Very impressive! I wish I had your talent. maybe this year I will try spheres!

Lovely job! Do you manage to make the ones with the holes in just one go or do you do the top (or bottom!) and then turn the whole thing over when it's set a bit to finish off?

Thanks for the nice compliments!
chriscarless all Spheres have to be made in 2 sections, make sure the first section is set up enough before turning over to do the other half. Any 'joins' can be sanded down, (I use a broken piece of crete to do this.) All of these have 3 layers of mix so not some thing that can be rushed as each time the ball has to be turned, left to set then carefully turned again. Keep well misted to avoid cracks.

If you put spheres in the search box here you will be able to get lots more instructions. Wendy

chriscarless, as far as you question on the open one, this would all depend on how large you want this opening to be; you also would need to make a dime size hole in the back
(while crete still damp) someplace if you plan to add a water light etc. Hope this help you out. Wendy

Those are very nice! For the one with the mist in it (picture #2717) does that also have water in it - is that what you are referring to as a "water light"? Where do you purchase it?

tufamaster-yes the water light I'm refering is a LED light/fogger especially made to be in water, I got mine at wally-world.

Hi again and thanks for the advice. I've tried making spheres in one go by taping fibreglass mesh all round a ball and hoping that the concrete would hang on to it but it's not been succesful, even aiming for a fairly generous hole. Yours looked so good that I wondered if you'd cracked it, so to speak, but the seamless appearance is clearly the result of lots of painstaking work.

Another question if I may. When I apply more than one layer I always give the base layer a generous dose of very "dilute" concrete to wet it. Do you do this as well?

chriscarless, It sounds like your first mix could have been too wet. I used 'VERSABOND' Fortified Thin-Set Mortar, applied kinda thin but not to wet. I couldn't find the 'Quik-Wall' stuff in my rural area that is often discussed here for these spheres but I'm pretty sure as advised by a lumber yard in the area that this is basically the same thing; I experimented first with a thin layer in a jello fish mold and this mix appeared to be very strong. After applying to the beach ball (not to thin)I waited a while before covering and noticed a few cracks forming in one area and as this mix stays tacky for quite a while I could smooth these cracks over with a wet gloved hand, and covered with plastic wrap. One important thing I did find on the first layer is to be sure the valve on the ball is up at the top, (if you know what I mean here), this way you can gentle inflate or deflate the beach ball a little if cracks do begin to appear and you think that this could be the problem. When finished applying, smooth all over with a wet gloved hand or wet sponge, those little throw away brushes work well for this. This mix didn't let me down and though very sticky to work with (an old metal kitchen spatula worked well for me) this layer was nice and and hard in a couple of days, and ready for the next layer. My DH thought a layer of Portland, (not hypertufa) would add strength to the middle layer, so this is what we did, this also added needed weight, use very fine sand if you go this route. 'All in all' it's a fun experiment and you do need to be in a cool area to do this (no drafts) and I always kept a (motherly lol) check on the sphere during the first few hours so I could correct any problem as it may or may-not arise.
Good Luck and let me know how you do. Is it worth it? Yup! I think so! Wendy

So you used balls as your molds? I have been curious as to where I could find them.

micahgroff, you can find these beach balls any place where childrens toys are sold, after all, aren't we just like kids playing in the mud, lol

Wendy
Your spheres are very nice, love the colors. I have been making these for some time and my problem has been making/obtaining suitable stands for them. In one of your pictures you have a 3 pronged concrete stand, did you make this or purchase it. If you made it I would love to know how!!
CreteMan

Thank you Creteman, I have seen your web page, and love the sphere bird baths also the three tier leaf fountain that you have made, the spheres look so nice and smoo-ooth you do wonderful work and I'm flattered that you are asking me for advice on something. My DH made the pronged stand. The prongs were made in 3 separate pieces using curved pieces of wood slabs to hold the crete-with a re-bar or something similar in the middle for strength. A small base was made separately. After the initial curing of the 3 prongs they were now attached to this base, (re-bar was left exposed on one end of each prong to attach to the base) then using a heavy bucket, (open on each end) to stabilize (my idea here)the tops of the prongs and to separate each one to form the 'holder' to fit the sphere, Next the complete stand was placed in another base mold this one larger to cover the smaller base, this was where the stones were added. Hope you can figure this all out. As you can tell this was not a easy task to accomplish so if you come up with a way to simplify the whole process, please let me before my DH kick me out for all my 'crazy' ideas lol.
At this time I'm finishing up the painting of a very LARGE rhubarb leaf for a 'Youth Leadership' fund raiser in Cedar Rapids -so far it's looking like an eye catcher-hope so they need the $$$$ Wendy

Wendy, be sure to post a picture of the rhubarb leaf too!

CreteMan, would love to see your web-site. Can you post a link?

Thank you for instructions on making the sphere stand. I really like the way the 3 holding pieces curve. I will have to figure out a mold for them, perhaps bender board.
I did a benefit for the Boy's and Girls club in early March, where they have 12, 8ft. by 10ft. booths that are done with garden themes by local gardeners, nurseries and artists. Then they have a Gala Dinner and they are auctioned off. This year I made a bench, large sphere planter w/face on it, 2smaller sphere planters and birdbath, also half sphere shaped. The Nursery I teamed with planted the bowls and did all the accessory plants. The booth was auctioned off for big bucks, which is why we do these community projects.
I hope your leaf goes for super big bucks!!!!

Thanks again Wendy

tufameister, use the webshot link in my first post here and you can now see the finished rhubarb leaf-Wendy

Very nice job! I'm sure it will get lots of bids at the silent auction. I also looked through your other albums. You've been extremely busy! Do you sell your work? If so, at what kind of places? I really like the blue birdbath with the shamrocks on the bottom. Great color choice of the blue. I've always liked blue garden art.

Here's a link to some of the stuff I've made. I too have a bunch from last year that still needs painting. I better get at it soon or I'll have more yet.... (Sorry the pics are so small. I had dial up at the time and it took forever to download anything larger.)

Here is a link that might be useful: webshots

Just looked at the items you have posted on webshots, very nice your blue sphere is especially eye catching! love it! and you picked such a nice shade of blue! I see where you have used metallic paint a lot, which makes those leaves just 'pop'! I really love the amber colored rhubarb leaf, what color metallic did you use on this? I haven't done too much with the metallic paint but after looking at your pretty items I think I may have too!
Thanks for the kind comments. Have sold a couple of items and have given lots a way-they make great gifts people are 'thrilled to bits' when I give them something from my stash. It's possible I may do my first real selling this year at a Garden Event, haven't exactly decided to do so yet, but need to decide before the May 1st. deadline, have lots of leaves and leaf bowls made but need to make a couple of larger items real soon for curing time and paint paint paint!

Wendy, thank you for the nice remarks. Yes, I do use a lot of metallic paints. I've seen some beautiful realistic looking leaves, but I do mostly "fantasy" colors. The amber one is painted using Folk Art paint - first a metallic copper base then washed with metallic inca gold. That one seems to be a favorite of a lot of people, including me.

I'm doing a craft show this fall. I intended to only sell my woodworking projects but the coordinators have also asked me to sell my cement/tufa items. So I need to get painting too. I would think that the cement items would sell better in the spring or summer, but maybe people would be interested in them for Christmas gifts. We'll see.

Have fun playing in the "mud". Look forward to seeing more of your projects!

Good luck with your craft sale! your woodworking items are prety amazing! you must have an 'overload' of talent!
Was wondering where you are in Wisconsin? I see where you are zone 4 also. I live accross the WI/IA bridge a few miles north.

Forgot to give a thank you for the paint colors info' I do have a metallic copper, plus a metallic peridot, this one is a green with much gold, may try this on a small leaf today. thanks again!
As far as favorites-these I like to keep! lol, don't everyone ? :>)-Wendy

It is hard to part with your favorites! But we can always make more I guess. I use the peridot green quite a bit too.

I live more on the east side of Wisconsin - a little southwest of Oshkosh. I have a brother in central Iowa so I probably do pass close to you once in a while.

In Dec. '07 I did a craft sale (wood only) with my brother in Des Moines - he also does woodworking. When people wanted to talk about the items they always talked to him thinking that I was a woman so I probably didn't make any of the items. They were surprised when they found out I did....