Tiki Gods Are Coming !
- finleyway
- May 22, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 3, 2020
6th May 2020
The creation of these Tiki gods is something I've had in mind for a long time now. However being in lockdown has given me more time to think about projects, then a conversation with my family about the prospect of making a Tiki bar spurred me on to start these fun decorations. This was also an opportunity to do a little video for YouTube on using an Arbortech carver as this was going to be the main tool for the job. Follow this blog to see how these super cool Totems are made.
So here's the log pile I was faced with at the beginning which just happens to be a pile of fan palm given to me by some good friends.
Fan palm has an incredible protective layering of hair which can make cutting with a chainsaw really dangerous.
Because of the danger issue I found it best to remove this layer with a hand axe so we have a solid lump to start shaping.
Now the log is Naked and all hair removed I can attack it with the chainsaw, cutting the log down through it's length to give me two half sections to work on.
To prep the mask I wanted to shave off the outer husk with the Arbortech turbo plane, this will give a nice smooth surface to draw the design onto.
Then turn the log over and hollow the back out with the Arbotech pro blade, honestly some of the best fun here with shaving flying everywhere!
Now for the fun part, i've used influences from the internet and a good source is kiddies drawing pages, I simply searched Tiki mask colouring pages. These give you black and white line drawings which you can base your design on. I used several different images and merged them into one face.
Now moving onto the Arbortech mini carver for the fine details and shaping. I set myself up with a tilted sawing horse to stop me from leaning and getting a saw back. You can of course use a chisel and mallet to carve your mask and let your imagination go crazy.
So the whole reason for making these Totems was to shoot a GoPro video for YouTube advertising the Arbortech range, but the result were some ace decorations for the garden and the inspiration for a Tiki bar! so watch for later blog posts in the making of that Tiki Bar
Here's a quick vid of adding the finishing touches, so there you go there's no stopping you now, go make!!
Comments