Tiki Beach Bar

Alpha Stamps is hanging out at the beach this month! You'll find cabana houses, vintage beach babes, palm trees, and even mini cocktails for any seaside project. I was pretty enthusiastic about a tiki bar when I saw the miniature martini glasses and tumblers, so that is what I made. 

I converted the little Half Scale Bay Window that Alpha Stamps carries into a little bar by cutting off the front two supports and replacing them with bamboo poles. The bar top is a piece of heavyweight card that I cut to extend past the window. Holes were made to accommodate the bamboo poles, and the edges got covered with trimmed reeds. I guess they are reeds, I don't really know. While thrifting one day, I happened on a set of eight "bamboo" placemats and bought them thinking they may come in handy, and they proved to be just that. (I reused the twine that held a mat together to make the glass boat float. Use everything!) The chipboard palms have crepe paper bark and silk leaf fronds, and I topped the hut with a raffia roof.

Here's the reason I built the bar in the first place...cute cocktails! There is a great tutorial for making your own Cosmo, and I altered those instructions a teeny bit to make a Midori Sour with a seed bead cherry. The straw in the tumbler is masking tape rolled around a sewing needle. 

These two goofy tiki heads are my attempt at crepe paper sculpting. More about those down below.

Here you can see the glass boat float that was made with the upcycled thread and a cool miniature glass globe.

Finally found a use for the string of Fairy Lights that I've been hanging on to. They were strung inside the top of the bar for some nighttime entertaining.

I'm glad that it's acceptable for tiki heads to be roughly hewn in appearance, since my guys came out quite amateurish, but the process of making them is clear.  I cut the lid off a mini Kraft Treasure Chest, scribbled on a face, then cut out the eyes, nares, and mouth. It was hot glued into a cylindric shape before adding the raised shapes.

The features were built up with thin strips of rolled crepe paper dipped in white glue, then left to dry. I covered the rest of the head with wider strips of crepe paper, smoothing out the features as I went.  A round disk was added to the top and I used more of the placemat thread to cover the seam. A set of Tiny Red LED Demon Eyes were placed underneath the base for that eerie Tiki glow!

Here is the handy dandy link to the supplies used for the Tiki Beach Bar.

Other supplies used:

Balsa Wood
Thrift Shop Bamboo Placemats
Floral Foam
Crepe Paper

Is it five o'clock yet? Oh well. Cheers!