Pele Bar at Barefoot Bay - New 3D Tour

That big guy looks magnificent in situ.

Thanks BamBam, nearly KILLED me getting it up there :lol:

Looks really good Mike.

Thanks Hilda. Here's a few more shots

Nighttime

Still have plenty of room to grow

I really like the looks of the acid etch/stain for the concrete. It's a little work but well worth it.

I tried an experiment and I like it. I intentionally left gaps between the bricks surrounding the pond so that I could put red LED rope lights behind them

Shaping up well Mike-very nice.

Thanks you David. Since I upgraded my water feature to a bigger and better one, my old one was sitting unused. I cut a 2 circles out of blue foam insulation, put them in the tubs and covered them with a thin layer of aquarium gravel. The fish and lily pad are ceramic, will add a few more later

That fake water feature is too funny, Mike. Put everything to good use! I'm looking forward to seeing how your build-out goes. Looks like your covered patio is similar to my setup, so I'll be wanting to steal all your good ideas! :wink:

Thanks Jayme, steal away - that's why we are here :D It doesn't show well in this pic but I think the "water spout" is funny too. Originally water spilled from the upper pond to the lower pond though the "bamboo" tube (which needs to be re-painted). I took a coil of Sculpty clay and rolled it in the aquarium gravel, shaped it to be the spout of "water" and oven baked it :lol:

Working on some jade tiles, posted them on my thread in "Other Crafts"

Thanks for all the updates Mike, really enjoying watching your place coming together.

I had a bathroom window that faced out onto the patio that I wanted to cover. Jade tiles seemed the perfect solution but they are expensive and the standard 12x12 inch tiles are too big. So I made ten 8x8 inch ceramic tiles, wired & tied them together, and wired them in place

Looks perfect, great job Mike, Love your backyard tiki area.

The jade tile window partition is aces, Mike. Really killer.

On 2018-11-27 10:04, MadDogMike wrote:
I had a bathroom window that faced out onto the patio that I wanted to cover. Jade tiles seemed the perfect solution but they are expensive and the standard 12x12 inch tiles are too big. So I made ten 8x8 inch ceramic tiles, wired & tied them together, and wired them in place

You "made" the tiles??? Skillz!!!!! ::bows down::

Hilda and Jayme, thank you
W8N2Surf - "You"made" the tiles??? Skillz!!!!! ::bows down::" :lol: Thank you

Super-Duper, Man.

Awesome transformation from suburban pedestrian to classic imaginative escapism. Super well done!!

Merry Christmas from Barefoot Bay

Nice one Mad Dog! Happy Holidays!

I love this!

My north facing patio cast perma-shade on part of the lawn that just doesn't get enough sun for Bermuda grass. I decided to try some large cast-in-place stepping stones in that area. They will extend the usable are of the patio and I will plant a shade loving grass between them to transition from the concrete patio to the grass.

You can see my 3 foot diameter prototype in the upper left, starting two new stones. Outline made on the ground with spray paint

Dug out to a depth of about 3.5 - 4 inches and tamped down

Back filled with sand to a depth of 3 inches and tamped again

Mixed up four 60 lb bags of concrete mix in two batches and poured them in the holes. Leveled off and smoothed with a trowel. Now to wait for them to get set enough to texture

So mix up a Bumboat and wait

Three texturing mats. The big one is borrowed, the two small ones are spidaStamps from RockMolds.com, about $30 each.

When the concrete was set pretty firm, I textured it with the rubber pad and the tamper. I sprayed concrete mold release on the pad and rotated the pad each time so it looked more random. I think this texture is called Pitted Coral.

After texturing, I put a honu petroglyph on one stone

After a couple hours, when the concrete was good and firm, I took a shovel and cleaned up the edges so there won't be any thin places at the edges.

Have a 6x60 foot area to cover so I have a lot more to make. Once they have cured 1-2 months I will stain them with an acid stain.

New Pele themed serving bar for Barefoot Bay

I took a break from stepping stones for the summer but here's the progress

"I want you to shake the freak tree and invite anyone that drops to the ground. Dwarfs and giants, magicians, Zulu tribesmen, contortionists, fire eaters... and priests. We're going to need to confess" Freddy Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2019-09-03 08:07 ]

I made an ice chest cabinet to go with my Pele mini bar, it stores under the bar when not in use.

Mike, love how your outdoor tiki bar is shaping up and love the ice chest idea.

Thanks Hilda! High is only supposed to be 100 today, by 8pm it's down to the high 80s - NICE!!!! Time to start enjoying that outdoor space :D

Lot's of updating to do here from the past 2 years. Better get crackin'!

Let's get this party started. I have a gate to the back yard, I decided it needed A-Frame entryway. Started in November 2020!

Concept drawing

Framing plan

Beginning construction

Finished

Sign on the back gate

Yali, the reason for the sign

A few of Yali's trophies

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-03-15 08:59:39 ]

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-03-16 12:00:08 ]

I built a remotely triggered box of Live Monkeys

https://youtu.be/t3FccMpL4BQ

https://youtu.be/_PoMXmctXs8 Here's the guts- a geared motor with a big cam wheel, an MP3 board, and a couple speakers

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-03-15 19:56:13 ]

Shade is a valuable commodity here on the Anvil of the Sun. So I added some tapa print shade cloths

April 2020 I made a Papua New Guinea themed art was for my patio. In the center is a Gope Board – Pine. A “family crest” of sorts, made by many peoples of the Papuan Gulf including the Kikori, Baimaru, Uruma, Hohao, and Orokolo

Human Femur Dagger – Ceramic. The Asmat people usually make daggers from Cassowary leg bones but some are made of human femurs

Hornbill Skull – Polymer Clay. The Huli men of the Southern Highlands wear these bird skulls as necklaces

Lime Spatula – Poplar Wood. Part of the paraphernalia used to chew Bezel Nut, a mild stimulant, Inspired by the Massim people of the Trobriand Islands

Mask – Mango(?) Wood. Carved by Will Anders of Florida. Received as part of a Tiki Central Art Swap

Ndaokus/Trophy Skulls – Ceramic. 6 skulls inspired by the Asmat people

Yipwan – Poplar Wood. Inspired by the Yimam and Alamblak people

Crocodile Canoe Prow – Palm Wood. Inspired by the Iatmul people

Map – Print of a vintage map. In French, possibly the voyages of Papua New Guinea by Captain James Cook

A few lamps I've added over the past couple years

Liquor Bottle Chandelier

Chinese Hat Lamp

Papua New Guinea Baining Firedance Lamp

Cocktail Umbrella Lamp

Angler Fish in a Trap Lamp

Time to catch up our posts!

Yes it is Wendy! I'm workin' on it!

Boy, you've been busy. Lots of great stuff.

I had the same mustache for a while until I trimmed it back last summer....

Thank you Hamo, I bet you wear the mustache well! LOL

Stepping stone progress, getting almost done. Had a helper, my grandson Tanner

A couple new textures including orange glass "gems" to look like hot lava

A few more large stones needed in the center and some small ones to the right

Yo Mike, look at all those stepping stones. I can see why there's no grass growing under your feet. Will

LOL!!!

So great to see some photos of the updates. Feels good to be back.

Yes it does LittleGiles!

I experimented with a Matterport virtual reality capture of my space. Matterport app downloads free, it allows one free upload. There was a bit of a learning curve to the app but I watched a couple YouTubes and was able to figure it out. It looks really cool in an Oculus VR. It's a bit choppy and I didn't really clean up that well before photographing, will probably try to make an improved version

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=hhWJPbtPyrG&fbclid=IwAR1w9BcJ_5adYsJeACVf0vIqjq-V1YCSPHd_sVTo_3zLMbIIoECYlo2lvsI

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-06-05 17:08:21 ]

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-06-26 17:14:15 ]

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-08-16 11:12:03 ]

Spent the last few months painting the ceiling dark brown. I color matched it to brown extension cords so it does a good job of hiding those. It also helps make the ceiling decorations and lamps "pop". I recently made the bamboo grid and the 2 giant Chinese tiles. Also a video porthole with sharks, dolphins, and turtles swimming overhead.

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-08-01 08:15:09 ]

Aloha U Mad Man

Lookin good Bruddah

Thank you my friend!

When I first started my patio I stained and sealed the concrete floor and it looked really nice. Gradually though it has gotten quite ugly. I decided to try power washing it. It only cleaned little strips and I realized it wasn't dirt but mineral deposits

So I picked up some foaming spray CLR (Calcium/Lime/Rust Remover) and sprayed it on. It cleaned off the mineral deposits well but it went on in spots and left blotches :(

So I applied more CLR with a mop and scrubbed with a brush. This is after one application, I needed to do several applications of CLR in some places.

Looking better but still not great, I decided it was time to put on a sealer. But California only allows the crappy water-based concrete sealers and not the good solvent based. So I drove 60 miles to Arizona and smuggled in the good stuff.

I've now got about half of the patio done but it's a pain in the butt to move everything, apply CLR, scrub, rinse, dry, and apply the sealer.

That was a lot of work and I don't know how long it will last but it looks really nice for now

Looking very nice!!

Thank you MaulRat!

I wanted a surfboard with a shark bite taken out of it but didn't want the Land Shark one that is available so I made one from XPS foam. I like to incorporate personal history into my projects. I took my wife to prom in a green Morris Minor so I added a Morris Minor into the board. Mine was a convertible but I chose a Traveler (woody) because it goes better with the surfboard. I also put some ceramic shark teeth around the bite