Post #485442 by TorchGuy on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 4:29 AM

Loving it, every bit. An opinion/some ideas I'd like to toss out:

One: the silk flames, excepting the tall, and large-scale (not to mention expensive) models are (1) overused these days, (2) sound like a noisy PC tower fan and (3) don't look very realistic at all. Now, the old 70s-style wooden logs with a "burned" molded plastic center and revolving colored drum don't look realistic, either, but they've got a very classic look about them. But pretty much without exception, any silk flame from Spencer Gifts or the party store will look a bad sort of fake.

http://denver.craigslist.org/fuo/1361270344.html Here's a modern one with a hyper-realistic electric fire effect. Grab it quick if you like these, it's twenty bucks, these sell new for over a hundred. These are realistic, but that might not be the look you're after. Has a fan-forced heater in the top, too.

If you're going to do a silk flame, you might consider building one. Had I the time and money, here's what I'd do for this cool Moai head's gaping maw:
-The fan, a blower type (a centrifugal or squirrel-cage) would go inside the base box, with lots of soundproofing. Just inside the mouth, a duct would fan it out into a long, narrow opening, directed onto the silk. Soundproofing is because you need a fair bit of force. If you can find one of the self-contained box blowers with a variable-speed control that used to be used on heat-exchanger inserts for fireplaces, you'll be able to adjust to get exactly the right amount.
-The silk should be very lightweight, and will billow and ripple with some adjustment of the airflow. The top can be cut into flame shapes. The reasons the small Spencer Gifts-type bowl ones don't do much are the small size of the sheets, the fact that two are slid together in an X-pattern preventing a flowing motion, and the solid orange lights. The fans aren't giving much puff, either.
-Lighting should be a mix of orange and amber with a bit of red, and tinges of white and light blue. Done like this, visitors will look twice before deciding it's not real gas flame.
-Embers. Down front, I'd put a low strip of orange plastic, coat it with Great Stuff in big mounds with many small holes to let light through the base sheet. Let the Great Stuff dry a teeny bit, then crush some of the surface for roughness, paint it black, and dust with fireplace ashes while the paint is still wet.
-Might also want an interior back/side walls painted flat black.
-If you really wanna go all-out, hook your blower to a variable-speed control (must be one rated for motors) and put that behind the bar, and mark your speeds on the faceplate. If someone utters blasphemy ("Can you play Margaritaville?" or "Can you turn up the lights?") the Moai's gentle fire can roar to life for a moment. Uh oh, better not make the gods angry... Quick, put on "Quiet Village"!

Hope I'm not rambling too much - I tend to do that - but I also still think a deep-blue, nighttime rainstorm outside the window, or at least, deep blue lights, foliage and maybe wind from a fan, would be very cool. The one glimpse outside could really be an important, if subtle, mood-setter that lets visitors know they've not only gone downstairs, but stepped into another place and time.

What will go in that back room with the door? Storage, or another private space?

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2009-09-28 04:32 ]