Post #502519 by tobunga on Tue, Jan 5, 2010 5:43 PM

Happy New Year everybody! And MAHALO to everybody for the kind words of support... I'm trying to post more frequently... perhaps with the new year I can make that a resolution... nah...

So here's what I was doing as 2009 raced to a close...

I had a commission to create 14 tikis for a post production facility called Shapeshifter. Their offices are decorated with Tiki and Hawaiiana art, and they had recently purchased a few pieces from me. The tikis sport the Shapeshifter logo on their bellies.

I then turned my attention to Tiki Christmas ornaments. I gave these to my family for Christmas, since I couldn't really afford to go all out on gifts this year.
They can double as pendants too, and I made two versions, color and a faux wood finish.

It turned out to be a good thing I was working on them, because I got a PM from Grog asking if I wanted to do the Tiki Wonderland show at Tonga Hut, when one of the artists scheduled had to drop out unexpectedly. I immediately said yes, and then realized I had three days to get stuff together for the show. I had a couple of pieces that I had started, and a couple in mind for a while, and decided to kick them all into high gear.

I made more pendants/ornaments:

And then I created a painting based on the pendant (8x10, acrylic on watercolor paper):

Which I then turned into 4.5x5.5 Christmas Cards:

I also made an 8x10 Tiki Hanukkah painting:

Ever since I made the framed vinyl maps, I wanted to make framed vinyl tikis. I had all the materials I needed, so I got them done, finishing the last of the stitching the morning of the show!
Both are 11x17, vinyl, framed:


I'll probably do pieces to complement them.

I made cookies for the cookie contest. I made them look like Duk Duk dancers!

I also created these Duk Duk Christmas hats, to carry over the theme from our Halloween costumes:

Here's a pic from the Rumpus Room courtesy of Carrie (Bewitched by Tiki):

For the last Rumpus Room before Christmas, I made some PNG Tiki Cookies:

And since it was Tyler's first Christmas, I made an ornament for Kirby and Polly. It says "Tyler's 1st Kalikimaka" and features Tyler wrapped in a tapa blanket, held by a Kirby-style tiki (that was Manuel's idea, to make it look like a Kirby tiki... great idea!):

For Christmas, I made some Duk Duk wrapping paper to decorate the gifts I gave to Manuel:

And then, to keep the theme going, I created Duk Duk Christmas ornaments:

Each one is about 10" tall. The masks slide up, revealing us!

I needed a box to present them, but I didn't have one... so I made this triangular box in the shape of a Duk Duk mask:

So, to finally run the Duk Duk theme into the ground, I made some 2010 cookies for New Years:

I also made a pair of Duk Duk 2010 New Years hats. The hardest part was figuring out how to turn a flat piece of paper into a cone of the right size and shape!

We wore them on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It was fun! (Photo courtesy of Mele Kalikimaka)

Well, that's it!
Working on new stuff now, hopefully I'll be able to post more soon!

Thanks fer lookin'!
Yer pal,
Eric October

http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2010-01-06 22:52 ]