THOR's Victorian sideshow Museum twist...to Shrunken Head cases FOR YOUR TIKI BAR.

ALOHA!

I was inspired by the idea to do a variation on my resin heads that made a lit case presentation that was dramatic and curious and exotic in an old world way.

When Tsantsas (Shrunken Heads) were first seen in the Museums of curiosity in the late 1800's and early part of the Century, they were presented in these odd ways that combined Victorian formality with strange boxes and accents of "exotic" encasement. Red and black velvet cradled the dried remains and the juxtaposition was wonderfully strange..and intriguing. Horrific..and yet...eye candy un parallelled.

So, Behold....before your eyes, the first in a series. My story is that these wee once seen by thousands of wide eyed seekers of the strange and exotic. Taken from dime museums that presented these cases and contents almost a century ago.

These are all wired to light a dramatic , low watt warm glow inside the glass. The museum labels look old and well viewed...and the heads are detailed and full of their own stories..ready to be told. These are killer conversation pieces. They will add exotic enchanment and adventure...NO QUESTION to home Tiki bars and rooms of exotic decor. no two alike...

I am showing these here on TC first...then will list in other auctions and avenues if they remain. Prices are very reasonable for the work and uniqueness at $350.00 each plus shipping unless you can meet me locally in LA area. Tonga hut and Mai Tai's are recommended place of exchange. Excuse any typos..i am doing a rum painting for a customer also and I "accidentally" drank me freakin' paint again.
Enjoy!..first dib's first serve...see below for pics.

![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1900/4cf068da.jpg)![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1900/4cf0628d.jpg)  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1900/4cf06234.jpg)  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1900/4cf06ace.jpg)

[ Edited by: THOR's  2010-11-26 18:34 ]

Excellent work Thor!

Sent you a PM Tom.

Got it...lemme know which one is gone..sent you a reply there too. i will show what is still available.

OK...One with red velvet is SOLD. I will keep other posted through weekend. It's a real stunner as well. ~~~T

Totally awesome...I love the Victorian presentation. GREAT JOB!!!

Thanks Vamp!! You are an owner of one of my lil' fellas already..you should know! lol Happy Holidays!!

Nice Tom - I dig em!!

Sorry Tom, I am not convinced your Tsantsas are not genuine. The skin on these heads looks pretty darn real to me! I can see the tiny wrinkles and pores! Also, I found this tag inside the box revealing the activities of a "Professor Thordarson" back in April. Coincidentally, about the same time no one knew of your whereabouts!. :wink:

Thanks for giving my future tiki room some tiki cred.

[ Edited by: TIKI-TONGA 2010-12-06 22:38 ]

Nelson!!!

....Looks awesome in it's new home!! Keep that Museum tag in case you are ever hit by custom's. They are keeping an eye on me and my comrades and suppliers in the all Amazon regions as warned in my benefit by a loyal native tribesman. Also, it's been a little rainy in my suppliers area recently and dry time is longer than usual hear.

I will be heading via air drop soon and hope to trade a few of my paintings of zoftic, nude native girls on black velvet for a good lot of heads...they can't get enough of of these...and call me, "one who paints fire on night sky". Whatever..it is good currency for getting the Tsantsa's.

Anyway...ENJOY!! I have one more of those left..may do more after the Christmas shows in Hawaii. keep the magic going....

[ Edited by: THOR's 2010-12-06 13:36 ]

Fan-freaking-tastic! LOVE the cases (and the heads too)!

Thor,

These look excellent! I'm very impressed. The most realistic tsantsa replica I'd seen before this was from salangome.com, but yours put those to shame. How can you offer such amazing pieces (one of a kind, no less) for such a great price?

I do want to note that the term jivaro, although historically accurate, is a bit outdated. It actually means something equivalent to "savage," and is considered an insult by the Shuar people, who are the tribe that create the tsantsa. In the way you're using it it's fine, but knowing that people here tend to be sticklers for details I thought I'd mention it.

Great input Tikitacky! Thank you for the compliments too!

I have read a lot on these various things you refer to..and FULLY agree on the term "Jivaro" being antiquated in the context you refer to. I use it more ofcourse because I like to simulate the idea that these are labeled as such from museums and sources aquired maybe 50 yrs ago or something...

The heads I do and will do are still "inspired" by the true practice, but I take a lot of artist license to make them somewhere between what is truly authentic and what we would like to see as "dramatized"/stylized. In this smaller Resin head pictured, it is not as "real" looking as the others I do but pretty convincing to most who see them. Check out my other threads for the ones with facial hair...etc. To me, this is a really fun side hobby to teeter on real and fantasy with these heads.

In the future, I have two heads I plan to sculpt masters for. One will be a head where I fully attempt to represent a true Shuar type head...with any details, facial forms and adornments being authentic. One thing impossible to aquire would be the tucan feathers used. I do now have molds of actual Chrysophora chyrysochlora which are the green iridescent beetles found in Peru that I aquired. Their wings were used to adorn the heads as well. I am perfecting faux representations that will be petty darn close.

Another head I will sculpt is a full blown fantasy head....VERY real but VERY savage...and exaggerated as we would like to see in the most dramatic of deep exotic jungle ways.

Anyway....I will stop here, cus I can go way too much into detail on this subject and I need to get back to my paintings. Thanks for the feedback. Well spoken and good stuff for all to be aware of. OK..Time to "HEAD OFF" to my work!! ~~T

You might get a kick out of this. It's a Shuar chicha bowl which they used to drink fermented manioc root out of. It's still got some gummy residue around the rim.

I also have a pointing bone which I acquired from a museum that was downsizing their collection... I'll try and dig it up and get some pictures.

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2010-12-06 21:19 ]

WOW! SUPER COOL.... Beautiful bowl.

I have a few blow pipes I have made...experimenting with lengths. I had to give my practice sessions a break though when a neighbor couldn't figure out why there were these strange fiber quilled bamboo shards in a number of his persimmon tree's fruit...he suspected me, as all generally do and said...TOM....You know about this, don't you??!!!! ..over the fence. I wanted to see how accurate I could be and damn if I couldn't hit those things at about sixty feet away! i won't ever harm animals, but persimmons are fair game I say! HAaaaa. Look forward to seeing that bone artifact.

[ Edited by: THOR's 2010-12-06 21:37 ]

Just got my latest mug today and had to show it off!

Here's the pointing bone I talked about.

This is an aboriginal killing bone, collected from a Walpiri tribe member, G. Jabanadi, in Yuendumu area, 300 km west of Alice Springs in the 1960s by a Danish geologist, Jan Splitt. He was in the country between 1965 and 1969. In 1979, his collection has been presented in the Esbjerg Museum, and the items have been referenced.

Amongst the Australian native peoples, there is no such thing as a"natural death." This is a rather common belief among the Pacific islanders, including the Sepik in Papua New Guinea. It is generally believed that death is caused by a with doctor or sorcerer. In ART OF THE FIRST AUSTRALIANS, John Carrick relates that, "Australian aboriginal sorcerers were universally feared; they could cause death or injury to a victim by projecting an evil spirit into him with a 'pointing bone.' Bone pointing was practised by many groups. Among the Aranda of central Australia, the bone was cursed and pointed secretly at the victim with chants. Unless some medicine man could remove the evil magic, the boned person would die."

LOVE this! Thanks so much for sharing..and what a great back story. I wonder if that's where the term, "..having a bone to pick with someone" came from? Anyway..great stuff. Watch where yah point that thing man...you could put an eye out!! lol

Tom,
Are any left?

Just saw the posting on your Victorian display case - the Steam Punk in me is satisifed - as well as the tiki fan! Well done!

Thanks "Fres".... Bob I sent you info on last available for this year I think...I head to Hawaii Thursday for shows.