Creating Stuff Day 365. Another Process – Completed (almost!)

Today is Day 365. One year of posting every day in this blog, about creating stuff. One year of creating content daily on a myriad of topics. Mostly Tiki, but also food, music, politics, travel. It’s been a lot easier to come up with new content than I thought it would be.

Today I show you my latest project, a signpost of Tiki paradises, in a state of almost-completion. There are at least 3 more signs to post, but since my lovely wife Jess is handling the artwork and she likes to take her time, this photo will have to do for now. I’m confident that the finished product will look pretty much like this, only with more cool signs. That is, if it’s ever complete! You see, projects like this in the Tiki Lounge have a way of going on forever.

I plan to take a break from posting in this blog for a while, but I’m sure I’ll be back at this as well, sooner or later. In the mean time, you can check out my other blog, A. Panda’s Tiki Lounge, which I’ve been neglecting. I’m also thinking about turning this blog into a book, along with the short stories I’ve written. That would make me very happy. Stay tuned and mahalo for following me!

Creating Stuff Day 364. Mookie Sato

Last fall I showed you a listing of the contemporary artists whose work I’ve collected in the Tiki Lounge. I’ve gone on to feature many of them in individual posts in this blog. One I’ve neglected to show you is Mookie Sato. Until now.

Mookie Sato is from Kyoto, Japan. You can check out his website here and Etsy page here. I was first exposed to his art when I attended The Hukilau in 2014, as he was chosen to design the main art piece for it. I have this print hanging proudly on my Travelogue wall as the centerpiece of a collage I created with artifacts from this fun event. I later realized that a t-shirt I bought at The Mai-Kai that year was also designed by Mookie!

I’ve since gone on to collect a few more items from Mookie, including another t-shirt, a cool volcano Tiki mug, a pillow cover, a keychain, and a Sweet Hollywaiians album with his art on the cover. To say that this man from Japan has figured out the art of merchandising in the Tiki world would be an understatement. Mahalo, Mookie Sato, for your amazing art!

Creating Stuff Day 363. The Beard

As we approach one year of this blog and the COVID19 pandemic, one thing has happened to me: I’ve stopped shaving. I’ve always been lazy about about it, but now I’ve let my beard grow so I don’t have to worry about it much anymore. Just the occasional trim.

I haven’t had a full beard since my days fresh out of college, living in Lancaster PA. Back then, I would wear it all winter, then shave it all off in the spring. People thought I was a hunter (which I’m not), and a dog rescue place almost kept me from adopting my first beagle because of that! One year, when shaving off my beard, I left a goatee and asked my ex-wife how it looked. “I like it,” she replied, “it makes your fat face look thinner.” So I kept the goat for years, but not the wife.

Lately, I’ve been wearing a goatee without the mustache. My wife Jess likes it that way. Just before Thanksgiving, I decided to let the full beard grow out again. It’s a lot grayer than before, but I’m okay with it. So is Jess. I’ll probably shave it off again in the spring, when things open up, but for now, I’m cultivating the Papa Hemingway look. Another daiquiri por favor!

Creating Stuff Day 362. Degrees of Unelightenment

With yesterday’s long-awaited delivery, my Order of The Golden Fez shrine in the Tiki Lounge is now complete. I showed you earlier how I crafted a display stand for my OTGF fez. Now behold the banner that hangs below it: Degrees of Unenlightenment.

I’ve been wondering for some time how to best display the different OTGF pins I’ve started collecting. At first I thought I would put them on my new fez, but when I saw how pretty that black velvet beauty was, I hated the thought of busying it up with a bunch of pins. So when House of Tabu announced this new banner, specifically for displaying their pins, I jumped at the chance to get one.

Sadly, the pandemic/politically-caused delays with the USPS made me wait 3 weeks from the time I ordered this banner until it arrived. It was worth the wait. Now A. Panda’s Tiki Lounge has a fitting display for my secret society stuff. This makes me happy.

Creating Stuff Day 361. Panda’s Bride of Surf

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. So the old saying goes, about what a bride is supposed to wear on her wedding day. The same is true for this mix CD.

Panda’s Bride of Surf is my 34th music compilation and 6th (and last) one featuring surf music. As with all of my previous surf mixes, this one features old chestnuts by Dick Dale and The Ventures. The new artist this time is The Surfrajettes, an all-girl group from Toronto. The borrowed are the usual bookend covers of Wipe Out and Hawaii Five-O, this time provided by Fat Boys and Henry Mancini, respectively. How about something blue? Why, The Blue Hawaiians, of course, with one of my favorite tunes, Swingin’ Hula Girl. Stir in some cool art by Michael Cassidy and surf’s up!

Here is the playlist, which you can listen to on 8tracks below:

Creating Stuff Day 360. Another Process – Making Signs

As with most of my projects, I try to use up scrap materials whenever possible. Fortunately, I have plenty of pieces of scrap wood to choose from. One long piece in particular was already painted, so I cut it into five arrow-shaped pieces.

Because my support pole is relatively close to the wall behind it, and two of my signs need to point west, which is directly into the wall, I had to cut these arrows to only 9” long, which is shorter than I would have liked. More importantly, my wife Jess is helping me with this project by drawing the names of the Tiki temples in the style of their logos. She’s more artistic than me, so I’m glad for her help.

Sadly, two things will keep me from finishing this project quickly. First, my wife will take her time making these signs, and I’m at her mercy to get all 5 done. Second, the hose clamps I ordered to attach the signs to the pole were supposed to be delivered today, but with the pandemic and the snowstorm, they’ve been delayed. No matter; good things come to those who wait. Right?

Creating Stuff Day 359. Another Process – Sense of Direction

So if we’re going to make a proper signpost, the signs should be pointing in the right direction. I want to know which way to go to get to my different Tiki paradises! Fortunately, the iPhone’s built-in compass app lets me lay out the proper orientation of the support pole I’m working with.

So here are the 5 places I’ve chosen, with the direction and magnitude of their vectors from A. Panda’s Tiki Lounge in Bethlehem PA:

Lost Lake, Chicago IL, W 275 deg, 738 miles

Polynesian Village Resort, Orlando FL, S 190 deg, 1060 miles

Latitude 29, New Orleans LA, SW 235 deg, 1220 miles

The Mai-Kai, Fort Lauderdale FL, S 185 deg, 1221 miles

Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco CA, W 265 deg, 2846 miles

So these are the places I want to go and the vectors to get there. Now I just need to turn these vectors into physical signs. It’s time to start cutting and painting wood.

Creating Stuff Day 358. Another Process – Signpost

The problem with a basement Tiki lounge is that it is never finished. There’s always one more piece of art to hang, one more Tiki mug to find space for, one more decor idea to take from vision to reality. Actually, this isn’t really a problem. This is opportunity knocking.

My latest vision deals with another support pole that currently stands naked, holding up the first floor of our house. The first support pole I dealt with down here turned into a ship’s mast, decorated as part of my Nautical Nonsense area almost a year ago. This was the subject of my second post in this Creating Stuff blog. For this next pole, I’ve decided to pay tribute to my favorite Polynesian palaces across the country. My inspiration for this project comes most recently from something similar my friend Tikiman Steve Seifert did in his backyard.

Ultimately, I first saw this kind of signpost in the 1970s TV series M*A*S*H. This famous signpost, which represented an escape from the horrors of the Korean War, now stands proudly in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. I hope I can reproduce this spirit of escape with my next project in the Tiki Lounge. Aloha.

Creating Stuff Day 357. Pocket Pandas

You may have noticed that I’m really into pandas. Andy Panda has been my nickname since elementary school and is in the name of my Tiki Lounge. I have many pandas and Tikis down here. One of my first non-SHAG pieces of art was Sandra Tang Fremgen’s Saturday Night Muse from her Panda and Me collection.

One of my newer collected artists is Autumn Frederickson and her Pocket Pandas series. I met Autumn at the 2019 Chicago Comic-Con, where she was exhibiting her work. I picked up a cool canvas tote bag featuring her panda going Boop! (Pls No Boop) with its red panda friend. I also bought a wonderful print, Two for Tea, with the same two pandas enjoying a whimsical tea party. This print hangs proudly in my bedroom.

I love when artists feature pandas in their work. Autumn Frederickson does a daily post on Facebook and Twitter, The (Mostly) Daily Panda, featuring the adventures of her Pocket Pandas. You should check it out and support her work. That would make me happy.

Creating Stuff Day 356. Mark Thompson

A while ago I ran into an old friend I used to play hockey with, Dave West. We were both ordering beers at a bar before watching a hockey game. Dave knows I’m into Tiki, so he asked me if I was familiar with the work of his uncle, Mark Thompson.

Now I had heard of Dave’s uncle, but I had never really checked out any of his work. A quick Google search led to me to his website: TOPESart. Mark Thompson is really good at the art of hot rods, pin-ups, and Tiki. Hailing from Michigan, he is a part of the growing number of Midwestern Tiki lowbrow artists and enthusiasts. Kymm! Bang. Megan Besmirched. Ken Holewczynski.

For the first piece of TOPESart in my Tiki Lounge, I chose to buy the Moai N Mermaid print. He included a nice, personalized thank-you sketch, which I chose to laminate and hang with the 11” x 17” print. Next I’m looking at an original painting from Mark Thompson that will just blow you away. Stay tuned!