Post #355505 by Psycho Tiki D on Thu, Jan 17, 2008 7:35 AM

Not burning anything just yet and I have to admit that when this all was displayed among the rest of my collection, no one thing stood out as not belonging.

I may implement the masks outside in a garden area similar to the suggestion Big Bro made? Most of the items were purged to make room for more authentic and aesthetic items I found as time has gone on. I really have only been a serious collector for the 1 1/2 years and began dabbling with collecting tiki in mid 2005. Most of what I posted in the pictures was from the dabbling period. Along the way I skipped over a Don the Beachcomber mug and a Suffering Bastard decanter because I wasn't up to speed on what these items were. Don looked like Colonel Sanders and the Suffering Bastard looked Mayan to me.

It probably goes without saying that two of my greatest early educational resources, aside from Tiki Central, were The Book Of Tiki and Tiki Quest. In fact, my Tiki Quest book has been so abused that pages are falling out of it. Tiki Modern is another outstanding contribution to the tiki community and another strong recommendation from me for learning about tiki culture.

Not having attended a large tiki event, I would say my greatest one-on-one exposure to collections in person happened when I went to our Sacramento tiki event over a year ago. Bo and kingstiedye have outstanding collections. It is one thing to see a picture of any item, but seeing all of the different collectibles in person is literally amazing.

Visiting fellow collector's homes is amazing; tikicleen and the drunken hat have an incredible presentation; their entire home is a showplace of the most amazing array of items (including their backyard). There are others I have visited and I always see some really cool stuff. Moondog 426, VampiressRN, Tiki Hula and Alohacurrent, I've been to their homes and they all represent tiki well!

Tiki Hula, with his amazing Witco fountain, inspired me to ask Jungle Trader to carve me my own fountain and I still go out and worship it daily. Alohacurrent, in addition to tiki, has some a very nice Polysesian collection as well, which is another area I collect. Mr and Mrs Alohacurrent and my buddy Kevin, my wife and I did a mini crawl in December to the bay area and hit Trader Vic's Emeryville, FI, The Kona Club and Conga Lounge all in one evening. Learned even more going to these places and we had a fantastic time.

I could go on, but this seems like enough for now.

Psycho Tiki D (I know I am and I'm gettin worse)!

[ Edited by: Psycho Tiki D 2008-01-17 07:37 ]