Post #473539 by ZuluMagoo on Sat, Aug 1, 2009 7:37 AM

Things are moving along......

Finished the roof thaching along the walls. I used the same technique that I showed way back on page 1 of the thread when I stared Phase I.

I put the booth into a corner at an angle.

But it looked like it was just floating there, so I built a shelf behind it and attached it to the back wall. It looks much better.

One idea I had with the booth was to create a hut around it. So I started playing around with some larger diameter bamboo poles for walls. After I had a few of them up temporarily, I immediately did not like the look. It felt too closed in. So instead, I opted to build the illusion of a hut by just building a suspended roof over the booth.

It was really easy. I just hung the frame poles directly from the ceiling using a toggle bolt thru the drywall and an eye bolt to put the rope thru.

The frame coming together.

After the frame was complete, I just layed the other poles down and lashed them into place.

The roof turned out very nice. It is also a great place to hide details, etc.

A salvaged barrel that was headed for the Mauna Loa in Detroit.

A few empty crates that will be filled with decor later.

Started putting some of the ceiling decor into place (nets, floats, ropes, etc.)

At the opposite corner of the room, directly facing the booth, I want to build a large foam moai inspired by Kahona, one of the free standing tikis at the old Tiki Gardens in St. Petersburg, Florida.

I started by building a small working model. I threw this together in 15 mins. with cardboard, tape and some paint to use when I work large scale.

I think the nose is too large, so I'll make it smaller on the big guy. In the mouth I plan on installing a fake fire. You see them at Halloween, the silk flames over a fan with colored led lights.

But I didn't want to put the big guy directly on the floor, so I built a stand into the corner.

At this point, my wife came downstairs to see what all the racket was about and asked me what I was building now? Jokingly, I told her this was part of the stage. She did a double take and asked me again. I told her "Well yeah, the performers have to have somewhere to perform when they are here". She just rolled her eyes and wasn't sure how to respond. Then I showed her the model and what I was really doing. She was quite relieved.

Put the top on and the facing.

Finish with some bamboo trim, and it is complete. Now I start working on the foam moai......

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo 2009-08-01 07:44 ]