Cement versus Plaster - Weathering vs. Speed

I have been playing with a wide range of readily available cements, mortars and grouts the past few weeks trying to imitate the detail and strength that I have been getting with gypsum based plaster products in my castings. Cement is extremely difficult compared to the plaster products due to the amount of time that is required for the cement products to set up. Secondly all of the cement products seem to shrink as they set, which means they fall out of their frames. I have tried to make this an advantage by casting a bunch of brick panels in order to adhere them to the back of some epoxy or plaster front panels so that I can have a two-sided finished looking piece that can be used in a wall. The idea is good, but waiting for the cement pieces to finish setting and dry enough to paint or seal has been troublesome. I guess that if I get 1 for every 2 pieces I make due to handling and breakage. The cement does not seem to be inherently as strong as the plaster and can't take the abuse that I am used to administering to the plaster pieces. I am hopeful that as I wait longer, now a minimum of one week or more, that the cement panels will gain strength and then I can consider coatings to seal and finish the panels before inserting them like tiles into some frames.

Cost of building materials to make boat - or just buy one

Every time I turn around I need a new material to make something with and although I enjoy working with casting materials like epoxy, plasters and cements the cost keep adding up. I've brought down much of my cost of goods to a reasonable level, but if I want to take on a new project, like building the composite construction Feather canoe I am going to have to purchase some high grade epoxy. It's really expensive stuff, especially the West Systems epoxy. As an alternative I have started looking at used boats for sale on Craigslist and it is much cheaper to just buy a boat that is already made. The more I look the more I start getting attached to different types of boats and designs, losing site of the concept that all I wanted to do was build a canoe. Did I really just want to build a canoe? Not likely, I wanted to get out on the water. If I start a canoe building project then I am going to be sitting around all summer making some funky thing that most likely won't look like the pictures. I like the idea, but if it is going to be about getting on the water, then I have to just buy a boat or work on the Cal 20 I already have in the water. I have found that I am attracted to early 1960's fiberglass hulls like the Cal 20 because they don't seem to leak and many of them sell for cheap prices. The thickness of the polyester that was used seems to be the key as the boat builders back then didn't know how thick to build them to last, so they built them thick. The point of this is that with the money I save by not buying Epoxy I can go out and buy a really thick fiberglass hull sailboat and get on the water instead of making a crappy boat in my backyard.

Stabalized Table

I have made a stable table for working on but it looks uneven to me. I have to trust the level and the first few pieces will tell if it is true. I started using wax on the edges of the wood frames that I use as molds and it works well as a release agent. I am amazed at how the concrete shrinks while it sets and as a result releases perfectly along the edges so that I can simply raise the wooden frame up around the newly made piece. This explains a lot in terms of how molded concrete pieces can crack while they set.

The rapid pace of production - figure out how to use it later

I have some techniques that I'm happy with, making the brick panels and assembling them later, but there are still new issues that have been realized that weren't problems before. Dry time for one. Since I have stopped putting the pigment and images into the mold and mixed concrete I now have to wait for the item to dry completely before applying any additional layers. I have also noticed that some materials don't seem to hit their maximum strength right away, so any handling is just going to cause breakage. Lastly the shrinkage issue. I have been using the shrinkage to my benefit, because the component parts are easier to remove from the wooden mold, but if I mount any of the pieces too early then the shrinkage is just going to add more internal stress or cause cracks. I've found a place in my yard to place a bunch of flat brick panels to dry and after a couple of weeks I'll check them out and see if they've matured to durable concrete brick panels that can be painted with acrylic, spray paint, resin and or epoxy. Another problem is that my tables haven't been perfectly stable or level, so many of these first brick panels are higher on one end than the other. I like that if I was going to use them as shingles that overlapped, but it isn't a feature that I want to have on a regular basis. So now I have to go back and redesign my work table to make consistently flat and even brick fresco panels. 2 steps forward, one step back.

Time for some more traditional fare. Boat building with epoxy.

How how the years have gone by. My past good friend, David Hopkins, who I worked with in Sausalito and went to school with at SF State, used to preach about the magic of epoxy. I didn't listen much as I was too busy talking, but I see the light now that I am considering building a Feather canoe. I picked up this mold from a person who was clearing out a garage. The mold is small and it looks well made. The only boats I've built from scratch before were from on a mold, so I think I can pull this off. Also, years ago, before there was a real internet, I researched and purchased some thin veneers of Canadian Maple and I still have some. Originally I purchased the wood for making a bullet proof, unbreakable, skateboard. Dave added the ingenious touch of using kevlar and we attempted to sell it at the ASR, Action Sports Retailers, tradeshow, but the cost were too high. I still have some of the wood and am looking forward to trying to mold these veneers in a criss cross fasion to make a composite structure that may or may not resemble the intended Feather canoe. Epoxy comes into the picture as the bonding material to bring this project to life. I visited West Marine today to look at their specialty Boat building epoxies. I think they may have the right stuff because my current epoxy mix seems to get soft and flexible when exposed to sunlight. Hopefully some specialty epoxy will be stiffer and less flexible. I wouldn't want a sagging boat. Ideally the wood, once laid out, will hold it's shape and provide much of the strength to keep this canoe together. Of course there will need to be some structure to keep the veneer skin together, but I really want to minimize that.

Components and Mechanical / Chemical Bonds and Bonding

Just to make things more difficult I have been coming up with ways to finish the backside of my photo fresco prints with brick styled panels that fit into the back. There is no one reason why I have to do this as I could just pour my pieces thicker to begin with, but it has gotten me thinking in terms of component parts that are assembled versus the all in one casting. I think the component concept also comes from the fact that most of these pieces require additional anchoring and bonding methods to make them adhere to the frame anyway, so why spend all my time anchoring things to begin with when I can do the bonding later. There may also be some advantages for working on panels outside of the frame as they are more like blank pieces of canvas or wood that I can paint on, like flat work, before putting the item back in the frame. Lastly I have been able to test more concretes and mortars to find something that I can work with and that is strong enough to be managed in these multiple stages without cracking and breaking. I have come to the conclusion that the Fast Setting Concrete is my favorite material due to my impatience. I really liked the Top Surface Concrete that had fibers in it, but it dried with a glossy backside and didn't seem as strong as I thought it should be without extended drying times. My problem is that if things don't dry quick enough I end up breaking them when I try to get the pieces out of the mold. No patience. Some of the motars, even with extended drying times, cracked while drying, not to mention the pulling out of the mold cracking. Some of this cracking could be because the concrete was mixed too wet, or the concrete was setting in direct sunlight, which created to much heat. But if you were pouring this stuff outside in the sun it would react similarly, so the mortars are not working for me. I even tried a couple of Grouts in the mold, but those grouts had simlilar results to the mortars. Now that I have been making panels I am faced with mounting and adhering the panels to the backs of other panels or directly in the screens them selves. I tried construction adhesive and grouts to see which materials I liked best. The adhesive was great for getting into holes that I had drilled in the center of the pieces to create a bond into the frame, like anchoring a tooth is anchored into a jaw. The finish was smooth and the General Purpose adhesive seemed to bond well. I consider this a chemical bond since the adhesive is making the bond and if it releases from the material over time the bond is released also. My next step was to mount some plywood squares on the back of some pieces using thin set mortar and I also adhered a brick panel to a plaster frame with some thin set Mortar. The thin set mortar seems to hold well and although it requires setting overnight the bond looks pretty good. I am still mindful of creating a physical bond because impact may cause the mortar bonds to release over time and the adhesive caulk may break down over time. I like the idea of anchors mounted into the wood, but haven't decided on a good system for installing the physical anchors that won't be more work that what I already am doing.

Wall of Shame - Celebrities on Ice - Mug Shot Transparent Photo Fresco Wall

This updated Hollywood Wall of Shame features the following celebrity mugshots: List will go here These are epoxy made castings using my photo fresco techniques and spray paint stencils to create a relief image with photo detail. The spray paint ties the photographic image together and by casting these pieces in clear epoxy the pieces have a durability and elusive characteristics at the same time. The light makes these pieces look different depending on the angle and the brightness of the light behind them.