Basement Kahuna -New Maori Bone Pendant 3/04

Here's me and a big guy I'm working on for fun in my spare time.

Looks like a lot of fun is going to be had with this guy. Are you pointing to the Tiki or
your nice hat? This could be the best tiki ever carved with a red hat!

Excellent looking guy there BK, you and he just out fro a stroll in the woodz? I Agree, probably the best one ever carved while wearing a red hat.
By the way, whats with that jacket, izzit cold up there?

It's cold and that's a Hee Haw hat..

Here's a Hei Tiki comissioned by Kingstiedye. Shown in comparison for size with a mask and Bigbrotiki's Marquesan hair ornament. Queen Kamehemeha is being carved for as we speak!

Hey; Tiki!!

Nice one BK. Amazing polish!

*I feel obliged to comment on Maori hei-tiki; dey supposed to be my Speciality right?

Well; proportions and pose are both spot-on. Again, I feel like Im looking at a long lost friend. Someone Ive known well but not seen in a long time & although they look the same, they've also changed... And its so good to see them!
Like a lot of your bonz he's got that great aged patina which makes you do a doubletake in case you're looking at an old piece.

I must admit to being baffled by the 3 finger/4 finger difference, but Im assuming you knew this when you did it. Could you explain?
I have seen hei-tiki (& teko-teko) with 4 & 5 fingers but they are usually matched on each hand.

Good score KTD.

Tama :)

Tama - I won't speak for BK, but it looks to me like he has 4 fingers on one hand and only three showing on the the other because the hand is on his hip with the forth finger pointing around to his lower back/buttocks. Maybe?

BK - is that the way you designed the piece? Either way, this hei-tiki is the bomb! Sweetness.

-Gman

"The saw is family"

[ Edited by: GMAN 2006-12-19 04:56 ]

Thanks, G, and Tamp. G-man is right, the fourth finger presumably wraps around the hip. It's based on a Hei Tiki that can be seen in "Decorative Arts Of The New Zealand Maori", a good little book with great photographs, published in the 60's. I've nearly worn my copy out! This is only the second Hei Tiki I've carved, the other I carved in soapstone 6 years ago...long gone.

P.S. Just this one Hei-Tiki, Tamp...It was a commission so I had to. You're da Hei Tiki man in this town! :wink:

Your antiquing technique is fabulous. Great patina and with the shinny spots this piece looks like it has been around along time.

JP

Another Excellent piece from the BK. I love the smoothe finish you are getting on the Bone!

Here's two pieces that I recently completed for some TC'ers...the first is a stylized Maori hook for Duke in ancient Walrusbone, the second a Rotorua style image for Amy in cowbone.

Great things BK...some fortunate TCers to add these new bonez to their collections. Hotter than
hot "Coffy."

Pictures do not do this piece justice. I was delighted when Amy gave me this, it's so nice that I'm almost afraid to wear it. But I will.

Here are a couple shots I took of it. Amazing work as always.

Thanks Amy, and thanks Basement Kahuna!
-Duke

My pleasure, brah, as always. Mahalo!

These Moai earrings are about 2 inches long carved in exotic hippo tooth ivory with sterling silver trapdoor earloops. They are patterned after what Thor Heyerdahl referred to as the "Old Navigator Moai", the few Moai on Easter Island that feature a strange three-masted Rapa Nui sailing vessel petroglyph their chests. Very rare material here!

Those are really nice Dave! Smooth lines and a nice finish!

Good to hear from you again!

Amazing work, BK.

Dave, I love mine, thanks you, it's beautiful!!!

Amy

Two identical twins. That is hard to do. Very nice.

JP

Nice work BK. I Know you have been working, hope everything is getting better and smoother and I hope business is well. Love the earrings, Yeah, Matching pairs are SO Much fun???

Thanks, all...yep..busy bee, Ben. I'll get a thing or two up here soon, I promise!

On 2007-01-29 20:56, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Thanks, all...yep..busy bee, Ben. I'll get a thing or two up here soon, I promise!

I can't wait :)

I've been very impressed by your work inspired by Pineamine Taiapa. Excellent work.

Benjamin.

Hey BK, not sure if I told you yet, but I got to see a BK creation in person for the first time a couple weeks ago... some guy walked into our bar and had this great necklace carving... I confirmed by checking the signature and sure enough. So even in little ole Prospect Heights, there is BK work walking around.. your famous!!!

Scott

Cool! Glad to know I'm out there on some bodies, and thanks for the props, man! About to be hopefully even more out there...Just launched into an open-ended design deal for a well know modern Polynesian Pop manufacturer and true bra that could be very, very good and lucrative for both of us in the long haul. 4 pieces in the cooker and counting. TBA!Fun Fun Fun!

New stuff soon, I promise.

On 2007-02-18 15:48, Basement Kahuna wrote:
New stuff soon, I promise.

Good!

Here's a recently completed Sali (actually one I started months ago at coon tiki but had to put down for other stuff) for our own man on the high seas JTD. This is the club I have carved so many of and based my logo on...The Fijians had a nasty little habit of inlaying the teeth of their vanquished foes into their clubs, sort of like notching. The 7 "teeth" in this club are actually pieces of yak bone that I modified with a burr to look like molars. This one is in cherry, one of my favorite woods, and had some interesting old worming on the rear of the club which I mostly left in...makes the club look really old. Aloha!

As always; beautiful work BK! (I thought there was going to be one more pic... Maybe a shot of you in a dog-skin cloak perhaps?) :lol:

TTT

that's beautiful BK. i can't wait to own one of your carvings.

plus, get some lessons from you some day. you're one of my inspirations on this board.

Tamp...I thought dogskin was reserved for royalty? That ain't me, but if a Maori chieftan whose employ I was under wanted me to have one, then I couldn't say no (bad tapu to refuse a gift, am I right?). Drake, thanks, man. Your work gets more top shelf all the time. Mahalos!

FYI, you could get real molars for your weapons no problem, for free. Dentists pull them all the time and just throw them away! I used to clean dentist offices and would find them in the trash. They may have to put them in the medical waste these days, but, I am sure they could give them to you for your work if you wanted...

Gruesome! Awesome! ....Grawsome!

On 2006-09-14 20:30, Basement Kahuna wrote:

Hi,

Didn't see this one finished. Have you pix ? Amazing work, can't believe it, really.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when BK calls his dentist and says, "Can I have you left over molars and any other teeth you have lying around" I can hear the awkward silence on the other end now.

You should see what a gal I used to know who worked at a vet used to do with left over cat testicles...

On 2007-03-08 13:37, benella wrote:

On 2006-09-14 20:30, Basement Kahuna wrote:

Hi,

Didn't see this one finished. Have you pix ? Amazing work, can't believe it, really.

It's nearly finished after close to 7 months...I don't work on it unless I'm in the right frame of mind; its a special piece to me. I've been pretty backed up on carving work (granted I love it!). It is property of Kingstiedye as soon as it's finished.

A few pics of ongoing progress on the North Auckland style meeting house panel. Also the pile of abalone required to get the inlays....you get about four good, really varrigated center cuts out of each one, averaging about an inch and a half a piece. This panel will take a lot of them.

Hahahahahahaaaaa! In light of the recent choppy seas and a waka or two nearly capsized, the Terrible Tama cannot help but sez:

Great contemporary-traditional piece. :wink: This will make one hell of a bar-feature Bullet. I say contemporay because anything made nowdays has to be contemporary doesn't it? But as close as you will ever get to the real Macoy; very nice work!

T :)

i can't believe the thought, heart and talent that has gone into this piece. normally pieces like this would take 2 years with quite few carvers. this piece truly shows the talent of the person working it. there is no way a person who doesn't carve or who hasn't used a mallet and chisel to understand what this entails. it's truly not about what your client want's when you're creating a piece like this. it's only about what you want.

that might not even make sense unless you're a carver. i just have to say, you create a piece and it consumes you. you make sure it's right and you make sure you're happy with it.

art is often called a subjective subject. well, the artist himself is his own worst critic. i think BK is probably breaking his arm patting himself on the back with this piece. as well he should.

whiting, shmiting

WOLFE! WOLFE! WOLFE!

BK, I loveyour stuff, always have, but this piece is a masterpiece!!!!!!! you have gone to a whole new level!

Amy

Wow, you must be really proud of this piece, it is truly stunning.
Regards
Flynny

I asked about it 10 days ago and this morning: wow.
Beautiful. Thanks for the picture of the shells: i just didn't dare to ask about how to inlay :lol:

Bravo.

Big smiles from the Northwoods...can't wait to see this one finished. Thanks for
giving us another peek.

Thats a thing of beauty. Fantastic.

Holy cow... that is ridiculously amazing. Nice, nice, nice!

Top Shelf, BK.

I don't normally post in carving (but I often look on in awe of the skills on display). But damn. That takes my breath away BK. Is that the same one I saw in the back of your van before last Hukilau? KTD is one lucky dude to get that.