My Two Holiday WITCO Finds

Aloha Friends!

Just when I was whining about hardly ever finding any WITCO in Vegas, I found some!

Of course, they actually weren't located in Vegas, and I had to drive quite a ways to get them, but now they ARE in Vegas!

The first piece I found is a classic Large WITCO Kitty picture. I've seen lots of WITCO Kitties, but never a Large-Format configuration of three cats like this...

As found:

And after waxing:

I drove an hour out of town to Pahrump of all places to pick it up. I love my new kitties, but there's no room at the house right now, so it's at the shop "in storage" until I figure out what gets replaced at home.

The second find was on eBay, believe it or not. These Wahine and Kane chairs were in Tulare, Ca., and I was shocked beyond all belief that no one from L.A. grabbed these before I found them. The owner told me that a few people had called on them, but they wanted them delivered. LAZY BUMS! I drove 6 hours from Vegas with the Wifey and spent the night in town there just to get 'em! I guess you all in the L.A. area just have so much WITCO thrown at you at every turn that you don't even get excited enough to go and get it anymore! Lucky Sods! :wink:

Anyway, here they are:

They are massively tall as is the WITCO way, and carved indentically on both sides. I especioally like the little tiki face on the front of the seat support...

Here's a shot to show you how they look with one waxed and one not waxed:

I've REALLY gotta do some re-arranging to work these in. They might end up as patio furniture since they don't have their original velvet seat cushions. Don't worry, it's a COVERED patio!

[ Edited by: Tiki Lee's 2010-01-04 15:46 ]

not to burst your bubble...but i believe these witco chairs were mentioned on here a month ago....someone posted the ebay listing of them and no one here really seemed to jump at them.....i'm pretty sure they are the same ones that you found on ebay....they too were missing the seat cushions. sven even posted pics of the ones from chin tiki as an example.....don't get me wrong, it's a good score and i were in the area i would have snapped them up.....the kitten carving is crazy too....i like it.

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2010-01-03 21:27 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2010-01-03 21:28 ]

Hey, you're right Dave!

These are the very same chairs. I looked up the post you mentioned and there they were. I still can't believe no one got them before me! I don't care if they "don't have the love" in the carving asthetics, 'cuz when you're like me and you never find this stuff as often as some people, it's ALL good!

lee from What I remember those chairs are super heavy I picked up 2 - so 4 must have been bad for gas mile-age!

PS I maybe in Vegas for NAB mid April I'll let you know!

Tiki Lee,

Would it be possible for you to take pictures of the backs of these chairs? I need to see how they are painted so I can redo mine!

Thank you,

PTD

Hey Jack- Definately let me know if ya make it to NAB this year. It'd be good to see you again!

Hey Psycho- I'm so sorry it took me so long to get you this picture. I wanted to wax up the backsides so they'd be nice and perty for ya, and I just didn't get around to it until tonight. They're BIG chairs, and it's a BIG job getting everything waxed, especially getting down into all the cuts and lines!

Anyway- Here's both chairs and the colors:

Hope That Helps!

Great job waxing your Tiki -eh- CHAIRS, Lee! The colors look just right now, pastelly/muted, not jump-out-at-you dominant.

I think we should start a thread in Tiki carving like "IF painting a Tiki with colors, how to achieve the aged/native pigment look" or something. A few folks here had some nice success with trying that.

On 2010-01-27 09:45, bigbrotiki wrote:
Great job waxing your Tiki -eh- CHAIRS, Lee! The colors look just right now, pastelly/muted, not jump-out-at-you dominant.

I think we should start a thread in Tiki carving like "IF painting a Tiki with colors, how to achieve the aged/native pigment look" or something. A few folks here had some nice success with trying that.

Agreed! Anyone with suggestions on how to age the paint for these chairs would be most appreciated, as I am currently removing years of dirt, grime and old varnish on a pair of these chairs in preparation for restoration. Given the original colors are blue, orange and yellow I want to have these colors as subdued as possible.

PTD