I needed to make some new concrete sculpting tools. I cut the bristles from a dog brush and glued them to the handle from a sponge 🤞
The small bronze root left a stain on the seat. Oops. I expect I can grind it out.
Work work work
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#20
The hard work is done. I did a little sanding on the seat so it won’t snag anyone clothes and then I was able to get some help moving it to a place where I can stand back and look at the work.
Front and reflection in the pond
Back view
Bronze
Lovebirds back
Left side view
Left back leg
Back right leg
Another view of the back right legs
Back right view of right legs
Back branch
Back left where back branches and legs connect
Front right legs - I love their hug
the seat texture
A piece of metal that was in my Dad’s ashes and his last name - Travis carved to the right of the metal bolt. I am guessing it is from one of his four hip replacements.
Griffin and Alex after their vows. - the lovebirds January 3, 2018
They will be in Houston for two weeks for Sage and Cameron Cuenods legal wedding vows June 12, 2020.
I Am looking forward to showing it to them. And I would like their opinion regarding a stain/patina.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#18
It turns out I did the first finish coat in white concrete. I have decided to put another coat on in the great concrete.
Here you can see the difference between the white and the grey Portland concrete.
I also have a repair to make on a back leg.
Repair made
The new underside top coat with personalization note for The newly weds.
The year the married 1/3/2018 and there names griffin Joseph Klement and Alexandra Marie Groome Klement
With love from me- Mom -cindee Travis Klement and Curtis Joseph Klement
The inspiration is from my grandparents yearbook page so I added my maiden name to the left of my name. I put the Klement last name between both sets of names.
Adding a stump to this root. I am on the fence on this.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#15
Today I poured 30 lbs. of white concrete and 29.5 lbs. of grey Portland for the seat. In the mix was .5 lbs. of the ashes of Robert Ira Travis, my dad. He was born on December 10, 1927 he passed away March 24, 2018. When I measured out the ashes thIs small metal piece was in his ashes. I think it must have been part of one of his four hip replacements or two knee replacements. It was like finding the toy in a box of cracker jacks. I think Griffin and Alex will enjoy it embedded in their piece.
Bolt, name and ashes of R.I. Travis.
I used the white concrete to create motion in the old wood.
I went a little crazy
The seat has lots of rings from burls in the plank. Griffin and Alex love bugs and mushrooms (the fruit of fungi) both of which cause burls. The seat of their bench is riddled with big burls.
A sweet knot with some severe old wood cracks.
Once the piece hydrates for 5 days I will take a sander and smooth down the seat.
I gave the birds a knot to perch on.
Another view of Bob Pa’s moment in the bench.
Every few hours I check on the marks to make sure they have not filled in. There is a lot of concrete on the seat and the white concrete is taking a long time to set.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#14
I was not happy with the results of last Thursday's work on the upper branches. The concrete was not sticking to the scratch coat. Afterwards I went through the past blog posts for this piece and this is not the first time I have had trouble with the cement sticking. I made note that the liquid part of the concrete mix was too old. Good to know, the best part of a blog is the documentation of the work. As a result of the old liquid the branches ended up lacking detail. That is what happens when one takes multiple year's to finish one project. Today's work looks better. It does have it's share of wormholes and I love wormholes. I am a sucker for any piece of old wood eaten up by worms. That is the beauty of old wood.
Wormholes and knots
Below is a photo journal of the process.
Mixing the wet part of the concrete mix.
Mixing concrete is very similar to baking, you have to measure every ingredient precisely and mix them in the correct order.
A sound concrete mixer is a must; hand-mixing concrete is just too physical. I love this machine. Behind the mixer you can see roots for future bronze pieces drying on the plant trellis
Fifteen minutes of mixing the dry ingredients.
While I wait for the dry ingredients to mix I paint a bonding agent onto the scratch coat.
A close up of the white bonding agent after application.
All branches are coated with the bonding agent and drying while I check on the cement mixer.
When you look closely you can see the fibers I put in the concrete last week. The fiberglass fibers help the new layers of concrete bind to the last coat.
Just like in baking, you pour just a little wet ingredients in the middle of the dry ingredients.
I clip a cardboard door to the mixer, to keep the dust down.
The mixer kicks up a lot of dust.
Even before ppe was a thing, I wore a respirator and a head covering when mixing cincrete. There is nothing like shampooing concrete dust out of your hair.
Here the mix is starting to stick together and make marble and golf size balls. Ut us about 1/2 way ready.
Ready to start applying the concrete to the branches.
First, I mix a little concrete with the white bonding agent and make a slurry. I paint the slurry mud into the branches to help the first coat stick. Then I wait for it to get tacky.
Another detail look. Some of the fibers from the prior coat are still sticking out. That is ok, when I am finished I will take a small torch Abd burn them off.
My hydrating tent is getting a bit caddy campus.
Five more days of hydrating and then I pour the cement for the seat.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#13
Last Thursday while in Coronavirus 19 quarantine/social distancing I poured a top coat for the upper branches. I actually mixed all the ingredients over a year ago and then got caught up in making the pieces for my Hurricane Harvey Heroes exhibition 51.88” -Art of Resilience. The bucket of dry mix sat by the cement mixer untouched.
The piece will hydrate for 5 days. If it dries too quickly the concrete will crack. I (actually we, Curtis helped me) build a cube out of pvc. I covered it in heavy sheets of plastic that I cut and sewed to fit the cube. I then installed two construction zippers to allow me to get in and check the humidity. I put a humidifier in the cube with the bench, the humidifier keeps the concrete very moist.
Today I started to prepare the dry ingredients so that I can mix the concrete tomorrow morning.
I prepared 30 lbs. of dry ingredients, 10 pounds of fly ash and 20 lbs. of white concrete. And then I panicked - is the piece in white concrete or is it in grey? With the fly ash mixed with the concrete and the piece being wet, I can not determine what color it is. Yikes! this is a problem. I decided to mix a second bucket of dry ingredients. Tomorrow I will be ready for anything.