Anybody have any suggestions for building a volcano?

I need to create a volcano thats at least 7' high. They would like the volcano to look like it it moving towards erptuion status a little more each day over a five day period. The last day of course it needs to look like it "blew".   The actual explosion does need to take place in a live scence, the volcano just needs to look like it did and they would like it still be smoking some.

Any ideas would be most appreicated.

One idea would be to build much like the fake boulder in another thread using papier mache techniques over chicken wire and an armature.  Using dilluted white-glue soaked fabric instead of the traditional paper and paste will allow for greater stability and easier modeling.... You then could build a series of cones that could be set over the original mountain to cosmetically change the look. This should be able to be diguised fairly well with paint. Using a PVC pipe in the center you should be able to hook up a fog machine system that would work.

Just think of it as a giant version of the volcanos you made in middle school. Having just helped 150 middle schooler with pictures of volcanoes I know there is a plethera of information and pictures out there

I apologize if this comes up twice.  I tried to send it once with no success

Just use a flat with shaped  profiled cut outs, attached to each side. For indications of eruption over time - use Fresnel lamps from the overhead  [?X? position]. With Profile lamps from the floor [?Z? position], upstage of the flat, tightly focused upwards to emulate the increased intensity of colour & change over the time span. Colour changers would work well! If you have not got them, you will just have to add extra lamps & mix the colours to suit. I hope this helps!

Chookas