Maori design

This is a design based on Maori art. I know the stone slab is a little naff, but I'd be interested in what people think.
Koru in Stone

thats pretty cool........i like the whole wood and stone effect......nice work.....keep it up...

I like this one better because of the green color you added, I'm not sure why you are creating "Maori" carvings in photoshop. The Maori people actually "carved" them from wood... by hand. Its alot easier in photoshop.... huh?

I would suspect the lack of responses you are getting is due to the few persons here knowing what "Maori" is.

Found this on the internet: <-- where else? :D

Maori..... A Definition....

The literal meaning of the word 'Maori' is natural, normal or local. The expression "Wai Maori" for example means normal or fresh water. It has been used relatively recently to distinguish the descendants of the original inhabitants from the colonial settlers. In pre-colonial times, the term 'Maori' was not used to describe the indigenous people because there was no need to distinguish between the various iwi and hapu on one hand and any other distinctive ethnic group on the other hand.The 'ethnicity' of 'Maori' was then tribal they were nationals of iwi and hapu. So a person was a Ngati Porou or a Tuhoe (etc) in the first instance. These in turn were defined by a person connection to the Tribal boundaries by whakapapa (geneology). For example the famous pepeha.


Ko Taupiri te maunga
Ko Waikato te awa
Ko Potatau te tangata

Taupiri is the mountain
Waikato is the river
Potatau is the man


Colonisation, however, brought an influx of settlers who were obviously not 'locals' or from the 'normal' populace. 'Maori' now have become a minority hence the common mis-understanding of the term.
The term 'Maori' is an evolving term in the contemporary context it roughly refers to a person(s) who is a descendant of the indigenous nations (tribes) of Aotearoa.

Thanks for the education, Torn. How come you don't post conversation enlightening posts in any of my threads?:mad:

Thanks for comments guys. I didn't even stop to think that others weren't familiar with the term 'Maori'! Maori art is mostly known for its carvings and tattooing (known as moko ). The spirals feature heavily - they look cool but give me a lot of grief! Oh, and the reason I don't do actual carvings is I can't carve for s**t! Ctrl+Z is a hell of a lot easier than starting on a new bit of wood!

Very nice!!!...Do tell how to do those lovely spirals!!!??

Jim