Post #727044 by Aloyzius on Sun, Sep 7, 2014 6:35 AM

Lori, I think there's way simpler ways to do a Moai. They are a basic shape without a lot of detail, so you can probably bang one out in a day or two. I took three one gallon plant buckets that were going in the trash and wired them together. I bought some wire mesh at a hardware store and trimmed it in places to get the basic shape. I tied some more mesh pieces on to make the protruding forehead and nose. Then I used a hypertufa mix to cover the whole thing. There are many recipes for hypertufa online. Mine was something like Portland cement, sand, and peat moss with an acrylic binder and just enough water to make it like a heavy dough. It's like making mud pies, and you just pack it on your frame. Eventually the little clumps of moss rot out leaving pits, looking like natural rock. This is far easier and cheaper than the method I used on Pele. Just last week, I thought I would put some fake granite spray paint on it, just for fun, but it looked pretty neat before. I will dig around and see if I can find pictures I took through the whole process. But here's how my Moai looks right now. I hope this helps. Have fun.

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Ha! I just noticed I never did get around to making the ears.