...

That shrunken head is just awesome also, perversely-wonderful..! (lol)

Cant wait to see what you are going to come up with next, you are very talented!

Tama

Hallo Haikai,

Deiner (dein ?) Lono ist WUNDERBACH !

My wife said to me: "don't post pics of your moai next to pics of Haikai's Lono, you're not at Haikai's level !!!". But i'll post in the next week...

There is a museum that opened this year in Paris that's called "Musée du quai branly " . They own a moai head made of stone from easter island and i've heard they own a Ku too but i'm not sure. You can see the moai on their site at http://www.quaibranly.fr

I have the same feeling as Benella's wife, I don't want to post anything too close to the
Lono! That is a great piece of work. I waited a couple of days so I could think of something
more clever than "that's cool man" (I think some folks on other threads think we carvers are
too nice and complimentary)...but what the heck...that's cool man!

On 2006-10-28 06:03, congatiki wrote:
(I think some folks on other threads think we carvers are too nice and complimentary)...but what the heck...that's cool man!

Tama sez: I dont think 'those' folks realise how much time/effort/heart/blood/sweat & tears that go into the carvers art, or how much an artist appreciates the support... (whether a total beginner or an 'accomplished' carver)

If a work moves you to say "thats cool man!", then thats cool man!! :)

Ill say it again -Haikai: your work is SO cool man!!

Tama :)

WOOOO! That cottonwood piece is massive! You did a great job on it.
All your stuff is dazzling. Watcha gonna do with the crocodile wood?

Aloha guys,

Thank you all for your nice entries.
I´m happy about, you enjoy my last entry works.

Paipo, your story is crazy! :lol:
To eat fast food in the south sea is not a realy romantic.
I think like you, it´s the same thing all over the world.
"People always want what they can't get!"

Myself, I life in Bavaria with mountains, grasslands, beer gardens....
but I´m dreaming to visit the sea side and the exotic islands.
One of the important thing of the Tiki culture. To dream about something what you can't get.
But not KFC on the Cook Islands!

Lake Surfer, I don´t know it exactly,
but I think the Lono´s weight is about 80 kg (176 pound). Cottonwood isn´t very heavy, but I think it´s enough.

benella, thanks for the museum link. If I´ll visit Paris one time, I´ll visit the "Musée du quai branly ".
Come on, please post your Moai pictures on TC.
Everybody starts small, like myself. Anybody can by perfekt on his first piece.
Look always out for interesting carving pictures.
Start to copy easy figures and get the right felling for forms, tools and materials.
Than try to create some own forms and combine them.
Try it again and again and again and you´ll see, you´ll catch me quickly.

Tamapoutini, you are right! Time, effort , heart, blood, sweat and tears are enough causes to be complimentary.
I admire all artists, witch start to create something and realize their own ideas. On this time, hats off!
And after that we can discuss about the artworks. What is felicitous and what could me make better.

surfintiki, I don´t know for what I´ll use the crocodile wood yet?
Perhaps, for a pendant??? To carve something, where I don´t loose the interesting bark would be nice.
This time I don´t have an idea.

Mahalo to all!

Hallo Hai Kai,

Thanks for your encouragements and for regularly sharing your fabulous work.
What did happen to the tiki you were carving on the beach of Brigognan in France who seemed to start very well?

I'll share picts of my moai in progress tomorrow if i have the time because i have a lot of work this time (i am a podiatrist or Fussartzt oder Fussdoktor !)

Tschüss

Aloha!I can see style in what you do! and I like it very much!! Greetings!

...simply amazing. i love that lono head. but then you come and slap me in the face with that new one! WOW that looks good......wow

Aloha friends,

Salut, benella! Hey, thanks for sharing your first Tiki pictures on TC!
I´m very happy about that, because your first try is realy great.
You have lots of potentialities! Keep it on!

Clarita and Tiki Duddy, thanks for your beautiful compliments!
I will be very bussy in my next project to get it again. :D

Aloha again,

sorry, for the wrong link! I pushed the wrong bottom.

O:K. Here I have some new pictures for you guys.
These are the last pictures from the big Lono, when we fixed him in Michael´s flat.
To lift the 80 kg (176 pound) Tiki into 2 meter height, was a little bit stressfully. But look yourthelf!

I was very glad about, that my brother and Michael helped me to fix the fat guy.
Puuuu, and finally the Lono is finshed!

Greetings and have a nice week, haikai

That is absolutely beautifull!! The chest piece really finishes it off.

incredible! I can't believe you hung it up. From the one picture it looks like he's leaning out of the wall, like the rest of him is just hiding on the other side.

Beautiful! The extra carved piece really helps anchor it visually. Speaking of anchoring, how on earth did you attach it to the wall?

that lono is top-notch!! great job on it! it looks so cool hanging on the wall looking out over the room. awesome job on it!! i'm looking foward to what you do next.

Aloha friends,

I´m back again. First thanks to AlohaStation, mieko, Paipo and tiki5-0 for their entries.
Thank you all very much!

Paipo, I fixed the Lono behind his chin with a stainless steel angle
and his top with a steel wire and a rake in the ceiling.
You can see the angle on page 10.

Here you can see my work of the last two days.
I started to carve this Tiki for an Austrian guy.
He wants to get a Tiki witch looks like an older one of mine.
So I started to create the figure,
but I couldn`t clone the form. I had so many new idears,
that I must figured out some new forms.
Now, I hope the Austrian guy will also enjoy this spiky Tiki.
I will finsh him in the coming week. The Tiki will get a dark color.

Here is the new Tiki:

Have a nice weekend, HaiKai

Oh my God!
Ach mein Gott!

You've got a really wonderful style.

3 questions: How did you find the center of your log ?
What happens to the tiki you were carving on the beach of Brigognan in France ?
Where have you learned French this way ? you speak very well, man.

Thanks for sharing your pics.

Ben

Haikai, this looks like Another Masterpiece in the making. The heaaddress is very unique and I can't wait to see how you finish it. I have no doubt it will be every bit as beautiful as your last one, the Lono. The Lono finished up Perfectly with the added breast piece giving it bit of anchoring it needed.
Beautiful work, just Beautiful.

Hey Haikai, what are you doing? We are witing for new pix !

Ben

Haikai,

Wow!! I missed the hanging & chestpiece of your Lono. It looks incredible all lit up like that. You deserve that beer!!

And the next one... Oh my God! You just start from the top & work your way down, I dont think Ive ever seen someone approach a work quite like that... Most seem to apply the roughout touch evenly over a piece.

If I was wearing a hat I would take it off to you right now... RE-SPECT!

Keep it up. You have our attention.

TamaTheTerribly-Impressed!

I think the only thing I can do is repeat what has already been said...

OH MY GOD!!

That carving is incredible!
Keep up with the awesome work!
I'm also looking forward to seeing the finish on this one.

These re SWEET. I like the latest one you have here.

i dont really know what to say......
man do i love those spikey parts. gives him so much personality. i just hope i get somewhere near that good in the next....umm 30 years.
great work. blown away

Bump....HaiKai can't fall to the second page. Not on my watch.

-Gman

Aloha friends,

I´m finally back! First I want to say "sorry" for my late response,
like every time, when I post something on TC.

The last weeks were to busy and I found not enough time to write on TC in "english".
But I was not only busy in my regular job, also I go on with the spiky Tiki for the Austrian guy.
It happend very crazy things in my garage, between the last days.
The Tiki has awaken and it was very spooky.
I lost the control about the The Tiki`s will.

But first I want to say thank you to:

benella,
before I start carving I always measure the broadness of the log and so I find out
the middle. From the middle to every side the same measure,
like on the first picture of the spiky Tiki (page 12).

I have done nothing with the Tiki, which I started on the beach of Brigognan
(France, yet. I think I´ll finish him next year.

Benzart,
your compliment mkes me lucky! Thanks for your trust in my work.
I hope you will enjoy the finsh of the last Tiki. You are a great teacher!

Tamapoutini,
yes, you are right. We realy deserve that beer and it was realy great.
The breast piece is the bonding between the figure and the wall and makes
the Lono complete.

I like it to carve from the top & work my way down (or contrariwise) ,
because I always can feel free with the following parts of the figure.
So I have enough space on the log and when I finsh the carving I saw the rest off.
It´s great, because I often don´t know, how the Tiki will be in the end.

Heath,
I will do my best, that always visit me such frindly guys on my thread.
That´s the best honey for me.

Tiki Diablo,
thanks for your entry. I read the interview with you in the Tiki Magazine #3.
It was very great and helpfully. I found out may truths and similarities,
which I had also, when I started to carve.

Tiki Duddy,
what´s about your nacklace? Have you just start with it yet?
I´m looking forwad to see the first pictures.

So, and now to the new spiky Tiki pictures.
After I finished the carving work of the Tiki,
I started to color him with a dark, walnut wood stain.
The color was dark and brown. All seems normal!

But when I arrived at my garage in the next morning, I was very surprised.
He changed his color from dark brown to aubergine and green.
Either it was too cold, there happened a chemical reaction,
or the Tiki has awaken and gave himself his own shot colored dress.

I suppose the last one. Since that time I´m a little bit afraid when I´m alone
in the garage. Crazy things going on here!

Here you can see the the Tiki´s changing.

Than I considered a long time together with the customer, what we should do.
Should we over coating the dangerous fellow, or should we let him his will.
We decided to do the last one and give him only a few highligths on his dress.
For the highlights I used different acrylic colors.
For the grounding I used dark green between the spikes and than I mixed a light green for the highlights.

At last, for his eyes and some chisel textures I used dark brown.
That´s the finish of the spiky Tiki! I hope you will enjoy it.

That picture was shot on last Friday night. I have told you, that the Tiki is awaken.
So, now I must finish and go home very fast, because outside is going dark
and I won´t be alone with this crazy creature.

So I hope you are all fine and we´ll see us again,
Haikai

shit!...I must go!

Awesome!

I love the subtle tone of colors. Wow!

Oh sorry, I forgot to say thank you to Gman.
He bump my thread to the top of the side again. It makes me honor!

Thanks also to AlohaStation! I think your Tikis have one of the
professional coloring. Great work!

Your stuff rocks! Great looking last tiki there, Haikai-all of them are great! Love the chiseled texture and the color is fantastic. You are truly an original artist. Keep'em coming!

Oh

MY

GOD,

Very great work.

Oh

MY

GOD

You told there will be a surprise but what a surprise !!!!!!!

I just have no words in english, deutsch or french to say how I felt when I discovered your work.

OH

MY

GOD

It is just fabulous, wunderbar usw...
I have an assumption for the color. But firstly 1 question: Was you Tiki nervous before sleeping in your garage ? Because I know that a well-known Bruce Banner change his human skin color to green when he gets nervous...

Ben

Veeery Well done Haikai, that is one Freaky Tiki and the Smoking part was the Last straw. I would lock him up in the closet, somewhere where he can't get away and bother you. The carving detail is absolutely terriffic on this guy and the finish is supurb. Are you a professional painter? Your use of colors and highlites are excellent.
Can't wait for the next one, what will he be??

It's Awe Inspiring, and at the same time, whispers..."I needs me a warning label in case I get tipped over!" (lol)

Very very nicely done.

The colors set it on fire.

Mahalo

Got anymore to share?

McTiki

[ Edited by: McTiki 2006-12-05 16:02 ]

Too wild! Wonderful stuff. The green highlights worked real well on him. I wouldn't want to be outside in the dark with him either. I hope you get rid of him soon, before he gits you!