Some new photoshop pics (with moai!)

that stuff is all looking awesome, FinkDaddy! right on!

very nice

Hey FinkD, I think he is looking great. I'll see you this morning and give you another free benzart lesson. (See what you guyz are missing?)
Conga and any others interested, there are Lots of homes available, just Begging for someone to come and stay. There are 2 houses on my street for rent/sale, COME ON DOWN! We could have our own tiki carving community. Now wouldn't that be Great?

I wanna play too...

lookin' great Finky...keep it up.

Hey Fink! Throw that one across the county into my trees! :) Me likes!

Mahalo

McTiki

Gman, come on over, but leave the bolt cutters behind! :o I still need my fingers!

Conga, There are several houses on my block for sale at great prices. Of course, you have to love the color pink. :roll:

Thanks again to everyone, especially Ben who has been a huge help, a terrific inspiration, and a wonderful friend.

As for that wood throwing thing... I was having a really bad day and had no business carving in the first place. :blush:

Here is the progress on the Moai. I'm pretty sure he's finished except for a couple layers of clear.


The grain on this wood is amazing, even on the toggle!

Most Excellent FinkD, I love the extra detail you have added, Well done

Thank you Ben, I couldn't have done it without you! :D

Here he is, all finished up. There are a few coats of Krylon clear on him and it really brought out the gorgeous color of the wood. Ziricote is very strange to carve. The light colored wood is like a normal hard wood. The dark colored wood is a deep, rich purple swirl and is hard as nails. The weird thing about the dark wood is that despite being so hard, it was very oily and almost sticky. So if you carved or sanded in the direction of dark wood to light, you left dark purple streaks on the light parts that had to be sanded off. The smell of the wood is heavenly when you carve it. It smells like some kind of Indian incense.
Here he is:

I'll post him in the Marketplace forum later this morning.
Thanks again for looking!

Nice work, wood looks a bit like Cocobolo
Regards
Flynny

Looks great FinkD, The clear coat really brings out the grain in him. Some Lucky TC'r will have a great piece if they can afford it. Very well done Sir, you've come a Long way.

Thanks Flynny. I haven't carved Cocobolo yet, I'll have to try it!

Special thanks to you Ben! Thanks for all the advice. :D

This guy is packed in silicone right now forming a resin mold. I'll be the first to admit that he is heavily influenced by a nearby famous carver. :blush:



Thanks everybody!

Finkdaddy....the close proximity to Ben is rubbing off...you have stepped it
up a notch...and your previous notches were very good. Congratulations and
get back to work.

I think were heading for a small army of Moai's benz's influence spreads far and wide. Nice work
Regards
Flynny

most definately a awesome moai keep up the good work

Nice detail with the flower, and I really like how you handled the ol' eye bone.

Beautiful work Finky. Maybe your best? You are on fire!!!

That flower reminds me of my old Nectar surfboard.....sigh.....

-G

Thanks again everybody for the wonderful words. :D I'm still trying to keep up with you guys but there's so far to go!

Here is one I'm still working on. It's a mini surfboard carved in bass wood. Boy, Conga, I'm going to have to get one of your basswood logs. I can't believe how smooth it cuts! It's carved with a combination of power tools and one of Benzart's famous hook-knives.

I'm going to make a mold of this one too so I can get into some fun color combos.

Thanks for looking!

keep 'em comin' Finky...you are really on a roll.
Yea, that basswood is really something isn't it! I know
that I am really spoiled to have an almost unlimited
supply of the stuff....cheep!

WOW! I was thinking about doing a little tiki guy in front of a surfboard soon, but this looks great!!! Combining your last two ideas, I think I want to make myself a surfboard with a hibiscus on it. :) I love this idea! Can't wait to see the resin cast colors. :)

Thanks Conga! I see you've had some great carving weather up there. Now get outside and carve!

Mieko, thanks a ton. I have a couple more surf boards in the works, one will have a hibiscus pattern, and one will be a big wave pattern. Make sure you take some pics and let us see what you're up to. :)

Cool 'bpard man :D

Wow, Finky, I Really love the design of this one. Love the flames coming right out of the board and the surfer dude too. Glad you like the Bass wood, it really is a great carvin wood.Can't wait to see this guy done.

crazyness! love the surfboard and the flower moai. great stuff.
how do you guys get such good detail and carvings done with a hook blade like that?
i just use it for cutting into the wood pretty much.

Great design Finky, love the piece. I'll have to get some Basswood to try.
Regards
Flynny

Beautiful stuff, man. Nice idea.

Got Halon?

Da Fink is burnin!

The Hibiscus Moai and surfboard are crazy goodness Fink!

Keep em comin bro!

Mahalo

McTiki

Hewey, Ben, Duddy, Flynny, Benella, McTiki, thank you all for the terrific feedback!
I finished the board up last night:


Here it is with a resin Moai I painted last night too:

I have to get back to the garage now, I've neglected things in there lately...

well done, looks great!
hey how do those resin molds work?

That board is very cool! Basswood stains so nice - it almost gives the stain a 2-tone look. Keep em comin.

Duddy, the mold is actually made of silicone rubber. They work great for making replicas. There is a huge how-to thread in Creating Tiki that gives a step-by-step on resin casing. Is there something specific you wanted to ask?

AlohaStation, I couln't believe how well the basswood carved and took the stain. It almost felt like cheating.

Thanks again for the props!

I saw the Surfboard in person and it Really looks GREAT, Nice design Finky, it was a nice surprise.

Thanks Ben! Check out the painted versions here: Resin Surfboads
I'll talk to you later this morning. :)

Here's a rather crappy pic of a pendant stand I finished today. It was made mostly from supplies donated from Benzart. Thanks Ben!

I've added my octopus to the old resin portfolio today. It turned out a lot better than I thought. It's pretty tricky to cast though, because there are so many places for air to get trapped.



Mahalo!

The O'pus friggin' rocks, Fink. That's a resin casting, right? What in the world did you color it with? Resin tint, or is it painted?

Nice work, bruddah!

Thanks TikiDav! It's hand-painted. I haven't experimented yet with tints, but I like to use primer first underneith the paint. You can get some real deep looking colors.

well done. im sure everyone is gonna want one of those. i still cant believe how much detail got put into that octopus, it is unreal.
how many of those are you making>?

Hey Finky, I Really love that bamboo stand you built, it Really came out Awesome. The Octopus really looks great too.

Mahalo Duddy! Yeah, the o'pus was fun to carve, but the casts are tricky. I didn't think of doing a limited run, I'm just making them to order, assuming anybody wants one. Your carvings are really stepping up lately! Keep on carving. :wink:

Thanks Ben! I'm pretty happy with the stand too. I just wish I was a little more thoughtful of where I placed the pegs. The wood on the base is beautiful. You thought maybe it was pine? It seems pretty heavy, but it cut pretty easily.

Wonderful art coming from a former northerener. Soak up what you can from Ben you lucky soul, what a resource! Your thread is always a treat.

It was a pleasure talking to you the other night.

JP

I just wanted to chime in and heap yet more well-deserved praise on Finkdaddy. I just received an amazing piece he carved for me (shown below), and like everyone says, photos don't do justice.

Beautiful work...keep it up!

I Thought it was Pine. Maybe it was Doug fir or something else! Cool.

The stand is cool and the resin octopus is sweet.

Very nice stuff - the bamboo display is a well done, too. Very impressive! I think I like the surfboard best.

Great work! I love the surf board! and the color of the octopus resin casting is very cool too!

JohnnyP, It was a pleasure to talk to you too. I'm very aware of how lucky I am to be so close to Ben!

Dr. Bamboo, Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you like it.

Benzart, The wood is beautiful, thank you! :)

Hewey, Thanks mate!

Tikigap, The stand was fun to make, and it's sturdy too. I like the surfboard too. I'm going to make some others I think.

Clarita, I was pleasantly surprized at how the o'pus color came out.

Here is a Bannerfish I finished today, although I didn't place the chord on it yet. I did make a mold from it, so I'll be able to cast some in it's bright, tropical colors.

I love the color that stayed in this bone

Here he is chillin' with a few of his homies

Thanks again!

Damn Finky! Those are so awesome! I love the new fish and the resin octopus. That green is trick! You are unbelievable!

-G

Just seen the fish in the Marketplace, great stuff Finky, the painted ones are real cool.
Regards
Flynny