 |
Soapstone + Other Stuff! |
Sneakytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Posts: 1795
From: Boise, Idaho
|  Posted: 2007-04-10 3:38 pm Permalink
Tipua,
Lemmie know if u want me to send you some Kinik-kinik to smoke. A mild legal Native smoke made from bear berry, osha root, willow bark, kinik-kinik and other ingredients, it can also be mixed with tobacco. I like to bring it backpacking in Idaho's Rockies, mellow and mystical. I've got some wild tobacco I picked and dried too.
Hoka!
S T
_________________
To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra
[ This Message was edited by: sneakytiki 2007-04-12 01:24 ]
|
Howland
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 30, 2006
Posts: 749
From: Folly Beach, SC--'Follynesia'
| Posted: 2007-04-10 9:17 pm Permalink
SOAP stone = CLEAN smoke!  Great work you're doing, by the way.
_________________
http://www.facebook.com/brad.howland1?ref=name
[url[https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jungalero-Lounge/112770948583[/url]
The Curse of Howland Island
|
PockyTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 28, 2006
Posts: 556
From: central MA
| Posted: 2007-04-10 9:21 pm Permalink
i'm just going to say one thing. Turn that pipe upside down and see what it makes. 
_________________
|
Hula Cat
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2006
Posts: 171
From: Bellows Falls Vermont
| Posted: 2007-04-11 06:59 am Permalink
this is a fine intro to carving stone ..nice work......I now have reason to buy and keep for reshaping all the chipped and broken bookends et al I have passed on at many an auction/yard sale.....onyx is another easily (and attractive) worked stone with less tendency to break.....believe me I have little experience at carving (did an obelisk in 2nd grade from a big bar of IVORY soap!)....but I'm taking the plunge after some sucess with PLAY DOUGH......
_________________
|
Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-04-11 7:56 pm Permalink
Thanks for all the kind response to my humble thread everyone! I appreciate it greatly!
Sneakytiki: Thanks for the offer, but I doubt Australian Customs and Quarantine would let that stuff through, not without a body cavity search and I'm just not into that. I don't think I'll personally smoke anything in it anyway. I might put some detergent in it and blow a few bubbles however!
Surf-N-Turf: Thanks mate. "Clean smoke with Soapstone" is good propaganda, but I don't think the anti-tobacco and medical lobby will buy it.
PockyTiki: There's always one isn't there! A dirty mind dragging us straight into the gutter!
Actually I did notice whilst I was carving a certain phallic-ness apparent in the shape of the pipe's stem. I tried to steer away from it, but I wasn't wholly successful was I? Perhaps with further carving it will reduce the similarities between my pipe and a penis!
Hula Cat: Thanks! There are many carvable (and better looking) stones out there (I guess playdough's ok ). I thought I'd just try soapstone as a starting point before moving on to harder stuff. Upon conducting some research and delving into the history of carving soapstone I've grown somewhat attached to the stuff.
I'd still like to try a harder material, but I've bought a heap of soapstone so I'll be carving it yet for sometime to come! I don't mind in the slightest.
Tama: Nothing else in the "pipe-line" as yet. I'm not allowed to carve indoors any more as rock-dust was accumulating on EVERYTHING and my girlfriend was not impressed (and I don't like cleaning). Since I have to carve outdoors and I work all day I can only carve in the evening or on weekends. As you know, living in the southern hemisphere like me, the days are getting cooler and shorter as winter arrives. I don't get as much time to carve as I'd like, but I'm always thinking of it!
|
Hula Cat
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2006
Posts: 171
From: Bellows Falls Vermont
| Posted: 2007-04-11 8:45 pm Permalink
there are GREAT pieces of sculpture in some of the best museums (especially from Asia) done in soapstone......alabaster and volcanic ash are other easily workable mediums....but rock on with the soapstone....A sculptor told me that one mistake novice carvers make is to attempt harder materials before they have a feel for the craft....it has frustrated many a talent to the point of quiting ....I imagine it could be dangerous also....another hint was to make a small version out of clay to better visualize the piece beforehand.....
|
Tamapoutini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 1529
From: Aotearoa (New Zealand)
| Posted: 2007-04-11 9:27 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2007-04-11 20:45, Hula Cat wrote:
another hint was to make a small version out of clay to better visualize the piece beforehand.....
|
|
A very good hint for all 'reductive' carvers Hula Cat! Back at 'jade-school' part of the curriculum was to produce drawings from several angles & clay 'marquettes'/models before attempting the final work in stone. It is extra work & the temptation to think 'she'll be right' and blaze into a carving is a strong one, but they really can be life-savers when tackling tricky 3-dimensional pieces...
Tama
|
Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-04-12 12:11 am Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2007-04-11 21:27, Tamapoutini wrote:
A very good hint for all 'reductive' carvers Hula Cat! Back at 'jade-school' part of the curriculum was to produce drawings from several angles & clay 'marquettes'/models before attempting the final work in stone. It is extra work & the temptation to think 'she'll be right' and blaze into a carving is a strong one, but they really can be life-savers when tackling tricky 3-dimensional pieces...
Tama
|
|
I remember having to do just that in Art class in High School! We were meant to draw what we wanted to sculpt, then produce a sculpture based on our drawings. I cheated and drew my sculpture AFTER I sculpted it! I got top marks!
I'm afraid I'm one of those cursed with the "she'll be right" attitude. I do start with a bit of an idea about what I want to carve (occasionally I'll sketch something), but the end product is really what the stone wants to be. If it wants to be a load of rubbish then that's the stone's problem!
Hula Cat: I've seen many works of art carved in soapstone recently and I'm quite amazed at the skill required to produce them (especially ancient carvings). Hopefully I may produce something similar given time and a lot of practice. I'm enjoying soapstone more and more as I get used to it, so I guess that's the first step to improvement.
You don't need to warn me about the dangers of working harder materials before I'm ready by the way. Unfortunately I've attempted improving a few souvenir greenstone hei-tiki I'd picked up in New Zealand... let's just say "improving" ended up being entirely the wrong adjective 
|
Tamapoutini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 1529
From: Aotearoa (New Zealand)
| Posted: 2007-04-12 01:14 am Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2007-04-12 00:11, Tipua wrote:
I remember having to do just that in Art class in High School! We were meant to draw what we wanted to sculpt, then produce a sculpture based on our drawings. I cheated and drew my sculpture AFTER I sculpted it! I got top marks!
|
|
You wouldnt be the first to have done that either; it was standard practice for many of the jade students too! The idea is/was for the drawings to go through a series of 'developments' until an amazingly well conceived & thought through idea came to the fore. In actuality, many artists find that their vision arrives 'complete' right from the start & that sneaky reverse-engineering is needed to satisfy those who hand out the grades. I suspected that this was probably a global phenomenon.
Tama
|
Sneakytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Posts: 1795
From: Boise, Idaho
| Posted: 2007-04-12 01:39 am Permalink
I've totally done the "thumbnail sketches" after the work was done as well, they ask a fake question, get a fake answer.
I'll usually start a painting with an idea but no drawings, if I do draw it's very simple 30 sec's maybe. Then the painting always changes completely from what the drawing was supposed to be too. People are always asking, what were u trying to express? What's your statement? The damn artwork is the statement, if I wanted to state something I'd say it. The subconscious is usually making a meaning for u while you work, sometimes you dunno what it means for a while but you get it all eventually. But that's MY statement, I don't want everyone else to get the exact same statement, otherwise I'd be a writer.
Nothing wrong with doing sketches 'til u hit on a "clever" idea or make a "statement" but it makes just as much sense to work automatically, this ties into why I don't want to dissect the meaning of everything in my work. Art teaches you things science/words can't. Subconscious symbols...
_________________
To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra
|
Hula Cat
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2006
Posts: 171
From: Bellows Falls Vermont
| Posted: 2007-04-12 09:38 am Permalink
as a photographer I also found that "the primitive sense of moment" usually worked better than planning the shot ahead of time (but that was with relatively cheap film) I did benefit however from having use of my tools and technique rammed down my throat for years ....So my point is......? it's usually more expensive (and unpredictable) to use rock and some folks just don't "feel it" until they wrap themselves around the project first.....that said, I'm all for the full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes approach!
_________________
[ This Message was edited by: Hula Cat 2007-04-12 09:39 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Hula Cat 2007-04-12 09:40 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Hula Cat 2007-04-12 09:41 ]
|
Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-04-12 7:56 pm Permalink
Yeah man! Just set the artist FREE! 
|
Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-04-14 12:16 am Permalink
Hey all!
I think I've just about finished my soapstone pipe. It needs a little bit more sanding, but I think I'll leave that for later.
I tried to create a marquesan-style tiki face for the front of the bowl. As you can probably see, it's far from perfect. But who needs perfection? Little mistakes, crooked lines, lack of talent - these qualities add character - apparently.
As I said I might, I carved a spiral (actually a couple entwined), because EVERYONE likes spirals!
 
After making a stem from a section of bamboo, this is the "finished" product:
The little men on the either side of the pipe I based on the forest spirits in a japanese manga movie called "Princess Mononoke". I you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's cool, if a trifle long.
All it needs now is some kind of carcinogenic substance to smoke in it and this may be me hanging with my buddies in the sun (me on the far right):
|
Sneakytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Posts: 1795
From: Boise, Idaho
| Posted: 2007-04-14 12:59 am Permalink
A-Ho-YA!
That's a nice pipe! Those spirals call to my Celtic side, old rock art from the the British isles...and everywhere else too. The Japanese guy reads right along with the spiral as a stone glyph. Nice.
I think u might lose the lower lip on that Marq. face and straighten the middle line making it a straight lower lip. It's great as is though, I know it's gonna give u some good smokes.
Damiana is a Chinese smoking tea that's commonly found at oriental markets, great smoke! Kinik kinik is the best though, mmm red willow. That pic. u posted shows some woodland looking warriors by the hair cuts. As a Mohawk descendant I got my first couplah "Mohawks" this yr. Heh heh.
I think I'm gonna have me a smoke right now. Sweet pipe Kola!
Ya-Hey!!
S T
_________________
To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra
|
Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-04-14 01:58 am Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2007-04-14 00:59, Sneakytiki wrote:
A-Ho-YA!
That's a nice pipe! Those spirals call to my Celtic side, old rock art from the the British isles...and everywhere else too. The Japanese guy reads right along with the spiral as a stone glyph. Nice.
I think u might lose the lower lip on that Marq. face and straighten the middle line making it a straight lower lip. It's great as is though, I know it's gonna give u some good smokes.
Damiana is a Chinese smoking tea that's commonly found at oriental markets, great smoke! Kinik kinik is the best though, mmm red willow. That pic. u posted shows some woodland looking warriors by the hair cuts. As a Mohawk descendant I got my first couplah "Mohawks" this yr. Heh heh.
I think I'm gonna have me a smoke right now. Sweet pipe Kola!
Ya-Hey!!
S T
|
|
Thanks Sneaky!
You're right about the lower lip. I knew I wasn't going to have enough room for the tongue AND the lip, but I just hoped it would work. Unfortunately it didn't. Somehow I think my pic makes it look worse than it actually is though. It's the lighting I tells ya!
The main thing is that the pipe should perform its function well. I really don't want to take up smoking however, so stop tempting me! I felt like this when I read Lord of the Rings and everytime Gandalf or one of the hobbits lit up, Tolkien waxed poetical describing the pleasures of smoking. It sounded sooooo nice! But no! I shall not! Get thee behind me Satan!
You're also correct about that picture depicting Woodland Indians. It's by artist Robert Griffing. He specialises in painting scenes from north-eastern America's early history, particularly the Iroquois nation. He's an amazing artist.
I've had a couple of mohawk-style haircuts in the recent past (I'm too lazy now. I just shave it all off). Although I can't claim any Native American family history, there was that bog-body found in Ireland (Clonycavan man) that sported a mohawk-style hair-do. I guess I can claim him!
Enjoy your smoke!
|
