Tama - NZ Pounamu/greenstone - Last post for '08! - pg99

Kia ora! Io Orana! Aloha!
Warmest greetings from New Zealand to all of my kindred tiki-lovers... We have never met, but a couple of months of 'lurking' has found me wanting to introduce myself...

My name is Andy Ruskin & I am a fulltime self-employed 'stonesmith' from my home-based workshop on the West Coast of the Sth. Isld, Aotearoa (New Zealand). The 'jade country'...

Some of you may have already seen my work for sale on eBay or perhaps on our main NZ auction site, TradeMe. I work almost exclusively with New Zealand 'greenstone'/pounamu (nephrite jade), creating unique, one-off designs; mainly pendants & the occasional small sculpture. Our friend TIKI is one of my 'specialties' & I believe I am gaining a good reputation for quality & originality. (nearing 150 thus far, all different..!!)

*I am not simply here to plug my work, but will certainly be using the marketplace forum to point anyone interested towards work that can be purchased. I have deliberately posted my first message (hope thats ok/kosha?, Im a newbie...)here as I intend to put up pictures of 'old' work that I consider to be some of my best; simply for the joy of sharing (& lets be honest, maybe a little 'ego-stroking', haha -appreciation is the artists soul-food :) Happy to discuss jade carving technique if anyone is interested.

I also have great appreciation for others' work & have a small but diverse collection of Polynesian tikis, piccies & music that adorn my workshop walls & give daily inspiration...

I consider myself a very lucky man to be 'navigating my own waka', hanging out with my young family ('almost' wife & 2 pre-schoolers) in a beautiful part of the world, & supporting it all by doing what I love most, yeehaa!!

Pounamu is my muse... Those who have come into contact with this amazing stone will understand these words. She is a unique substance in this world, ideally suited as a material for talisman/pendants due to her extreme toughness & obvious beauty...

I am of part-Maori descent, my Iwi being Kai Tahu/ Kati Mamoe, from the very deep southern areas of NZ. Some beautiful pounamu artifacts have been left by my ancestors & I feel that I am picking up a long-forgotten family tradition, and carrying it forward with pride. I label my work as Contemporary Polynesian as I draw inspiration not only from our Maori culture, but from all three Island outposts of Polynesia, and a little in between...

Cant promise how often I will be able to chat, busy, busy, but will endeavour to check in at least a couple of times per week. Being fairly 'green' (jade carvers joke :) to all of this I am unsure of how inundated I may become (or not!)...

Enough of my yap! Heres a few that Im particularly proud of, hope you enjoy them!!!

Back to the 'grind' (another jade carvers joke :) for me...

Ka kite, Andy

PS: Remember you are viewing these much larger than real-life, please forgive any magnified indiscretions...

Big fella with a Hawaiian flava! 2004-6

Overall shape of this represents a rei-puta, or carved whaletooth... 2006

My own personal hei-tiki. Incredibly dark stone, appearing almost black until held to light... 2004

Hei-tiki wearin' a hei-tiki..!! 2006

The Warrior, the Thinker & the Trickster... (sorry about dark pic) 2006

Meditating tiki! Beautiful, man... 2006

[ Edited by: tamapoutini 2008-10-22 18:22 ]

[ Edited by: Tamapoutini 2008-12-28 02:51 ]

Hi Andy! It's way past my bedtime here in England so this'll be brief. Just had to say that your hei-tiki carvings are superb! But you know that right? Stating the bloody obvious is a speciality of mine. Still credit where it is due. Keep up the great work! I love the new angle/twist you have given these guys!! I love the 'Big fella with a Hawaiian flava!' and the 'Thinker' is dead neat! When I'm more awake I'll check out your wares on eBay and your site. Until then...Goodnight! - Trader Jim.

Love the meditating tiki :)

Welcome to TC

Fancy seeing you here... :wink:
Andy is the man when it comes to contemporary pounamu/jade/greenstone tikis, but still with more than a nod to tradition. To think just few years ago we were wide-eyed students unlocking the mysteries of the stone!

Thanks guys for warm welcome! I should add that eBays sales are fairly few & far between, maybe a piece per week max (nothing at the moment...) Keep watching though, my tradename there is Tamapoutini also. Sorry to announce, there is no website either. Hopefully within the next 12mths... Glad to be here! Ka kite, Andy

Tamapoutini, First, Big Welcome to Tiki Central . Come on in and stay awhile, Or should I Say Come in, it's about time you introduced yerself. We Knew you would come on in one of these dayz, We're glad to have you. Your Fellow Paipo has told us All about you and he threw in some good stuff too.Actually he hasn't said a word until you popped in.
Love your Stuff there! I can see that you are ea bit of a rebel, but Like to hang on to the old ways and structure. Of course the piece I love the best is your personal HeiTiki. I am on the verge of carving some of those guyz in wood since wood is my thing and I can make it sing sometimes.
SO.Come on in and Show us your work and show us how to do it so we can do our own and put you outta business! (never Happen, see,we can't carve up here like you bloaks do down there. Something about things always spinning the wrong way. ) Any way as I was saying,,,WELCOME

[ Edited by: Benzart 2006-08-31 04:54 ]

Tamapoutini,

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I slid through your post and the carvings you shared, and must admit I love them all. Nice stuff. So now we have at least two rock grinders from NZ; good stuff! I can really appreciate what you're doing in the stone as I've been on a bit of a bone pendant tear myself. Please keep posting your jade works and keep us up to date with your products. Thanks for coming into TC to hang out; pull up a chair and hang a while....

-Gman

"The saw is family"

[ Edited by: GMAN 2006-08-31 15:32 ]

as the owner of a few of andy's pieces i can attest to their beauty. andy is a great carver with wonderful creativity.

[ Edited by: kingstiedye 2006-08-31 12:13 ]

I'm Jealous KTD!!!

Gorgeous work...Beautiful Narangi...True Maori craftsmanship. I have a great admiration for Maori art..nearly incomparable in the carving world. Those are heirloom quality.

Hello again all! Really pleased to receive such a warm welcome on my first day. A really encouraging vibe & a lot of inspirational work to look at. I have only dipped my toe into whats going on here & have a heap of catching up to do... We have always been a bit removed from the whole US 'Tiki-lounge/luau' thing down this end of the world, am finding it most interesting!

Benzart: Had already checked out your homepage, love your stuff & the fact that you swing from netsuke-size to full-blown outrigger/totem is pretty impressive! I promise to put together an overview of my technique/tools before too long & am similarly looking forward to learning/trying a bit of the BIG stuff -the idea of carving with a chainsaw is very inline with our 'Kiwi/DIY' sensibilities (I reckon the 'old' Maoris would have LOVED one!!!) Ive never tried wood! Been involved with glass ,clay, bone, metals, & stone, but never wood..!! *So Paipos been hogging the limelight for himself, eh?teehee

Kingstiedie: The man who introduced me to TC! I didnt even realise that you had two of those!!! I remember the pieces for sure, but often the fate of pieces sold through galleries/traders remain a mystery to me. What a nice surprise! Good to see them all displayed too! Ka pai!

*Ill leave it there for now folks. Again my thanks for the warm welcome. Ill be back with some CARVING stuff before too long. WONT be an exact replica thread as my man Paipo. We work quite independantly, see each other rarely these days, and have really forged our own approaches to working stone...

Take care, happy carving! Andy

Welcome aboard. Glad you shared. Wonderful carvings. I don't know how you guys carve stone, wood is hard enough to do. It's great to have more people from New Zealand aboard. Share more please.
JP

[ Edited by: Johnnyp 2006-08-31 12:20 ]

here are a couple of pics of the hei tiki tamapoutini did leaving all the original surface with just the form carved out. this is probably my favorite. i swiped your pics. :)

Beautiful work!
You've just turned me around on the hei tiki.

Kia ora Folks, all excited about joining the community so Im back sooner than expected - Kids are in bed & almost wife is happily reading so I thought Id grab the opportunity to start my ramble on carving tiki in Greenstone/Pounamu/Nephrite jade... Im sure over time this will be seen by a few and I hope that it may educate & perhaps inspire some of you to try something a little different...

I will try to keep things brief & not hugely tech-talk, but this is my pet subject remember :)

Paipo has given you a pretty good rundown on the basic tools & processes commonly used by our local 'studio' stonecarver & I will jump on the opportunity to devote this thread to Pounamu carving in particular. Im a tiki-guy for sure, and this is my material of choice...
We have a bit of a unique industry in NZ, especially here in Westland, springing from the fact there is a natural jade occurance, discovered by the Maori around 1000 years ago. 3 main occurances, all in the Sth Island.
There are many books on the subject so I wont go on & on about the geology/formation/history, etc. 'Mana Pounamu. New Zealand Jade' by Russell J Beck is the book to have, all you could want to know...

*Give me a week & I will try to have the step-by-step Hei-tiki project done and posted here... Hope you enjoy it! I will carry on my browsing of your work for now...

*Basement Kahuna!! Wow! I certainly cant claim to have discovered you but am your latest/greatest fan! What a character, what an artist! Love your stuff!...

**A heads-up for you hard-core wood carvers interested in Maori carving... Try a Google for the work of Roi Toia -He is THE MAN! for contemporary-yet-traditional whakairo/wood carving... I tried a search myself & after a fair bit of trawling came up with a fair bit of 'guff' but not so many pics (you just gotta see!!), but **If you can get your hands on 'Kahui Whetu'-Contemporary Maori Art/A carvers Perspective, by Roi Toia & Todd Couper (Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd), I guarantee it will BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

Thats all for now young Grasshoppers... Im off to browse more BIG stuff... Andy :)

[ Edited by: tamapoutini 2008-06-24 23:01 ]

welcome tamapoutini!

and what an introduction it was too... great stuff! i can tell your thread is going to be keenly watched by many peeps around the world. it's fantastic to get background on your materials and their history, as well as your approach to your awesome carvings.

i'll be waiting and watching (and eating my vegies!!) for all the stories.

cheers,
harro

What can I say Oh Greenstone Guru! You have totally blown my mind here today! I have been fortunate enough to have downloaded photos of Some of Roi Toia's Unbelievable work and don't think I could Survive reading that book mentioned. Though I would be Happy to die trying! I am Totally unworthy and feel absolutely unable to make another wood shaving. I only wish I could have witnessed this 40 years ago.
You certainly have given me the urge to carve some greenstone,err, Pounamu.... I still think I will stay with wood but will have to do a Hei-Tiki or two! I might do one in some Ebony I have floating around.
I amd Sure you have the interest of about 100 carvers here who are All sitting on the edge of their seats, glued to the Computer screen, waiting for your next post, so don't be long and be as Wordy as you like and YES Lots of Pictures.
Thanks
Benzart

Hello again - Back to slide in a few more pics of previous work...

Harro & Benzart: Thanks for that! Wasnt sure just how interesting (or irrelevant) this thread might be to others; nice to hear that there may be interest... Tried viewing your earliest thread Benzart but it seems that pics may have been removed after a time..? Or am I just not giving my underpowered PC time to download?

A few more to whet your whistle...

My first ever Tiki!(about 9 years ago, approx 3 1/2 x 3inches) Probably why I started carving actually, I REALLY wanted a kick-ass non-trad Hei-tiki for myself but there just want anything available. Even if there was I certainly wouldnt have been able to afford it in those days! Carved this in my bedroom, sort of hanging out of the window. It is made from the jawbone of a spermwhale. Had no idea how to carve, bought a small Dremel tool/handpiece & went to work... If you dont know, the dust from this stuff STINKS LIKE A WET DOG!!! *Retch. Wasnt very popular with my flatmates, haha!! The eyes are inlaid with the first pounamu that I ever carved too... Butchered those into shape with ordinary steel files and ordinary tungsten steel drill bits!-DRY!!hahaha Really had no idea, plenty of passion but... Really love this guy & would never part with him...

Another shot of my personal Hei-tiki, showing just how dark this stone really is. I made this lovely lady in 2004 to commemorate the birth of my son, Te Koha... I gave the tiki I wore prior to this, to nearly wife to wear throughout the pregnancy. During the pregnancy I made this new one for myself & wore a beautiful wee pebble found around the time of conception. Gave the pebble-pendant to my new baby boy on his birthday & allowed myself to wear this dark girl for the first time, phew..!
Its all about geneology with Maori hei-tiki! He represents the ultimate ancestor, the first Man, a Maori version of biblical Adam if you will... Im sure you are aware that Hei-tiki were traditionally gifted down the generations & were considered to accumulate the 'Mana' of successive wearers. To this day in my family it is known from childhood, who is going to inherit certain old family pieces...

Jumping ahead in time to just a few months ago... Just a wee fella at about 1 1/2 inches high. This year has seen a change in direction for my Hei-tikis. I have spent the last couple of years refining my own version of very traditional 'authentic' Maori Hei-tiki but have tired a little of this and have started to mix it up a bit...

*I am involved in an exhibition scheduled to show in early 2007, but deadline for submitting work is in a couple of months. I have been setting aside some special pieces for the past few months to include in this show & will add pics of them when they are closer to being finished. *You might have to watch this space for 'Tiki with Taiaha' Paipo, haha...

Take care all! Tamapoutini

Boy, How Luck are WE?? From your First tiki to your present works and we get a ring side seat. I can't wait to see your pieces being produced for the upcoming Exhibition. What an Honor to be able to Preview such beauty! We are fortunate here to see the"first" tikis of many new carvers and watch as they are bitten by the tiki bug and you can usually see which ones have the Natural talent. I would say that your First tiki was Way on the top of that list. Though it may seem rough and raw to you, by your current standards, to me it is a real gem, stinky or not. You Definitely got your "Kick-ass, Non Traditional looking Hei-Tiki" for sure and I'm sure that more than a few eyebrows were raised within the local carving community back then!

It seems that there has been a recent upsurge in Maori Art appreciation with you and Paipo "happening" along just at the right time. Believe me, your offering to walk us , step-by-step through the carving of Any of your works will be followed by All the TC carvers and artists with great excitement.
Of course, that could be all in my head and I could be the only one interested,,,NOT!
I better shut up now before I make more of a fool of myself. Just know this: I know I am not alone in my excitement to see you here!

About My older posts missing pictures, Shutterfly has changed their website somehow a couple times in the past. When they do that All current links are Un-Linked! I will attempt to fix that in the near future. Thanks

[ Edited by: Benzart 2006-09-02 06:52 ]

Shit!

And I mean that in a good way.

Raffertiki's use of the word "shit" made me feel like saying "Holy Crap!" So: Holy Crap! Those are all awesome!!

Great work man. Really enjoying this stuff

Benz, my new mate. Thanks for the tips & compliments! Its kind of overwhelming to jump in amongst all that is going on here so really appreciate you taking the time.
Funny you should mention; that first tiki did earn me an earbashing from one crazed woman not long after making it. I was selling bone carvings & some early silverwork at a craft market & this mad old crone took exception... Put me off wearing it for quite a while in fact. Other than that I have had nothing but compliments, thank goodness!

Raffertiki & Kahaka: So pleased that my efforts can produce such elloquant compliments, haha!

**Will be starting the first walk-thru tommorrow afternoon so will HOPEFULLY have something to show... Cant promise anything; carving has suffered terribly at the hands of browsing lately. Heaven forbid...

**Gonna shorten my own handle to 'Tama' for message-writings' sake... My middle name is Tamatea, named after my family marae in Dunedin, NZ. And for those who dont know, (probably a few?) 'Poutini' is the name of the legendary Taniwha (monster)who trolls the jade-bearing rivers & coastline of our West Coast protecting his stone!!! (I figured if I called myself his son he would cut me some slack...:)

I wish you Woodies well, Tama

Tama,

Get on that stone! We are all waiting to see your project from start to finish. Bring it on! I imagine the green-stone Taniwha will cut you some slack if you continue to feed us pictures and posts. Love it all....

-Gman

Kia Ora Tama,
I'm really glad you stopped by TC to show us your beautiful work. I reall like your style and eagerness to show your art.

My wife and I visited NZ a few years ago and we fell in love with the people and the country and brought back a strong desire to create and collect Maori type art. My kid sister lives in Kuaotunu on the Coromandel. We really loved that area and are hoping to make it back in early '07 to see the south island.

Thanks again for taking the time to share. Looking forward to seeing more.

Howdy y'all.

Kia ora Hewey, loki & GMan (Im getting there!) Its nice to be here!

Loki: Im sure there are at least a couple of beers, beds & guides to show you around if you make it down these parts!

*Not gonna muck around, heading straight into...

Lesson 2: a fast/furious tour of the small but chaotic workshop before getting down to business...

Happy to get as technical about processes as you like, but will wait for questions before going into too much detail. Will also show a 'demo' of tools being used at a later date, but will need my lovely assistant for that one. Shes out with the kids at present...

MY TOOLS!!!

Dirty ol trimsaw... The most abused piece of machinery in my workshop! I really need a much larger 'dropsaw', where the blade sits on top of stone and slowly cuts its way down. Dont have one so this wee fella gets used most 'creatively' for whacking down large stones, often having to attack the cut from several angles & doing my best to have them line up... 12inch diam blade.

Dirty ol grinding unit... 'Peripheral' wheels
The main waste-removing machine. I have two 8inch wheels set up with different degrees of agressiveness, 100grit being the heavier & 360grit for finer work. The gritsize being how many diamond specks per square?? inch, cm, not too sure... Working face is about an inch & half wide! (chainsaw!!??) They dont look like much but it is amazing what you can do with them. Many carvers also run diamond coated 'flatwheeels' which are more aggressive again due to a greater surface area touching the stone, but more limited in their range of use.

Dirty ol handpiece... As with Paipo, I use the magical NSK, Nakanishi. They have become pretty popular with the local jade fraternity, with one friend telling two friends, who told two friends etc... Very controllable, speed wise & a hell of a lot simpler/smaller/quieter than running compressed-air tool.

Dirty ol 'point-carving' unit... For most people this is an engineer-adapted motor, which has had a long shaft turned/tapped to extend out further & carry a 3-jaw chuck. Mine is an ordinary drill-press lying on its side, haha! Does the job smashing good with the added bonus of variable speed & can be stood upright for its intended purpose when using diamond 'core'-drills (we 'pop' out small round discs from slabbed stone as a quick way to achieve perfect circles for pendants, or for removing large amounts of waste when tackling larger sculptural work... The main use of the point carver is however for spinning diamond coated 'points', basically larger versions of the tiny handpiece burrs... The chuck can also hold rubber 'drums', which we load with 'diamond-cloth' or wet n dry/carborundum paper for use in sanding (beats trying to move your hand back and forth at 6000rpm, but only goes so far). Points, drums & diamond cloth shown at front of bench.

On with the project...

I was going to bring this wacky fellow to life for you, but as you can see the stone I wish to use is a bit small & I need to photo-ruduce before I can go any further. Will be another ongoing project...

SO, HERE is the project that we'll be starting with. Fairly tradional Maori hei-tiki design but the way in which I tackle it is pure 21st century. (A great run-down on pre-contact Maori pounamu technique can be seen in the Russell Beck book mentioned earlier)(The 'prize-winner' I mentioned was produced with a combination of old & new technique...)

About half of my pieces are worked out on paper & then transferred, while the remainder (mainly trad. hei-tiki)are drawn straight onto stone (this one 'freedrawn' this morning -sevral times!) These freedrawn tiki tend to 'evolve' more than the carefully worked out pieces & Ive got a feeling that some serious jiggery-pokery is going to be necessary with the head of this... There is an unwanted angle at the top edge of this slab, but Im going to blaze on anyway & cross that bridge when I come to it...
Ive already trimmed this out on the trim saw & will concentrate on the carving evolution...

Damn, look at that head! Drops off like a cliff, doh!

First the outer profile is achieved with the peripheral wheel. The only place I cant fully reach with this is between the arm & hand/knee.

The only wood-shavings youll see in my workshop are from my pencil, haha Plenty of good sludge though... My sinks all run straight out onto path outside, hell of a mess but havent found time yet to drill a hole through the concrete to hopefully drain away (am only guessing that this will work, haha)

Onto the next machine. The handpiece is used to drill through stone to open up internal spaces. Being such a hard stone I generally start with a small hole (2 or 3mm) & progressively open it up with larger burrs... Got that wee bit under the arm too!

So theres the 2-D, profile sorted!
Im afraid thats all you're getting today as I really do need to get 9-5 production rolling again! Have to get all this intro out of the way & can then concentrate on sharing the work... I will endeavour to keep this ball rolling over the next few days. Hope this has sparked your appetite...

'Back to the grind' :) Tama

[ Edited by: Tamapoutini 2006-09-03 18:23 ]

Excellent stuff so far Tama. Your process looks similar to carving wood, you just remove anything that Ain't tiki. The tools are different but you have a pathway from raw to finished piece and along the path are the various tools and implements some of which you must engineer yourself. (I love the sideways drill press!) You must be a tool person and I'm sure you are lways looking for new and different ways to remove unwanted stone. My feeling is that if it will remove wood, It's Fair game and should be used. all these purists like to use old metal, manual tools, but IF they were purists, they would be using Stone tools and sand for smoothing.Hahahahaha This is already turning into a super interesting lesson. Thanks so much for the time you have taken and promised to dake for this piece. Very Well done.
I Love seeing the guitar over by the wall and I Really love seeing some kind of wooden figure watching over it. Next time you have the camera going, could you pan around some of those shots? Pleasepleaseplease. I will probably have this guy carved tonight in my sleeplessness.
Hush, I'm already dreaming

Cheers Benz. Yeah I like my tools, but a bit like with cars & computers, I love driving but cant stand working on them when broken... Im happy to find any effective method, as long as it IS effective!

The fellas watching over me... A groovy group of Hawaiian, Raraotongan, Marquesian & E. Islanders... (*new 'y' regd piece sitting on top of the Marq bookends Paipo!! scarfing both sides!!) Apart from these I have a pretty good collection of plastic NZ tacky-tikis.

Just cant stay away. Thought Id add a few more previous works. Dont want to go too far back with my stone carving, It is a timeline that begins with some cringable work, haha

A wee fella that makes his home in a hollowed out pounamu-pebble... 2004

And without the 'nest'...

This was purchased as a 'capping' gift for a University graduate to be presented with a real feather cloak!! Lucky girl! 2004-5?

A red-headed 'flat-top' tiki. Made utilising that natural surface again... 2004-5?

And a couple I call 'Hei-tiki/Toki' (2004&5) as they are fused with the toki/adze form -that should appeal to you woodcarvers. The toki being the woodcarvers tool of choice at one time... There is a special relevance to my using this form; when the first European settlers/visitors started coming to Aotearoa they bought with them steel tools which made the stone toki obsolete... A 'tourist' trade also sprung up almost immediately & as a consequence of these two factors, many pounamu adzeheads were refashioned into hei-tiki. The commonly recognised NZ hei-tiki design was very much influenced/developed by this & you could almost say that it quite literally 'emerged' from the toki form...

Enjoy! Tama

Exquisite.

Fantastic.

More Fantastic eye candy. Yes, for some strange reason I am very drawn to the "Hei-Tiki/Toki" pieces. They are no more beautiful than the rest, but one wonders how well they would actually carve wood? Of course I can't see myself ever testing the tool out>. At this rate my computer will be full in no time. Thanks for the pic's.

Thanks Grog/Hiltiki + others, glad you are enjoying it!

Benz -No reason why the tokis couldnt be carved with... I have made a set of pounamu woodcarving whao/chisels in the past. Yet to try carving wood with them myself but will certainly give it a go one day...
My G'tar is an electric/acoustic bass (4-string) As an ex-drummer, I find it a lot easier than 6-string but am still only learning really. Had a go at being a rock star but couldnt delude myself forever..haha

On with the next installment... Smaller pics from now on!

Having found the profile I can now flip it over & pen in the back detail & edge lines. Cute bum!

Using a fairly hefty 'bullet-shaped' burr, the arm & leg holes are rooted out & then the gruntiest peripheral wheel is used to make a similar large bevel off the edges (working front & back).

And then a little more... Ive wiped this dry so you can see where Ive been. The 'frosted' areas are due to millions of tiny scratches left by the diamonds. This is as far as I go with the grinding wheel (sometimes going over with the finer wheel if necessary) From here on its all handpiece work...

The internal lines that delineate arm, head, belly etc are cut in with small 'needle' burrs & then bevelled each side to begin shaping. These will all need to be deepened & final levels found a bit later. Taking shape tho'...

*Telling lies... Ive been back to the grinding wheel & given that head a bit of a talking to. Still not quite there but falling into line...

Only about 1/2 days work so far, but things get progressively slower/subtler/fiddlier from here on... Will be a few days yet!

Greenstone Grasshopper signing off. Tama :)

[ Edited by: tamapoutini 2006-09-05 02:35 ]

Wow, thank you for your beautiful & informative posts, I look forward to each progression photograph & explanation.

More Excellent work, Grasshopper!. I Like seing the progression where you go from 1 area to the next so you can keep the overall feel of the piece without getting lost.
Yes to the cute little bum and the head IS LLoking better. That centerline around the outside edge is a very good Idea, why didn't I think of that? :)
NEXT?

Yeah, I agree with tikiwahine - this is a great post - can't wait to see more. Thanks!

On with the show...

Benz, those edge/centrelines are a MUST for me! Working on such a thin scale, shaping is very important & I really need to know where curves begin and end.

At this stage I draw them on the internal edges also.

The entire form now gets a rough (relativly speaking!) shaping with med/large bullet-type burrs... Detail is lost and redrawn many times, dont know why I bother sometimes, but like to keep the 'vision' there for my mind to ponder... Often deliberate changes are made each time I redraw.

After the rough going-over I do it all over again, concentrating on smoothing out the shape (not easy when youre underwater!!)

This pic shows the newly smoothed shape with details redrawn... A tiki-wahine (no offence tikiwahine!)
This is what the piece actually looks like fully 'frosted-up' (dry).

But with a quick squirt of CRC/WD-40, the dryness temporarily disappears giving a better idea of how sanded stone will look... Ive gotta go back & do something with that head, the skullcap look just aint in this year, Oy. (again, no offence intended to anyone, just a sick sence of humour)

At the end of another days work, some of the detail has been added; fingers (all 6), some facial detail & wahine bit :)
Some carvers use small core-drills (shown) to router out those eye-sockets, but I prefer to go the slow route & go round & round with small 'ball' burrs (also shown) Just gives a more organic result than using cores, which I find a bit dead-looking, especially when there are to be no inlays in eyes. This staunch lady will have paua added as a final detail (I just love 'opening' their eyes at the end!!!)

Gotta go, dinners on the table! God bless her!

Tama the terrible :)

great stuff, tama! i love seeing this beauty take shape.

love it! love the fact that it's a female too, very nice 'bits' she has

mahalo!

"Tama The Terrible" are we now, I Love it. That will stick with you for a long time now that you uttered it. Your Lady is turning out just plain Beautifully and with your narritive, I'm sure there will be more "Lady Hei-Tikis" popping up everywhere now. You sound as though you are an Experienced teacher as you make all this look and sound SO Simple. Thanks again Tama the Terrible.

Hi again. Full belly, me like. ahhh...

Kingstiedye: I was hoping that you would keep watching. I find it quite difficult to work when being watched, but am happy to be able to let some interested folks into the workshop... Hope the process doesnt spoil the 'magic' of pounamu for you...

Tikiwahine: You go girls! Fem-tastic creations yourself!

Benz: Tama The Terrible it is then, haha...
Ive really only been carving jade for about 5-6 years & only went full-time about 2years ago. Having said that, I did spend 12mnths teaching practical carving at the jade course Paipo & I attended. Couldnt handle the 'Poly'-tics & soon quit! I really miss the one on one tuition side of things though & hope to oneday employ a young Jedi to the Craft. I have been fortunate enough to have been adopted by some amazingly talented characters in my formative career, & am so thankful now. The sharing of knowledge to worthy recipients is part of the carving tradition is it not?

**Once this initial 'demonstration' is over, I intend to keep posts to chit-chatting & to show 'brand new' or 'just finished' pics (taking all those shots just ruins the 'flow' Man..)
**Q&A regarding pounamu/jade and/or Maori art/culture is warmly invited. Im by no means any authority on the subject/s, but could possibly help..?

More tommorrow hopefully. Night yall!
The Terrible Tama..? haha :)

Tama the Terrible, I guess you are right about stopping to take pictures along the way, it is very disruptive. I usually only take pix at the end of the day. This lady is really coming along sweetly. I just can't believe how eazy you make it look. We're talking about a Hard Rock here man, Not some Soft piece of wood that just gives up as soon as it sees a sharp piece of steel. That stuff fights back.
I would like to know more about the traditional aspects and meanings of giving and handing down the hei-Tiki. It is SO much more than just "Carving a piece of stone"!

Thanx Benz. I will submit more tales (tall & otherwise) as they come to mind.

***I just want to put the word out to my fellow carvers not to be nervous of putting your Maori work out there; my distant ancestors may have 'Once been Warriors' but IM not here to eat anyone..!!:)

My father is English which has watered me down a fair bit & apart from dark hair, am the first generation in my family to NOT look like Tangata Whenua! My mother & her sisters have a fairly dark complexion, all stemming fom my G.Mother, G.GMother, etc. From there back, sure...

I was not bought up in contact with my 'roots' though have a family Marae & have met many of my relatives who live down the 'Kaik' in Dunedin. Although not particularly close, they are kept informed by my G.Mother & are very proud & supportive of me.

I have re-discovered my ancestry through personal investigation, but am in the same boat as many of you, feeling a bit of a 'fraud' myself sometimes.

I am thrilled to see the inspiration that the Maori culture has produced here & encourage all to carry on. As long as there is some integrity in what we do, why be ashamed?

Inspiration can come from anywhere & I too draw from cultures that I am not fully aquainted with. I also walk a pretty fine line with some of my contemporary work & half expect to be hassled about it at some point by REAL Maori (oh yeah, they are out there!)

So in summery: Go for it! Live the Dream! Climb your largest teko-teko & ride the sucker!haha

With all encouragement, Tama the Terrible :)

And this is just what Im talking about! Id be straight in the Hangi-hole (earth oven) if I wore this at the wrong time/place, haha

It has a bit of a 'home-boy/from the hood' thing going on & Ive decided to go with the title 'Piece, Out...' haha.
*Check out the sexy Wyoming rough Paipo! Arrived this morning 'from an admirer', xxx

TTT :)

TTT-
your stuff "rocks" (pun intended), and indeed an honor to a have a maori descendant amongst us! I'd love to know if you have any wood creations hiding about somewhere to show us!

Tama,

Nice progress shots. I love it. I had to laugh at your wahine detail. Crazy. I love the way you have the shop set up and your choice of power tools. The sideways press is great! I'm a big fan of using whatever works! You go man....

-Gman

ben- you may want to pick up some of those for your tikis...saves you the time of carving them yourself..plus it's kinda cool they are a separate element from thr tiki....

Nice works Tama, thanks for sharing the how-to pic's! Fun and informative...Cheers!

Flip-flOp-fLipPp...

so, on paipo's advice, i bought this book:

it's very good, but it seems to skip a lot of steps. up until now this kind of bothered me.

this thread has filled in practically all those holes. thanks. i really appreciate it. you should write your own book. i'd buy it.

fantastic work.