Post #508285 by Babalu on Mon, Feb 1, 2010 9:54 AM

Again, wow...thank you all for your support. It looks like Squid and Babalu will be able to have a steak and pie dinner. :)

I've had a few folks ask about how we came up with the Papua Ooma Mow Mow...

The Idea:

I'm into drums from New Guinea big time right now...and Squid, well, he's a drummer (as if you didn't know), and also into the drums of New Guinea. We have been having some fun bouncing research back and forth with each other for some time now. One day while Squid was down here kickin' stuff around in the studio, we just decided extend the fun a little and build this guy up...We had built the foundations for a custom Squidalu mug prior where I built up the drum body and Squids built up a couple of handles, so we just reversed the process on this one; Squid built the drum body and I built up the handle. Squid tightened up the master, and I made the molds. Wah-lah -

The Name:

We were just sitting around, carving away in the studio one day...nothing to much being said at the time, when we both just started kind-a busting out with the Trashmen's 1963 hit "Surfin' Bird"...it was a natural name for the mug...

The Design:

Squid was intrigued by a double hook design that comes mostly from the Lake Sentani area of New Guinea. I think this design has a real modern feel to it...Some nice TC Ohana had turned me onto this bird image that the MaiKai had used as well back in the day on another thread. I had been wanting to use a version of it in something ever since...

The History:

Here's the fun part...The idea that a mug could have the ability to aid in the escapism of an individual to a unknown mysterious place is overwhelming "turn on" for both Squid and myself. This is why Polinesian Pop intrigues me so. Well, with the people of New Guinea the drum does basically the same thing, it transforms. Drums from NG are loaded with symbolism. Birds, flying bats, etc...these images are mostly head hunting images. The people of NG feel that humans were descended from trees...they see the birds and bats eating from the trees...see the connection? The hour glass shape of the drum body is done this way to represent the shape of the human form. There is a lot more information I could share on this, perhaps I should start another thread and dive into topic :)

If you have any other questions, please let me know...We still have a few of these mugs left. Now is the time if you would like one...they have been moving quite quickly (again thanks)...we should have these 40 mugs ready to ship by the end of the week. I will pm all of you with PayPal info in the next day or two.

Squid is bringing down the little cards that will go with these mugs...I will post images soon.

Enjoy the Day!