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Florida Art<br />
for the Wannee Festival and they all sold out in the first few<br />
hours so I didn’t have any for the rest of the week! Who<br />
knows how many mushrooms I could have sold!!??”<br />
“I mostly sell on weekends 8am to 8pm but I don’t think<br />
about it when I’m there. I spend a lot more time carving than<br />
selling! There’s no break when I’m carving at home. I don’t<br />
even know how many hours I work! I work when I want - I<br />
can stockpile, save money and take a real vacation when I<br />
want to. It’s too hot to work in the summer so I just take it<br />
off! It’s nice to be your own boss. I don’t think I could work<br />
for somebody now. I couldn’t live with somebody telling me<br />
what to do! I have a lot of repeat customers and that makes<br />
the job good. They’ll even put me up when I’m in town. Last<br />
year was my best sales ever. Even though I went to college<br />
I don’t use my degree. The only thing my degree is good for<br />
is literature trivia questions!”<br />
Music, art, festivals, friends around the country - sounds<br />
like an idyllic life for anyone really - and Masek has never<br />
looked back to the boring J-O-B world. He talks like he’s<br />
having the time of his life - all the time!<br />
“I keep the money and bill paying side separated from<br />
the creative side. I don’t think about what kind of money a<br />
piece will bring. I do what I want and hope other people will<br />
like it too. I‘m like a kid at a candy store! I can see what the<br />
wood is going to be and then carve out what’s in my imagination.<br />
Sometimes I even have dreams about it! The staple<br />
is the tiki stuff, people always want those, but I push myself.<br />
Every cool idea I have is something else to do. Sometimes<br />
I make animated characters, cartoons, Scooby Doo, I really<br />
enjoy it!”<br />
It’s no mystery that The Tiki Dude is a very gregarious<br />
and generous guy that loves the life he’s carved out for himself.<br />
You can see his work in the trees at Malabar Disc Golf<br />
Park (see below) or at the Earth Day event in Sebastian on<br />
April 22nd. www.tikidude.com<br />
Brevard Live April 2017- 45
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