Concrete Moai

After reading this thread by Wavy Davy http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=48404&forum=18&hilite=hypertufa I really, REALLY wanted a hypertufa Moai of my own. I never got around to making one last summer. :(

Then a couple of weeks ago my husband Jeff announced his plans to build a Moai statue for the backyard but his only stipulation was that I had to not butt in and let him do it HIS way. (Like I'd ever......lol) I guess he didn't appreciate me emailing him helpful links from TC. Oh well, each to his own.

So here's what he did:

He drew a Moai profile on a piece of plywood. Then screwed that sheet to another and used a jigsaw to cut them both out exactly the same. Once he decided how wide he wanted the Moai to be he cut 2x4s to length and screwed the in between the plywood sides.

After that he wrapped the whole thing with Tyvek, the stuff you wrap houses with, to protect the wood from moisture. Ears, nose and foreheads were cut from a green insulation foam panel.

Then he wrapped the Moai with wire mesh using screws and staples to attach it to the frame. The wire mesh step was annoying and took longer than expected, that stuff is sharp and not a lot of fun to work with. After the first day the Moai was in our tv room and Jeff would work on it at night.

This weekend the concrete began. On Friday he mixed up an 80 lb. bag of concrete and started troweling it on, pushing it into the wire mesh.
One bag covered most of the Moai but the areas that were upside down didn't want to hold onto the concrete. So after it dried overnight the Moai was laid on his back so those areas could be concreted. This time he mixed up about half a bag and troweled on the areas he didn't do the day before and added a 2nd coat to other areas of the front and sides and again covered him up overnight.

Today, he added a third coat with the remainder of the 2nd bag of concrete, stood him up and put on some more concrete. He needs something for a mouth but other than that he's almost done. We're thinking once we move him to his permanent location he'll get a mouth, a finish coat, some stain or tinted sealer and this heavy guy. He weights about 180 pounds - 2 80 lb bags of concrete and the frame. Materials cost $50 so he's quite a bargain and I'm already planning another style for a 2nd statue, most likely a tiki.

Here's a picture at the end of today's work -

Edited to add pictures from my other computer.

:)
Lori

[ Edited by: LoriLovesTiki 2016-03-27 19:51 ]

[ Edited by: LoriLovesTiki 2016-03-27 19:53 ]

I always wanted to do one but I was going to use chicken wire. This looks much better. Thank you for the lesson. Wendy

Wow
Big job
Looks great
Dats a heavy Grade A Tiki

Nice Lori! Your hubby is quite the handyman

Thanks everyone! And yes, Mike he is very handy! Jeff does good work as evidenced by our backyard. :)

Very cool, Lori! Look forward to seeing mo' Moai!

Did you get him all tucked in to his final spot?

Hey Jon,

He's in his spot but waiting out the CCCCOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDD temps here in NJ for his final skim coat! When he gets it I'll post more pics.

:)