Stacked Hypertufa Garden Art

Painted stacked Hypertufa balls.

Last week I blogged that I was finishing up some partially completed projects.  One of them was to paint a project that I had made earlier in the year.  Earlier in the year I had cast some hypertufa spheres.  When the molds were filled, I had some hypertufa mix left over.  I decided that I would make make balls out of them, molding them by hand.  I thought that possibly I could make some decorative object with them.  At the time I really did not have a fully thought out idea, but it was either make something with it or throw the stuff in the trash.  So here is my project made from left over Hypertufa.

Tried to paint to look like granite and marble.

Trying for moss covered look on some.

I guess that I should begin by explaining Hypertufa.  It is a mix of concrete, portland cement, and vermiculite.  It is generally mixed with water as you would if mixing concrete.  The good thing about Hypertufa is that it is much lighter than concrete.  For example, a ten inch diameter sphere made of Hypertufa will way somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty to twenty-five pounds where a concrete sphere of that size would weigh close to ninety pounds.  If you would like to view my mixing proportions and comments on making and casting with Hypertufa, please read by blog posts dated from April 27th, 2014 through May 14, 2014 on this blog.  The actual blog address is folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com
You can get to those dates by clicking on the month, which is on the right hand side of the

Before the balls were painted.

page.

Anyway, I made the small Hypertufa balls by patting them with gloved hands.  I left them to dry.  The small balls did not stay spherical.  The balls flattened on the bottom.  So I now had flattened balls.  Since the bottom was more or less flat, I decided to stack them up as you sometimes see rocks stacked in a Zen garden.  You could more or less get them to stay balanced with a little patience.  But why worry about them falling over every time you weed the garden?  If I could find a way to make them stay in place permanently then I would not have to spend time restacking them every time they were knocked over.  I
just happend to have the very thing, some pre-mixed thin set mortar.  You guessed it: I had it left over from another project.  The mortar held the stacked stones in place.  One of the stacked stones was overbalanced, and I had to break it apart and re-mortar it, but that was essentially my fault that I did not make sure what it check it as closely as I should have.  Because of that, I will have to go back and touch up one section.

I had stacked the balls early because I was unsure whether the mortar was going to work on this project or not.  It did.  Even if I had painted the balls first, I would still have to paint the mortar in between, so I am not sure that it would be better that way.  You can see the color of the thin-set mortar between the two balls where I made the repair.  Also, the hold might have ended up against the paint, you only have a hold on the coat of paint rather than the hypertufa.   So I can't really say that would be any better.

Anyway, I learned some useful information to pass on in regard to painting Hypertufa.  It is rough like cement.  I tried both liquid craft paints and heavier (student grade) acrylic artist paints.  Their different characteristics played out differently on Hypertufa.  The liquid paints were able to get into smaller areas easily, while the thicker artists paints generally stayed on the surface.  I found that I could get a more granular look to the balls if I painted first with a liquid paint base coat and then brushed a thicker paint coat over top of it.  I had fun experimenting with different techniques of dabbing on dots, smearing, and dry brushing on the paints.  Some I tried to make look like specific types of rock such as granite, basalt,  or marble.  Others I tried to make look as if they were moss colored.  It was fun.

I had hoped to show pictures of them sitting out in the garden, but it has been raining for three days.  Sometimes it has only been drizzle or fog.  Other times it was pouring rain.  This is part of that winter storm that has made a mess of things all throughout the South.  I'm really glad it is only rain. 
All in all, it has been too cold and wet to get outside.  So today's pictures of them is just on my worktable.  I will shop pic of them in the garden sooner or later.

Waxing Lyrical Over Things Spherical

Zum balls with essential oils.

Last blog post I showed my completed Diorama.  Now I am on to new projects.   I have had a few waiting in the wings while my last two dioramas were in production. For my next project I am returning to one of my favorite cold weather projects a gazing ball.  I create gazing balls in the winter in anticipation of seeing them gracing the flower garden in the Spring.  Most of my gazing balls were completed before I began this blog.  This time I will be able to show the project step by step with photos and comments on the process as it progresses.  But before I can begin, I have to make trips out to the hardware store and the glass store.  So the project will begin shortly.

Lead crystal, quartz, and jet balls

In the mean time, I wanted to blog about my long term love of spheres.  Some people collect cars, others, matchbooks; in fact you can pretty much find a collector of just about any object under the sun.  Spheres are one of my collecting passions.  As with most collectors, it is all about the hunt.  No matter how many you have, the satisfaction is finding that next unique piece.

Various rock spheres.

I don't know that there is any deep psychological meaning to spheres, but I can say that wanting to have spheres is one of my very early memories.  I doubt that I was much older than four or five.  I used to walk with my grandparents to a little store a few blocks away.  On the way to the store, a house had spheres cut from white chalk.  There were four of them, one on each front corner of the property and one on each side of the walk leading to the house.  They were very white naturally.  They did not do anything accept sit there, but I can remember wishing I had some.  (The next house or so down had a sundial nestled among the flowers in the garden.  I was fascinated that you could tell time by the sun also, but I only have one sundial.)  Anyway, that is how far back my liking spheres goes.  And when I grew older, I started buying them, if I happened to see one that caught my eye.  I never found any spheres made from of chalk though. 

Crystal decanter top.

My latest acquisition came about this month while
Christmas shopping.  I walked into a little store that sells aromatherapy products, essential oils, creams and lotions.  They had these neat little wooden spheres that

Round glass and grout.

had been saturated in essential oils of frankincense and myrrh.  The suggested use was that you pop a ball into a drawer or in your car and allow them to scent the area.  When they run out of scent, you can rub or soak them in the essential oils to refresh them.  Instead of placing them individually in drawers, I put mine in a little bowl in my studio.  Five of them in one place was a bit much for the first few days.  The entire upstairs was scented with frankincense and myrrh.  In case anyone is interested in looking for the product, they are called  Zum Balls.  At the place I shopped, they only came scented in frankincense and myrrh.    They carried soaps and wand air fresheners in the same scent.  I do not know if they items come in other essential oils.  At least they did not have any other scents at the store.

Iridescent glass and grout.

I also have some crystal balls.  They are shown in the second picture The two larger balls are lead crystal.  The largest one is not exactly a sphere as it has a flattened bottom.  The two smaller milky looking ones are genuine quartz crystal balls.  I don't know if genuine quartz is getting harder to find, or if there is just a larger market for quartz, but the price on quartz crystal balls has doubled since I purchased them.  I was at a Gem and Mineral Show recently, but chose not to purchase another because the quartz balls in that size were $70.00 dollars and up.  Some of the spheres in other types of minerals were well over a hundred dollars.  I collect, but I also have a budget.  The small black ball is Jet, which is a form of petrified wood.

Stained glass and resin grout.

The third picture shows some of my spheres in other minerals.  The larger ones are Jasper.  The two smaller ones are lapis lazuli and snowflake obsidian.  I don't purchase them very often because that is a considerable amount of money tied up in little pieces of rock.  However, you never know when you might run across one at a yard or estate sale.  Maybe I'll be adding to that collection.  The people at the lapidary shop tell me that the egg shape is more collectable, and I do run into them more frequently.  Yes, I have a few of those too.  I prefer the natural color ones to one that have been dyed.

Oblong glass and clear resin for grout.

To be fair, the collection of inflatable spheres are there for other than collecting.  The larger two are used for exercise.  I also sometimes sit on the large ball rather than sit on a chair when I am sitting at my desk. I wish I had purchased a larger size though.  I can't type on the computer when I am sitting on the ball because it sits a few inches too low to make typing comfortable.  I have plans to use the two smaller balls in future art projects.  Until then, they serve as amusement for visiting children.  Stay tuned in, the balls will make it into art projects sometime soon.

Hypertufa balls.

Other spherical things have made it into home decor.  I have three decanters with spherical tops on them.  (I only photographed one.  Even the ends on my living room curtain rods are crystal balls, but I did not photograph them.  I also have a globe. I was thinking about taking it apart to use as a base for a gazing ball, but a bowling ball came my way, so that is now saved for another project.  The globe might end up remaining on its stand but covered in stained glass.  That would make an interesting display piece.

And finally, there are my stained glass gazing balls.  During the summer I put them outside.  Once the weather turns cold I bring them inside.  Some people have said that water can get into small fissures and freeze causing the  ball to crack.  Others have said that they leave them outside in winter and have had no problems.  They are a lot of work to make, so I bring them inside.  Why take chances?  In the winter, they sit in various spots in the living room.

I have also made a couple of balls out of hypertufa.  I tried different casting methods with each one.
  At this point it is undecorated.  That ball could be left outside all year in its natural state.  I keep thinking I am going to paint it, but so far I have not had the time.  I expect that if  left it outside, it would develop an interesting patina on its own.  I have even read that if you treat them with vinegar to remove change the Ph level that you can get moss to grow on them.  So many projects, so little time.

Anyway, my next few projects are going to be spheres in varying mediums.  I have some interesting things planned, so check back regularly.  I should have some new photos on Sunday.

Also, a heads up on a schedule change.  After the first of the year, I will be posting blogs on Sundays and Thursdays rather than Sundays and Wednesdays.  My husband started working from home on Wednesdays this year.  Unfortunately, Windows updates come on Tuesdays.  If the updates were posted after I get off the computer then I don't get them until Wednesday morning.  What has been happening is that on Wednesday morning his computer and my computer end up trying to download  the updates at the same time and it slows everything else down. In order for him to work, I have to postpone blogging until so late in the day that it is causing a schedule conflict in my day.  Because of this, I have decided to try blogging on Thursdays after the first of the year.  Maybe it will be better, maybe not.  I'll see how it goes.