Foam tiki???

Hey everyone I had a question on making tikis.I wanted to make some tiki masks for my bar. I cant spend alot on an expensive mask and Im not much of a wood carver so I was wondering if I could make one out of foam and then coat it with a hardener..Has anyone here done this before and if so can you let me know the best way to get started with the project..thanx alot

Check out these amazing things Tikitronic did!
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8576&forum=7

Most of the Tikis at the South London Pacific are foam and then covered with plaster and painted. Just wear a mask when cutting/sanding foam its nasty stuff! Other than plaster you can paint and varnish or use a polyester resin for a harder finish. Also try whatever you're coating it with on aspare pice of foam first as different foams react with different oil/spirit bases.
Good luck.

For carving use the foam insulation or blocks of green floral foam. Nothing special needed for carving foam, just sharp blades and sand paper. A Dremmel is useful. Foam can be painted with acrylic. You don't need to coat it with plaster or anything fancy if the piece is for an interior area where people will not be touching it. A coat of acrylic primer will make it so you can use a non arylic paint if you want. Several coats of paint will make the surface resistant to light handling. A coat of water based stain over the paint can give pieces an aged look. Another advantage to foam is that a large piece weighs little so you can hang it just about anywhere.

Here's a thread about Nacho's Foam Tikis, with his email in the last post:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9506&forum=7&start=0

Kahaka, does Nacho have anything new you could post? Or even better, get him to post for himself?

Here's some of Tikitronic's foam carvings:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8576&forum=7

Here's Johnnie Velour's foam fake-lava fronted bar:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8218&forum=7&vpost=82000

Here's a foam Tiki bar sign from 8' Tiki:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6984&forum=7

Here's a thread with some info about using the hotwire technique to carve foam Tikis:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=949&forum=7

Some tips: 1) Look through the Carving Post at the top of the page, 2) look at anything else that catches your attention, and 3)look at everything else, 4) enjoy yourself!

On a episode of Monster House, a set builder took polystryene foam, carved it and sent it out to have the surface hardened. It is the way the set builders do it. I have googled it but cannot tie it down, does anyone else remember that show? I know they did a castle show but they used Foam-Tec which is a company in Sun Valley http://www.foamtec.net they may be able to tell you more. One other way you may do it, make a TiKi from foam, then make a mold from it and cast it from a number of materials available.Let us know how it comes out!

Forgot to say,that if you want to get a good finish go to a company that make surfboard blanks(Clarke foam is one) they usually sell blocks as well. Get medium or low density as its fine for your purpose and cheaper.
Its great for carving and sands really well.

Thanx for all the tips im going to try them all and see what one works best..hopefully i'll be able to get some pics posted when its all done..Thanx again

Here is a product that is used mostly for interior work but it may help
http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/products/customer/product.php?productid=16149

Here's a picture of a funny styrofoam mask we did maybe ten years ago.

We used white styrofoam for the carving. Then a coat of paper mache, just paper towels laid on with yellow wood glue. After that set up we mixed up a batch of Duram's Wood Putty (great stuff, get it at Home Depot) and smeared that on and sculpted in a little wood grain, cracks and stuff. Then paint. They're still holding up fine today. You can see a few more examples at: http://www.pariarts.com/mus/hq/tikibar5.html
They are fun to make and all the materials are non toxic/no fumes!

http://www.pariarts.com/mus/hq/tikibar5.html

[ Edited by: pariartspaul on 2004-07-26 08:49 ]