Harro - What the hells been happening?? pg 13

Man this is a great looking tiki! Well done :D and the adventure of the whole thing is great to read about too

There is "good" bad taste, and there is "bad" bad taste, and the difference of the two is in the eye of the beholder - Sven Kirsten

[ Edited by: hewey 2008-04-10 17:40 ]

very good.

Benjamin.

Excellent tiki, Excellent choices in Stain and Excellent finishing job. Harro Rocks!

"have been a bit overwhelmed in the "Stain and Finishing"

I hear you brother. Your doing great. I have along ways to go
in this department.

Looking great!! Can't wait to see it finish finish!! I know the weather is not helping at all...

Cheers Hewey, Benella, Benzart, Seeksurf and Clarita!! I just put the first coat of clear varnish on so hopefully it'll be done in a couple more days.

So, this month is "Show your workspace month" - I'll take you all on a tour and hopefully I don't lose you along the way. I'm sure there's going to be a few jealous people out there once they see the vast, luxurious surrounds of the space I have to work in. :D

Depending on the traffic, I'll either catch a taxi or just walk from the living room of our apartment to the workshop on the balcony (tough commute):

Here we have the workbench and tool chest with an almost limitless supply of 4 chisels and a cheapo dremel copy with 8 bits:

Next we have the ergonomically correct carver's broken plastic seat and safety workboots:

And finally to conclude our tour for today, we have the paint store consisting of 1 tin of varnish, 1 concentrate stain, 2 brushes and 1 bottle of turps. if you can peer past all that, you may get a glimpse of the log storage room:

I think I have already posted a pic of the panoramic vista offered to me from this workshop (back a couple of pages), so no need to make you even more jealous than you already are by this point. :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Harro.

Nice,Looks like my work spaces.

Excellent use of the work space, Harro and I Especially covet those work boots you have there. Just goes to show you don't need lots and lots of tools to make beautiful carvings!
:lol:

Nice closet, Harro! :) A wee carving space is better than no carving space though. Did you read that newspaper?

The "stain and finishing aisle" has always been a bit of an enigma for me too. Your piece is looking good. Looking forward to seeing the staining progress.

Aloha harro!!! Your Tiki looks GREAT my friend! Excellent carving! I'm with ben dig the work boots mine make my feet sweat to much(fireboots)Aloha, Mooney

Thanks guys, yes its a closet to work in, but its all I got and I dont have it for much longer as we are moving overseas again in less than 2 months, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to take my tools with me. So I have to get my carving fix now for as long as possible!

Cheers Seek, Ben, Bowie and Mooney. Here's some final pics of the Ku head for Clarita:

Hope you like it Clarita!! Nos vemos la semana que viene?

I spent a few hours debarking that log that was under the workbench in the last post last night. Bastard took forever with just a 10mm wide flat chisel!!!

Cheers,
Harro.

Great job Harro!!! I really like how you got the lighter stained areas on the eyes, nose and teeth. Sweet!

Oh I totally love him!! Great job!! Thanks SO much! Can wait so see him in person!
Happy happy happy as Benz would say :D!

Absolutely beautiful, Harro. I already know that Clarita will be super happy happy happy !

Bravo,

Benjamin.

On 2008-04-15 05:53, Benzart wrote:
Excellent use of the work space - Just goes to show you don't need lots and lots of tools to make beautiful carvings!

Nicely put. I had no idea your workspace was so er, rudimentary. Miles from home & working in less than desirable conditions - proof that Tiki lies in the heart.. :wink:

Superb Ku-head Harro! - congrats Clarita! :) :) :)

Tama

Nice job, Harro! Goes to show you that size really doesn't matter (er- the size of your work space, that is). :)

Most excellent tiki Harro. It's great that it gets to stay in Argentina.

man, harro-that little guy came out awesome! love how your stain process worked out. darker recesses with lighter eyes nose and teeth. i can imagine the trouble i would find getting drunk down there-"i cudda swore that can said 'aqua' on it"!!

Wonderful work Harro!

Great carve harro - that subtle red stain really pops and suits the subject to a "T". There's some beautiful grain pattern happening in that wood!

Really enjoyed seeing the progress on this one. I was glad to see you leave the chisel marks on the back...they disappear so often. I think they add a lot to a piece. We so often smooth out the touch of the artist. Great choice on the stain.

Gracias mis amigos!!!

I am happy to say that the Ku head is safe and sound in his new home in Clarita's little bamboo hideaway and is quickly making friends with her mischievous little candles. The Argentinian tiki with an Australian dad, based on a Hawaiian idol, will have plenty to talk about with the globe travelling Hoku Ili's, who even have their own adventure comic strip (see Clarita's thread).

Thanks tikifreak, yep I wiped the stain off with a paper towel after I applied it - all 4 times!

Clarita, I'm glad you like him, it was a pleasure making it for you!

Thanks Benella, I think she is!!

Yes Tama its in the heart, and in the head a lot lately, seems its all I can think about so I gotta do with whatz I got, and be thankful that I at least have the space and time to learn this whole tiki thing at all!

Thanks Bowie, of course size matters!! Thats why my next one is muuuuch bigger!!

Thanks Conga, yes its Argentinean through and through. I have a question for you below....

Greentikipat, thanks. Yes its quite easy to get tipsy down here with 1 litre bottles of beer for 70 cents and great wines starting from a couple of dollars. And then a Mai tai at an "expensive" bar is about $5 or $6.... man its going to be a shock when I move to London in a month!

Thanks Hodadhank, hows your shop going?

Paipo, thanks for the nice words. Yes the markings in the wood came out nicely.

Robin, good to see you around here again. I really like chisel marks too, and its something I want to work on in my future carvings....

Which brings me to my final Argentinian tiki (well for now)... I only have just over a month left here in Buenos Aires before we pack up and move to London for a year. So I am tackling the most adventurous and difficult tiki I've ever attempted so far, and on a deadline too - am I crazy??

Well I have to give it a shot, since I lugged this big log from the side of road in a big bag a few months back, it would be rude not to at least sink a few chisel marks into it. I have no idea what type of wood it is, but many streets are lined with this type of tree so I will try to take a pic of it to see if anyone recognises it. Its beautiful to carve, except for a few knots and splinter-y areas.

A BIG difference, and A FIRST for me on this tiki so far is that I have ONLY used chisels - no power tools at all. I touched it with the grinder to start with, but it instantly didn't feel right, yet the chisels did. So I listened to that, and ploughed on with just 2 chisels, a flat and a gouge.

The other reason is that these woodchips are a lot easier to clean up than a mountain of sawdust in every orifice and a layer of dust throughout the apartment:

Roughing out the shape with the big gouge:

We shall call him LEGOHEAD for now:

Progress up to tonight. Smoothed out the rough face with the flat chisel (all the tools used so far are shown in this picture), ready for marking out:

LOOOOOOng way to go yet...

Anyone pick where the inspiration came from? I tried searching here for bongo/drum tikis but only found a few - Marcus did a couple of excellent ones. Conga, surely you've done one?

Whew, long post. Time to rest now.

Hey this will be fun to watch. Actually I haven't done a drumming tiki,
mainly cuz the Tikibeat carvings are so incredible. That's why I do a lot
of birds and fish, cuz nobody else does:-)
Is this based on the drumming Marq...pg 56....Tiki Modern?

Legohead the Drummer!

He's going to rock.

Or swing.

Or mosh.

Or pogo.

Or Tango. (it's Buenos Aires afterall) :)

Great design, Harro! Hope you have enough time to finish before you leave.

CLARITA?!!!!!! :x What the hell did she do to get such an awesome tiki?!!!

GROG WANT!

Damn you Clarita!!! You got GROG' tiki!

Good start on the next one, Harro. Good stuff--GROG like.

On 2008-05-02 10:06, GROG wrote:
GROG WANT!
Damn you Clarita!!! You got GROG' tiki!

Ha Ha :lol:

On 2008-05-01 20:31, harro wrote:

This looks very interesting, impressive progress for all chisel work, I don't think you'll have too much trouble meeting your deadline.

Nice choice he is coming to life very nicely.

On 2008-05-02 10:06, GROG wrote:
CLARITA?!!!!!! :x What the hell did she do to get such an awesome tiki?!!!

GROG WANT!

Damn you Clarita!!! You got GROG' tiki!

Good start on the next one, Harro. Good stuff--GROG like.

It's mine, mine, mine, MINE!!!! MUAHAHAHA!!! Sorry Grogie! :)
Wow! The new one is looking amazing already! Can I buy it?! :D!

Can I buy it?!

Back off Candle-girl!!!

[ Edited by: GROG 2008-05-02 19:24 ]

:lol: :lol: entertaining stuff here!! Harro think GROG is funny bastard.

No sorry Clarita, this one is another gift for an Argentinian friend that has shown interest in my tikis since I started carving here. He offered me some logs when I couldnt find any at the beginning, and also lent me his surfboard when I went to Uruguay for a holiday at Easter.

Hmmm selling a tiki - never thought of that yet...? Maybe one day when I get good and can actually make more than 3 per year!

YES Conga you're right on the money - inspiration taken from Tiki Modern p56. I knew you would pick it!!!

Cheers Seek, Bowana, Conga, GROG, Zaya. Hopefully more progress pics at the end of this weekend, because apart from a Spanish exam I'm meant to be studying for on Monday, I've got the place to myself and nothing to do except carve!!!! :)

Gorgeous work mate :D Clarita should be stoked, and the drummer is coming along nicely too. But when you move, try and get a bigger pad!

Aloha Harro!!!

Man that bongo drummer is off to a Sweet start looking forward to watching him come alive, keep up the fun and great carvin, Aloha, Mooney

Here a pic of Ku rocking my home, with his new friend! (I think they are planing something...)

Cool Clarita - he looks happy happy happy there with his new partner in crime!! Thanks for posting the pic. That's the first tiki I've made that I've given to anyone other than family, and it couldn't have gone to a better home. :)

Thanks Mooney and Hewey - hopefully I can get a space to carve in London but who knows? Not even sure if I'll be able to fit many tools in the backpack...

Thanks very much too JP, missed you last time. Thanks for the confidence boost with the deadline - but I can be strangely slow and easily distracted at times!!

Well you'll all be relieved to know I passed my spanish exam (not that I did any study for it, or that it had any significant bearing on anything :) ).

So its been a bit cold here lately and I've picked up the first flu of the season, but I managed to take the Lego Helmet of this guy and give him a face. First time doing a Marq and have been struggling with giving him an expression that doesn't look ridiculous. Still a long way to go to fix up the head yet.

Cheers. Heaps of good stuff happening in Creating at the moment, hard to keep up with it all!!

harro he is looking great that face is
very nice.

"Dead On" with this one so far, he's gonna be great!

Very sweet harro!

I'm really digging this piece!

Going to be fun watching this guy progress!

Hi Harro....nice...I'm really liking that face...particularly the eyes. Glad you passed the exam..even though it's meaningless...always nice to pass!

Oh No! Ku got drunk again?! oh man, I thought I've hidden the Rum well this time!! When he is drunk he start speaking in English an saying stuff like that, or trying to get everyone naked :D!
But commonly he is a well behaved Argentinian Tiki :)(so he speaks in Spanish Grogie :) )

So you passed your exam? congrats! Tell us something in Spanish then :)

Oh the drummer is looking good! despite of your flue, It's cold lately hm? Brrrr!

Tiki Candle Maker

[ Edited by: Clarita 2008-05-09 09:30 ]

Uh oh! If Ku is looking to defect to GROG's cave, watch out! He's hanging out with that little scoundrel Hoku Ili, the master escape artist! Watch those two carefully, Clarita!

The drummer is looking great, Harro. Looks like you're going to finish before zero hour, huh?

Hi Harro,

This guy is looking very sweet.
I love the style you put in the design of his face, very smooth lines.

Benjamin.

Gracias Benella, Bowana, Clarita, Robin, GROG, Lake, Conga, Seeks...

Just a quick post with some pics I took before I left for a few days away visiting the outlaws before we leave the country. I have smoothed out the face features and bongo with the grinder, and was tempted to blast the whole body with it to smooth it all out, but after all the work I've done with the chisels I think i will try and keep the rough chisel marks on the body. But I'm not sure If I have done a good enough job with the chisels, and how to get it ready for staining. Should i hand sand over the body just a little bit?

Hope for more TC time when I'm back in Buenos Aires.

Over and out!!

WOW Harro, you got a perfect piece here. I was waiting for this update !

The chisel job you made is a perfect choice. I think a bit of sanding could smooth the edges of the chisels marks that will allow your varnish or poly to fit together. Sorry for the bad explanation, I hope it will be "understandable" :)

Benjamin.

Dam he looks great! Very nice work done on this fella.

The tool marks you've got make a good contrast to the smoothness of the face. One way to have some fun with tool marks is to make a regular pattern with them such as in this picture:

It's especially noticeable in the vertical cuts on the legs.

Your drummer boy is looking good! You're making fast progress too.

Nice one Harro! He's really come along well. Glad you're leaving those chisel marks again...the contrast with the smoothness of the face is perfect!