Rick,
The site is great!!!
I sent you an e-mail with photos of a project I am working on, but not yet complete.
Thanks and thank your wife too!
Nice to see you posting here, I know you have some wonderful ideas and well thought out items.
Dena

WOW! Those products must require quite substantial investment in molding materials - but I can't imagine how they achieve the colours that they're turning out. No wonder they're not eager to tell everybody how they do it.

Did your wife get a price list from them? My guess is that their products are quite costly.

She looked at the prices briefly-it was one of many stops for her that day.As to colours,i note that they're using Davis,which I've used a lot.Good success,but not cheap!!And,you're right about those molds.Very large,very expensive for sure!!

They won best of show at the SF Garden show this year. Deservedly so, in my opinion! One of the guys there described how they go out to old quarries in the Sierra foothills and make castings of huge rock outcroppings and then cart them back to the Bay Area. Pretty amazing work. I spent hours studying their display.
GB

Rick, what a great site. Thanks to you for posting and your wife for visiting. This has many good ideas for "creters".

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the link.

As a follow up to my original note,I recently had a chance to visit the store,only to find that it was closing!The artist had moved almost all of his pieces out,but got to fondle a few pieces.They are HEAVY!!It appears that rebar is used,along with a plastic or fibreglass type mesh,and some diamond mesh as well.Later the same day,out near Sebastapol,we saw a garden centre with a whole bunch of his pieces,including his prize winning ones,now looking a little forlorn.But,some neat work wth cactuses and other stuff.Quite amazed to see it all.
Anyway,another stimulus to keep up the work!
Cheers from here

Wow x 100,000! lol I love that site. Did you find out where he is moving to?

The link below is the pic of my favourite thing on his site!

Marly

Here is a link that might be useful: outdoor spa

Ohhhhhhh!!!

Marly, I want that in my yard! Got just the right place for it...

Rick, were those pieces looking forlorn cause they were old and weatherbeaten or cause they had lost their daddy?

Their"daddy"was going to arrange to move the Sebastapol pieces shortly after we were there.But,"daddy" would need the services of a flatdeck and a crane;these suckers were heavy.While at the storefront that was being cleaned out,I watched at least 5-6 guys manhandle a nice piece about 8 ft wide by that high and about 6 inches thick.The art is great and with our big yard,it would be a killer look.But,I'm not into the heavy side of our craft.I'm gettin' too old for that stuff.Give me lightweight!
Cheers from here

Thanks for the posting Rick.
Do you have engineering specs for hypertufa.
I've made a column for a staue 5ft high 16 inches round with a 8 inch hollow core.So far it's holding up.
To make a wall how thick does the hypertufa need to be and how high can you go?
~Debbie~

Debbie you have to define hypertufa and your recipe.
REAL hypertufa is going to get weaker with time as the peat moss degrades. The more peat the quicker the degradation.

I've been useing a mix of
1 part cement
1 1/2 part peat moss
1 1/2 part perlite
I want to make some more bigger pieces so should I cut back on the peat.
Thanks david
~Debbie~

Hi Debbie
That is a pretty weak recipe and if your perlite is of the larger garden variety that makes it even weaker.
If you want your piece to last you might consider adding sand and a fine grade of vermiculite in place of perlite.
If you like the heavy peat and perlite look you could consider making a strong sandy layer first then applying your peat/perlite recipe over that. Then as your peat degrades for that great aged look the strength is not compromised.

I wouldn't trust a hypertufa support column that doesn't include a couple parts of sand because it will fail eventually, especailly in an area of freeze thaw.

Thanks David
Should I change my mix for big pieces to
1 part cement
1 1/2 part vermiculite
1 1/2 part sand
For my next big column if I made a column with a sandy layer (Use a fast form for a mold), let it set a bit, then remove the fast form. Surround it with a bigger diameter fast form then surround it with a peat mix - will the layer the layers will stick together you think?
~Debbie~

Debbie that is a pretty good recipe but it will be much heavier, but you probably already know that.:)
I can't help you with a layered column because I've never tried that. That could be tricky but if you are adding your second mix right away you should have no problems with the layers sticking.
For a column you might be better to just use one recipe and add strength by using rebar instead.

Thanks david,
I'll try the rebar. I have a pipe core for support
(8 inches in diameter).
My outside form is 16 inches. So I'll put rebar around the column.
How close together do I need to put rebar?
~Debbie~

Hi Deb
I'm confused. Do you leave the pipe in the column?
If not and considering your column walls are 4 inches thick you might be better off wrapping the center core with stucco wire maybe a couple or three inches than your center core.
This would work better than rebar I suspect. Cheaper as well.
Sorry I can't help you much but I've never made hollow columns.

I left the center pipe in the first column I made.
I was going to leave it in again for my next one.
I like the idea of stucco wire better than rebar.
This is a pic (sorry about the bad hair day)
of the outside form I used. To the right is the pipe I used for core.
I'll post a better pic when I have the face on.
I'll try the stucco wire next column.
Thanks for your help.

{{gwi:68365}}