Fern root Tiki's... rare?

I stumbled across one from Hawaii, circa 1970. Picked it up cheap. It had been stored indoors all these years. I've never seen one carved from Fern Root before... has anyone else?

will post pics. All I know is that it had to have been one HUGE fern to have a root this big. Its about 6 feet tall and a good 1.5 feet across.

There was one at Tiki Gardens, and there is one original to the south pacific one at the
Asian Pacific Museum. Maybe more, but I helped move that one.... Scary stuff to move...

This one is out in front of the Silver Fern Inn in Rotorua, New Zealand. He's a little cartoony for a New Zealand tiki, but the owners of the inn don't mind.

Are we talking that Austrailian fern? If we are, how long do we have to wait to carve it? I've got one that is about three inches tall where it starts to spread into its fronds. It may be about a foot across, maybe 10 inches. Would it be ready in 10 or 20 years? :)

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-20 20:00 ]

I would say they are rare because though it was quite common to carve Tikis from fern wood in the 60s, the stuff does not last outside, it rots much faster than other wood, even palm. It's also more difficult to give them shape, the stringy wood makes them look furry around the edges. So interior-kept ones are probably the only ones left.

I sill see a handful of fern root tikis around Kailua peeking out of people's gardens. - most are definitely near the end of their life. I'll have to do a neighborhood walk with a camera one of these days.

On 2007-06-12 17:13, VanTiki wrote:
I'll have to do a neighborhood walk with a camera one of these days.

Do it!!

Everyone needs to do a neighborhood walk with a camera.

VanTiki,

I'm really interested in seeing those tikis and their design, if you take pictures of those in your neighborhood. I remember that (in the 70s and 80s) while the hapuu wood tikis weren't exactly ubiquitous, you'd see them in a lot of neighborhoods. We had one in our yard and I wish we had moved the bugger to the mainland with us.

You ever see any outside of Kailua?

[ Edited by: ainokea 2007-06-15 12:06 ]

Here's one I carved a few years back that now resides at Mahiki, its funny old stuff to carve.
I still have a few "logs"? left that I must do something with.

Jamie's tree fern carving looks great in MAHIKI, I'll try to dig out a picture to post. I have a tree fern with a 9ft trunk...it's very tempting! Tree ferns grow at a rate of about a foot every 10 years so I've been told. I've seen NO scientific evidence but it is fact!

Trader Jim - Make mine a Mai-Tai!