Cement as a sculpture medium.

[Dena6355]

Amy and all, I meant to say those who do masonry do not use "stucco" The guy at the concrete store said they are very comparable.
You can certainly use a mortar type mix 1:3 (cement : sand) in the same application as stucco. You can either pat it or trowel it over metal lathe work.
Eva, I am again trying to post my webshots page, so here goes:
http://community.webshots.com/user/dena6355

[OtterTail]

Thanks for the info, Dena. And for the link to your photos. Your sculptures are great. I'll have to make a Lizzy for my garden. She's pretty cool .

Amy

[inisheerstudio]

Hi all! Dena, Amy Eva! ALL! Thanks so MUCH for the great info and chat!

Dena...I looked through one of your webshots...will check out the other later. I'm in a hurry at the moment and there is SO much to chat about!! Great work....

I've seen Gunnera plants....now I have to find one! Now...I assume the leaf is only good for one cast....what about making a mold of the leaf? Oh my mind is swirling! I saw the guys on Martha making the leaf casts...so cool.

Everyone be sure to rate this thread....let's keep it alive! I can't tell you how excited I am to have people to chat with about cement! LOL

Also....I remember when I entered a large life size standing faery into a juried gallery show 6 years ago! LMAO! I rolled her in...she was still curing....she made it in the show and everyone was automatically attracted to her....drawn to her. That is so much fun to watch people try to figure out the medium.

I have to run....I'll get back here later tonight and chat some more.

Again....thanks so much for sharing and getting excited about this...I am too! Kindred spirits!! Yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaa

I would like to know more about the tuffa??

[astheCrowflies]

Hi, Moondance,

I did rate this thread with the highest rating possible! There don't seem to be too many forums for those of us interested in cement/concrete as a medium.

Your creation, Midlife Metamorphosis, is beautiful. Wish you had a step-by-step of how you brought her to life. The base looks so interesting. How did you do her brass wings? I like the green wash...what kind of pigments did you use?

Please, please, please post your February sculpture steps here! I am really eager to see how you create the tall free standing life sized figure sculptures.

Eva

[Chyquita]

Moondance,
I'm with Eva. I would LOVE to see a step-by step photo's of how you make a life-size sculpture. Thats is what I have envisioned for my Fairy-birdbath, and Mermaid waterfountian. Where to start, how to start and just how to do it.
I'm really excited now! WE ARE KINDRED, artistic spirits! WE seem to have simular ideas! This is wonderful to shared experiances! Diana, I really enjoyed looking at your work. It's beautiful.
Asthe crow flies, thank you for the threads! I have saved them for future ref.
I'm starting as soon as I get the time, and the weather warms up! Diann

[Dena6355]

Moondance,
You are right a Gunnera leaf can only be used once in the casting process. Gunnera especially sticks like glue to the curing concrete, even when I have applied a spray release such as PAM kitchen oil. Your question about making a mold; it is possible. I have recently used a product called Mold Builder (Liquid Latex rubber) and have made molds of smaller already cast leaves, such as hosta and nasturtium. I will try to take a picture of the latex leaf mold next to the original cast and post it next week.
The advantage of course is the process of casting can then be done all year long, and in setting up the sand getting ready for the cast, the latex leaf is much more bendable and wont rip or tear in the process. The disadvantage, my opinion only, is that the latex/mold leaf does not turn out as true to the original form cast.

[inisheerstudio]

Good morning everyone!

I will definitely share the process this month. I have several pieces waiting to come alive!

I can't wait to pick up my two sculptures from the gallery in New Orleans....so far they are my favorites. Well...the Midlife Metamorphosis is a self portrait....personal piece....I do like her too. She is in the rose garden next to my studio. I'll go out today and take some close ups for you all.

Dena...the courtyard was constructed from blocks....I built a kiln room out of block next to my studio..that was my practice before taking on the courtyard project.

My husband helped me lay it out....I'm not so great at math and measurements....I'm a visual person so this was a very important first step. He put the strings up and lined up everything for me to dig the footings. The tops of the arches are laid with brick...we built an arched wood form to lay the brick on.

It is a very interesting space....at night when there is a full moon....the patterns in the stones of the floor and the arches....it's so cool and ancient looking. We live on a pecan orchard and have 5 acres....so I am creating a lot of garden paths that are adventures....it is going to be my life's work because the ideas keep coming! lol

I'm going to build a wall fountain for one side of the courtyard wall....I put wiring in the wall....also put speaker wiring through the walls and arches to have outdoor speakers for music.

I am also going to continue the walkway of stones down to my studio...I have been putting wood chip mulch that I get for free from a local tree surgeon....but I want to complete the walk. After working on this for 5 years I got a little burned out...and didn't have the desire to continue....now I do. Plus I needed time to think about what I wanted.

I thought about doing a friendship path....where my friends make a stepping stone....I will probably do that but in another area.

I like to be original....everything that comes out of my imagination has been swirling around for years. I see faces in everything...does anyone else have that affliction? LOL

About the brass wings on the MLM piece....I also work in mixed metals....I created a jewelry line for 10 years that I marketed across the country to over a 100 department stores, shops and galleries. The line was made from Aluminum, copper and brass. So the small work is just incoporated into large work.

I have tons of material and had brass sheets on hand....I drew the design of the wings in which I wanted them to be butterfly like wings....I cut them out using the bandsaw....and jewelry saw for the inside holes in the wings. I filed off the edges...then I hammered detail into the wings....using different jewelry stamps....I then hammered the whole wings shaping them on my jewelry log! lol I have had this log for 18 years....hehehe...I'm quite attached to it even though it is full of holes from my many projects.

When I made this particular piece....I had NO idea what it would be. I just had all these feelings inside...realizing my 'mid life' I'm changing...I will never be that young woman again....the gray hair....the whole life process.....finding my way...trying to find my way as an older woman that feels 20 inside........I just started sculpting.....I had perhaps a Goddess in mind....something really so far off of what came out.....the purple snake with genuine amethysts set in sterling silver.....the snake eyes...purple ss amethyst....the tip of his tail that holds a piece of blue glass as my lovers eye....the swirls swirl in the circle of life....winding around and around as the snake wraps around the bottom of the piece....holding this 'being' to the ground....however the head and right below the head is very phallic....erotic....the wings aren't quite open yet....just slowly opening.....the heart is full of love for her family and friends....the amethyst eyes.....the same color as the snake and the snake eyes....the purple color representing power......the moonstone below the coiled torc around the neck represents to me 'the other world' she is looking down at anyone who stands before it with a slight smile....not looking down on them but upon them.....because she is tall and full of her being.....her hair flows down her back in a braid.....she is blossoming into a new life and learning to accept herself just the way she is....wrinkles.....white hair......a new path.....a new chapter......when I started the face....I still at that point was unsure of this being a self portrait.......as I was almost finished with the face.....my husband came out to the studio and said .....wow.....that looks like you.......I then realized....it was me.......my metamorphosis.....my rebirth.....definitely a personal piece.

[astheCrowflies]

Hi, Everyone,

Amy -- Don't know if you saw this on the Martha Stewart website or not, but Little and Lewis also did a demo of how they make their concrete fossil mirrors. I've never tried it, but it sounds like fun.
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jh...nt&id=tvs3148b

And, Amy, I had the same concern that you have about how copper would react in concrete. I've made some copper leaves that I intend to adhere to a garden sphere. From the research that I've done, however, I've learned that copper will not react with dry, hardened concrete and/or mortar. The problem is likely to occur if you put the copper in direct contact with other metals. Then corrosion of the metal in contact with the copper will occur. Of course, if you leave the copper exposed to the elements, then oxidation resulting in a verdigris color will take place. Since I want that verdigris finish, I will spray my copper leaves with a Miracle Grow solution.

Dena and Moondance -- Dena, Moondance mentioned wanting to know more about tufa (hypertufa). Do you still have those different recipes that you could link to? Moondance, hypertufa which is a lightweight concrete, generally with peat moss as one of the ingredients, has been used to make garden troughs, fountains, birdbaths, lanterns, sculptures, etc..

Diann -- You know, some concrete leaves might be interesting embedded somewhere in your fairy-birdbath.


Eva

[astheCrowflies]

Hi, Moondance,

Really look forward to reading about your process as you create your new sculpture. And thank you for sharing your thoughts about Metamorphosis...I think she's wonderful! The way you created her brass wings is so interesting to me. Would jewelry stamps and a jewelry log work well for designing in copper?

Thanks,

Eva

[inisheerstudio]

Hi Eva...

Oh yes....the same technique can be used with copper. My log/tree stump is a piece of cedar a friend had in his yard...I talked him out of it! lol Any tree stump will work for a hammering surface with metal. I also use a small anvil for detailing...then the shaping I use the log. I made different sized concave surfaces on the top and bottom of the log like a dapping die.

I have also used screwdrivers, chissels, any type of tool to indent or detail designs into the metal. You can be creative and make your own.

I use a ball pein hammer to do most of my work...I have different sizes...some handmade hammers a black smith friend made for me years back...just using the hammer to detail is great too.

[astheCrowflies]

Hi, Moondance,

Shows what I know...I was imagining a jewelry log to be some kind of metal device shaped like a log that can be purchased for jewelry making. So thanks for clarifying that for me!

Any suggestions on the best way to adhere 36 gauge copper foil leaves to a concrete sphere? Would WeldBond Adhesive work? I don't want to use thinset, because I don't want to embed the leaves.

Thanks,

Eva

(Off Topic: I am feeling so terribly sad about the Columbia.)

[inisheerstudio]

Eva....

The only thing that comes to mind is perhaps the gummy concrete patching compound? I know two part epoxy is GREAT stuff...and you could give that a try and see?

Are you covering the whole sphere with the copper leaves?

Did you make the sphere? I have a couple of friends that want to make some spheres...I think that project is coming up soon! lol

If I were making the spheres and wanted to attach something into them I would do it before it set up...leaving a 'tab' to insert into the cement....then bend them over and perhaps tacking them with something?

Ideas are flowing! I'm loving this....









Eva...yes it's a sad day....you just never know....always have to say I love you and appreciate the seconds we have.

[astheCrowflies]

Hi, Moondance,

The whole sphere will be covered with copper leaves. I'll probably spray the leaves with a Miracle Grow solution to speed up the verdigris process. I may include some copper beads to look like berries.

Yes, I made the sphere but in a very simple way. I cast Quikrete in a spherical glass light globe that I bought at Home Depot and then broke off the glass globe in about 48 hours. I included the flange/rim/lip (not sure what to call it) of the light globe in my casting, because I intend to use the sphere as the top of a garden totem. I embedded a threaded metal cap in the flange so that I will be able to screw it onto the metal totem pole.

Dena is in the process of making some large garden spheres and said she would take pictures as she does it. She's making a chicken wire armature around a large inflatable child's ball and then creating a concrete shell.

I can't wait for spring so that I can play more with cement. It's just too darn cold here now to do much, and I don't really have much room indoors.

Thanks again, Moondance, for starting this thread. It's so much fun to share ideas with everyone.

Eva

[LaVonne W.]

Moondance, you said you use a potter's tool to form the facial features of your sculptures. I assume you mean wire loop tools, or maybe boxwood tools? Do you form the cement right away, or let it set up for a while? Do you work it after it has stiffened, and if so with what? See, I said I'd have a lot of questions!

Yielding, Great Work! Did you cast the forms in a mold, or build them on armatures? I love the presentation. The sand and the geometric forms reminds me of ruins, like stumbling on an ancient ceremonial site.

I live near the San Diego Wild Animal Park and frequently visit. The paths are cast concrete with imprints of leave and animal tracks. It sure makes them more interesting, and they blend in better with the surrounding vegetation. I'm thinking of doing a concrete pad imprinted like that for the top of a stair I'm building down my back slope. Palm fronds would look good I think, and be sturdy enough for imprinting. So many projects, so little time!

[inisheerstudio]

Originally posted by LaVonne W.
Moondance, you said you use a potter's tool to form the facial features of your sculptures. I assume you mean wire loop tools, or maybe boxwood tools? Do you form the cement right away, or let it set up for a while? Do you work it after it has stiffened, and if so with what? See, I said I'd have a lot of questions!

Hi LaVonne...

I work the cement a little after I place facial features on....then let it set up a bit...I will use a loop tool, needle tool, pencils, the eraser end....you name it I'll try it lol....add and remove cement where ever I need to....to me it's like working in clay. It's definitley more fragile and will fall completely off while working it.

Eva...please share a photo of your totem when you finish it. You are so clever with the glass globe! Oh and the balls....the wonderful rubber kickballs! YES! Balloons too....I use those for some clay pieces.....

I'm getting so inspired...