Tiki

Tiki Fun

The idea was to bring some interest to my backyard and I had a Tiki fountain from a concrete statuary around 5 years ago. I had some Tiki torches I had purchased from the Dollar store around a year ago. I thought I could make new Tiki’s to hold my torches. This was a fun project and I got much better as I made more. It definitely added more interest and fun to my backyard.

·        Tiki mold – eBay I used a half mold and put two halves to make a whole $70.00

·        Concrete - Home Depot / Lowes /Any home improvement $5.00 a bag

·        Paint Exterior Latex or stain – Lowes / Home Depot /Any home improvement $10 – $50, I used mostly old paints I had in garage.

·        Optional – Dollar Store Tiki lights and Bamboo holder $6.00 for each set up. I made my bamboo out of PVC and paint that I had.

First I prepared the mold by cleaning and spraying it with a release agent. At first I used car wax, pan release spray and then I used a spray made from alcohol and Castor oil. I learned this from the Rubber Mold Man on his YouTube channel. I also learned a lot about painting concrete forms from him.  

I mixed the concrete and added it to the form. Because I did not use the whole bag of cement, just the amount I needed I had to mix the concrete by sight. I am not an expert at concrete but I have done some stuff with it in the past. I suggest either use a whole bag of cement and use the directions on it or watch some Instructables on how to mix concrete and see what a good mix should look like.

This was a half mold and I needed to make two halves. The first half I stuck a piece of PVC in the middle to create the void I needed to hold the Tiki torch. I also add some old screws so that when I made the second mold it had something to grab on. The first time I did not add the screws and the two halves did not hold together so I glued them together. Let dry for 24 hours before you demold it. Demold it and you have the first half.

Make the second mold by repeating the process for the first and then add the dried first mold on top of the new one. Make sure the head is facing the same way. Let dry 24 hours before demolding. My mold was not an exact fit when matching the two halves together. It was close enough so when I cleaned the edges after demolding I could make it look good.

After demolding the Tiki I then punched out the PVC and cleaned the edge with an old file. I wanted this to be taller so they could be easily seen so I made a concrete pedestal so it stood up to the level I liked. I use a planter as the mold this time. I got the planter at the dollar store and sprayed it with the release agent added cement.

This was what I ended up with. I painted it the best I could. Again I watched the RubberMoldMan as he has decades of experience painting and working with concrete molds. This is why I pass my knowledge here on Instructables so that others can benefit from my knowledge. I watch other Instuctables to see what others do and I learn as much as possible to have the knowledge I need to complete any project I have. Thanks for taking the time to read my Instructable and good luck to you on your DIY project.