THE 8FT Tiki wishes to introduce you to his older cousin!!!

Yes the family of Ol' 8FT has a "new" member. Last month we welcomed into our home another large vintage tiki. With the help of our great friend Brad "Silverline" Finch, our home is now happier with this new addition.

After learning of this cool old tiki and it's upcoming sale, Silverline and I discussed where it would fit best and due to space concerns he graciously bowed out of the running as the new owner. He was a big help to us by going and visiting with the former owner and taking photos for me so that I could make a determination on the purchase. Then he went with me to make the purchase, load and move it all the way to my house.

We got together early that day to work on a project we have been discussing for some time. Both of us have been wearing our urban archaeologist hats for several years now. We have compiled a list of the former polynesian restaurants and tiki bar haunts of old K.C. both tiki and pre-tiki. We made a list of the addresses and then plotted a course to visit them all and take photos and ask questions of anyone we ran across in the areas we visited. This will all be detailed in another thread sometime down the road.

Our next to last stop that day was to pick up the tiki. The owner said that this tiki was in the basement bar when they purchased the house from the artist in 1983. There were other artworks including paintings still in the home which were all made by this talented artist. Since they were moving out of state, they decided not to take the art pieces and just leave them with the home. The people who sold it to me are downsizing and this was something they were ready to part with. The tiki is not a carving but a paper mache figure that measures 6 feet tall and is 3 feet wide at the top. I was expecting it might look like a bad pinata but when you look closer you can tell that this was a pretty talented artist. They started with a wooden framework and then wrapped chicken wire over it before applying the paper mache. Then it was painted brown and as a final touch, florists peat moss was added to the whole exterior which gives it a more aged appearance. Here are a couple of shots of the back.

Once I had it home I took a flashlight and had a close look at the paper mache on the backside. The papers are from Kansas City, MO and even though they are overlapping one another, I was able to find 4 or 5 places where a date was showing. Guess what? All of them are from 1961. WOW, this thing is nearly 50 years old! That would make it about 13 years older than our Old friend 8FT. It doesn't weigh very much but is fragile and one person couldn't easily handle moving it. Here are some other pictures of the arrival at casa de 8FT.

Out of the van and away we go.

Through the front door...Will it fit?

We're in. Now we've got to make a turn in the hall.

Moving past the kitchen.

Whew, we made it to the great room!

Now we just had to set it upright again. Done. The room is now looking better than ever. I would need to shuffle some things around to fit him into the right spot but that would come later. It was now late in the afternoon and I had to get Silverline back to his place. Thanks Brad for all your help, you're a great friend!!

Later I will add a shot of the new guy in his place of honor.

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2010-01-04 14:05 ]

Congratulations on your excellent find!

and cool Kentucky Fried Chicken lamp!

:tiki: CONGRATS! A real gem!! Cigars for the hardy boys!!! :tiki:

8ft Tiki, you're too kind! The fact is, there really was no better place for him! There is more tiki-history in your house than anywhere else in the four-state area! I'm So glad the move went well. After sitting in one place for nearly 50 years, I was worried that he would be damaged in moving. But he's so well built he took it all in stride!

Congratulations!!

On 2010-01-03 21:10, Bora Boris wrote:
and cool Kentucky Fried Chicken lamp!

Ditto!

Great piece. Glad one of you had room for him in your home.

Nice find 8ft, I would like to hear more about how you found it, who made it,
and more history about it.Congrads on your score ...he's a big one!

On 2010-01-04 06:45, Swanky wrote:

On 2010-01-03 21:10, Bora Boris wrote:
and cool Kentucky Fried Chicken lamp!

Ditto!

Wow, you guys have great powers of observation!
Since I know there are a lot of other vintage lamp enthusiasts here, how about a couple of close ups of the Kentucky Fried Chicken glass bucket globe lamp.

We found this at a flea market about 12 years ago. The perfect place for it was over the kitchen table but you should have seen the look on the face of the guy we had install it! We had him take down a 70's tiffany type thing.
We let him take it with him after he got this one hooked up.

Look at the side and you can see the date is 1969. OK, who's hungry for chicken ?

I'm not sure what I like more, the Tiki or the KFC lamp! They're both killer!

Classic!!!

Another goofy thing in this crazy house of ours...The Kentucky Fried Chicken insulated double bucket delivery bag.
Do you remember when they delivered???

In case you're wondering, neither of us is or was an employee.
Man, I've hijacked my own thread. And now I'm really craving some original recipe.

Aha!, you outed yourself as a Kentucky Fried Chicken collector! Well, that is OK in this community, we understand...somewhat. :)

Congrats on that haul, and I have several questions:

A.) I assume no photos of the original home bar (with the Tiki in Situ) survived?

B.) From what I can see, the Tiki reminds me of a Coco Joe style/sand stone Tiki I once saw. Does anyone recognize it as such? (A Buzzy question)

C.) Could you photograph it mitout flash, more for contrast, so we can see the form better?

D.) And whatever happened to your Lake Sedalia House research? :D

On 2010-01-04 15:34, bigbrotiki wrote:
Aha!, you outed yourself as a Kentucky Fried Chicken collector! Well, that is OK in this community, we understand...somewhat. :)

Actually no, I've probably sold more KFC collectibles than I have kept. I just keep what's cool or at least what borders on nerdish but is still pretty uncommon.

Congrats on that haul, and I have several questions:

A.) I assume no photos of the original home bar (with the Tiki in Situ) survived?

Actually, as you will see in the photo below, it's just him in the basement bar. Nothing else too exciting there, just a pool table, bar and of course a velvet Elvis or "Velvis" as we call them. (photo courtesy of Silverline)

B.) From what I can see, the Tiki reminds me of a Coco Joe style/sand stone Tiki I once saw. Does anyone recognize it as such? (A Buzzy question)

I was told that they thought the artist used a small souvenir tiki from Hawaii as a model but when they showed me a cocojoes that was nothing like the big guy, I didn't feel it was necessary to correct them so I was polite and bought the cocojoes too. Well, I didn't have it already and it was cheap. By the way, I neglected to mention that the artist passed awayin 2005 at the age of 75. Oh and as for the true model...I am pretty sure that what must have been used was something like this ceramic bank I have had for several years. It is just over 5 inches tall and is nearly identical in it's features.

C.) Could you photograph it mitout flash, more for contrast, so we can see the form better?

Mitout flash?? Sven is that a Germanish word that slipped out? I remember when I was in Germany I ordered my "french fries" as pommes frites MIT kechup. I never heard of mitout but I like it. :) OK, here's a better shot of him with no flash.

D.) And whatever happened to your Lake Sedalia House research? :D

It had been shelved out of sheer toobusyness. (There's a word you can use anytime you want). But I will be pursuing it further this year. I was in Sedalia a week ago but was traveling with a group and these were not tikiphiles so we just ate and left town again. Silverline and I have done some brainstorming though and we hope to have results or something to report by summer. We'll see.

And now since you have been such a good audience, here is a look at the place I chose for the new tiki that Mrs. 8FT has nicknamed "Boss Moss". I tried him next to Ol' 8FT but it wasn't right somehow so I decided on a more balanced look and put the t.v. between them. I am really satisfied with the result and when the uplights are on in the evening, well there's a good vibe in here man! So, feel free to drop in anytime you are in the middle of America. Remote tiki outpost, but we're holding our own here in the heartland.

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2010-01-04 17:56 ]

WOw What a Find and it fits Perfectly with Ole 8Ft too!

A popular (presumed to be mythical) origin theory is that MOS stands for broken-English "Mit out sound", that is, "Without sound" as a 1920s German-émigré director might have said it.
According to this theory, a German director, recently transplanted to Hollywood (probably Ernst Lubitsch, but possibly Fritz Lang), was asked by a script supervisor how he would like to shoot the next scene of the day. The director responded "Mit out Sprechen!", and so this was noted as a joke on the production reports and the camera slates for the shot."

And since we are on the film subject: I believe that a well placed spot light, ideally from the top, let's say at a 45 degree angle to the subject, would really bring out its features nicely :D

Nice score!

When I first saw it, I thought it was based on one of these:

It's not exactly like any of them, but not very different than any of them either.
That other one you got is pretty close to it too. HIP and Polyart had ones close to it too, but their's had teeth. Hard to tell if the changes were made because of the medium or becouse of the original source piece features.

Tough call! My final verdict: I have no idea...

Buzzy Out!

Sven knows lighting!

• Sven knows TIKI = Sven knows Tiki Lighting :D

I was just saying that because the gravelly, organic texture and dark color of the Tiki literally seem to suck up light, there is no part that reflects, and so -at least in photographs- he comes across very contour-less. Top light would be best to create that brow shadow that works so well with Moais, but since he is not a Moai, and the the body tapers off away from the center from the bottom towards the tip, a light source at its feet might just do the trick, if rigging a spot on the ceiling is too difficult.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-01-05 10:15 ]

$51! Good price!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260514079391&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I wonder what it would have gone for if it was local pickup in Los Angeles or the greater SF/Sacto areas?

Buzzy Out!

Boy-oh-boy, it sure is a buyer's market out there in Tiki land!

I bet the problem with this one was that most Missouri housewives would not have allowed this monster into their home. Lucky are those of us whose wives have been converted!

Good detective work, Buzzy! We were both surprised that it went for so little.

OTOH, BigBro is right; there are less than a handfull of us die-hard tiki fans in this part of the country. This is both a blessing and a curse. Tiki is pretty rare in these parts (the curse) but when it does turn up we can usually get a pretty good deal on it (the blessing)!

On 2010-01-05 18:02, bigbrotiki wrote:
I bet the problem with this one was that most Missouri housewives would not have allowed this monster into their home. Lucky are those of us whose wives have been converted!

Sven, that's no problem for me. Mrs 8FT sees eye to eye with me on this stuff (which is hard to do because she is much shorter than I am).

I do have an uplight for Boss Moss but I think as you mentioned a light from above shining down would help also. We had talked about it but it would take some rewiring and climbing back up to that rediculously high ceiling again. You're right about the light being sort of sucked up by the material of the tiki. Silverline is going to come back and take a proper photo at a later date. He's a pro you know.
His skill with a lens will show you how really cool it looks up close.

Buzzy old boy, now you know what I got for my Christmas present from the Mrs. I got her another vintage lamp. It's a table lamp that has 2 spun glass or plastic globes and is orange with a wood piece in the center...oh heck I'm doing a bad job describing it. I'll just add a pic later.

Here's the lamp I got the Mrs. Looks like a late 60's early 70's goodie. Not quite as old as her gift for me (BossMoss). But we both prefer the vintage things you just don't find under other people trees on Christmas morning.

Now imagine my surprise when yesterday I look up at the tv just in time to see another tiki appear right in between the 2 big boys:

That lamp is sweet! The Tiki in the middle is kinda ugly & whoever carved him made his mouth too big! :D