Low Rent Renaissance

Yesterday I poured half of the concrete floor. I started out with a formula for concrete I found online: 1 - 2 - 3. That is, one part Portland cement, two parts sand, three parts coarse aggregate. I was using the large gravel I have on hand rather than the pea gravel I've seen in bags of concrete mix, and ended by mixing 1 - 2 - 2, which made it easier to smooth. Having jumped the gun and not even made a footing for this structure, I dug out from under the walls and shoved concrete under there as well so that the papercrete isn't setting directly on the ground. I got to use my Harbor Freight cement mixer, which is still hard work but easdier than mixing so much concrete in a wheelbarrow with a hoe. I used coffee cans to measure my ingredients. Mixing it 2 - 4 - 4, it took four batches to pour half the floor. I'm hoping I can pour the other half Friday.

The sculpture has been setting around a little while. I finally repainted her and mounted her on a board. The miserable heat outside is still forcing me to catch up on some inside projects. Her bed and guitar are not polymer clay but are cut from Luan wood. The mattress is a piece of Luan covered with linen (stuffed with a polymer filler) and coated with white glue and water for stiffness. I've been wanted to work on papercrete projects, but I swear it's either too hot (and humid) (heat + humidity = "heat index," which has generally a good ten degrees above the actual temperature), or it's raining. We've had heat index temps as high as 108. This has got to be one of the hottest, wettest summers on record down here in good old South Carolina. Only the mosquitoes are happy.

I took my webpage off line (money, money, money) but still wanted some photos of polymer sculptues available online. These are rather old. I'll be posting some more recent ones soon. The figures are generally 12 to 15 inches tall. They are made of Super Sculpy polymer clay over a 4 gauge copper wire armature (The arms/shoulders are a double strand of 8 guage aluminum wire which is mounted to the main armature with electric tape. The copper wire is stiff and strong enough to support a "tall" figure, and the aluminum is flexible and easier to pose.). They're painted with acrylics and mounted on stained pine bases. The heat down here has been incredible ("heat index," or "how it feels" due to the humidity has been as high as 108), and it's been keeping me inside and away from my papercrete projects. Hoping to get back at the papercrete soon.