This has been such a productive week. I absolutely love building these vessels. First, we attached expanded metal lath to the rebar. Because these are such tall vessels with a narrow opening, we had to add lath in a spiral, packing specially formulated cement to the inside, around and around until we got to the top. Then we pack cement from the outside, smoothing and refining the shape. It's not unlike throwing on a wheel, except we rotate instead of the wheel.
After working the surface and letting the structure cure, we added a skin of a specially formatted cement to enable a thick, strong buildup of product. I even called the inventor who created the formulation.
The surface is really beautiful. And I'm left with an amazing surface to build upon and then add and carve away as needed, adding depth, texture and pattern.
Late in the afternoon, I drew the shape of the Great Blue Heron and began to add the cement. It's very similar to working in clay but with a looser, more fluid quality, easier to push around and manipulate. And of course, once cured, very hard.
0 comments:
Post a Comment