Cardboard tikis!

Finishing up some new pieces for a small art show opening in Dec. I'm interested in all kinds of archetypes, and have been making one of a kind toys and dolls for a few years now.

These are all wall hung pieces, lightweight, inexpensive to produce, and will ultimately have small embedded systems (Arduino boards, motion detectors, LEDs, buzzers) added for colored lights and sounds. These are toys that play with YOU!

Anyhow- some progress pix of my crafty art or arty craft or whatever you want to call it:

...will post the finished ones when they're, you know, finished! Thanks fer lookin'

Cool stuff! Welcome to TC, and thanks for sharing. I love paper craft, can't do it myself though (except for origami rocks). Lovin' the hair on that last piece.

Thanks, TikiMango!

:drink:

Shows a lot of promise AmyBean, can't wait to see the finished product. The electronics is a cool ideas (I had to look up what an Arduino board was :lol: )

There's so much incredibly inspiring work on this site! I am really psyched to have stumbled in... on my way... to another...cocktail recipe...blogggg...

Lucha Robot Tiki 1

Lucha Robot Tiki 2

AnyBean, sorry, AmyBean...
My 2 cents, I really dig your emphera Tikis, I like your interpretation of TiKi in the first two.
Being a fighting robot nerd myself, I like your Lucha Robot. I at first thought; "That's not very Tiki" but thinking about fighting tiki's...that works for me, although I'd rather see you explore traditional TiKi in your paper medium.
Let's see more! And Welcome.

Thanks, Bananabobs! The bigger ones are still under construction, but here are some more of the
little and flat. They're not even Lowbrow- they're No-brow!

ps- see if you can guess which one is a tribute piece to a famous TikiFarm mug

Amy, I clicked on the link to your website, and DAMN, what an avalanche of cool art!

Nice work Amybean,
What are you using to seal up the edges that show the corregation? Have you considered building up areas with gesso? I would love to see a finshind one with the lights and such.

Really like your art a lot. I am a big fab of anyone who does something different than just paint or just sculpting out of clay.

Personally I am looking forward to seeing that shrunken head piece completed .

Thanks for sharing and welcome to TC :)

How fun! Watch out for paper cuts - those cardboard cuts are the WORST! I like the first two - are they wall sconces (for electricity not candle!)? I like the ones you just posted too - NICE! Now I have to go look at your website!

Thanks, all!

Also having a grand time digging up projects I started 10 years ago...just before digital cameras! haha
Old and new, traditional and experimental, deep or wide- the core purpose of my art business is to Have Fun.

After reading the thread on the Tiki Merit Badge, I couldn't help but notice that I know very little about real tiki culture. But I finally have some time to explore and learn, and I'm thrilled to find such a focused community of incredibly talented people who are excited about sharing.

This piece has a 2-way spring mounted figure, so there's a bit of physical action in the mix:
(I took hula classes years ago, and I'd say this dance is Tahitian Ori based on the wiggle speed and the grassy skirt)
The total height is about 9 3/4".

For the cardboard edges, I use some combination of Dap vinyl spackle applied with a square-tipped exacto blade, or some thick acrylic sculpting gel that combines well with acrylic paint...sometimes I just jam some paint in there, or fill with hot glue (using hot glue for basic construction in this scale- if larger, I'd use wood glue). Cardboard paper cuts are the worst! Also- fingertips can get VERY dried out after much shaping and handling- much manicuring has been accompanying this project.

I want to finish the back-lit pieces before I photograph them, so will be posting shots over the next week. The show hangs next Thursday, and there's an opening party on Dec 11, if you are in the CA 94501 area- come on by! (afterparty at Forbidden Island yeah!)

http://www.rhythmix.org/content/09gallery/091211.html

I've worked with paper before and I know how badly THAT sucks the moisture out of your fingers - ouch! I have a similar problem right now with embroidery - I have to wash my hands all the time and the fabric drys out the fingers too. Call me Bandaid Girl! LOL Great work - keep it up!

It's like a Modern Gal's "dishpan hands" :wink:

Right On!
There's some really fun and clever stuff on here!
the Mystery one was based on the miehana mug,no?
Wow...and all made of cardboard..
Folk Art with a Polynesian twist!
Keep em comin!
and thanks for thinking of and posting those pre-digital camera pieces!
:)

First of all, YES! the Meihana...Anaheim turned around (I saw that in the Tiki Mugs book)
Do you have one? Sadly, it's retired and sold out.

And these pix are all recent shots from my phone cam...I have yet to dig up the old
photos- but I will soon, I promise!

Folk Art (served) with a twist :drink:

Cardboard workbench converted to electronics zone:

Back of cardboard tiki mask showing battery case (wrapped in paper), Arduino board, wires and LED.
My husband wrote a simple program to make the light glow in a randomly fading pattern so it looks like
a flickering flame is behind the mask.

Prototype hanging out- we'll see how long the 4 AA batteries will last...!

I just posted the show opening info over on CA Events...

Here's a preview of some finished pieces. Positioning the LEDs was tricky!
Most of them flicker like a flame, though some have a weird and random flash or glow of color.

[ Edited by: amybean 2009-12-03 15:49 ]

WOW! I really like those mask lamps! Nice and lightweight too I bet. I think it would be great to hardwire a couple of those into my stair wall! My poor hubby has changed that thing out a couple of times now - from a hardwire, to a light socket, back to hardwire!

Well, whaddya know. I sold 10 pieces from the show in Dec, and was asked to do 3 more commissions. Suddenly, I realized I didn't know that much about specific tiki styles or how to communicate what all the variations could be to the clients.

I went back into the awesome Tiki Mugs book and made some sketches and flash cards to determine the style they had asked me for, (and organize my thoughts). Sure enough- they fall squarely into the category of Hawaiian Gods. I tossed an Easter Island dude into the mix for good measure.

Learned a lot building the first batch- next group needs on/off switches added so the batteries last longer, and probably some motion detectors as well. People seemed to really appreciate my take on made up gods and goddesses, as well as an alternative material for construction.

I think copying designs to get my hands working and familiar is an ok place to be for now. Reading up on Hawaiian Mythology as well as
absorbing the visual feasts of Tiki Modern and The Book of Tiki. Drinking more rum.

The final ones will be original designs. Thanks fer lookin'!

Please take part in the art swap coming up....I would love to get one of your pieces!

Nice works. The lit up piece looks REALLY cool.

Amy, good to see you're getting out of the kitchen and back into the studio :D I had just reviewed this thread last week to see what kind of art you had been up to and I like it!

Hi Amy, sorry I have not checked your stuff out before now, looks great! really like the Moai to.
I am thinking Art/Cooking/craftsmanship? a correlation there?

Thanks, ya'll! For whatever dum reason, I never got your messages til now. That shrunken head swap was a blast!

Working on a website these days, so my handwork (besides cookin'!) has been slow... in the meantime, I've been offered a
gallery-like, no-strings situation: to cover the walls of my dentists' office with as much tiki art as I want. They have a house in Hawaii, and I'm (as I posted earlier) working on some pieces for them. They thought their patients might like some too. The only existing decorations in the office are a VERY tall and beautiful rubber plant, and 2 salt water tanks with gorgeous fish. Psyched!

Very cool stuff....so different!!

Wow...Amy those look great posted on that wall. What a fun craft...NICE JOB!!!

Thanks thanks! I'm working on some plush :drink: things, too. Pix soon.

Does that make you a plushie or is it Plushophile :P :P :P

Your work is great! Looks like it must be a lot of fun to work in cardboard!

Cardboard is amazing stuff! It's abundant and it burns well...

Sometimes I work on bigger projects with my pals at the Church of the Buzzard
in West Oakland. We build Late 1800's Psychedelic Western themed installations
depicting a fictitious town called Dismal.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dismalnv/sets/72157606231827899/

Pretty sure I'm the only tiki enthusiast in the group.

New cardboard Ku wall piece on the left, and on the right is the start of a modified Robo Lucha vinyl toy figure.
(http://www.vinylpulse.com/2008/12/mekazoos-robolucha.html)

Figuring out some surface details after messing around with overall shape and proportions.
Approx 15" tall x 7" wide. Drawing with Sharpies and White Out. (don't ask) Using hot glue for
initial assembly. I'll fill in with wood glue and spackle. It's a little crooked on the L to R symmetry, but it'll be ok in the end.

Needs to be finished for shipping by next week. -Bye for now!

Very nice Amy. You gonna pack it full of explosives and light it afire like Dismal? :lol:

haha I'm aiming for something more enduring like LEDs, but I like your thinkin', MDM!

Next set is for my dentists: I think they like the way I've been doing the teeth.

Almost finished with the build. Then a texture coat, then paint, then lighting.

Very nice Amy, what will you use for a texture coat?

Thanks, Mike! First some vinyl spackle to round out the edges and cracks. Then I use a palette knife with acrylic gel medium to skim coat the surface. When it's dry, I'll carve down any offending splooges with an X-acto knife, then start coloring with acrylic paints and washes.

The painting is the really fun part.

The imagination, artfulness and creativity in this e-place is amazing.

Thanks, all!

Almost done! Whew- it's been a busy season.

Nice! Very wood-like.