How do I make a BIG tiki cheap and light (not wood)

Hey folks. I would like to make a big 6 footer or so. Has to be cheap, and light enough for 2 people to move easily. It will probably be indoors only.

Im thinking carved foam with body filler or similar over the top might be the best way to go, but not sure. Or paper mache construction?

If the foam is the best bit where do I get the foam etc etc.

Thanks in advance :)

architectural foam sculpters

not cheap. a 4' x 4' x 8' billet is around $300 US.

maybe they'll let you have scrap.

hard coat it with epoxy or elmer's glue thinned out a little.

I would think about a chicken wire structure with either paper mache or expanding foam for the coating. I think paper mache is pretty limited, but if you look at the halloween costume that MauiTiki did, I was really impressed with it: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6115&forum=7

The expanding foam (also called polyfoam) is the insulation foam that you can get at Home Depot, name brand is Great Stuff. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1401724&cp=1260455&parentPage=family&searchId=1260455
Once it's dry, it can be sculpted, although you get a rougher finish. Cans are $5, and it would probably take quite a few cans. I did a 3-4 foot volcano with it and took 4-5 cans. I wasted a lot in the cracks of the chicken wire. If you want some pictures of how I did my volcano, lemme know, I keep meaning to put it up, but just haven't gotten around to it.

You could also try collecting a lot of styrofoam pieces and gluing them together, then carving them down. :)

I made a couple of 6&8 footers out of polyurethane expanding foam Once and it works great! They sell 2 part 5 gallon drums of liquid foam (A/B)at tap plastics and you need to make a hard waxed paper cylinder so you can mix and fill up the cylinder...After it expands and drys you peel the paper and start carving!!!
After you carve it you can find cheep clear coat at any auto body shop and apply it over your tiki. Once dry you can paint it with house paint and black spraycan for detail...It worked good for me!!

[ Edited by: NOTCH 2007-02-13 15:12 ]

Thanks folks! im thinking the paper mache route looks best at the moment :) Ill post pics of anything of course :)

hey hewey,
i still have a blank block of foam that i was going to use to make another tiki out of - it's the same blank i used to make this moai:

it's probably about 5ft high... don't suppose you'd be coming up to Qld anytime soon though???

Mate i would love it. But no, no trips up North on the cards at the moment. :(