Post #286664 by Cammo on Mon, Feb 19, 2007 10:28 AM

Didn't realize this until just recently. I've been trying to get a few handmade Tiki mugs fired, and have been knocking on the doors of every kiln-dude in lower SoCal. For one, they're ALL owned by old hippies.

Secondly, they HATE Tikis!

Don't know why, but you can talk to these guys for hours on end about firing, pre-firing, clay texture, Grateful Dead band members, and they don't bat an eyelash. But mention Tiki and they get all red in the face, and look like you're trying to arrest their old lady! Holy crap, you'd think I was trying to swipe their stash of Guatamala Gold or something!

No kidding, they're very willing to let me fire a few mugs in their next run, but then they find out they're Tiki Mugs and they won't do it! It's happened again and again. They treat me like I've got the bird flu and I'm sneezing all over their roasted barley soup!

Why?

Are they jealous of Tikis and how Tiki mugs are selling but their heavy ugly green coffee mugs aren't?

Do they somehow make the connection between Tiki culture and the Lounge/50's/drinking & smokin' era that hippies were designed to destroy? Or is that giving them too much credit for thinkin' this thing through?

Do they hate the idea of a subculture doing something way more creative with ceramics than they ever did?

I mean, what the...?