When is the last time you have seen one of these ?

This is an all original package of a tiki hobby kit untouched with original
instructions from the 1960's.The front reads "Carve a Tiki-Easy and Fun" ages
8 to 80.Gotta dig this!The maker is Perma-Arts Industries.I picked two of these
up awhile back at a garage sale.Kit includes-block of wood,steel wool,
bottle of linseed oil,and instuctions.
Has anyone ever come across one of these before?
Trader Bill

A superb tikiological find. The gods were smiling upon you that day.

Its really just a block of wood and steel wool. What a rip off. Cool find

Hey Sven do you know anything about these?

Just as the great voyage of kon tiki opened the door of imagination for me as a young tiki and sparked a lifetime of fascination of indigenous cultures - perhaps this lowly block of wood did the same for other young adventurers. Any object or concept that invites exploration should be celebrated.

Just go's to show you how big of an impact that tiki poly pop culture in
america transitioned over to younger generations as well in the 60's and 70's.

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2008-06-08 20:10 ]

Unusual find you got there. Interesting to see that even 'back in the day' some folks figured that just calling it a tiki somehow made it a tiki. I would have thought that back in 1961 they would have been a little more thoughtful in their design of a 'tiki'.

ch

Where do you get 1961 ?

On 2008-06-08 19:04, cheeky half wrote:
Interesting to see that even 'back in the day' some folks figured that just calling it a tiki somehow made it a tiki.

I thought the same thing. I mean, those line drawings of the masks on the side of the box could have been right out of the Party City catalog. That's fascinating. Thanks for showing it off.

Dang! Never seen or heard of it before, or it certainly would have made it into the "Do It Yourself Tiki" chapter in Tiki Modern, just like that Moai mosaic kit. I've never even seen anything that could be an example resembling the rendering of it executed...even though it was for ages 8 - 80 ! :) (There are several examples of the finished "Saw Carved Tiki God" on page 223 out there). Even if anybody ever really tried to go through with it, I doubt this one produced acceptable, "keeper" results, with such rudimentary instructions.

A very funny and telling item.It's always great to see there is still authentic stuff out there to be discovered!

"Where do you get 1961 ?"

Sorry 'bout that. You said 1960's and I picked a random date. Must be 'cos of your name! How about 1965?

Didn't mean to offend.

ch

You know I have looked and looked at the illustration on the box,
and its definitely 60's the more I look at it.You wonder if they
sold these in hobby shops or advertised them in magazine's as mail order?

No offense taken cheeky whatsoever.I thought you might know something about it
that I don't.

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2008-06-08 22:04 ]

I am sure Permi Arts Industries is long gone.
Show it was located in Coalinga,California .
I wonder what they expected you to carve the block of
wood with? It would be great to see someone like Tiki Ray
or Crazy Al see what they could carve out of these block
of wood with just a few basic tools.

Maybe you were supposed to use the steel wool to gradually wear away the wood into a tiki and "ages 8 to 80" was a description of how long it would take you.

-Sweet Daddy T.
Because crap doesn't buy itself.

blog

[ Edited by: Sweet Daddy Tiki 2008-06-09 10:39 ]

On 2008-06-09 10:37, Sweet Daddy Tiki wrote:
Maybe you were supposed to use the steel wool to gradually wear away the wood into a tiki and "ages 8 to 80" was a description of how long it would take you.

HAHAHA! Good one :) That brings back memories of similar blocks of wood I was given as gifts back when I was a kid (in the 60's) that were supposed to be carved into owls, etc. After many, many hours of carving they usually looked like a block of wood with some chunks missing. The instructions sounded so easy too, "carve block of wood until it looks like the owl pictured on the box" :wink:

After all this I finally pulled out the instructions and what I thought was a
block of wood,is not wood at all .Its like a chalky rock type substance block.
Now I see why they had the steel wool pads included.Supposed to come with
carving knife but don't see that in the kit.Looks like the kit is complete
except for the carving knife.I may put one of these on ebay just for the
nostalgia of it.Thank you for all your comments on this interesting find,
they are appreciated.
Trader Bill

Thanks Humuhumu for posting this on your Humu Kon Tiki site.
I like that you can appreciate the kitsch and oddity to it .
I believe these were offered mail order ads inside magazines and
hobbiest stores .Just for kicks, it would be fun to see someone like
Bosko or Danny G carve one of these suckers !

http://blog.humuhumu.com/2008/06/16/carve-a-tiki-kit

On 2010-11-20 19:29, 1961surf wrote:
Thanks Humuhumu for posting this on your Humu Kon Tiki site.
I like that you can appreciate the kitsch and oddity to it .
I believe these were offered mail order ads inside magazines and
hobbiest stores .Just for kicks, it would be fun to see someone like
Bosko or Danny G carve one of these suckers !

http://blog.humuhumu.com/2008/06/16/carve-a-tiki-kit

Very good thought, I do remember seeing ads in old magazines for mail order kits that was a monthly item. Sorta like the model building mail-order of the 70"s that I did. never knew what small kit was showing up but you always looked at the 3ft Apollo rocket they showed in the ad that you never got!

I do remember those model rockets .Always wanted one of those .My Dad always gave me
the ole Christmas story line...you'll shoot your eye out son !

That is so cool! I really like the idea and maybe a new one will be available one day.

Any carvers want to put one together with an instructional video?

Paul