Tiki Fireplace (not monster house's)

Here's a labor of love that we've been doing the last few months that i wanted to share:

http://www.biffinc.com/tikifireplace/tikifireplace.html

I ran into an old friend named Stafford and found out he worked at a chimney / fireplace company. With his fire safe knowledge and my friend Marcus's talent, we were able to pull this off. This post shows all the steps we went thru from concept to final.

The entire shape was formed with pink insulation slabs glued together with foam in a can. We then carved the basic shape. We then put chicken wire over that and put cement over the entire form. The next step we brought the almost face-less mask ( about 150 lbs ) to the fireplace and mounted it to the wall with metal brackets. We then took a product called fireplace cement to slowly build up our tiki face detail. This product is usually used just to seal cracks in your fireplace, but it works like molding clay and cures with heat. The final weight is approx. 450+ lbs.

To contain the heat we created a pizza oven-like firebrick box out to the mouth opening. This also created a shelf to rest the smoke machine on and space for the low voltage lights that lit the eyes. The eyes are made from surfboard resin my friend custom molded into the eye openings.

The fire ring gas actually comes thru lava rock that is hidden with 1" of black and red broken safety glass on the very top. When lit it creates a huge blue ring of fire that rises and forms a bright white flame pattern on the top . It almost looks like a giant flaming volcano cocktail, and the glass sparkles like a broken mirror ball. We wired the controls over behind my bar to adjust the eyes brightness, control the smoke machine and set its timer, and turn the fire off/on and adjust the height of the flame. When the fireplace is on its lowest, the blue flame looks like a space-view of a volcanic planet with a chaotic lightening like effect on the surface.

In my opinion we made a fireplace that was a lil more traditional tiki than monster house's attempt, and it's totally fire-safe.

I hope you enjoy the pix as much as we enjoyed making and staring at now.
Let me know what you guys think!

Biff

[ Edited by: biffachu 2005-10-26 15:13 ]

Feel like i am inside the lost temple... Indiana jones r u there.

Sweet work and great idea.

Really looking at the progress pics too.

http://www.PalmCityTiki.com

That is pretty freaking cool. What's next for the room? When's the party?

wow... beautiful Biff!

absolutely outstanding.....nice touch with the red glass lava effect.

Man, that's hot! Great concept. I doubt I could get that one by my wife......

That is very cool . Could the same idea and process be applied to something that would be outdoors?

Thanks for sharing.

Yes I think it could be made for an outside one also. This one would be waterproof if it was outside since it is solid cement. It might have to be propane for that purpose though.

We actually took the foam we used for the form and had cement put on it to protect it from deteriorating. It served as a backyard fountain pouring in between 2 tiki torches at my Mahalloween party.

Awesome fireplace. Very cool

That's insane! I need to party THERE!

Sweet fireplace man.

Awsome Biff, how was the party sorry we missed it.

That is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Inspirational!

I saw the monster house episode and actually got to meet the host at a home show in Long Beach, CA a while back. They made a great effort, but the homeowner didn't really seem all that excited about the tiki makeover. Your tiki fireplace looks way more traditional and we can tell it was made by a true tiki afficiando. That is really unbelievable - your friends must be blown away when you give them the "demo", smoke fuming nostrils and all!

A-A

Biff, you are a nut! And that's a good thing.

Biffachu!
It was great meeting you at Hukilau.
This rivals many other Tiki fireplaces I've seen here on TC. Oh hell, it's the best! Congrats and enjoy it!
Unga

Awesome work Biffachu! Simply awesome (everyone here knows how I respect the mudpeople)

I agree With Bunga...best Tiki fireplace ever!

REally nice job Biff. Thanks for the step by step, they are very time consuming and you did them very well. You gotta be Proud proud proud..

Friggin Awesome Biff! That is really a kick ass lookin' fire holder. Great pics of the progress too. You and your amigos must feel proud sittin' in front of that tiki warmin' yer toes. Just in time for winter too!

Chongolio

Thanks for your positive responses all!! I do feel fortunate to have such a centerpiece in my living room.

Also I have to admit the timing couldnt be better, the temps are just starting to dip even here in so cal and once the lava rock & glass warm up its got a great amount of warmth to it!

Crazy, man...crazy. First class work. Ku would be proud!

That's one of the coolest tiki things I have ever seen. I'm amazed.

Outstanding.

Hey Biff your fireplace was featured on Boing Boing Nice article in the Times too!

Chongolio

Yea I know i've actually been getting a ton of hits ever since the LA times article!!
Bloggers around the world have been including it!
I will begin phase 2 MUUHAHAHAH soon, and theres a good chance you'll be seeing it on hgtv soon..
Keep ya posted!

Biff, a beautiful young female acquaintance of mine from Chicago loves your Tiki room picture from the LA Times. She's asking me if it's "open to the public." Should I tell her "Yes,""No," or that "It's always open for beautiful young females who're willing to travel 2 Thousand miles to see it"?

Do I even have to answer that..

Hi, please pardon my tardiness in finding your amazing fireplace!

Someone posted this link: http://www.tikifireplace.com

on another board and I see that it contains a picture of your fireplace on a TV screen in another room, and I'm confused!

But I admire both...

Bifachu!
Revisited your fireplace recently! Incredible,but I bet pictures don't do it justice!When can I come over and see it?

Great work!! and very original idea too! Congrats!

I saw it first hand just recently and its RAD !!!!!!

The flames come out of the bottom in a really nice soft pattern and the fog machine that blows periodically from the nostrils is just over the top.

The craftmanship and quality of the final piece is the ultimate.

Keep up the great work Stafford, Biff and Crew.

Just saw this fireplace last night at Biffachu's annual bash and it is Super-Cool! Bigger than it looks in pictures,and the black and red glass under the flames totally give it that bitchen' lava/hot coals vibe! I thought the inside of the house was spectacular until going to the backyard....Dreamyard! All TC'ers should visit Biff's house! Another recommended Book of Tiki stop! TIPSY factor? 4.5-5...A lot! Great work gents!

WOOOHOOOOO! What a Masterpiece!!

Mucho Mahalo to Biff and his Clan for putting on such a great party. The Mahaloween Party II was so much fun :)

Even The Tiki Fireplace is ready for the Holidays!!

So bitchin!

Talk about 'talent on loan' !!!!!

bump

That is, I believe, the hands-down coolest modern home fireplace I have ever seen. What a grand effort! It sure seems to be a showpiece. And yeah, the glowing, dimmable eyes and fog push it right over the top. Wow.

Great work ............... Cheers :drink:

Absolutely ova da top! (thank you TikiTammy for the bump, let some of us newbies see it) Biff, looks like the foam was removed after the concrete was formed right? Where do you get broken safety glass? (edit - nevermind, I found sources) That would make a nice effect for an outdoor volcano firepit

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2008-06-04 05:14 ]