Backyard volcano pics/ideas

anyone have any?

I've got it in my pea-brain taht I want to put in a volcano.... and am having a tough time thinking up something other than piling up lava rocks and putting hte smoke machine inside.....

here's what i've got....
there is power, water and gas to the site, so I could do anything out there.

the swimming pool is about 2.5 feet from the edge of the site.. so I could put in a waterfall into the pool, but would have to built a bridge or walkway so one could still go all the way around the pool. I could pretty easily plumb the pool filter system to the site (the pump is only 15 feet away in a straight line).

i've got lots of space to work with (will pst some pics later).

any sources, books, pics that ya'll have collected? willing to share? post links to so I can buy?

let me know.

Danke Mucho in advance.

Maybe you can build up a pyramid frame using 2x4s and covering it in chicken wire. After that you can pour foam or what have you over the wire to make it look like lava rock (foam looks just like lava rock when its carved). You could prolly even cover the wire with lava rock if you have some. After the foam sets you can use a cement sealer to make it water proof and you have yourself a tiny volcano. You can even build an access hatch into it to refill the smoke machine, store beer, etc.

[ Edited by: VespaVago on 2004-08-09 13:48 ]

Just to drive you off the deep end...

Volcano with a waterfall spilling off the side! (I have absolutely no idea how to achieve such a lofty vision. Sorry.)

If you have a waterfall spilling down the volcano, you might want to backlight it with yellows and oranges to mack it look like lava. When I pop over should I bring my own towel?

I would do the water fall. Buy some pond lights(they fog machine would be cool. Build a bigger holder for the fog fluid
Thanatos

I too am intersted in building one, i have a fog machine already so i was figuring id chicken wire and foam it paint it with speckled stone spray paint and put the fog machine and red lights inside it, but i was worried aobut building something that would bet destroyed in the new york winters,
but hell, one good tiki party would make it all worth it!!!

If it were me, who has little experience in construction, I would low-budget it and make a basic charcoal grill/fireplace and surround it with a chickenwire/concrete (?)volcano facade. That way, you could grill up some burgers and dogs on top of the volcano, or simply have some logs burning in it. I'm a bbq ho - the smell of charcoal-grilled meats makes me weak in the knees.
Then, I would spray paint it in silver and grey and snake red rope lighting across it, vertically, to resemble lava lines.

and then, drink a lot of beer.

[ Edited by: dangergirl299 on 2004-08-10 18:56 ]

I am in the middle of designing a pool and what I want to do is have a water fall from the pool down to the spa. I am going to put red and orange lights in the fall to color the water and put some (2) gas jets at the top, this will only work at night but it can be permanant without being a white elephant later in life.

Do you know anyone who works at a hospital? If so, get them to talk to central supply. They usually have tons of foam boards they just throw away.Build it in sections that you can take apart for storage in the winter.
Unless you have a steep elevation. Like an elevated deck or terraced yard. Then there are other ideas....