Monday, October 31, 2011

Hey Tiki Dude, hold my phone and how about charging it up too?

I don't usually do holiday posts, but this one seems kinda fitting, so happy Halloween. Boo!

I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4S, and I love it.  But just like my older iPhone, it's tough to make it through the day without recharging the battery.  So I keep a wall charger at work.  I've been looking for something that might make a cool, stylin' holder for my phone at work, and I think I've found something pretty unique.

I was looking around on ebay for vintage tiki items when I found this guy.


He's in a crouching position, and in front of his feet is a leaf-shaped trough which looks like it was meant to be used as an ashtray.  Now who would want a WOODEN ashtray?!?


Well, Uncle Atom doesn't smoke, but he wanted a wooden ashtray.  And he got it.

 I was the only bidder on this guy, and he recently came in the mail.  Now I have to tell you, I did have a little guilt when I decided to put a hole in the ashtray part so I could run a charging cable, but, I got over that and decided that giving this tiki dude a job would be good for his self esteem.


All I did was stand the phone up so it would lean against the tiki's chin, then I traced around the base of the phone and marked where I wanted the cord to be.  A little masking tape, some drilling, chiseling, sawing and sanding, followed by a little tung oil, and I was done.

I also cut a channel to run the charging cord underneath.

So here's the end result: one less tiki dude on the unemployment line, and a unique phone charging stand for pretty cheap!








10 comments:

  1. Thats pretty great- an impressive transformation!

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  2. My dad is an antique dealer and he has no problem adapting something to make it useful for today. For many things, that's the only way they will be saved at all.

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  3. Suh-weet! I love the tiki guy as a phone charger/holder! And Happy Halloween!!!

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  4. A rather awsome idea! Tiki man is super cool.

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  5. I love how you just married ancient Tiki customs with modern cell phone technology! Super great way to utilize an outmoded fad...smoking! Good job!

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  6. Just for the heck of it I did a quick ebay search for 'carved wooden ashtray' to see what else comes up. Most of the items are priced a lot higher than the $9.99 I got this guy for. Tobacciana collectors are competitive I guess, but why then did no one want Mr. Tiki Dude?

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  7. That is so awesome! Very creative, and very impressive!

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