Ben est là's stuff: 03/24 Creative Chimps' masterpiece in Paris !

Hi,

I get my carving jack back :) and
I finally found the time to add a few details to the base of this guy:

I took my time to make it as neat and as symmetrical as I could, but as you can see, the V-scorp sometimes do things without thinking of consequences, he just doesn't care :lol:
I used a riffler too to equalyze the depth of the lines.

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Yeah Benjamin, That's looking cool!

Thanks Tikifreak1, I'm lookin forward to your piece that seems to be even better, chips after chips :wink:

Benjamin.

Nice Benjamin, looking good. Are you going to wrap it all the way around the base?

Hi,

Yesterday, I bought an angle grinder 115 mm (4,52 inch) with this crazy thing:

a "special wood disk" with 3 teeth in "tungstene carbure". I tried my hand with it on a piece of wood and :
wow :o I mean WWWWOOOOWWWWW it is incredible.
I'll post pix later.

Thanks Robin. And yes, I 've got new ideas for the rest of the base. Thanks.

Benjamin.

uh very nice! that moai is looking good!! with the shell and base details! Can't wait to see more!

Thanks Clarita,

I let the moai apart because of problems of symmetry I'll fix tomorrow, but I began a new tiki. The main difficulties were the shape of the wood. The wood was cut a rectangular way and I wanted it "loggish" way so I had to impose my will and the wood was not that friendly :lol:

Do you remember the marq on page (?) of this thread ? I wasn't happy with him so here he is, beginning his transformation:

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Hey Ben, I like the looks of this one too. Since I started work again I have been leaning toward the little carvings (cuz they fit in my back-pack) and have found some time to play a bit at work. Keep posting this one, like to see it when finidhed.

Looking cool Benjamin!

On 2007-08-13 06:59, tikifreak1 wrote:
Looking cool Benjamin!

yep +1

Amy

Thanks T birdman, I understand exactly what you're saying about little carvings that fit in the back pack: I always have pieces of wood and a knife in my car, always.

I don't know if you've seen this page:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=16843&forum=7&start=120

but it gave me the need for carving little pieces with no delay :lol:

Thanks Tikifreak1 and Queen K. for the kind words, it keeps me wanting carve more and more :)

benjamin.

On 2007-08-13 16:07, Queen Kamehameha wrote:

On 2007-08-13 06:59, tikifreak1 wrote:
Looking cool Benjamin!

yep +1

Amy

Yep +2. Small is good!

real nice! gonna turn out great by the looks of it.

Hi all,

Thanks Robin and Duddy for the kind words.

Today's update day !

The moai is all finished but still no stain, so I took some pix:

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Hi Benjamin. He looks really good. I was wondering about your decision not to carve the sides too. Do you have other plans for them? Just curious.

Hi,

Here is a new tiki I began a couple of weeks ago.
Just finished and waiting for some oil:

Special excuses to Robin and Thanks.
I think the moai's sides will remain blank for the moment. I don't want him to be "over-carved" :lol:

Mahalo for looking,

Benjamin.

Nice stuff Ben! I am really enjoying watching your creativity blossom. You are finally getting that connection from your eyes/brain to your fingers. Looking great.

He's a happy Tiki! It's going to look great with the oil. Is that basswood?

Hey,

Thanks Benz: I had a lot of fun doing this little boy. I am preparing something bigger for the next time :)

Thanks Bowana: yeah it's basswood. Here are a few pics with the oiled little dude:

100% mineral oil of sweden from a world famous sweden shop of furnitures :)

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

[ Edited by: benella 2007-08-29 08:08 ]

That´s one happy guy benella!
I like it, it has personality. How big is it?

We used to carve basswood at school. Back in the days when you got everything (wood, sharpened chisels, power tools) served for you.
I have two chunks sitting on my balcony that my father chopped down.

I really like the look of the basswood, it seems to have really clean texture and grain. This one's another fine addition to your stable Benjamin. Crisp and very nicely proportioned!

Looks great. Something to consider next time is to stain the Basswood before oiling. Basswood takes stain very well (especially smaller pieces) - the only down side is that the stain will also so all of your hidden cuts. Keep going.

He is one happy guy! And bit of the rascal in him too! Nice Ben.

Kia ora,

Some pix for today: update with the shell moai:

The shell fellow will travel to the south of France with his new owner: my father :)

Tikidreams: Thanks for the kind words, Basswood at school ? You was very lucky !
Happy tiki is 12,5 cm or 4,9 inches tall. Very happy for your chunks, can't wait for the first cuts :wink:

Aloha Station: Thanks for the kind words and for the advice. Staining is my goal for the next ones. You was a real influence on this one.

Robin: As you wrote, it is lavendar on his head ! Happy you like him, thanks.

Paipo: thanks, basswood is very pleasant to carve and the grain looks good with the oil. New basswood pieces soon :wink:

Here are the very first pix of a new piece a bit bigger, influenced by a stoner and a tree carver :lol:

Side:

Front:

11,8 inches (30 cm) upwards.

Mahalo,

Ben

Nice to see you´re working benella.
Your new one reminds me of a bastard i have sitting, unfinished in a basement.

On 2007-09-05 01:48, tikidreams wrote:
Nice to see you´re working benella.
Your new one reminds me of a bastard i have sitting, unfinished in a basement.

Tell you that from now I'm waiting for pix of this bastard very soon :lol:

Benella, that moai turned out really nice! Your new one is looking sweet too!

Craig

Thanks Tikifreak, I'm happy you like them. I follow the progress on your Tang, you should be proud of him.

Hi Benjamin. That stain looks good! So does the new guy coming...glad you got another one in the works.

Thanks Robin, happy you find the stain looks good 'cause to me the result was not the same as the Lono... but it works :)

Hi,

A few pix from the last things I've worked on:

At first, a piece of basswood (for Paipo :wink: ): a marq begun last week.

As you see, a lot of work still to do.

And an hawaiian tiki out of horse chestnut (the only translation I found):

A lot of work to do too. The face is half made, the teeth are not deep enough, the part between the mouth and the nose is not round enough... Let's stop the list !

Mahalo,

Ben

Hi,
great work, i'm happy to found another Tiki Carver here in france.
Your work with the shells is fantastic - a very good idee i love it.

I'm german and i live since 7 years here in france
we are 3 guys who do TIKI's since 1 1/2 year.
It's HAIKAI we have seen in Switzerland first time last year and since then we have a big Tiki feever :)
hope to stay in touch ...
i will put in a own topic new photos of my Tikis and new projets soon

aloha

akuae

Hey akuae,

Thanks.
Happy to learn about your future own topic. I just can't wait for the pix.
Hope to rest in touch too.

Hai Kai ist mein european Meister auch :wink:

Did you get my personal message?

Mahalo,

Ben.

Hi Ben,

yes i get your message, thank you
my topic is now online hope you will enjoy
hope your new Tikis will be soon finished

Where you get your knifes ? it's not easy to find here in france i think
We are close to Germany and Switzerland so we have to look already there.

have a nice evening

aloha
Akuae

Where you been Ben, not carving? I figured you would be done with another one by now? :lol: :lol:

Hi Ben,

It's a real pleasure to have some nice post from you this way. You know it means a lot.
I'm on 3 pieces at the same time and some pieces are driving me completely mad, especially the biggest marq. By carving it, I felt like the wood was too much soft and the cuts were not straight: it was rotten in many parts, so I had to remove every bad part to re-begin it :(
I think this piece of wood spent too much time outside in the garden.

By carving one become a carver !

Thanks,

Ben.

Hi Ben,

It's a real pleasure to have some nice post from you this way. You know it means a lot.
I'm on 3 pieces at the same time and some pieces are driving me completely mad, especially the biggest marq. By carving it, I felt like the wood was too much soft and the cuts were not straight: it was rotten in many parts, so I had to remove every bad part to re-begin it :(
I think this piece of wood spent too much time outside in the garden.

By carving one become a carver !

Thanks,

Ben.

[ Edited by: benella 2007-09-23 03:24 ]

Hi Benjamin,

Good to see your new work. Horse chestnut is the correct translation. I'm liking the way this guy is emerging from the wood. I think that is a marker in the progress of a carver...when the carver and the wood work together to create the image.

Progress pics soon I hope!

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the compliments, it means a lot for me.
Unfortunately, the progress is close to nothing on the horse chestnut guy and only a bit more on the basswood marquesan that's why I'll not post pix today ;(
Lots of work in my current job that holds me far from the chisels... but I'm always close to the carvin' jack so... new pix before the end of the week :)
Thanks for your support.

P.S : is there any progress with your second piece ? :wink:
I'm waiting for it.

Ben

Hey there....well...if I ask the question I guess I gotta expect to answer it too. And the answer is I wish I had finished my first piece. Obligations and then a back injury have kept me away. Hopefully back to it next week....wanna race? :wink:

[ Edited by: Robin 2007-09-29 18:12 ]

Hope your injury will heal quickly.
Ok for a race :wink:
3...2...1... GO!

Mahalo,

Ben

On 2007-09-05 01:26, benella wrote:

I know its been a long time since you posted this, but it came out really nice. The shell inlays really add to it.

JP

Hi TCers,

I'm back with a piece I just finished and wanted to share some pix with you all.

Thanks J.P for the kind words on the shell boy, I'll post pix of his new home soon !

Robin, it seems like the race is over :wink:

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

That's looking real nice B!

Indeed it is! Nice going...very nice rendition...looks great Ben.

I actually did get to work for a bit today though. Almost done!

Lookin good. I like the design - big eyes and small mouth.

Hey Benjamin! The shells are a nice touch on your Moai. The Marq is looking good too. It's nice and symmetrical which is sometimes hard to get right. How tall is the Marq? It looks like a small one.