HAloha,  Kats and Kittens out there in Koolsville, Welcome to my Tiki Lounge, here I will be show casing my Tiki inspired art work along with some of my other projects and throwing in some Tiki tidbits here and there. Did you know that the word "Tiki" has several different meanings?, first one is from Polynesian mythology, meaning "First man", also all carvings of man and God to the artists. Most of us know it as another time and place growing up and seeing a primitive side of Americana that was brought back by travelers from the South Seas, but in any case it is a style we all have seen somewhere and for some reason it goes hand in hand with Hot Rodding. Let me start off with my first Tiki style shifter knob I made a few years ago, you will notice it has a resemblance to Mr. Gasser, that's because Ed Roth was a Big influence on my life and this is a tribute to his style, take a look at the pics and the story.

Koolkaralukie - ( Kool-kar-a-look-e )  

Somewhere in the South Pacific, south of the Hawaiian Islands, and just east of Tonga , there lies an island, not shown on any modern map, but the natives on near by islands call it Koolalukie. Turquoise water surrounds a lush tropical forest and mountain ranges thought to be uninhabited at first but not so; it’s here that our story starts.  A recent expedition to this island not only found what remains of a primitive native Kulture form the past but also turned up a find so unbelievable, so outstanding, so magnificent,  that it could not be kept a secret.  A huge tiki idol had been unearthed, maybe by a fierce storm that had past by the area not to long ago, how ever it happened is not of importance what is, is that it was found , the news of it just reached the main land today, no one could believe there ears when they heard that a huge carved idol by the name of “KoolKaraLukie”(KOOL-KAR-A-LUKIE) the god of all Kustoms was discovered, Prof. A Gasser leader of the expedition made a deal with chief Koolalukie ( I think for a bunch of Big Daddy Ed Roth models, some glue and a genuine Rat Fink ring) to take back smaller versions of the Great KoolKaraLukie to sell to all who have a Kool Kustom Kar or a Hot Rod from Hell, use them as shifter knobs or just stick them to your dash board, where ever you put them they are known to bring Koolness to all those how have one , available in Monkey wood brown, Jade green and Lava Red, since the discovery other KOOLKARALUKIE have been spotted, (check the pictures)  this is where our story ends for now, with Prof. A Gasser looking back at the Huge KOOLKARALUKIE on the beach and turning to his two partners Drag Nut and Mother’s Worry saying to them I can’t help wonder why is his tongue is hanging out??????? And why he looks so familiar to me???? Until next time when the three explorers return to the Island to search the cave of the Flying Eyeballs.  

BRADY TiKi

Perhaps one of the most famous Tikis in pop culture today, the Brady Tiki is still somewhat of a mystery. It was only used in three consecutive episodes of the Brady bunch. It was "found" in episode 72, "Hawaii bound". wreaked havoc in episode 73, "Pass the Taboo" and met it's final demise in episode 74, "The Tiki Caves". It's true origin was most likely a Hawaiian souvenir shop. It looks much like the many ovine Tikis of the mid seventies, made by Coco Joe, or maybe Treasure craft. It is shaped some what like the figure KU,most likley cast in some kind of resin. It is currently in the possession of Barry Williams, (who played Greg Brady on the show) He "rescued" it from a prop room a couple years ago, while producing "Growing Up Brady" at Paramount, and currently wears it while on tour.                                                                  

Now as luck my have it ( or unlucky.....you decide.....), I have come across a bunch of these that were cast from the original Tiki idol that Barry Williams owns, they could be yours for $25.00 plus shipping.......Feeling Lucky???????

Freaky Tiki Speaky Covers

Well it all started with me wanting to do a larger sculpture,( I have been making smaller shifter knobs for about 12 yeras now) and I wanted it to be a Tiki type, and I wanted to redo my back yard in a tropical theme with lush tropical plants and tiki carvings so I thought why not make a large Tiki totem ploe that I could use to cover up my outdoor speakers and I even used them for planters, I guess there are quite a few uses for them.                                                         

  My first stop was to get a bunch of books on Tiki style to get some ideas of what I wanted it to look like, not  to bad I thought with my first try, take a look at the pictures and let me know what ya think, I want some feedback from the Tiki community on my Tiki carving and style.                                                                                                                                     

So here it is my latest project  the biggest sculpture so far, a 4 foot tall Tiki Totem pole, I never carved wood before on this scale so I thought it might be easier to use foam, I took a cardboard cement tube covered it with spray foam and started shaping and carving out a design with two faces on it, a lot of sanding later I came up with what you see here in these pictures, I then brushed on a coat of resin to give it a hard shell, then filled in any small spots I wanted to build up with Bondo, then sprayed a coat of gel coat over it to seal everything in,I also made a mold of it using RTV silicone so I can make more out of fiberglass and have them around the yard.  I have even placed lights inside that blink to the beat of the music, gives off a nice red glow at night.Well

Up-date....I knew it wouldn't be long before others took this idea and made it there own, I made these covers about 2 years ago and now there are people out there saying they are the originators of the Tiki speaker covers even going as far as taking the name I used and turning it around, Well I guess copying is a form of flattering so I guess I should be flattered, but just so you know mine was the first, cheaper and BETTER LOOKING!

If you like what you see I can make one or two for your Tropical Paridise drop me an e-mail at jpsspfx@aol.com 

Another Tiki speaker cover

Just finished this Tiki speaker cover for my backyard Tiki Bar, a little over 2ft tall, 8 inches inside diameter, will fit many standard outside speakers, and it's about 15 inches outside diameter, made out of fiberglass, I did a wood looking finish on this one with age splits. I can Kustom make any size Tiki you want, have an Idea you would like to have built?, let me know, Jpsspfx@aol.com

Tiki Bar

What Tiki Tropical Paradise would be complete without a Tiki Bar I ask you? here is my attempt of making one, I started with some pictures of bars I wanted it to look like, built a typical frame out of 2x3's and purchased all the other materials from different E-bay sellers and put it all together and here's what it looks like.

Tiki Shelf

Ok well what Tiki Bar would not be complete without a Tiki shelf to put all you Tiki treasure's ?, Here I actually did some wood carving thow nothing big or elaborate to say the least but I think it looks pretty darn KOOL, I wanted an Easter Island Moai look to it so I carved a few on each side, and then made a backing for it and covered it with some Tiki Bar style fabric, take a look.

Surf Tiki

OK this is actually the latest Tiki shifter knob carving I've done, (you must think I have a lot of time on my hands, I do have a full time job restoring vintage Corvettes during the day, I do all my Kustom stuff at night and weekends) any way here is another carving "Surf Tiki" as I like to call it, it will be a series of new shifter knobs I am making, also just finished Surf Moai, both are done in the shape of a surf board, they are finished in either a brown wood tone or gray rock color.

AKU AKU: keeper of the Volcano Flame 

Well I've been at it again, carving out a new Tiki for my backyard, I know the Tiki Purist out in Tiki Land want wood to be carved but I  don't have any experience with wood yet so I used good "Ol" foam and fiberglass again.                                                                                                                                          

I call this one AKU keeper of the flame, it stands just over 2 ft tall and about 10 inches wide, I inserted a flickering flame light in it, opened up the mouth and eyes, and left the top open also, I finished the outside with a black volcanic rock look and painted the inside red, the best effect is when lit at night the flame looks real, and the glow through the mouth, eyes and shining up through the top looks Great. I have mine outside on my deck, although they are not meant to stay outside or get wet, they are 110 volt, I take it in at night, take a look at the building process and the finished piece.

This is where I began, using a 8 inch cement tube cut in half, drew out my Aku Tiki face on it and sprayed insulation foam on it in the shape I wanted, ( That's one BIG shnoz )

After giving it a day to dry I used a small saw blade and some sand paper and started carving out my finer details, I changed the angel of the eyes to look meaner.

Well with carving done I painted on some household latex paint, ( this is to protect foam from melting ), when dried I sprayed on a layer of polyester primer, then finished up with some bondo to get any finer details in, cut open the eyes and mouth so the light can shine threw, painted the inside red and added my flame light.

With all sanding done it was time for a coat of urethane primer, sanding, and then semi-black paint along with some textured paint and here you have it. Well I couldn't leave well enough alone so I cut open the center top portion of my Aku and then made a flame crystal to add to the Volcano God, AKU, LOOKS Very KOOL at night, take a look let me know what ya think. jpsspfx@aol.com

Backyard: VOLCANO WATERFALL

As always I have to many projects going on at the same time, I had wanted to build a Volcano Waterfall in my backyard, a BIG one about 10-12 feet high, but with so many things going on and the summer months being very short here on Long Island I knew that it wasn't going to happen, so I did the next best thing I built one a little over 4ft tall and placed it next to my deck. All this in a few hours in one week not bad I think and you still get the effect only a little smaller, I purchased two small plastic containers and a pump and a fogger/mister, ( very KOOL effect, like dry ice only it works on ultrasonic sound, just drop in water and plug in), I made the frame using 2X4's made a basic shape using cardboard and 2 inch tape, a left over speaker rock I made for the top portion, covered it with a layer of fiberglass and added some spray foam to give it a Lava look, some textured paint, undercoating, a few pockets for plants a red pond light, some Lava flowing from the top, and there you have it, Take a look at the pictures to follow along.

Lava Moai's: for when your in the Mood

I most of had a few minutes left where I nothing to do so I made a Lava Moai head, using transparent red resin, it looks Kool at night with a battery opt. flicker light underneath it, for when your in the Moai Mood.

Hope you liked what you see, everything has a price, so if your interested in having one of my Tiki Kreations, or would like something special made let me know, Later, Eyeball.  JPSSPFX@AOL.Com

More to come......

                                      Home