Hypertufa - Part 2 Garden Art

Molds wrapped in plastic to cure.

First half of the sphere.

In my last blog post, I blogged about casting the first half-sphere for making a concrete sphere for garden art.  Since then, I cast the second hemisphere, pretty much as I cast the first one.  Funny story, on this.  As I blogged last time, I had underestimated how much material I would need to fill the mold.  It only came out right because I had added too much water.  I had to add more Portland cement, Pete moss, and Vermiculite in order to make it the right density.  (See Sunday's blog post for the proportions.) Unfortunately, I was more focused on getting the mixture to the right consistency, and was not paying attention to how much more material I added.  So, when I made the mix this time, I did not know exactly how much to mix.  And here in lies the tale.

Stuffed ball nestled in shavings.

It is better to have too much than too little, so I mixed almost twice as much as last time.  It was a bit much.  I filled my half sphere mold, and there was lots of Hypertufa left over.  I did not want to dump it on the property, and my husband would not thank me for making him take a big blob of concrete to the dump, so I ended up doing a little experimenting with some other types of molds.  I had read on the internet that some people used glass globes from light fixtures for making concrete molds and that others had cut open children's balls and filled them with the hypertufa.  Here was my opportunity to try them out.

As it happened, we replace the front porch light at the cabin on our trip the week before.  I had brought the glass globe home to put in the pile to donate to the thrift shop.  So it became a mold.  I sprayed it with cooking spray and filled it with hypertufa.  The problem with this type of mold is that you can only use it once.  You have to break up the glass to unmold the object.  This is really only cost effective if you happen to have the globe or can find one at a thrift store.  Then the mold was put into a plastic bag and left to set up.  Put the glass in a heavy construction type trash bag before breaking it to contain the glass.  Wear heavy gloves and eye protection too when you are ready to remove the mold.

I also had a child's ball.  I cut that open and filled it with hypertufa.  Instructions on the internet said to nestle the ball in sand to keep it from deforming.  The bottom will flatten out if left on a hard surface.  I did not have any sand, but I did have a bucket of wood shavings.  (My husband had saved them from some project.  He keeps them in a bucket and when we want to start a fire in the fireplace, he wraps a couple of handfuls of the shavings in a piece of newspaper and uses it as kindling.  It works.)  Anyway, there was this bucket of wood shavings and I had a ball filled with hypertufa wrapped up in a plastic bag, so it seemed like it was the best thing that was available for supporting the ball.  So that was what I used as a support.  People posting on the internet have reported mixed results with this technique.  Some people have had good results, others have reported that their balls ended up being some weird spheroid shape.  I'll let you know what happens on this. 

I still had some hypertufa left after all this.  I pulled a plastic container out of recycle and filled it.  As I was filling it I realized that this would be difficult to unmold, because it had ridges in it.  I don't know how it will turn out.  It may work, or it may not. 

There was still some hypertufa left, so I decided I would just roll it into balls by hand.  I knew that they would flatten on the bottom because I had nothing soft to seat them while they set up.  In this case I am okay with that.  I want to use them for experimenting with enamel glass paints that are heat set in the oven.  I have a small toaster oven that is dedicated to my craft projects.  However, my big spheres are too large for the toaster oven.  Before I invested in a dedicated roasting oven, I thought it would be worthwhile to try out a few small painted balls in the toaster oven to see if it was going to work.  The paints heat at 200 degrees (Fahrenheit) to set the enamel.  I have used this method on some of my concrete stepping stones and the paint has lasted outside for years.  I guess some of them ha, butve been out at least nine years.  The red paint is just now starting to fade a little, but the other colors are still bright.  My concern here is that the hypertufa has Pete moss in it.  I don't think it will ignite at that low of a temperature, but there is that potential.  This is definitely an outside project with a fire extinguisher handy.  The small flattened balls will allow me to experiment using my existing toaster oven.  If it works, everyone gets a painted paper weight for a gift this year. 

For now, everything is in the shed.  It has been raining heavily for much of the week.  The first photo shows the molds shoved into an open space in the shed.  (Probably the only open space in the shed.)  The second photo is the same photo of the half sphere I showed last week, just to remind everyone what I am aiming for with this project.  The third photo is the child's ball stuffed with Hypertufa.  It will be sealed in plastic as well.  Next post I will show the unmolded items and let you know how the different molds worked.  If I have enough time, I will have the whole sphere cemented together.

While all this has been going on, I have mulled over the problem with the house taking up too much space on the diorama.  I think I have a solution now.  I am waiting to get back into my studio and get to work on it.  I only have to dig it out from a ton of boxes that have been shoved in while we are doing the home repairs.  Soon.

This week Bill stained and varnished all the new baseboard and trim.  I cannot remember if I had blogged earlier that we found mold behind the paneling in the closets.  We had to tear all of that out, treat for mold, and put in new drywall.  He also painted the closets both bedrooms.  When I have not been helping Bill, I have started cleaning the upstairs, starting with the kitchen.  I am on a mission to get rid of some of the excess stuff we have collected while I am cleaning.  I set a rule that I had to take one item to either donate or trash out of each shelf, cabinet, or closet.  I am allowed to throw out more than that, but at least one thing has to go.  I have three bags to go to donate out of the kitchen alone.  Being that this is a destruction/construction clean up as well as Spring cleaning, I am cleaning everything.  Walls, ceiling, windows, blinds, curtains, counters, cabinets, and floor.  Today I am working downstairs.  I have to get the concrete dust washed off the den walls and floor so that room will be ready to paint. 

The cleaning has been kind of a wacky process.  I had to clean the large bedroom first, so we could move everything out of the den.  Although the room is ready for painting, we did not want to paint and then store all the furniture in there because some furniture would be leaning up against the walls.  However, the room had to be cleaned before we moved all the furniture in there.  So that room was cleaned and furniture moved in.  Today I am cleaning the den and hall so they can be painted.  Once they are painted, we will be laying the new flooring in there.  There was no new concrete in that part of the house, so we can go ahead and get that down.  Then the den furniture will be put in place.  Sooner or later, the bedrooms will be painted.  The last thing to go in will be the new laminate in both bedrooms.  We have to wait until the concrete cures before we can put the new flooring down.  I think we will be testing the concrete in another week or two to see if it is dry enough.  The end is not quite in sight yet
, but getting all the concrete dust cleaned up is a big step in getting everything else done.  I am hoping to have the entire house cleaned from top to bottom by the time we get the downstairs finished.  Then you won't be able to pry me out of my studio.  I can't wait to get back to work on my art.