Nguzu-nguzu or toto-isu

Posted on September 27, 2007

Which is an anthropomorphic canoe prow figurehead guiding the boat and protect its crew. There is a wonderful work written by Deborah Waite from Hawaii, on google.com about Toto-Isu and the link is :www.tribalarts.com/feature/solomon/index.html. Anyway I had to carve one more of those Toto-isu in miniature and I was very pleased with it. Last time it took me a few trials to get one properly done

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Ready for sale

Posted on September 20, 2007

img_3816_edited-1.jpgOn a previous post I was talking about putting the finishing touches onto a  24″ Salomon islands canoe model . One can see an illustration of it prior of staining the wood.

The illustrated model hierby is that same model, ready for sale. Actually it was a commissioned piece, but I took the opportunity of having this model to place it as an exhibition piece at the 2007 Hawaiian Woodshow. Most people were intrigued by the intricate and very precise inlay work ,which is entirely hand crafted. Since the canoe model hull is concave and relatively small, it is impossible to carve the negatives for the inlay with a router or other type of small electrical machine. All I used were small chisels.

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The rough canoe

Posted on September 7, 2007

salomon-islands-canoe-small-size.jpgOnce the Jackaranda wood has been shaped and carved its time to inlay with Mother of pearl and paua shell. Its a long and tedious job.

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