here's another

here's another

No, I didn't make the gunnera fountain but I did make this leaf cast.

Very pretty! Murmur, are you looking at these? We're going to make these together, right?

Gwen

HERP,
DANG!!! That hadda be ONE BIG LEAF. I'd HATE to see the TREE that leaf you cast from came off of.

Best;
blue

Yep, i knew it! Your garden is gorgeous! Just had that feeling about it.

Thanks Pixydish. It's sort of a jungle but it makes me happy.



This message was edited Jul 6, 2006 5:58 AM

Looking out my back door

It's beautiful and fabulous!

Herpst, I love your garden. It looks like you can escape into another world.
:)Donna

Herpst, wonderful photos but I'm getting a crick in my neck! LOL

Sorry all. I'll learn to rotate these before I add them. In the meantime, think of it as a neck workout & skip the gym today. :)

What's a gym???

ROFLOL!!

Gwendalou, I just popped in and, yes, yes, yes - we are going to make these!!! I have some great rhubarb leaves, but we'd best do it soon as they won't last long!! I've even have a place cleared out that won't interfere with my gardens so we can let them sit for a while. Just need the sand and mortar mix (Pixydish, didn't you say mortar mix as opposed to quick crete?)

Herpst, gorgeous yard and those pots are enough to make me swoon!!

Gorgeous...even sideways.

hehe ;-}

The pots came from Windmill in Sumner. Most of their stuff is really high-priced but their pots are surprisingly the cheapest in the area! They have someone who is going over to China/Vietnam and getting them eliminating the middle man.

Pixiedish, I don't know what a gym is either. I hear people talking about them & they sound like a lot of work with no product (like a new planting bed, water feature, leaf cast, etc.) to show for it.

A friend and I just did an experimental/ learning concrete session & learned a lot. Our goal is to make those gorgeous dinosaur eggs that Little and Lewis do and had at Heronswood for a time. We're working with instructions from the book Creating with Concrete but without the correct (& expensive) materials. If we succeed, I'll post pictures. So far, we've come up with some interesting concrete half-sphere bowls which will go live in her garden.

Do you have pics of what you have done so far? I am so excited to try some of this stuff and need to remind myself that the first ones might not be perfect - lol!!

OOOH! Herpst! We have the exact same goal!!! I love those dinosaur egg things that they make. Well.... actually... I love everything they make. That was my other goal for the summer! Some leaves, and an egg or two, or maybe three. I don't know. I have a 'forested' area of douglass fir and tree rhodies that I want to place some in. I think I can figure out how to do the sphere, although theirs are totally round and wonderful. It's the coloration that I'm not clear on. What are you planning to use for that? Theirs have this totally wonderful washed effect.

Murmur, yes, I did say mortar mix rather than quickcrete. Mortar mix is portland cement and sand, whereas quickcrete is the same plus the aggregate, making it 'concrete'. You don't want that. Also, last year something I experimented with that looked like it would work was making a slurry from cement and really fine sand and painting it onto the leaf before putting the cement mixture on it. I found that this gave a very smooth finish to the product, but none of mine lasted because it was really cold when I did it. Cement won't cure under about 50 degrees, so it stays brittle.

Thanks for the tip about Windmill Gardens. I haven't been there in awhile.

Herpst, Which materials are you going to do without in your project? I've seen the book 'creating with concrete', but I don't own it.

Katymac, if you are still wanting to try your hand at this stuff at my house, we better get it on the calender or summer will be over. Anyone else local who wants to get together to play with cement, come on down!

The two Items that we are working without are Polyadam concrete system items - glass scrim and PII. These are available by calling George E. Adamy 11-1 Woods Brooke Circle, Ossing, New York 10562. (914) 941 1157

He's a very nice gentleman & will talk you through your project if you buy his products.

What we're doing instead is wrapping exercise balls with the fiberglass wall patch stuff that you can get at a big box store, finding a plastic plant pot that will hold the ball steady and contain about 1/2 of the ball inside leaving the pot's lip to support the sides of the concrete. We use mortar mix mixed with the acrylic polymer stuff in the concrete section of the store. Once one side is done, we cover it and let it set up until it's strong enough to stay put but not so dry that the other concrete won't stick to it. Then, we turn the ball over & do the other side. Cover and cure until it's very strong, deflate the ball & voila. We haven't actually gotten a finished product yet but after an experimental / educational session, this is what we've come up with. Any suggestions?

As for coloring the concrete, you can use the colorants that they sell at the big box stores. Because I like to sometimes change the colors of my creations, what i do is thin latex paint with water (about 1 part paint to 4 parts or more of water ) and put this stain on the concrete. This gives great color and because it's so thin, it soaks into the concrete and won't peel off the way a layer of undiluted latex paint will. This stuff lasts forever but if you get tired of it, you can change the color easily. I usually buy the "oops" colors for $2.00 - $5.00. Luckily, I found a gallon of something close to the Little and Lewis blue recently. For the black interior of the eggs, I'll use full-strength, oil based black rustolium paint.

Wow. such exciting stuff going on - Herpst, would you take pics as you go? I won't be trying anything other than leaves this year, but am fascinated by the process you explained.

Pixy, would you do the same, please?

The spheres Little and Lewis make are intriguing. They were very helpful when I asked how they made them, but unfortunately not to the point of providing detailed drawings. lol Seems they are built on a metal mesh base, but I didn't get the means of making such a uniformly spherical shape.

Pixy, they said they use acrylic paints for the coloring. I'd love to make a 24" to 30" diameter sphere, or even an egg-shaped one.

One of those would be perfect for your beautiful garden Herpst. How large an area does your garden take up ? Everything is so lush and inviting.

Was doing searches for concrete fun online and found some really neat things you can do! I have so many projects planned that I don't know if I can fit this in, although I'm really liking the round hollow balls! Would look so nice between my rose bushes with stuff growing out of them. Will see if my DH likes them and maybe we can all plan a get together. No dino eggs for me though, they'll end up through a window thanks to my son's brain moving faster than his conscience...

Peninsula Gardens off Wolochet in Gig Harbor has those big planters as well. They are probably more expensive than Windmill, about the same driving time, just opposite direction.

Okay, well all of this is what I've been doing in terms of coloration. I buy the "opps" paint, too, so i guess I just haven't gotton the technique down yet. Thanks for that direct info, Balvenie. Maybe I am waiting too long to do the paint. I'm thinking I sould try it when the cement is just barely set so that the water can still soak in, leaving the color behind.

I have been experimenting with using the powdered colors from Lowes, as well as some concrete color I bought at the concrete place down on the tide flats. VERY expensive to buy as it comes in large bags. They do, however, have a very broad range of colors, just about anything you want. It would be a good resource for several people to buy some together and split up the bags. Price depends on color. The red I have is pure iron oxide. I also have some powdered tempera paint in bright colors like magenta and cobalt blue that i'm going to experiment with. It's cheap down at the educational store on Pacific ave.

Here's a link to some rocks I've been making using the powdered colorants in the mix, and then using them mixed with water on the finished product before it cures. I'm doing to be doing some black ones today.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/607918/

maybe I'll try to do some smaller eggs first. Just to get the process down. Yes, herpst, now I remember the pricey stuff you are referring to. As I recall, I had thoughts about how I could do it without that stuff, too. Home depot started selling little bags of fiberglass reinforcement for about 2$ each. Likely cheaper at the concrete place, but it's convenient to get them at HD. Plus, at the concrete place, since I am not only not a contractor, but a woman to boot, and obviously the 'artsy' type rather than the 'put down a nice flat, square pad' type, it's hard to get them to give me the time of day. There is always lots of sighing when I come in. So I need for it to be worth it to go down there. Just takes so much of my energy to be up against all of that testosterone! LOL

Yes, of course, photos for all.

BTW, you do know that there is a concrete forum? If you click on the link I posted, you can get to the forum from there. There is a ton of good information on it, plus some very knowlegable folks. But we can have our own NW variety here.

Also, re pots, heard of a place called Halfpricepots.com? Supposedly very good prices for the big pots from VietNam

This message was edited Jul 7, 2006 7:48 AM

Hi balvenie,

Mine is a small urban garden. There are three city lots & the house & garage (which I'm determined to convert to a greenhouse one of these days) take up probably one of those lots.

The perfect sphere might be attained by a) using an air filled object, like a ball & creating an armature by wrapping it with chicken wire or hardware mesh. b) creating a 1/2 circle mold by inserting aforementioned object into a large box of that spray insulation/ packing foam, putting a small amount of concrete on the walls of the mold, adding the metal mesh & more concrete, inserting the sphere & building on top of it. Of course one would have to make the mold larger than the sphere that one would place inside the half circle once it was made,

Here are the instructions from the book Creating with Concrete: (believe it or not the skill level for this project is beginner) George Adamy (mentioned in a previous message in this thread) makes these & here are some of his comments (he's talking about full spheres but when chatting with him, he was famillar with the Little & Lewis ones & said the process would be the same - just leave an opening.) "Make your sphere any size you want, from a ping-pong ball to an 8 foot weather baloon. This project utilizes the Polyadam Concrete System, which uses portland cement, aggregate, PolyadamII (a high - quality, acrylic, polymer additive), and glass scrim to build up a skin on the ball armature.

1. Select any size sphere made from any material (again, he's talking solid sphere - for those of us who want an opening, we'll want to be able to remove the form once the object is cured.)

2. Set the sphere in a container that will support it with half or more of the surface exposed to work on.

3. Cut the glass scrim into small strips or squares.

4. Brush a layer of PII onto the ball. Use two layers of PII if using a sphere made out of a porous material such as polystyrene foam, foam rummer, paper, or cloth.

5. Mix a stiff concrete(3parts cement, 3 parts sand, 1 part PII, 1/4 part water, no more) and apply a thin layer to an are of the ball slightly larger than the size of the scrim you've cut.

6. Immediately press the scrim into the concrete. If the concrete begins to slip, you either have too loose a mix, you applied it too thickly, or you moved the armature before it has set up.

7. Only one-half of the ball is worked on until the cement has time to set (as little as 20 minutes). After the first half has set, carefully rotate your piece, and continue to cover the entire ball, overlapping the scrim.

8. On medium-sized balls (4 - 6 inches in diameter) add a second layer of light/medium scrim and cover. On medium/large-sized balls (8 - 16 inches in diameter), add a second layer of scrim, this time heavy-duty. On heroic-sized balls (2 - 8 feet in diameter), use two layers of heavy scrim.

9. After you've completed covering the sphere, or you've finished a work session, cover the piece with plastic for 24 hours to cure.

10. The next day, use a rasp or block to smooth the surface.

11. Once the piece has received the suggested layers of glass scrim for reinforcement, surface textures can be added with additional application of the concrete system by brushing on a coat of the PII, using the slurry (1 part cement,1 part PII, 1/4 part water no more) and by applying the concrete to achieve the desired effect. Repeat step 9.

Glass scrim and P II can be mail-ordered. See George Adamy's information in a previous post.

This all sounds like a lot of time and work. I have the wonderful book A Garden Gallery by Little and Lewis & wonder just how much it would cost to (gasp) buy one of their dinosaur eggs. Does anyone know?

Pixiedish,

Thanks for the information about the pots. I ADORE going to Bamford and Bamford but can usually only rationalize buying the pots in their cracked & dinged area. Great plants there, too.

Hey Pixiedish,

Just checked out halfpricepots.com. The closest location to me is Renton - only a 30 minute drive. Didn't list prices (other than their sale items) on the website. I'm thinking of getting in the car and checking them out. Hmm I'll just have to get the three pots out of the trunk that I bought the other day and really, what little lawn I have left needs mowing and it's beautiful outside, and I should probably water the pots, and I have a bajillion plants still in their nursery pots that need to find permanent spots in my crowded garden...

Herpst, now you've gone and done it! I'm heading to Windmill shortly to browse. My DH is 2 states away on business but I just know he's feeling a twinge in his wallet LOL!

How did you make the leaf cast? It's Beautiful!

That'sa lot of information Herpst, thank you. I really want to try a sphere, but guess I should work on the bunch of stuff already started first. (boring!) We are on a single platted lot and I ache for more room. I'm really envious of your beautiful l;landscape.

Leafcast -

You'll need some sand, mortar mix, some polymer (get wherever they sell mortar mix - it looks like thin Elmer's glue) additive, and if you wish, some chicken wire or hardware mesh(for larger leaves), some plastic, and a leaf.
You can also add colorant to the concrete or just leave it & stain it later.

Choose a leaf, cut it & form the sand (wet it a little if it won't stay in place for you) to support the leaf in the shape you want. Cover the sand mound with plastic, place the leaf face down on the plastic, mix the mortar mix, polymer additive, and a little water. put the concrete on top of the leaf, smooth out the edges with your fingers. If you are doing a monster leaf, you may wish to put the chicken wire or hardware mesh over most of this and add another layer of concrete. Cover the whole thing with plastic & let it sit for several days. Uncover & sprinkle with water occasionally. With really big leaves, don't try to turn them over too soon as they will break (don't ask me how I know) When the concrete is fully hardened, you will want to let it cure for a while. Spray with water occasionally. When you turn it over, you will see your original leaf which you can allow to decompose away naturally, or peel away what you can & use a screwdriver to get the thickest parts out (gunnera leaves esp.) or use a propane torch to burn the remainder of the leaf away. et voila.

Trip to Windmill was well worth it today. They had a nice selection of plants in great condition and the pots OMG THE POTS!!! Very reasonably priced and so many styles and textures. They had some interesting cast leaves as well, including one made into a table. Of course, after I wandered around ooohing and aaahing for an hour and then left (empty handed so my DH can start breathing again!), then I remember the plants I had forgotten I wanted to check on. So it's either my CRS syndrome popping up or my brain giving me an excuse to go back to check on other plants. Another day, another trip. Way too busy today to go again. If you are in need of pots, go to Windmill. That trip is well worth it!

My biggest challenge in the leaf making department is getting the edges to look right. My first one, I didn't cover the sand with plastic. Big mistake. Don't even go there. Did you have any tricks to having your edges looking good?
In your leaf directions, though, don't forget that if you want the topside of the leaf to be the part cast in the concrete, the leaf needs to be face up, not face down.

Made several 'basalt' type rocks this morning. here's a photo of one of them. I didn't use hypertufa on this kind, just the mortar mix with black colorant, and a 4 inch knife for smoothing the flat surfaces.

Whoa . . . I had that backwards then - I thought the leaf went down. Period. Wouldn't I have been surprised?

If you want the veins of the leaf to be deeply part of the cast (gunnera) the leaf should be down otherwise up - your choice.

Okay . . . I have rhubarb leaves at the moment so if I get to this project soon, I will just take a close look at the leaves and see what I like best?

has anyone done rhubarb? If so, which direction? (I think I'm dyslexic when it comes to figuring such things out!! But I'm still excited to try.)

Hi gang,

So, here's the latest chapter in the Lucy and Ethel try to make a Little and Lewis sphere:

After making some half circle experiments a couple of weeks ago that have stood up pretty well, we decided that it was time to haul out the giant exercise ball & make a huge dinosaur egg. I got out the largest pot I own to support the ball, covered the ball with the fiberglass wall patch stuff, got some of that plastic mesh that they sell with the hardware fabric for additional help to hold up the concrete, got lots of acrylic strengthener, and got the mix just right. I spent lots of time smoothing out the concrete & was surprised by how far down the sides I got. Covered the whole thing with plastic & came inside for the evening. The exercise ball in question was one I purchased a few years ago with this in mind. It stands about 3 1/2 feet off the ground & had been sitting in the garage (project materials building) It had lost all of it's air but I jus t thought that it was perhaps normal & blew it up again. I had used two 60 lb. bags of mortar mix and was thinking that it would take at least one more & was a little worried about how I'd move a 200 pound, 4 foot sphere. Well, in the night, the concrete fairies came because when I looked out the window at dawn this morning, I saw a huge pot on its side, a mostly deflated big red exercise ball and a pile of mortar mix that looks very much like a herd of elephants all decided to relieve themselves on the same spot on my lawn.

Today's project will be to dispose of the ball, haul the pot back to the garage, & get rid of the concrete before I have a permanent elephant dung artwork installation in my garden. I'm temporarily giving up on the sphere making adventure.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

LOL elephant dung!!!! might be intresting!!! NOT.

I can see it left there and you telling visitors it was on purpose!

Viv

Oh NOOOOOOOOOooooooo.........

Glad your giving up is only temporary.

Yikes! That would have broken my heart! I'm glad you're seeing the humor in the situation.

I like to tell visitors to the garden that things like this were intentional. The elephant dung installation (until it's cleaned up) adds a note of authenticity to my urban jungle.

I'll try a somewhat smaller sphere next time (already have it in my garage) I'm only giving up until I get the energy to take a shower and go to the big box store for more mortar mix. This last one was very close to being just right.

I also looked at the Little and Lewis website & their stuff doesn't look horribly expensive. One would imagine that something larger like the spheres might be a little pricey. I'd really love one just like the one on page 126 of their book. Maybe I'll email or call them & get a price quote.