Make Your Own Volcano
It's a rainy day and you want to do something together at home. Watch TV? Listen to music? How about transporting yourselves to a tropical island with an active volcano? Believe it or not, you can make a miniature volcano in your own living room with a few household supplies and some paper maiche or plaster, or you can order a volcano kit.
COST
Allow up to $20 for the volcano and another $20 for the Mai Tai ingredients. If you're making non-alcoholic Mai Tais, subtract $15.
GREAT VOLCANO RESOURCE—HOW-TO AND THEN SOME
Every once in a while we come across a website that is so terrific it makes our lava flow. That's the case for Volcano World, the site of the volcano experts from the University of North Dakota at http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vw.html. This fun, informative site has everything from fascinating volcano facts to how to make volcanos from different types of materials. Sites like this give you hope for what the internet can be. There are no annoying, slow-loading scripts. This site is just full of wonderful information and resources. If you're going to do a volcano date, spend some time here and you'll get plenty of neat ideas—except for the tropical drink recipes which we take care of in a page or two. And they don't sell any glowing red condoms for when the volcano below starts to blow.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN VOLCANO
You'll need:
- chicken wire
- newspaper
- paper maiche or plaster which can be purchased
- from a craft store or home repair store
- vinegar
- baking soda
- red food coloring
- small plastic cup (the size a restaurant puts salad dressing in is perfect)
- tempra paints (island mountain colors—brown, green, black, etc.)
Form the chicken wire into a cone shape. Put an opening in the top and place the plastic cup into it. Secure the plastic cup with the chicken wire. This will be the reservoir that holds the lava or smoke and fizz.
Place the volcano on a piece of newspaper that's on a surface where you can work comfortably.
Cover the chickenwire with paper maiche or plaster. Be sure to cover the edges of the opening so you can't see the rim of the plastic cup. If you use paper maiche, you will need extra newspaper.
Allow your paper maiche volcano to dry. This may take several hours with paper maiche, so it might be a good idea to do the paper maiche part the day before. When your mountain dries, paint it as you wish.
When you are ready for the volcano to erupt, pack the plastic cup with baking soda. Pour .25 cup vinegar into another container along with red food color. Slowly pour the vinegar into the plastic cup and then stand back while it erupts.
ALTERNATIVE TO PAPER MAICHE
The $7.95 volcano kit listed below uses plaster casting gauze which dries a lot faster than paper maiche. You might try picking up some at a medical supply store and make your own mountain with that instead of paper maiche.
COOL KITS
Visit www.explorastore.com to pick up a complete volcano kit for either $7.95 or $16.95. The latter volcano kit not only adds to the fun of building a functional volcano in your living room, but it also teaches you how mountains get their rocks off. Explorastore.com isn't one of the largest, but it is one of the nicest and neatest science stores you'll find online. For the volcano kits, check under the science menu. If you have kids you'll be tempted to get more than just the volcano kit. You can also phone them at (800)414-8655.
FOR THE VOLCANO WITHIN
You can't go to all the trouble of making a volcano without including the proper island flavoring... Mai Tai recipe
- 2 ounces rum
- 1 ounce orange curacao
- 2 ounces pineapple juice
- 2 ounces orange juice
- .25 ounce lime juice
- dash of cranberry juice or grenadine
Fill your glass with ice. Then add all of these ingredients and stir. If you are on the wagon, try the above without the booze.
IMPROPER ATTIRE
Aloha shirts, grass skirts, and hopefully not a whole lot more.
TROPICAL DESSERT
May we suggest tropical flavored sex lube (try ForPlay Sensuals from www.blowfish.com or any number of the flavored lubes at www.goodvibes.com. The other lube we recommend is the Mai Tai, whose recipe is included on the preceding page.
DESIGNATED WHAT?
"Honest, officer, there really was a volcano in our living room!" Please keep in mind that drinking and driving are a definite concern when tropical libations are served.
