Benzart 's, Last, most recent thread

Jeez, youre a trooper Benz! Great work.
*That curly Maple is spectacular, will it have 'chatoyancy' when finished?
Just scored a few chunks of wood myself, will flick a pic a bit later... Tama

Great starts on the carving lessons Ben, everyone is gonna have a wonderful time attempting
to duplicate your side of the wood! Watch the edge of the hook blade though!

think what you can do now that you can see better! awesome maori lessons and i'm sure that beautiful maple is gonna turn into something amazing.

WOW! That curly maple sure is purdy!

Benz...Those are amazing!! Can't wait to see them in person.

Rest that eye :wink:

Phenominal work. Hang in there, Ben!

There are no handicaps that hold the master down. Happy Friday!

Mahalo

McTiki

Oh Jeeze....when he got he other eye fixed last year, and could only see better outta one eye, he absolutely took off with the crazy detail. Now that the other eye is done he is gonna go nutz. Stand back folks, I feel a major BenZart explosion coming....really, the ground is shaking down here - the ancients must be pleased (or scared he's gonna take over!) All Hail BenZart!

That curly-wood is the schnizel!

-Gman

Thanks guys.
Tama, I had to look up "chatoyancy" to see if the curly maple would have it and Yes it does big time. The grain on the piece pictured runs vertically and the bars going horizontally only show up when held a certain way and only when wet or finished. It really is Spectacular wood.Thanks..
Conga, hopefully it will be fun with No Bandaids as in Coon Tiki(except for Swanky)Thanks
Thanks Tiedye, I am looking for excellent stuff from the Curly Maple.
Tgap, thanks, I agree,
Moki, thanks, looks like the time is getting shorter and shorter, Hell, I'm Al;most at the boarding gate now!
Pappy Thanks, I'm hangin'
McTiki, I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but I
'm having a lot of fun.
GMAN, all they did was clear up a little clowding and Haloing which took all of 3 minutes, although I was there 90 minutes so they could dilate the eye. When it wasn't opening fast enough, they dumped the whole bottle in and sprung it right open to the max.. That was at 9am and it didn't get back to normal by the time I went to bed at 11pm.
Feels much better today.

Oooooooh Lono curly maple...droooooooooool slurrrrrrrpPp...!!!

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Your lesson pieces are looking great all lined up like that.. And that curly maple lono- Wow! What a beautiful finish it will have.

You're turning in to a Million-Dollar Tiki carving man!! They can rebuild you... Make you faster.. Stronger.. :)

You make lazy bastards like GROG look bad. Now where's that remote?

Those are so cool Ben!

Jonesey Thanks, yeah, curly maple lonowill be beautiful if I don't Mess it up.
Skully Thanks, I wish it was that ezy.
Hey Grog, I think I'm the lazy one, Thanks.
Bete, thanks, at least there are a bunch of them so a few have to be cool.
Here's a couple I did today.


Where it all happens

some tools just waiting for the"Biter" tiki.

Hey Ben, got the lil' Tang today. Photography doesn't do it the least bit of justice (but, I knew that). What a beautiful piece of work. I'm amazed and delighted. You are THE Master Carver. Thank you.

[ Edited by: foamy 2006-10-13 16:23 ]

Wow! Far-out man! Glad to have you back Ben! :wink:

-Gman

Thanks Foamy, glad he got there without being sidetracked
Thanks GMAN!

Here is one more I did today plus a few extra pic's. I got all set up to shoot the whole session but the batttery died. I have to charge the battery so seldom(several hundred pic's) that it sneeks up on me!

The Bottom one was from today

Oh Man, all of those pieces are so cool Ben!

You better lock up that little shoebox. That looks like a box of treasure. Are all of those blades USED? Damn!!! My fingers hurt from looking at them - I can't imagine how yours feel!!

Thanks Bete
You Too AS, and yes I keep it locked up and away from sight, you never know. Most all of those blades are new, just a few used. That is the box of 144 I bought several months ago and what is left of them. I can sharpen them several times but they break often. These are the thinnest ones you can buy I think. They used to have 3 thicknesses available in lots of 144 but now I think there are only 2. The thin blades are better for the Moko as they are fairly flexible and make finer cuts. Thanks again.
I finished another one today, like the last 2, those seem to be fairly easy. I will post pix later.

Heres the one I did today

Excellent !!! it looks like you carved them out of butter. yummy.

Thanks IsleConch, the bass wood is just about like carving butter, you'll see!

Mailman came today with More Treasures from Down Under. Tama the Terrible, is really ruining the terror image. Thanks BIG Time for the GreenStone. A treasure trove for sure that will be treasured for everrr. How many times can I say thanks?
HappyHappyHappyJoy!
Thanks Tama, T3

My pleasure. Just be sure to show us the results!!

So I need to be more terrible do I..? heehee
Tama :)

Awesome carves there Sir. Is Basswood softer than White Pine? If so, I need to get a spotlight my cordless saw and a trailer! :)

Mahalo

McTiki

It amazes me how much character you impart into these little guys - they're all so individual. How many left to go now?

whispers Tama: We better stop sending him stone now, or we won't see any more of these awesome wood carvings!

Tama, yes you need to be more terrible,, Reputation, you know,
Yes I'll show you the results, good and bad, no worries.
Thanks McTiki, yes the basswood is MUCH Softer than the white Pine. Go ahead and rig up your lights...
Paipo, Thanks, I am Trying to make them all different, Since there are different level carvers, I want to keep it interesting for everyone. Only 4 more to go and I can start playing with the jade stuff, I might not get back to wood for a couple years, In fact, I May Never go back mr Paipo, now see what you have gone and done??

Such a cool piece Ben, it looks so awesome!

On 2006-10-17 19:09, Benzart wrote:
......I might not get back to wood for a couple years, In fact, I May Never go back mr Paipo, now see what you have gone and done??

hey, Hey, HEY NOW!! Enough of the likes of THAT talk.. You can try it, but don't let those kiwi stoners be your pushers. :D

(Just goofin' Paipo/T3)

On 2006-10-18 17:09, Capt'n Skully wrote:
You can try it, but don't let those kiwi stoners be your pushers. :D

(Just goofin' Paipo/T3)

lol!! :D :D :D

Thanks again Bete :)

Capt'n, I Knew I would get a rise out of sombody. Now, you Know I could never give up wood, even if I Tried. I'm addicted and need my daily wood chips to keep going. However, in the near future I may develop a strong craving for wood And Stone and will probably be mixing more of the 2 together.
Look for a Jade tiki with wood eye inlays! Now Thats something you won't see often?

Kingsey, did your heart skip a beat there? Sorry about that..Not.
Paipo, see the trouble you ant TTT are getting me into?
Postman brought some Diamond toolz today. Now I'm really in trouble, since I have to finish a few more lessons, but then,,, Look Out

ben, please put me on your stoner list! :D

On 2006-10-18 17:48, Benzart wrote:
Look for a Jade tiki with wood eye inlays! Now Thats something you won't see often?

Tama sez: WICKID!!! I WILL be looking! :)

Finished up # 29 lesson today so I celebrated by Playing a bit.
Here is what I did so far today

It's that green stuff! Don't you ever slow down?????? Looks good Ben. Man have you been busy. Now when do you leave for your west coast seminar. Getting close isn't it?

I wondered how long it would be before you tried to carve a Lono with a head-dress in stone! Looking pretty damn smooth Benz, you sure seem to know what you're doing. You've got the right idea with keeping the piece of stone as whole as possible and suggesting the spaces with relief work - you can't get away with thinning and piercing out stone like you can with wood. What sort of diamond tools did you get in the end?

Thanx, G, We leave the 25th, next Wednesday.
Paipo, Thanks, Yeah, I didn't think the "see-Thru" headdress would work very well in this small a piece of stone. Tools were nothing fancy, the seller just promised they were good quality. I got them from Here.
I got a lot, but not Near enough. Good for now though. They certainly work better than the Harbor freight 3$ ones for sure. I posted pictures in the "Stone Carving Q&A" thread.
Thanks again!

WOW!! Beautiful.....can you bring it out west for show and tell?? I would love to see it in person.

Sure Moki, I will bring it along, Thanks.
Looks like Kingsy beat everybody to the punch again to be the first on the BenZart "Stoner" list. I don't think anyone has asked to be put on this list yet.

I assumed you'd be offering these to those on the regular list as they were done, but if you're starting a new stone list, you can put me on it! I'd love for you to make me something from a beach pebble (I'm not much into jade these days) - let me know if you want some more.

*It just occured to me that we may very well be witnessing the first Lono EVER carved in jade, EVER...!!!

Oooh baby! Please add me to the stone list Benz! No hurry, let the loyal fans ahead... Perhaps a swap for a trad. Hei-tiki? Unless you need the ca$h? In any case, Id be honoured to have an early Benz-stone!! :)

that is gonna be incredible! happy, happy, happy!!! :D :D :D
i was joking about a stoner list, but if there's gonna be one i'm glad i wrote that!

[ Edited by: kingstiedye 2006-10-19 16:27 ]

Thanks Paipo and Tama, you guys are on the list
Bullet thanks to you too, you are at the top of the list.
All this Assuming I will be able to finish any of these pieces.

Great stuff man! Haven't been into your thread for a wee bit and look at all the tiki goodness Ive miseed! Greenstone Lono looks the goods man!

Always a visual pleasure to see what BenZ up to? You got yer 25 half-carves ready for next weekend aaaaand you might wanna slow down a bit big guy...that last chunk you were whittlin' on looked a little GREEN! :lol: Oh yeah, and where's Curly???

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

Ben, is that jade? And is it going to have wood inlayed eyes? Looks very nice so far.

Cool a stoner list. Ben I want to be first on the new list. teaKEY #1 on the Boner list. :D