Tiki in Popular Mechanics

I know, I know, we've seen the article on how to carve a tiki in Popular Mechanics before. However this time I mean "Tiki" in the more general sense. Google Books has now archived Popular Mechanics magazine online, so you can search way back and find all kinds of articles related to Tiki and Polynesian Pop. I've found a few, but if you do a search within the magazine similar to this:

http://books.google.com/books?ei=utRLS5eDLY_YsQOds6mjCw&ct=result&as_pt=MAGAZINES&q=tiki&as_coll2=+issn%3A0032-4558+

...you can probably find plenty more.

Let's start with the pre-tiki decade of the 1920s. I noticed several Popular Mechanics articles taking advantage of the Frank Burnett collection of Oceanic artifacts. Here's a few:

:down: Oct 1922

:down: Sep 1923

:down: Jun 1927

In the 1930s, you have this great article on Witch Doctors of the world.

:down: Nov 1930

The 1950s seem to popularize the Beachcomber in the American media.

Here's an article on Eli Hedley from July 1950 :down:

And several pages on Don The Beachcomber's new catamaran from Nov. 1951 :down:

A transplanted Frenchman who now lives the Beachcomber lifestyle in Tahiti and carves oyster shells:

:down: Feb 1956

And finally, one more image of the "Castaway" - this one in Miami Beach, FL.
:down: Jul 1956

In the 1960s, you actually begin to see Tikis.

The famous Oct 1961 article on how to create a Saw-Carved Tiki :down:

A nice Tiki-prowed, double-hulled canoe from July 1962 :down:

An ad for Patterned Glass Partitions from Oct 1965

And another Do-it-Yourself tiki from June 1966 :down:

That's the extent of my hunting. I didn't even delve into the Kon Tiki or Easter Island articles.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-01-19 18:50 ]

Great stuff Sabu.

Here is that Tiki boat on a brochure from the Hawaiian Village.

DC

Awesome, DC! I knew I had seen it before.

This Thread should be called something like:

CREATE YOUR OWN GOD

Sabu, you are my HEROE! D.I.Y. Tiki is the best! :cry: Ilustrated instructions of how to create an idol is one of the craziest most bizarre things that ever came out of Pop North America. Who could think of something like that now!
DC, you did it again! You always complement the threads masterfully.
You two are into my top five all time Tiki Central posters ever list!

My respects.
Please keep them coming!

Great stuff Sabu. Here is some patterned glass from the airport
in the Cook Islands...

Henri Bouvier was a painter of black velvet too. I have an ad
for his shop in Tahiti and will post it when I can find it.
This is one of his velvets...

On 2010-01-19 18:39, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
And another Do-it-Yourself tiki from June 1966 :down:

I have this Do-it-yourself encyclopedia that this is from. It's a nice big red hardback set put out by (no other than) Popular Mechanics, the year my set came out was 1968.

Nice research, fun stuff! That Pour-it-Yourself "Polynesian Tiki" is cool, it looks more like an alien. Tres Tiki Modern.
I wish I'd remember that old post here where someone showed all the different versions of that saw-carved Tiki they had collected.

Hi bigbro,

I believe that was this post in Tiki Finds:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1099&forum=5&start=5235

This was woofmutt's find:

...This was Psycho Tiki D's collection of Popular Mechanics tikis:

... and this was Tiki David's collection:

Bongofury - that patterned glass is really exceptional. And it looks like Henri Bouvier was an extremely talented artist. His black velvet work is as good as his carvings.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-01-20 14:04 ]

Excellent! And there was one much earlier, when I was putting Tiki Modern together and that Saw-Carved Tiki article first surfaced. But to find ANYTHING in that swamp of "Tiki Finds" requires exact title, poster name and such....and I don't have that memory anymore. :)

Sabu,

Amazing thread!!!!
I love this stuff!!!

Sven, I believe the page in Tiki Finds that you are referring to is 173.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=1099&forum=5&start=2580

And, here are the images that continue in Tiki Finds, just to keep it together.
(Unfortunately, Phillip Roberts' link is gone).

Psycho Tiki D's:

Uncle Trav's:

In addition, here's another interesting collection of these guys as posted on Illustrator Dave Chow's Blog:

Jonpaul

Nice everyone! Cool to finally see you posting JONPAUL! Cheers for that! :drink:

Recycled God
Primitive idol made from the wood of an Ikea table by Zeta in Madrid. 21/10/2007

Inspired by a picture of a carving by Sandy Dvorak on page 224 of Tiki Modern.**
3 more masks like this one where made and given as gifts to friends.
Mister Naufrago, could you show The one I gave you? :D

**Bigbro, could you show us the template for this idol you talk about in your book?

Great Stories
Love the one on Eli Hedley. Lot of useful stuff too!

Here is the ad from 1964...

Popular Mechanics on the bottom left!

Popular Mechanics tiki currently at Strathcona Antique Mall. Priced at $28 - too much for me.

And for all the Popular Mechanics purist out there they offer step by step instructions on making your own tiki bar. The foundation is there but it needs mugs and carvings to bring it to life, maybe that Pop Mech tiki?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/outdoor-projects/free-tiki-bar-plans?src=rss