Exactly a year after completing the first two parts of the Bear Mountain Adventure Golf, I was asked to return to Bracknell and complete the third and final "Desert Course". This time around, I was Design Lead; designing, building and sculpting the main attractions - snakes, pyramids, an obelisk, a boat and lots of edging.
THE SNAKES
The only way I can describe making these snakes is quite literally "blood, sweat and tears". Concrete burns, pulled tendons and holes in every item of clothing I own were daily occurrences. I loved every minute of it, and most importantly I loved taking on the role of Design Lead on the biggest sculpture I have made so far.
The main snake is 13 meters long, suspended over the pond. Players put through the body to get to the other side. The wire skeleton is made out of 8mm ReBar, metal mesh and plastic zip ties. The whole is then scratched coated with concrete (sharp sand and fiberglass), rendered (concrete with building sand and plasticiser) and carved.
The smaller snake (with the head) was originally sculpted out of polystyrene and driven on site from London. The same rendering process was applied as the bigger snake. My absolute favorite part was sculpting the face.
THE PYRAMIDS
From bricklaying to dry-brushing, the middle pyramid took a week.
Carving hundreds of stones was a great exercise to find the most effective - and fastest - way of mimicking the real-life pyramids.
Carving hundreds of stones was a great exercise to find the most effective - and fastest - way of mimicking the real-life pyramids.
THE OBELISK
By far one of my favourite features on this mini golf.
This Obelisk took one day in total to render, carve and paint. Quick and effective.
This Obelisk took one day in total to render, carve and paint. Quick and effective.
THE BOAT
Made out of Fiberglass and resin, the boat was created in DD Props' workshop in London and brought onsite for us to paint and install.
The first trial using a wood rocker was a fail; the texture of the boat was too rough for the patterns to come through. We switched to a sponge and an upward stroke to give it that sought after wooden grain effect.
Sometimes the simplest techniques are the most effective in short time frames.
The first trial using a wood rocker was a fail; the texture of the boat was too rough for the patterns to come through. We switched to a sponge and an upward stroke to give it that sought after wooden grain effect.
Sometimes the simplest techniques are the most effective in short time frames.
THE ROCKS, LOGS + OTHER NATURAL THEMING WORK
Most of the time making adventure golfs is spent on creating the edging around the holes and features. I absolutely love making logs and rocks.
