I did try the acid wash. I used conc HCl though, as I wanted to ‘acid etch’ the otherwise very smooth surface of the cement.
The good news is that it worked, but over the last few month I have had a number of chips in the surface. Im going to have to do some touch ups with cement to cover the revealed polystryene.
I think this could be fairly easy to deal with upfront when making the ‘rock’ though by doing a couple of further coats.
The next one Im making will by thicker coated cement and I’ll try to add texture using sand and gravel rather than the acid etch, see how the final thing looks.
I might try some of the suggestions from Studio B too.
Polystryene is free and cement is cheap, so im not losing anything.
Hi Jimothy, Nice job. I make rock landscapes too but use cement Fondue over various frames made with chicken wire and net curtains, which I really enjoy. I always put a minimum of five coats (both sides) of cement on, sometimes more depending upon shape, to prevent cracking and breakages due to the weather. Once finished they get left outside to weather (usually throughout the winter) which washes any residue from them. I haven’t used polystyrene as I read that there is quite a difference in the expansion and contraction of each material. Plus condensation occurs under the cement. Just something to watch out for and definitely not poo pooing what you’ve done. Do keep us updated when planted up. Great Job!
Thanks. I will be having a look at some different techniques for this. Just for the first try i took the cheapest, easiest option
I hope it will survive for a while, i know for sure ill have to patch a bit. Ive also seen people have been using polymers over frames as well.
One day i might even try with actual rock…
Jimothy,
The easiest way I’ve found to add colours or textures is to use various powders or dusts depending what landscape is desired. eg marble dust, slate powder or even stone dust. Say you want to create a slate type landscape, (which would look cool with what you’ve done so far) is to mix slate powder with white cement. This can be darkened if you want with your grey cement. Obviously experimentation is the key to get the colour you require. As for worrying about Ph levels, I don’t. I simply stick them outside to get weathered for a few months. This is one I did. The slab was created at a workshop on club night.![7%20march%202017%20448|690x388]
I really like the flow of the raised cliff in that. Nice. What was the mould/form you used for this?
In a quick update, it seems that there’s no health impact on the trees with the cement (at least after a few months outside), and they gave the following response:
A couple of weeks ago, I then watched the update and pruning/styling of the Mirai nursery stock juniper rock planting. That was a genuine inspiration, particularly Ryans positive attitude to producing the highest quality from whatever material is available, and pushed me to prune and shape the trees.
The re-shaping of the top tree was vital i think, as it showed very little movement, considering the weatherbeaten, gouged appearance of the rock. The pruning on the smaller second tree was primarily to get rid of future flaws, i’ll have to build that shape later on regrowth i think:
You’ll see that i’ve tried to make the pads perpendicular to the direction gouges in the ‘rock’, to indicate constant buffetting from the same wind, rather than perpendicular to the vertical.
I hope this adds a bit of extra dynamism.
You may just be able to see some small white chips from where the cement had cracked off, and ill have to do some repairs. But im looking forward to continuing to improve this one…and hopefully start building another couple, with a few of the lessons I’ve learnt on this thread.
It’s coming along really nicely. The one I posted was a tad overgrown but it looked better in real life. Now I have to apologise. Twice I’ve replied to your posts and each time have mentioned Ph. What I forgot to add was that cement fondue is calcium aluminate based and not calcium silicate (derived from limestone) as ordinary cement. I have taken mine apart now as the small imitation fern was so invasive it lifted all the Keto from the structure.
ok, an update to this rock planting. I did a fair bit of pruning and refined the trees a bit, stablised the moss a bit and added a third (unstyled) tree on the top/back:
I also placed the whole thing in a wooden tray (heavily varnished, though i might opt for a paint, thinking slate grey atm). The little lake is a former shaving mirror embedded. Now i have a beard. Thats commitment, at least.
in the background ive been working on an even bigger project. I decided i wanted a full forest planting on a rock. So went back to carving more polystyrene (very cheap/free of charge…) slabs with a knife this time. I tried crinkling tin-foil on the surface to add texture, and then cement over it, but the cement kept cracking off. Instead i just stipled the cement on with a brush to create texture. isnt too bad.
the main body of the rock was two large box-shaped polystyrene pieces which i cemented together, and then added the external surface of slabs which disguise most of the boxyness. Then i left at the bottom of the garden for 4 months and added a lot of moss:
I then got 9 little european hornbeams (£3.50 - 4.50 each) and planted them like a forest (as much as could trying for perspective, spacing and consistency of movement):
Really enjoyed making this one, and i like it anyhow. I think total cost was low too, with about 35 quid on trees, 6 quid on a bag of cement and 25 quid on the table top. under £100 isnt too bad.
This took hours and hours over days and weeks, but i think everyone could have a go of a project like this. Working on the rock also stopped me giving too much unwanted attention to my trees.
