Johnnyp Tut 2/19

Even though you "rushed" him along, he's still cool and a very ambitious
project. Seems to me that you must have at least a few other things
started and halted...whatever happened to the big roof figure, the
feller with the bird hunched over his shoulder? Don't be holding out
on us.
Any snow on the ground over there?

Great job on the slit gong/drum! The piece you rushed is still pretty damn good.
I enjoyed the pictures of boner tiki as well. :drink:

OK, where to start?? First, thanks for support and comments. Buzzard, I'll send you a PM.

The hour glass drum is done and skinned,

Here are some better pictures with much better lighting of the twisted tiki.

A frame I made to house a wonderful painting.

And finally the birdman roof final. I got tired of sanding it so I set it on fire!

And after, still some more sanding.

After trying a lot of ways to sand deep into the grooves of the birdman, some of which worked, some didn't, but any way I tried was going to take a long, long time. I stumbled onto using a blowtorch. I just held the torch on the rough spots until they burnt away, then used a wire brush to clean it up. This also gives it an old patina look.

Wow Johnny, great post. Your latest drum is a real killer, great detail
work. The twisted guy looks cool in the better photo, and the bird figure is really nuts. And to top everythings off, your carving clothes looks like
mine :)

Ditto Conga, all these guys are exceptional. Were you REALLY Burning him for effect or were you Really just trying to keep warm? Uh Huh! Another way into those cracks and crevices is with a sand blaster and some sandbox sand. It will smooth it down in a hurry.Too bad you don't live further south, i bet your carving production would at Least DOUBLE if not more. Dream on. Excellent stuff Johnny, I feel sometimes I don't tell you enough just how good you are 'cause I know you've heard it all before But,, You have some Serious talent there and I would really love to see More. Yeah MORE STUFF! Thanks Jonnny for makin the old man happy.

Jonnny, again more beautiful and totally unique works of art.

I've used the blowtorch method a few times when sanding frustrates me.

You're working magic up there in Michigan!

Sorry you're getting the snow, we're just getting the cold!

Amazing stuff, my fav is the hourglass drum although it's hard to point out just one piece as a favorite.
Seems there's a dress code for carving. Like the guys lucky enough to live in warmer places always wear cargo shorts and Hawaii shirts, I see all of us who live in colder places wear the same old jeans stuff and the ever sexy woolly hat :) Guess we're tropical at heart.

THAT is a top first class update, Sir !

I love everything, but, I would like to learn more on those trained termites :wink:

Benjamin.

Yes, more pics of great work. Love your style man.
I like the burning shots reminds me of Hendrix at work.

Very impressive! Great piece and detail. Love to hear a sound bite from those guys. Keep up the great work.

Watch out! Johnny's on FIRE! Boy oh boy does that hourglass drum look neato and the frame is the shitz! I laughed out loud when I saw how you cheated on your sanding chores....SLACKER!

-G$

Great pictures JohnnyP!

check it
http://cgi.ebay.com/Papua-New-Guinea-Sepik-Ritual-Pig-Killing-Club_W0QQitemZ220314171116QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item220314171116&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Yeah ditto on what everyone said. It's so good to see the more exotic oceanic carvings. I keep thinking I'll someday carve something like that....or maybe just watch your stuff! :D

Thanks,

Congatiki, my carving clothes look like yours? That coat is 25 years old and I have used it as a work coat most of that time, there is not much left to it. Gotta stay warm some how.

Benzart, thanks your complements mean the most, from such a talented powerhouse!

Lake, I do try to take a somewhat different path. As far as the snow we got 2 weeks ago when you posted, it is still on the ground, and we are getting 6-10 inches tonight...... Arrggg. Florida sounds really nice right now.

Grapa, "the ever sexy woolly hat" LOL. Thanks for checking in. I've been enjoying your thread.

Benella, the trained termites are my secret, but they do like ash wood.

Seeks, The burning shots might have reminded you of Hendrix, but I was trying not to be like Richard Pryor

Tikilizard, As soon as I figure out how to post sounds I'll let you know.

G- "Slacker" --Ha, I just found a faster way!

Bete Thanks, nice to see you back, and in Texas now?

TeaKey- Thanks for the link to the pighammer, I saved all the pictures. I want to make another.

Surfintiki- I'd like to see you carve something like this too, I'm sure you would be able to show me a lot, you'd make it look easy.

The PNG Men's house roof finial is finally done. This took a lot more time than I thought it would, and for a while I thought I would never finish it. It is about 7 feet tall. All those white dots in the picture are falling snowflakes for you Southerners that might not recognize them.

Some finished carving, but before stain photos.

All stained up.

Ancestral figures representing the creation/ birth myth. I made the wingtips wrap around them so they seem to be also emerging from a symbolic "womb"

Gator (for Gman) - actually crocodile head at the end of the bird's tale. Sorry for the blurry picture, it was getting dark out with the storm moving in.

It will be a while before i get my jaw of the floor. There's way to much cool stuff to see on this guy.

Can't say enough about it Johnny, I have been waiting for this one.
Great subject and great carving.

NICE!!!!

i am loving this piece. All of the elements coming together to form this unique study are just stunning.

Really beautiful, Johnny!

Woah Johnny, I can See why this guy took so Long, there is SO Much fine detaial, Everywhere you look. It had to take forever just to lay it out and figure where to start. This is One of your better pieces with only about 5 dozen on That list it is Hard to pick a winner so they are ALL winners. This one especially is Way over the top Excellent, Do you still need my shipping address? There is plenty time to get it here before Christmas :P :) :D :lol:

Wow - looks like it came straight from the islands.

Another WOW! That's so freakin awesome! Now let me pick my jaw up from the floor...

Fantastic work of art. Kudos!

Is that 8 heads on there Johnny? Hmmm. That's a lotta schtuff to be stickin into a log, man. This piece is beautifully executed - it looks like it came right out of the jungle. You know, it makes me wanna go earth diving and dig for yams......

OMG. What a masterpiece...it came out...just...beautiful!! Sniff Sniff. Very complex work, so much to look at, it's amazing.
What a juxtaposition, with all the COLD snow...I picture it in some sacred temple in the jungles somewhere!
Way to go man!

Holly Crap! NICE! Love the detail MR JonneyP
Easily one of my favorites from you GREAT WORK!

Very well thought out design Johnny! The craftsmanship is OUTSTANDING! I can't wait to see it placed in it's final destination.

BRAVO!

JP, this guy is insane! A lot going on and so much detail. I like how you left the bark on some of the base. Great job!

A xylophone?

Man this guy would look good at the Tiki Bog?

I'm diggin' it! Very cool! Lots of time into that one. Doesn't the snow suck?

On 2008-12-10 17:01, seeksurf wrote:
Man this guy would look good at the Tiki Bog?

NAAAH, He would look great at MY House! :P
What'cha gonna do Next Johnny?

On 2008-12-11 03:54, Benzart wrote:

On 2008-12-10 17:01, seeksurf wrote:
Man this guy would look good at the Tiki Bog?

NAAAH, He would look great at MY House! :P
What'cha gonna do Next Johnny?

Make something even more mind boggling so all our minds will melt from thinking "how does he come up with all that cool stuff",and there will be only one outstanding carver left. :D

[ Edited by: Grapa-RuHa 2008-12-11 05:23 ]

First, thanks everybody for the complements on the bird figure roof finali. As much as I would like to send it to somebody, I think it is going to stay right here in frozen Michigan. Although you are all invited and welcome to come visit.

Next

On 2008-12-11 03:54, Benzart wrote:

What'cha gonna do Next Johnny?

Then Gman answered

A xylophone

But he had a hint.

I belive this to be a first-anywhere---a PNG inspired double tiki headed (with crocs of course) slit gong xylophone.

Here it is just after the rough out stage and just starting the detail work. It is a pine log and it is 7 feet long and 12 inches at it's widest. 12 keys (if that's what they are called) about 2.25 inches wide. Each key is placed over a hole drill through the main part of the xylophone into a upside down slit gong that runs the whole length of the main part of the body but cut into the belly from the bottom. These holes allow the sound made from striking the keys to pass into the slit gong chamber and resonate. I made keys out of some scrap lumber. I had a bugger of a time trying to figure out how to tune them into something sounding at least pleasant. I have no musical ability at all and my wife and daughters just laughed at my first attempt. I spent the better part of a day just learning how to modify them and what changes did what to the sounds they made. Every time I over adjusted one, I had to go and alter the rest so they sounded good together. While I doubt it will ever be played at Carnegie Hall, it sounds nice enough and is fun to play.

Johnny P delivers again, straight from the Sepik River to your computer!
Great looking carve so far Johnny and the concept sounds like it should
sound just fine. It looks like the keys are set onto the opening in
the drum. If you want to try to get even more resonance you might
consider "stringing" the keys...sort of like an old jungle style
suspension bridge. I have a cheapie balafon drum which has the keys
strung over a simple stick frame and could send you some pics if you
are interested.

At any rate, the carving is great and don't pay any attention to me :)
Can't wait to see more progress!

hey johnny,

the carving looks b-e-a-utiful. have you thought of checking the music dept. out at your local university or community college. they might have someone on staff or a student that could give you some pointers as to tuning your drum or shaping the keys. just an idea. can't wait to see the finished drum. wish i could hear it too.

bd

Great idea. Looks like a fun project.

Conga, if you look at the second picture I think there is string there. I believe the keys are suspended. Johnny? Jeeze what an undertaking (read as: What's going on in your head man!). JP is the Sepik musik man!

Great idea,nice carving. I can hear the exotic sounds all the way to the west side of Motown.

Thanks GMan, I see the string! Johnny, please ignore my needless
suggestion.

Johnny, I keep Looking at this guy in utter Amazement and the more I see the more I believe you should offer some Lessons on how to do these guys the right way. I'm sure I would be the first to sigh up. Your skills with this detail is remarkable and surpasses even many PNG artists. I think they would look at this and wonder which village you were from.
:tiki: :o :o

Wow great new piece Johnny,
Will your wife and daughters still be laughing when you start to learn how to play that thing :wink:
This forum needs a way to post sound clips.

Croc-O-phone!!!!!!

More great stuff coming from the land of Michigan!

Winter does strange things to us, doesn't it Johnny?

Being cooped up indoors makes focus easier, because the outside world will drive you nuts with the snow and cold! :wink:

The detail and concept behind this piece are wonderful!

Look forward to seeing the polished details!

great idea!
cant wait to see whats next

You frozen yet?

Very Cool JohhnyP you are really stepping it up with this
instrument. Love how you go all out in what you are working at.

Being that this is made of wood, doesn't it make it technically a marimba (not xylophone) ? :)

Cool tho'

Cool and original idea, Johnny.
You've got to find a way to post a sound byte so we can hear how it sounds!!

Another Masterpiece by Johnny, C'mon John Finish it up, Can't wait to see More!!
And HEEEEAAAARRRRRRRRRSSS JohNNy!