Low Rent Renaissance

 The sidewalk is finally completed. Did it take two years? Maybe more. It is a series of concrete slabs with stones and shells embedded on either side. As you can see, I'm still working on the concrete "tree/totem poles" that grace either side of the patio. A friend offered some wood from a deck he had taken down, which turned out to be a great way to finish the project. The curved forms were made from sheet metal roofing taken from the mobile home we disassembled at few years back.  There are some faces modeled in mortar on either side of one section of sidewalk. Below is also a moon modeled in mortar, using a newer, better formula for making concrete clay. Forms made from sheet metal strips.

 The base coat on this planter is plain old hypertufa consisting of (using 2-pound coffee cans for measurement) one can of peat moss, one of Pearlite, ½ of Portland Cement, one of water (there about), and a little lime putty. I’d made the armature using two old, sun-beaten, brittle planters that were ready for the landfill fastened together with sheet metal screws and covered with two layers of poultry wire (see photos below). So far I’ve found that this type of Hypertufa mix is good for casting but is honestly difficult to daub onto wire without either ready mix joint compound or lime putty to make it stickier. Even then it doesn’t seem very workable. Perhaps more cement to the mix would make it stick to the armature better. I'll continue to research and experiment. As it was, I applied the hypertufa with some force to push it deep into the wire and keep it from falling off. For the design on front I used the same mixture as above, but substituted cellulose insulation for...