Low Rent Renaissance

At last they have time for a day at the beach! Super Sculpey, acrylic paint, sand, Elmer's Glue, and, as usual, bits and pieces.  She stands about 10".

 Mirror, mirror on the wall...hey...comb your hair. You're scaring me. This is made of Super Sculpy and paper clay over a mirror purchased at a thrift store.  

 These little street singers -- the singer in back is about 10" tall, and the whole piece is about 15". Made from polymer clay, lightweight cement, balsa wood, and bits and pieces.

  My plan was to use the sheet metal salvaged from a friend's abandoned above ground pool for a privacy fence, and there is plenty left for that. But the plywood on the back of my poor old makeshift shed needed repair, and I used some of the metal for that. This was a huge pool -- the biggest I'd ever seen -- 32 feet across by 48 inches deep. That's about 100 feet of sheet metal. Once I got the pool disassembled I cut the metal into 17 foot lengths and rolled it up for transport and storage. It worked out well for my shed, which is 16 feet long. I used one long strip for the bottom, but it was too heavy to lift for the top and I had to cut it into pieces I could manage.

Naturally, no before photos. This was an old commercial Rubbermaid trashcan that had been laying around the yard for years. It was sanded with steel wool and primed with all surface primer. Then grey "weathered"  and walnut wood stain was lightly streaked on with a chip brush. I was able to simulate grain by varying the pressure of my brush stroke. Lines were simply penciled using a 1x4 for spacing to simulate planks. The top was sprayed with all surface bronze spray paint. The "bands" are some belts purchased from a thrift store, sprayed with the same all surface paint, and screwed into place. Everything was twice coated with an exterior polyeurethane. Just right for our little pool area.

Able to spend some time reworking the little gazebo structure. Using a recipe that includes Portland cement, clay powder, builder's lime, and sand, plus a dollop of asphalt emulsion. We'll see how it holds up.

A polymer caricature of my good friend and neighbor Tony --  a gun enthusiast, mechanical genius, and advocate of small animals.  About seven inches tall -- hand painted Super Sculpey over aluminum wire.   

 So...some of my earlier papercrete efforts haven't weathered well and I've decided to refinish them using sturdier mortar. This is easily done by attaching some hardware cloth over the area. These new faces are made with mortar that includes sand, powdered clay, builder's lime, Portland cement, and a dollop of asphalt emulsion.This mix feels like clay and seems to hold up well. These old papercrete faces haven't weathered well. Fasten hardware cloth over the old. This mortar mix is quite workable -- feels like clay. This mortar recipe has held up well in other places.

This young progressive flashing a peace sign. Super Sculpey over aluminum wire. "Can't we all just get along?" Apparently not, though one still hopes.