Hello all,

As a newbie I've been waiting to make something out of hypertufa all summer and finally got my chance two days ago. My first mistake was following a recipie that made a VERY large batch. Luckily I was able to use it all up and made 3 different items. Here's the problem which just dawned on me today. I realized that in my concern over being soooo careful with the Portland cement (the safety issues with it that is), and in reading two different procedures of hypertufa "how to's" (guess that got me a little confused), I added the water before mixing the cement into the vermiculite and peat moss. I had mixed the latter two together first (along with a handful of fibre mesh) then put the cement into a well in the center. Even though I did not realize my mistake at the time I mixed it all very thoroughly although I was breaking up small balls of cement as I worked.

My concern and question is this...will this cure properly or will I have chunks or pieces of tufa falling off because the cement was not properly mixed in? After two days the tufa is already quite hard - not sure how hard it's supposed to feel after that time? I have it all covered and am misting it twice daily. I sure hope it's going to hold together, if it doesn't I just wasted an afternoon but I guess..."live and learn"! Any knowledge on this would be appreciated.