Any Flavor Life Saver Ice Shaver | Matted Print

Shaved ice to a keiki (kid) in Hawaii is like a frosty Mai Tai to an adult. It’s also a great way to cool off on the warm beaches of Hawaii at just about any age. The Waikiki lifeguard is the ultimate “life saver”. I thought, what if you took one of those and built a contraption that made awesome cones of Hawaiian shaved ice... then you added an engine to make this “machine” parrot powered!

If you look closely, you see the parrots teeter tottering on the bamboo perches, which drives the cam wheels. This turns the “bottle teeth” of the gears, which both shakes the dashboard hula dolls for a little entertainment and spins the Samoan knives. As this happens, the stack of ice blocks loaded in the tower feeds below and one by one are “shaved” into a fine powder. This falls into the upside down beach umbrella where the “scooper parrot” can pack the cones. That bird then flavors the ice by un-clipping the clothespin on the hose of the chosen flavor bottle.

Now, the finished cone of shave ice is handed to the “server parrot” which walks out to the end of the surfboard and presents the frozen tropical delicacy. What better way to appreciate the magic of a Hawaiian rainbow than to feel like you can actually eat one!

Part of Tom Thordarson's "Drink Machine Series," this whimsical tiki artwork takes you to the beach of Hawaii where you'll find distant mountains, blue waves, and a bright rainbow--and parrots serving shaved ice of course!