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Tiki Tips from convention winners
Posted by DeeinNJ on December 5, 2006, 10:06 am
208.20.251.27
| Hi, everyone
With the weather outside a bit chilly in certain parts of the country and the world, let talk tiki and warm up! Today our discussion focuses on the first and second place winning entries in the diorama competition from the Fashion Royalty convention: FR Goes Tiki Because this is a long discussion, I will feature it in two parts. Part 1 will feature first place and people’s choice award winner Karen Vail and her instructions on how she made her awesome diorama. Part 2 will feature my second place entry (me being Denise Jefferson aka DeeinNJ) My special thanks to Karen for taking the time to put together this discussion with me... KAREN VAIL’S TIKI TIPS
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To begin I used a picture frame for the base. The size is 18 x 18 inches. I cut a piece of thin plywood using a jigsaw to create the curved cut out for the floor of the diorama. I used a wooden place mat for the decking boards. For all the bamboo, I bought real bamboo in the dried flower section of my local Michael’s craft store. I cut the bamboo into short pieces and tied them with raffia in groups of 3 using 3 different levels for each stanchion. I The tiki bar is made of 3 separate pieces. The Bar, The roof, and the bottle shelf. All three pieces can be moved about and used separately. The back shelf holding the bottles is made of foam core. 2 rows of square * x * inch mirrors were glued on with a hot glue gun along the top. A small strip of foam core is used for the shelf to hold the bottles. I used a Dremel tool to cut bamboo pieces lengthwise, and covered all edges of the foam core. I used 3 long pieces of bamboo for the corners of the roof. I again used the Dremel with a saw attachment to make notches in the upright pieces. I fit the crosspieces into these notches and tied with raffia. The roof is foam core again. Dried leaves I found in the craft store were hot glued to the roof to create the ‘tiki thatch’ . To make the bar I first constructed it using foam core. I took another wooden placemat, this one with long thin natural sticks, and cut it apart. I cut each stick in lengths to cover the bar top. One end I cut at 90 degrees, and the other end at a 45 degree angle. I then cut varying lengths for the front and cut the bottom at 90 degrees and the top at 45 degree angles. I took crazy glue and glued the 45 degree angled pieces together (forming a right angle). After they were all together, I crazy glued each one to the bar top , next to each other on the front end, and fanning out towards the back. I then poured the first coat of resin on the bar top and let it dry in a dust free place for 24 hours. I repeated this process about 5 more times to get a thick coat on the bar top (and to have the resin built up enough to cover the thickness of the sticks.)
To create the palm tree I used wire armature shaped into a gentle curve. I mixed some sand and carpenters glue together and made a paste. I used that paste to anchor the armature to a piece of round foam core. Let dry for 24 hours. When it was dry, I began adding paper Mache to the wire to form the palm tree trunk. In order to let it dry in the correct shape, I tied the top to the kitchen light fixture over my kitchen table and set a small fan on it over night. Paper Mache dries hard as rock! The next day I painted the trunk in various shades of browns and blacks. (acrylic paint). I used my Dremel with the drill attachment to drill holes in the top of the tree trunk. Into these holes I inserted artificial leaves bought at the craft store. I couldn’t find any that looked like scale palm leaves, so I found a similar shape and cut the edges in a fringe to simulate palm leaves. I hot glued these into the holes. For the coconuts I found these wonderful seeds at the craft store. They were perfect scale. These were hot glued onto the top of the tree. I also drilled holes in the tops of some and hot glued raffia into the ends and tied them to the tiki fixture. I also used the saw attachment, and sawed the tops off two of them, then drilled the center out, to make tiki coconut drinks on the bar. Small pieces of rolled up paper created the straws, and small round pieces of pink tissue paper glued to tiny sticks made the umbrellas.
The tiki statues are made from cardboard paper towel rolls. I researched tiki gods and roughly drew the faces on the cardboard. I then cut these openings (eyes, nose, mouth) with an exacta knife. Using paper Mache, I built up the faces so they resembled carved tikis. After they were dry, I used my Dremel to sand them and to make carving marks in the paper Mache. Then I painted them in light brown. Next I painted them lightly with dark brown (leaving the light brown showing in the indents). I think used a wash of watered down dark brown over the whole tiki which gave them their mahogany look. Using a sponge brush with very little black paint..I touched highlights here and there. Inside I lined them with aluminum foil to allow them to reflect just a bit more. I then stuffed them with yellowish orange cellophane. The base is a fountain I found on eBay. It has 4 holes that fit tea lights. In each of these holes I place one electric tea lights you can now buy in your hallmark store, or craft store. I place each tiki over the tea lights. I used a cut up place mat to make the black and natural bands around the bottom of the tikis. (this covered up the tea lights and also gave the tikis more definition). I felt the diorama still needed more oomph, and that is when I decided to make the colored panels. I found a fabric that was a nice scale and color. I cut three pieces of foam core for each panel. The bottom panel I taped the lights on. The next panel is a frame with the fabric glued to it and the last panel is another frame and covers the edges. A hole is cut out in the bottom of the panels allowing the wire to run down unseen. Another hole is cut into the picture frame, allowing the wires to continue down under the platform, unseen as well. I repeated this for the second panel. To hold the panels upright on the edge of the frame, I drilled two holes in the bottom of each panel and two matching holes in the edge of the wood picture frame. I inserted dowels into these holes and stood the panels on top of them. I placed a black tray on the table. On top of that I placed the wood platform/floor. I then placed the frame over these items. I placed the fountain in the tray . Set the bar in one corner and the panels in the other rear corner. I placed the tree on the platform, the bar items in the other corner. Tiny liquor bottles on the shelves. Light the lights, and it’s a Party!! This project took me quite a long time to make. Iwould estimate about 50 hours worktime. There were a lot of trial and error things. |
Well, next to Karen’s work, mine is very crude, but for those who are interested, here’s what I did. My idea was to create a retro suburban house party. I wanted there to be a “family room” in the tiki style that would look out over a patio that had a pool. I searched the internet to find a suitable photo and printed it on my computer. This was my starting point. I made the room walls from tan colored foam core which I cut to 18” tall and wide and then pinned the sides together with T-pins to assemble it. My best find was a set of matchstick placemats w/chopsticks for $1.99. I got four placemats, plus the cool tray they were packaged in. (Gave the chopsticks to hubby) I flipped the tray upside down and folded some ethnic print fabric to form the lounger for the room by the window. I used mini brads to fasten the window scene to the slats of the placemats. I did the same with the seashell netting behind the bar. The net came from the My Scene Guava Gulch tiki bar. I substituted real shells for the plastic ones and removed it from the front of the tiki bar and hung it on the wall. I used the matchstick placemats around the room’s perimiter to give it a truer tiki look. It pretty much stayed up on it’s own, but a few glue dots held it all in place. I used some woven paper as flooring. I used some strips of handmade paper and rolled them around a pencil to make the mini party lights, then strung them on string using a micro hole punch.
I printed some posters off the internet and hung them around the room. The room’s retro tables were by Muz Originals, including the cool retro lamp. I made the record player with some craft foam and a vinatage Barbie Television turned face down. I printed little album covers off my computer. The retro vases are dollhouse accessories. The coffee table was a little trinket box I had around the house.The tiki carving was from the dollar store.
The coasters are flat beads I had with some craft supplies. I painted the tiki tumblers that came with the Guava Gulch set (they were orange) and I used plastic coated wire to make straws.
I had fun dressing my girls in what I thought some suburban ladies of the 1960s might wear at a house party. It was fun whipping this up and I made the jewelry. As are most of my dioramas... it was a pretty knockdown/temporary set-up, but it sure was fun putting it together and I was thrilled to win an award.
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