Painted Tikis for 2012 Orlando Mini Maker Faire

I wanted to share a project I did for my booth at the Orlando Mini Maker Faire. I wanted a set of Tiki's as a backdrop to my singing pineapple and singing toucan. I could have ordered something like this, but they would have never gotten here it in time, and the thought of making my own was exciting.Deciding what they could painted on was challenging as they had to be big enough to be seen at the faire and portable enough to fit in my small car. I'd considered diamond painting briefly, but scrapped the idea soon. I decided that 'Science Display Board" was the way to go. Display Boards  are 36 x 48" tri-fold, and if I stacked one on top of another I'd have a whopping 4' wide by 6' high... GREAT!Science Display Board can be found at Staples, Office Depot and any office supply store. $7.99 each and you can find multi packs for much cheaper.http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/434415/Office-Depot-Brand-80percent-Recycled-Tri/I sketched out the design, and started blocking in the colors in acrylic. Light brown was the first color I painted.The boards were stuck to the wall with the removable 3m stick tape used to hand pictures.Next, the yellow was painted.The next color was yellow ocre, and a golden yellow.Magenta and blue were painted next. I like the corrugated display board. When it get's a little wet, you can see the corrugated texture coming through the paint.Red was next and this is really starting to pop.Washing in some darker brown for the background.And the same to the other one.Lightly add some shadows.Black paint for the eyes. Little problem here. The acrylic paint had a slight sheen from some angles and it was runing the effect of a dark and ominous tiki eye.*** CORN STARCH TIP ***If you ever need to dull down paint to make it egshell, semi-gloss or even flat, just add some "CORN STARCH". Test it out.first, and I'm sure you'll be amazed. This was a great tip I had gotten from my dad.Next was a rather fun part, doing the black detail work. I wanted a rough textured look, and markers or a paint brush wasn't going to give me the look I was going after. I had some "Oil Paint Sticks" lying around and gave them a try. The oil stick against the corrugated board gave me exactly what I was going for. Now, I just hoped I had enough to finish the job.One Tiki is finished with the "Oil Stick" and I'm really happy how they're coming out. Now onto the other.Both Tiki's are finished! YEAH!!!And here they are at The First Orlando Mini Maker Faire.If you have any questions on parts I might have forgotten... just ask.I hope you've enjoyed reading this.Pat Staracehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsifrEIoCac