Big Ol Fake Saguaro Cactus

How~To Build A

Big Ol Fake Saguaro Cactus

"Necessity, who is the mother of invention"

-Plato, from his dialogue Republic

You are laughing right now. 

"Did she really just quote Plato as the lead in for this DIY project??"

Why, yes, I did. 

For the past five years we have worked out at our local motocross track during their biggest race of the year.  The AZ Open draws riders from all over the country to Arizona for the only winter motocross national outdoor event in the country.  My husband works in the motorsports industry and we put together the toy dirtbike track kids play area.

We dress up our big piles of play dirt with tents, banners and hay bales with race covers.  Every year I try to find new miniature things for toy track building- pine trees, palm trees, tunnels, cones, hay bales, tires.  The track owners have some terrific graphic work for each years race banners and signage.  The design always features Arizona's signature saguaro cactus. This year I suggested the addition of near life-sized faux cactus at the podium...and offered to find some. 

Thus establishing the necessity.

Cactus are finally a hot design ticket.  I was trying to find artificial cactus about 10 years ago for my sons room and there was nothing available.  I found two 3-4" funky looking fake cactus in a floral department that I had to work  with,that was it.  Right now, cactus is everywhere.  There are 6 to 8 foot artificial saguaros (pronounced sa-WAH-ro) available online line for $600-$900....budget busters.  I settled on a couple more affordable  4 1/2 foot cactus with the plan to put them on a 3' planter looking base to make them bigger.  When they came in they were so kitschy I boxed them up and sent them back.  Promise of cacti was made, now time to deliver...

Mother needs to invent.

Attempting to simplify this endeavor I again scoured the Internet, this time for any step-by-step instruction on creating the cactus I had envisioned.  There were amazing stage production ones, plastic pipe ones and pool noodle ones...nothing quite right but not too far off.  So I ended up combining them all to build my own

Big Ol Fake  Saguaro Cactus.

Things you will need:

2 PVC or ABS plastic tee and/or wye joints~

 I started my project by deciding which of these pipe fittings I like the look of best. I laid them out on the floor of the plumbing isle.  The less expensive white PVC has sharper angle tee than the black ABS sanitary long turn wye's. 

2 PVC or ABS 90 elbows~

corresponding diameter tee's/wye's to make the upright turn of the arms

Length of PVC or ABS straight pipe~

corresponding diameter.  My PVC was 3" and the ABS was 4".  You will need enough length for the main trunk, both arms and three connection pieces (6-10" long each).  Length purchased will depend on the height you want you cactus to be.

Appropriate pipe glue for either PVC or ABS

Pool noodles~

I started this project early fall.  I had read that pool noodles would be on super clearance, under $1 deals.  Not so in Phoenix where temps were still in the 100's...there wasn't a single noodle under $3 to be found (and even those were scarce).  Went to every dollar store, chain store and outlet.  Lo and behold, as I entered my regular grocery shopping location and looked left I found this bonanza of noodles!  And in the color I wanted! And for 72 cents a piece!  Unsure how many I would need I bought a box full...I'm still not positive how many I use on each cactus...get 7-10 to be safe.  It will depend on how big your cactus is going to be.

Styrofoam half balls~
These are the tops of the main trunk and arms.  They need to be at least 2" wider than the pipe diameter.  Can be found in a floral department. 

Contact cement~

I purchased it by the quart at home improvement store.  Find it in the paint department

Tubes of latex caulking~
LATEX not silicone.  Luckily the most inexpensive tubes of painters white latex caulk are the ones you want.  I used 6-10 but I made two huge cactus.

Latex house paint~
Green...cactus green.  Interior or exterior.  I went through my odds and ends in the garage but didn't have green.  Find of the century was a gallon of expensive name brand  semigloss exterior acrylic latex in the perfect green...in the paint department's "oops pile"...for nine bucks.  You will be doing 2+ coats so you'll need more than a quart...two quarts could be enough for a medium sized cactus.

Miscellaneous~
Utility knife, sandpaper, rubbing alcohol, hack saw/power saw, chip brushes (the cheap wood ones), latex gloves, drill with paint paddle (cool hack for this later)

Collection of materials filling up the Jeep

Create your cactus "skeleton":

First step is to put together the base structure out of the pipe.  I laid mine out on the garage floor, playing with the proportions of the bottom main stem to the top main stem and spacing the arms.  This is when you figure out how tall your cactus is going to end up.  I thought 6' cactus would be great until I laid the pipe out and liked them more the taller I made them.  My cactus had to be 9'5" or less due to the fact that they would have to be stored inside and our interior ceilings maxed out at 10'.  There had to be a couple inches left for the stand at the bottom and the round tops.  

I cut the pipe with a battery powered reciprocating saw but a hacksaw would work as well. 

Dry assemble your entire cactus and stand it up to make sure it all looks good and stays within the height you want.  You can still cut down pieces that are too long, as I ended up cutting the upper part of the main stem on the black one in the photo to make it more proportioned.

Glue your joints together using the proper glue for the plastic pipe you've chosen to work with.  I had ABS glue so that one went together quickly.  The purple primer I had on hand for the PVC glue was dried out so I tried using a conduit glue we had in the cabinet... it didn't hold.  I finally globbed on E6000 in to the joints and it held. 

Add your cactus "ribs":

Pull out those pool noodles!  I cut the noodles with a utility knife and used a piece of angle iron to help make somewhat uniform "ribs".  I cut the noodle in half and then half again lengthwise. (the noodle will be in quarters)  Don't worry if they are wobbly...they aren't perfectly straight in nature. 

Next I did a quick cleaning on the pipe and wiped the "skeletons" with rubbing alcohol.

I experimented with several different glues.  There was half dozen little pieces of foam stuck to pieces of both types of plastic pipe in an attempt to find the ideal glue.  It had to

1) adhere foam to the plastic

2) stick it fairly quickly

and

3)not be too expensive as this step requires A LOT of glue

Contact cement won the bid.  Having no experience with using contact cement I did have to control myself in letting it sit and dry first. Once I got the hang of it contact cement exceeded my expectations.   

I chose to start with the arms.  Lay the noodle strips inside up... you will be gluing the outside of the noodle to the pipe.  I did dry fit my noodle strips before gluing because the cut edges vary and I wanted complete coverage.  Do a section at a time.  Using a chip brush paint the section of plastic pipe with contact cement.  It can be curing  while you prepare your noodles.  Paint the back of the noodle and the sides where another noodle will rest beside it.  Set it aside and let it cure.  I would do a section of about 4-5 noodle ribs at a time. 

BEWARE~ when you go to place your noodle rib it is GOING TO IMMEDIATELY STICK. 

There is no repositioning so place your noodle carefully, start at one end and press it into place.  Do the same with the following noodles being sure to put them tightly against each other.  I used some blue painters tape to be sure that the noodles stuck on the curvy arm parts. When both arms are covered and dry cut the square ends at the main trunk off in a natural shape. 

 Starting at the bottom of the main trunk continue the process.  Clean, cut, dry fit, apply glue, cure glue, stick.  Be sure to stagger your ends so that your ribs look more natural.  If you end up with holes where the noodles don't quite touch take a small slice of noodle and stuff it in.

BE SURE TO WORK IN A SPACE WITH PLENTY OF VENTILATION!

I built mine in the garage with the doors and windows open and fans.  Even then I was light headed and had to take breaks.

 Round off your cactus "tops":

 After finishing all the pool noodle ribs, cut the tops flat and flush with the underlying pipe.  Center a half Styrofoam ball over top and glue down using E6000.  You can see in the photos that the half ball is larger than the top.  I used a kitchen knife to whittle it down.  Switching to a utility knife I carved it to match the rib pattern and tried to make the line where it was attached as seamless as possible.

Sealing your "cactus":

This was my favorite part once I got the recipe figured out.  

They used Plaster of Paris as a finish coating in one pool noodle tutorial.  I knew that wasn't going to work for my cactus.  First, the fast drying time of Plaster of Paris combined with the size of my cactus would probably cause a nervous breakdown.  Second, my cactus needed to be travel worthy, probably in the back of a truck or stacked inside a trailer.  The plaster would more than likely shatter with the soft foam underneath if hit, bumped or squashed.  I needed some sort of flexible coating.

Back to the internet.  The search led down the path of stage production supplies.  Set creators have access to some pretty awesome art materials!  I found a flexible, paint on sealer that was available by the gallon...for a pretty penny.  Remember, I was trying to make these for less than I could buy a retail fake cactus.  So I continued down the stage production rabbit hole... and , lo and behold, the answer appeared in a forum...

Van's Super Secret Dope Recipe

Dope in this case is not a stupid person or slang for an illicit drug.  Dope is a preparation for giving a desired quality to a surface. (Merriam-Webster dictionary).  Thank you Van for sharing this super secret recipe cause I'm hooked on this stuff for projects! 

(https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/vans-super-scenic-dope-recipie.5128/)

There are a couple different versions and I ended up changing it a little to fit my application by omitting the joint compound.  This is such a cost effective way to coat the noodle foam...and also making these cactus waterproof.  (It rained one night while the cactus were set up out at the motocross race...I wasn't worried at all!)

Grab your cactus colored green, latex paint (acrylic paint is a latex base) and tubes of latex painters caulking.  I did a test with about 1/3 of the gallon and added 3 tubes of the caulking.  The best way to get the caulking out is to press a screw driver on one side of the bottom plug.  Its just sitting in there and it will flip...then you can scoop it out.

Here's the cool mixing hack!  Grab your drill...and dig out an old paddle to a hand mixer from your kitchen drawer.  I've burned up several mixers over the years and the