Post #677794 by tigertail777 on Mon, May 13, 2013 5:16 AM

Well this is going to be a big update, because not only did I get work done on the Tiki Tiger hut, I also got to go to my first tiki event at the Hale Pele here in Portland. I got some great deals on stuff for the hut; over 10+ yards of vintage tiki fabric, some used Lauhala Matting for CHEAP, and my first Coco Joes tiki figure.

First I'll start off with the pictures from the Hale Pele event and then get into the work on the hut.

I found someone else wearing a cool tiger Aloha shirt, and had to get a picture with him. I am the one wearing the fedora hat.

Then I found Cy's Frog Island Tiki booth, chatted with him and took a bunch of pictures of his wonderful carvings. I know Cy from quite a few years ago when my family had him make shirts for our portable miniature golf business, but its been quite a long time since I have seen him and have never seen his tiki carvings in person. Let me tell you they are impressive and hilarious. They remind me a lot of some of the wackier work of Wally Wood and Basil Wolverton like the "Ugly" trading cards from the 60's. I know without a doubt he will sell all of his great work at Oasis. :)

Of the ones there, this tiki might be favorite:

Although this tiki fellow with a moving pendulum is also ultra cool

Here is the man from Frog Island himself, Cy. I don't think he realized I was taking a picture of him. Bwahahaha!

There were pirates with umbrella's.

There was a live band a lot of hullaballoo...

A guy selling fresh coconut water in the coconut. He would use a small machete and cut off the top and serve it to you fresh. Mixed feelings on the flavor; I liked the initial flavor of it, but it had a strange aftertaste. I could possibly get used to it, it was an interesting experience.

The band was pretty enjoyable, "The Men From S.U.R.F" can't remember what it stood for, but good tunes!

Here is the place I got my CocoJoe from. I had a hard time deciding what to get. I could have gotten my first tiki mug from there, but I keep holding out on that because I want my first one to be something special. I was going to get a fishing float lamp made by TikiSkip from a seller next door to these guys, but I swear I turned my back for like 5 minutes and it was already sold. Oh well I got the tiki cloth from that seller anyways.

Close ups of some of their wares.

The Hale Pele was selling off some stuff, including tiki's which were in the previous incarnation of the tiki bar (The Thatch). Pretty big and nice they sold out quick.

I had some pork, rice and beans and asked for some pineapple that was on the same skewer as the roasting pig cause I am a pineapple fiend...but ummm... yuck. Note to self do not eat pineapple that has been roasting over coals with a pig. I was really surprised no one was selling fresh pineapple slices I would have got some in a heart beat.

In this photo see that beautiful golden brown rolled up stuff in the corner? That is my lauhala Matting, there is also a smaller roll piece inside of that...all for $15 what a steal huh? Cy has it in keeping for me till I can pick it up Tuesday.

There were a bunch of Muntiki mugs going up for bids in a silent auction. Really cool stuff. I had heard of the name before, but didn't know they were a local Portland tiki mug company. Bids were going well beyond my means though.

This was probably my favorite of the Muntiki, I am a sucker for super bright saturated hot colors like reds and oranges.

Then for the first time I stepped foot into the Hale Pele bar itself. I loved it. The lighting in particular I really thought was cool. I ordered a Pina Colada with a few splashes of cinnamon and ginger (it really gives the rum a bit of a savory kick and brings it forwards in taste, whereas normally you would taste the coconut pineapple first, a "tigertail" colada LOL). I can't have any alcohol but rum because of the way my body processes different sugars and my allergies to gluten so there was not a lot on the drink menu I could have. In fact, Pina Colada actually wasn't on there but I figured they could make it. The bartender was nice enough to oblige my weird splash of cinnamon and ginger (cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors and smells so I put it liberally on lots of stuff I eat). :)

I can't remember the bartender's name (think it was Steve) but here is a picture of him doing his thing.

Some of the really cool decor in Hale Pele.

The nifty fountain tikis as you walk in the door and over the tiny little bridge.

Other side of the bridge a little lagoon. Every 20 minutes or so there is a little rain storm that happens over the lagoon. You hear thunder and then sprinklers in the ceiling in the entry way start pouring down water for a little while.

Okay now onto my own tiki hut and its progress. I got the super spiffy fabric I ordered from Sophista-tiki (Dawn) and got that installed, and I got those paint sticks I ordered so you will finally see what those were for. I was hoping to get actual full size paint sticks, but the place I ordered from on Amazon doesn't seem to get what a real paint stick size is. so I ended up with 1,000 bamboo sticks about half the size of a real paint stick. Oh well when life gives you lemons make Mai Tais.
As you can see here, I am using about every clamp we have to glue down those paint sticks with liquid nails to the walls. I am using them as a border to cover over the ugly frayed ends of the burlap. When I am done I will stain them a dark brown to match the Koa wood on the placemats I put on the walls previously.

Here you can see where on the inner part there is already a border of the bamboo paint sticks glued down waiting for stain. I also have up one of my pictures (a glossy promo photo from the movie "Song of the Sarong" I got a bunch of them cheap off ebay and loved the tropical noir look of them). I was experimenting with what to do to hang pictures since the walls are so thin I can't just use screws or nails. I came up with using thin bent wires (two Christmas bulb hangers twisted together) and snagging them into the burlap, seems to work pretty well...I knew I put that burlap up for a reason.

Here is one of the two shelves I covered with Sophista-tiki's fabric. I was going to use it for all the shelves in front, but got to thinking that the shelves will be mostly covered with stuff and you won't really see much of the fabric. It was so beautiful I wanted to use it for something more prominent. I had a few spaces in the ceiling to fill yet and the fabric fit there perfectly.

Then I had to find some cloth to fit the window shelf. It is long and narrow and I didn't have a lot of cloth scraps left that would fit, so I was happy to find I had some of the orange barkcloth from the ceiling left. I thought it might resist fading from sunlight a little better too, but time will tell.

And I found a decent scrap of tiger fabric which also became a ceiling panel. Unfortunately no matter how I tried the fabric would not conform enough to hide that damned electric plug in box so I will have to devise something else to hide its ugliness.

Finally, here is a bit of a back up shot so you can see the desk and the shelving in context (covered with tools and construction stuff of course).

That's all folks till next time! :)