Low Rent Renaissance

  Some experiments with various mortars -- playing in the mud. 

Current formula for "sculpting mortar"  -- 10 parts sand 6 parts clay dust 2 parts Portland cement 3 parts builder's lime This mix is light and malleable and has held up well for me outside. I sometimes add a little joint compound or asphalt emulsion. I generally mix the dry ingredients in a cement mixer and store it in five gallon buckets. I'll mix a few cups at a time with water. I mix it very damp but clumpy. I'll dip my gloved hand in water and massage a palm full of the mix, which becomes wet and  malleable very quickly.  When I thought of adding clay to an earlier recipe  I searched for  "powered clay," and local shops  didn't know what I was talking about. I found clay dust online sold by the bag at The Ceramic Shop in Pennsylvania.  I get builder's lime at a supplier for concrete products. I cover the work with wet towels and plastic bags to reduce the little hairline cracks that can form as  mortar dries. I've been staining some of t

] The papercrete "gazebo" structure that I made years ago was showing some deterioration, especially the areas where the papercrete was most exposed to weather. I used type S mortar to cover the weathered papercrete, and reworked most of the faces using my "sculpture" mortar mix. The papercrete "trees" on the back side of the structure had held up well, so I left them except to stain them with exterior wood stain, to bring them out a bit and help preserve them.