surf soul tiki

Great colors...

Reminds me of a movie...

Do we have clearance, clarence
Roger
Huh?
What's r vector, victor

lol..."that's when my drinking problem started"

yeah, I gotta finish this damned thing and get paid TODAY.

Gotta hit the road in the morning and head south for the week to see my grandfather, Benz, Will (carve) & Tom (aloha station). Looking forward to making sure my grandfather has a nice birthday, and spending some time learning some stuff from "the 3 wisemen".

On 2012-05-30 06:46, pjc5150 wrote:
lol..."that's when my drinking problem started"

yeah, I gotta finish this damned thing and get paid TODAY.

Gotta hit the road in the morning and head south for the week to see my grandfather, Benz, Will (carve) & Tom (aloha station). Looking forward to making sure my grandfather has a nice birthday, and spending some time learning some stuff from "the 3 wisemen".

the flying moai looks really cool! (sounds like a bar name doesn't it?!) I envy you that trip! Good luck.

ok, the "pilot moai" is done...

and wow....what a pain in the ass!!!

was a little more difficult than I thought, but it was a challenge and a learning experience.

And the dude who commissioned it is way cool, so I hope he's stoked on it....

Awesome

Another great concept and carve. You are becoming the master of these theme carvings!

the red moai? ;}

super cool!

yeah, definitely not what I want to be known for,

but I like to make people happy (and pay the mortgage)....lol...

thanks for the props guys...

That is way cool.

Nice!

well, I thought I was taking the week off, but turns out there's a big charity event for autistic kids here this week, so I gotta find some logs to make a piece or 2 for their charity auction.

Having a great time hanging out with gramps. Going fishing in the morning with my friend Joe Cav.

Good times.

Well, today is a very special day for me.

3 years ago today I made my first tiki.

I feel so indebted to everyone here for the encouragement & direction I've received on this little message board.

Benz, Will, Tom, 4wd Bill, Nixxy, Andy, and anyone else I've failed to mention. Some of you I've met in person, and some I've yet to meet, but I can't tell you guys how lucky I feel to be a part of this little thing we do, and to have you guys guiding and encouraging me. I can truly say I feel like we're brothers.

Thanks for everything....

now I need to go find some logs so I can make a donation tiki for an event this coming saturday in Jensen Beach for kids with Autism!

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-06-04 07:11 ]

Three years heh? That's great bro. Looking back through your thread it becomes very evident how much progress you have made over that time period. Your carvings are always getting better and that is what I feel it is really all about...improving.

The best part about all this is you still have plenty more carving to do and will only continue to improve. Imagine that stuff you will be cranking out in another three years. It certainly has been great viewing all your work, taking much of your advice and just enjoying carving more and more everyday and having a place to share it all with others.

Congrats on the milestone. Now lets go surfing.

On 2012-06-04 07:10, pjc5150 wrote:
now I need to go find some logs so I can make a donation tiki for an event this coming saturday in Jensen Beach for kids with Autism!

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-06-04 07:11 ]

Speaking as the parent of a child with a diagnosis on the spectrum, a big Thank You for that.

Bear :drink:

Good Karma!

Keep it Tiki!

Mahalo

McTiki

hey thanks guys.

super stoked to meet up with Will & Tom tomorrow, and my first visit to Mecca (the Mai Kai), and then a little tutoring from the masta (Benz)....

this has been a super great trip...

had a great sunday hangin' with my Vero boys Joe Cav & Billy Stew....

and here's the HUGE MONSTER FISH I slayed at Sebastian Inlet with Joe. I am such a nerd...

and I couldn't split without hookin' Joe up with a tiki, so I busted this one out Sunday afternoon. Not bad for 4 1/2 hours of work! Here's Joe with his fiance Lynn & their new tiki. It was a little too wet & fresh for the torch & stain, so he's gonna handle that part himself here in another week or so....

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-06-05 11:27 ]

Ruff cuttin' charity tikis with a chainsaw in a busy parking lot, skirtin' the man, outlaw stylee....

GUERRILLA TIKI!!!

Running and running, as fast as they can...they can't catch me....I'm the GINGERBREAD MAN!!!

Took pjc5150 to the Mai Kai for his first visit. Wednesday night and the place was jumpin. My guess would have been 80% female patrons. None of that mattered as the allure of the MaiKai kept his attention (and I'm married). Took Jeff on a tour, he was a little overwhelmed, but a lot sank in. Introduced him to Kern and got a quick tour of the back. We have been getting rain everyday for the past few weeks so the gardens are beatifully lush. I didn't have much time, so a couple of drinks and we headed back to Will's for few beers and some bullsh*t. Great evening - I live so close and don't go there enough. Thanks for the motivation!

It was cool to finally meet you and may see you again soon. Remember the mission.

Tom, thank you so much brother.

The last 24 hours has been unreal...You & Will rock.

And wow, if any of you ever want to get instantly humbled & realize that everything you've made so far is mediocre at best, just go to Will's house & have a look around...holy crap...

My head is spinning....

On 2012-06-06 09:11, pjc5150 wrote:
Ruff cuttin' charity tikis with a chainsaw in a busy parking lot, skirtin' the man, outlaw stylee....

GUERRILLA TIKI!!!

Running and running, as fast as they can...they can't catch me....I'm the GINGERBREAD MAN!!!

If carving were outlawed, only outlaws would carve.

Carve on, brada.

Bear

Thanks Brudda...

I have a lot of pics to post when I get home.

And I have given Will Carve a new nickname....

"THE LIZARD KING".....(yeah, I'm a big DOORS fan....I'll explain later...lol).

Wow, what a spectacular week I've had. Between hangin' with my Vero boys Joe Cav & Billy Stew, finally meeting Tom in person, staying at Will's, visiting the Mai Kai, spending a little more time with Benz, my first visit to the Mai Kai, hanging out with my awesome grandfather....wow....my head is seriously spinning from all of it. I just want to go home, hug my dog, and GET ON SOME TIKIS!!!!

Mahalo to all the peeps mentioned above that made this week beyond description.

Ok,

Sounds like a great and unforgetable week bro.

What is "The Mission" Aloha dropped above?

Mc

I'm looking for a log - so pass it on. Something really big - not palm! Has to be close enough that it can be trailered it back to SFL. Central FL has more old growth trees than SFL. If you hear of anything please let me know.

On 2012-06-07 12:44, pjc5150 wrote:
The last 24 hours has been unreal...You & Will rock.

And wow, if any of you ever want to get instantly humbled & realize that everything you've made so far is mediocre at best, just go to Will's house & have a look around...holy crap...

I feel that way just looking at his thread. If I went to his house, I may end up turning in my chisels! :)

yeah Tom...the mission is clear...I'm on it...

some things became clear over the last few days...

( 1.) Benzart Davis is STILL the man....
( 2.) the Mai Kai rules....
( 3.) the Florida tiki-carving brotherhood is STRONG...
( 4.) wild reptiles CAN be domesticated...
( 5.) Dos Equis "most interesting man in the world" ain't got shit on Will Anders...

and here's a few random pics...

Mai Kai...

the lair of the lizard king....

Sounds like a great trip! Glad to hear you had a good time and the motivation the trip provided is very evident in your posts, Get to carvin!!

yeah man, it was an epic week for sure.

The 24 hours I spent down in Ft Lauderdale just had my head spinning. I probably just about talked poor Tom's ear off at the Mai Kai...

So now I have this big tiki event here tomorrow night. Basically they're kinda trying to get their own little Hukilau going over here on this coast. This is the 2nd one they've thrown. So I'm haulin' the angry Hawaiians out there with me. So I need to get to work here and at least get the Kanaloa close to finished...

Awwwww yeahhh, thanx for the dejavu on the Mai Kai...I needed that!

whipped out this moai for tonight's event. Giving this one away.

and I threw a few coats of golden pecan on the big kanaloa. I'll probably pull him back out for more details eventually, but for now this will have to do.

and while I was down in Ft Lauderdale Will & Tom challenged me to do a piece chisel-only....no power tools...so here we go with a Benzart-inspired lono.....

I'm sure you'll do great with it! I need to try the power tool method! All I use are chisels ... I even stripped a 6 footer yesterday for the next tikis with only the draw knife! The grinder/chainsaw/planer don't get used enough around here ....

yeah, I'm just lazy as f**k. I'll always use a saw & and angle to strip bark, but I also use the saw on a lot of the initial deep cuts as a time saver, and then chisel 'em from there.

So yeah, this one's all chisel (except the bark stripping)...I started beating on this one last night at the Sunset tiki party, but this piece of palm is a little crumbly....so we'll see how it goes. I don't know what the hell I was thinking anyway starting another palm piece... Tom gave me a nice chunk of mahogany, and Benz gave me a chunk of douglas fir that seems like it's gonna carve like butter, and I'm kinda anxious to get one of them going here...but for some dumb reason I picked up the piece of palm...duh.

and wow...what a party! it was pretty crazy last night...exotica & surf bands, hot bikini chicks everywhere, and there must have been like 25 or 30 5-gallon buckets full of rum punch...I sold a tiki almost immediately, and the dude & his buddy's literally carried it around with them for the rest of the night,stopping by on every pass to high five me and say "awesome tiki bro!!!" They were way stoked on it, and that makes me happy. I had a great time, made a lot of new friends, and kinda furthered my rep here on the sun coast as "the tiki guy". So I think I'm gonna take the cash I made of the tiki & get a few smaller chisels, and maybe my first run of SURF SOUL TIKI T-shirts (I wish I'd had them yesterday!). Anyway, the Sunset Tiki Party was a HUGE success...there mustr have been 3 or 4 hundred people there...wow.

GAME ON!!!!

nice
that looks fun

a little progress on the new lono....

I'm back on "the islander" in the morning. Would like to be wrapping it up by the weekend...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-06-12 23:24 ]

WHOA!! What exactly did those guys teach you down there !?!?

That is one hell of a start! Great body on this guy...looking forward to the rest

Looking like a bad ass!

:o a real fine start. Whatever those guys told you is working!

yeah, the coaching definitely helped...

thanks for the props guys...

Wow the body work looks great! Nice proportions. Keep the pics coming I'm learning a lot :)

Rum makes everything better :D

[ Edited by: anchorfish 2012-06-13 13:01 ]

Great start on that dude!

Kool pic's of your trip Jeff and looks like a few tips from Tom and Will have paid off as the new guy looks great.
Cant wait to see him finished.

[ Edited by: Watango productions 2012-06-14 02:33 ]

Awesome work on the body

OK! "the islander" gets a face! Next is the headdress...

He's a big 'un! around ten feet tall not including that bark above his face (which I'm taking another foot or so off of for the headdress)...

a bunch of neighbors have stopped by tell me they like it, and take some pics...

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2012-06-16 08:11 ]

Nice chops

Good job! Looks like a nice location for a big old tiki!