My daughter works for a vet and keeps me supplied with small to very large styrofoam containers (and lids too!). They get drugs shipped to them in these. Check with your local vet ,,,,,they just toss them out
Marcia

Good morning debstuart1(from here in Nevada)

From the internet: www.laticrete.com
I find the following:

3. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
LATICRETE 1500 Sanded Grout is a premium, factory prepared
grout designed to be mixed with water.
LATICRETE 1500 Sanded Grout is formulated from a blend of

high strength portland cement,
graded aggregates,
polymers
and color-fast pigments

and provides a grout joint that is dense, hard and durable.

"Graded aggregates," I believe could be fine sand - from the name "sanded grout."
IÂm not sure of the cost of this product verses a "home brew" but more often than not specialty products cost more. From the listed ingredients I think you can do well to make your own mix. It will also give you the freedom to experiment with additional or different aggregates.

This product does not appear to be made to stand alone (For grout joint widths of 1/16" (1.5 mm) up to 1/2")and will probably not make a very strong project by itself.

Sherri Warner Hunter uses a polymer-fortified concrete (don't be fooled by the word concrete) over polystyrene foam. You might get some ideas from her book "Creating with Concrete." It is an excellent book and might just save you some money on other projects.

Experiment and have fun.
Robert

Grocery stores get fish in "fish boxes" which are large styrofoam containers. Ask for some in the fish department. My dh was putting some kind of stucco over the exposed top part of the foam insulation that he had just put along our concrete foundation and he stuccoed one of these boxes for me. It came out great, tho I'm not crazy about the color. It is about the size of a small window box. I was told that one can deform the styrofoam first using a heat gun to get a more stone like shape. I actually went out and bought a heat gun special. But the fumes of the melting styrofoam are so bad, even outside, that I couldn't stand it!
But the box works fine. Just remember to poke holes in the bottom.
have fun, kathy

thanks for the responses!

I think the leaf is pretty nice looking and we'll see how it stands up. The texture is much, much finer that my hpertufa mixture. I have to go searching now for the methods people use to paint this kind of thing. I never paint my hypertufa (well, maybe nobody does!)

I am excited to go in search of foam boxes now that I know where to look.

Incidentally, I am going to cover some rigid plasic pots w. this mix and see what that produces. I am looking for inexpensive natural looking containers in which to put small succulents to sell at my stand at the farmer's market in town and the "stone" look would be a good fit.

Will let you know!

Deborah

Deborah...I'm not sure why you prefer to cover the styrofoam and plastic pots, rather than use them as molds. I have used a large styrofoam lid off a frozen case of meat for the past year. As well as molded along the sides of a small bathroom sink, plastic planter pots, and a myriad of other things. I think most of us hypertufa artists are pretty much "mold junkies". Anyway, this is a trough type birdbath I made, and they hold up well, as well as hold water. If I want it to hold water, I just use a concrete type waterproof sealer. I sometimes have to coat it several times, but that's no problem. Anyway, good luck.
Here's my tufa birdbath trough. I etched in a primitive spiral sign in the bottom. Oftentimes, I press in a leaf or two to create a fossilized look.

{{gwi:70143}}

Nice trough w. spiral! Yes, I've made lots of similar things in all kinds of molds and am happy with them. The smallest I've ever made is round and about a foot across. I've done some quite big ones using my biggest trug as a mold and it is great but permanent as it's too heavy to lug around!

The advantage of the grout spread over syrafoam is that it is very light and also the grout goes on thin. So if I cover, say, a small sytrafoam container (like 4 by 6 inches and about 4 inches deep) it isn't clunky looking. It also appears to dry withing 24 hours so I can whip these things out for farmer's mk. containers for little plants. So my thinking is it will allow me to make v. small containers - which I think would look odd w. regular hypertufa.

And I think the idea of covering the big styrafoam boxes is that they are, of course, very light. I'm not looking to abandon the traditional method, because it's worked really well for me using forms. But I am interested if I can make a really light trough in this manner on a big box. I'll see how the small ones hold up!

The hosta leaf I did in in grout material is lovely and v. fine in texture vs. the larger one I did w. hypertufa. I like them both...they are quite different. But I am completely new to the leaf thing!

Thanks again for all input. Much appreciated!

Deborah

Wow, sounds like a good idea to me. If you have a good source for containers and it works, sounds like a good solution for the farmers market. I, too, do a weekly public market and I am delighted that people like the primitive stone look. My son-in-law does bamboo and with the combination of materials, we have a very interesting booth. It's fun to make a little $$$ doing what you love to do.

Update: The leaf looks quite nice as an ornament in the garden but the small trough I made looks pretty silly. I much prefer hypertufa. Putting the mixture on by hand results in a kind of lumpy surface that looks like it was done by a kid in a bad craft class! But...since the grout compound is quite smooth compared to the rougher look of hypertufa, I am going to try a coupls of other things which I can cast - I think this is a better use for this stuff. I guess I won't try the large trough.

Be sure you seal that grout really well!