Post #260133 by Paipo on Wed, Oct 11, 2006 4:37 AM

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, it's always really cool to see fellow carvers and artists dropping by, but feedback from mixologists, urban archaeologists, collectors and general tikiphiles is just as welcome....

I really wanted to keep chipping away at the moai today, but there's little pile of orders on my pinboard that's growing daily at the moment. So I spent another day doing what we call "bread and butter" - the staple work of most stone carvers' incomes. "Making shapes" might be a better name for it.
These are laminated from beach stones (argillite and jasper), apart from the jade which I wish I could find on the beach. They do have a slight Polynesian vibe, with the forms being based on traditional adze and breastplate shapes, and with the recent addition of etched "tattooing" inspired by my Rarotonga trip:

Sometimes I get visitors who distract me from my task. This one is called Tiki (10 points for originality) and checks in several times a day to see how I'm doing. It can be annoying when she jumps on my back while I'm using the handpiece.

Other times there's a just a little bit more work to do before a piece is finished. The "Crying Ku" is now fitted with some nice jade eyes, all ready for his new life in California. Godspeed little fellow!