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Getting ready for Tiki Oasis |
tikitammy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 140
From: Little Rock, AR
|  Posted: 2007-03-14 2:05 pm Permalink
I love the concept of a friendly tiki! Your wife must be thrilled.
The stain job looks wonderful, you must have really worked hard to achieve this look. What is your secret?
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Where am I going? And how did I get in this hand-basket?
Tiki Tammy
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flynny
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 19, 2006
Posts: 274
From: Devon, UK
| Posted: 2007-03-14 2:11 pm Permalink
Aloah
Man your stuff is so good, you manage to instill real life and character in your pieces, the "Flip Flop Cannibal Tiki" is still one of my favourites but the colours in the Pineapple piece run it a close second for me, you must have experimented some to get the shades just right, perhaps you could expand sometime.
I hope I draw one of your projects sooner or later.
Great Stuff
Regards
Flynny
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hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4284
From: Sydney, Australia
| Posted: 2007-03-14 6:23 pm Permalink
He looks VERY happy, no wonder your wife is happy 
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2398
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-03-15 07:43 am Permalink
Thanks for the compliments. He loves great standing next to bar.
tikitammy and flynny - The finish is very easy! Let me start by saying that I take every shortcut possible when finishing. First, for color, I start with cheapo acrylic paints and extremely water them down. I have found that palms are VERY absorbant, so the pigment wil actually soak into the soft wood. My colors are so thin that it often takes 2 coats to get the right "tint". Burn the wood next with an acetalene torch wherever shadows are desired. Sand off the excess burned areas (takes a few minutes with an electric sander). Make sure that when burning an area with color not to overburn - sanding will take the paint off QUICKLY. Do any touchup with black paint (mostly in the deep cracks). Then Polyurethane! Palm with soak up the first coat of poly changing the color of the wood - from a cream color to the rich brown - no stain was used of this piece.
Now its on to the next piece. With great anticipation I dove into the next piece. Paipo graciously gave me permission to replicate his Bird Moai. I thought that I had the perfect piece of wood - an old Cedar ceiling beam, its beautiful!!! After starting on this I am wondring if that was the right choice. The wood is firm and chips EASILY. What you see only represents about an hour of work - so I ask - should I continue and possibly have a catastrophic accident or do a smaller version with different wood? Has anyone carving dried Cedar?
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JohnnyP
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 23, 2005
Posts: 1694
From: Attica, MI
| Posted: 2007-03-15 09:08 am Permalink
Dried cedar is very fragile and chips and splits easy, but don't give up on this piece. You can sand and grind cedar very well, instead of using chisels to shape it use an angle grinder and drum sander. When you switch to sharps to do the detail work watch the grain and carve with it or you will break it.
This will be a spectacular piece.
JP
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Howland
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 30, 2006
Posts: 749
From: Folly Beach, SC--'Follynesia'
| Posted: 2007-03-15 11:02 am Permalink
That's going to be BADA$$, AS. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
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Clarita
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 26, 2006
Posts: 1301
From: BA Arg
| Posted: 2007-03-15 1:48 pm Permalink
This one is so nice! Did you finish finish him yet? congrats!
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10397
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2007-03-15 3:01 pm Permalink
AS, on the dried cedar you Must hav extremely sharp tools and always cut with the grain. Also you should use power tools as Much as possible. Yes it is chippy but very carvable. Just take your time. It is Going to be a Great piece.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2398
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-03-16 06:32 am Permalink
JohnyP and Benz - Thanks for the tips. So, I dug into it last night with the angle grinder and WOW! The cedar just melts away like butter revealling a grain that just needs to be seen. Will have something to show this weekend.
Clarita - Its my shame to say once again - finishing is not my favorite. Needs alittle bit more sanding and a clear coat. The real problem is that once I start getting ready to finish it , I find more to do to it.
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Paipo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 22, 2006
Posts: 1886
From: Aotearoa / NZ
| Posted: 2007-03-16 1:46 pm Permalink
Good to see some expert advice has got you back on track with this guy - he's looking very promising so far AS. That is what I come here for. So from what Johnny and Benz are saying, it is quite feasible to carve smaller pieces entirely using rotary tools? Cause that would probably be a much easier transition for me than trying chiselwork (which I have already had pretty poor results with).
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10397
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2007-03-17 8:27 pm Permalink
Paips, you can do 100% of your small wood carving with power rotary toolz if you want. MY Motto is whatever tool will remove the wood the Fastest is the way to go. There are some fantastic bits that will work wonders in your handpieces.
AS, this one is one of those awkward sizes that will take ALL your tools to complete, but he is definitely a "Sandpaper" carving waiting to happen.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2398
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-03-18 06:53 am Permalink
Paipo - Rotary tools are how I got started carving. I had a dremel and an idea and went to town. Even my most recent carvings are done with some type of rotary too. Bits for removing large mass, sanding drums for shaping and refining - you can definatley carve wood easily with what you have. thedifference is the amount of dust! no water, so the dust will fly - make sure you wear some type of mask.
Here's an update (All this was done friday night, because I spent the day on the beach with the family and some unexpected surf!). This is definatley a "sandpaper" piece. Carving does not produce the same quality with the wood. The bad part is that I won't be able to put as much detail into it as I first wanted.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2398
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-03-28 07:36 am Permalink
Here's an update. The Bird-Moai has been abducted! Not to worry - my mother-in-law saw this guy and loved him. He will doing a tour of duty protecting plants at several flower shows thoughout SFL. He is not done, but very close - I get him back in a few weeks and will post images.
For the Tiki Swap I created a new moai-stylized pen. It is actually a recreation of another pen that I did that did not turn out as well. Its been a while since I've done a pen, and it felt pretty good working so small. The wood is a mystery - just a piece that was in my wood bin. Carved very nice and has a golden hue to it. I didn't spend alot of time on the base and I feel that it shows?? The way that the pen works is you twist the head and the pen tip comes out. Takes standard ink refills.
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McTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1962
From: Sunny Florida
| Posted: 2007-03-28 07:39 am Permalink
Jeeez Aloha! That's the coolest writing utencil I beleive I have ever seen!
Great work!
Mahalo
McTiki
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Clarita
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 26, 2006
Posts: 1301
From: BA Arg
| Posted: 2007-03-28 07:55 am Permalink
Very nice! The pens are getting better and better! Congrats!
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