A Fascination With Concrete

We've all become aware of just how easy it is to do plaster stenciling and mold castings with plaster.....but my newest fascination is right along those lines....playing with concrete!

Take a trip to the VictoriaLarsen.Com website for really different and exciting ideas and products to decorate your home! Raised plaster stencils, wall mural stencils and beautiful cast plaster molds for interiors that are so easy, inexpensive to do and drop dead gorgeous!

The internet is such a cool thing...isn't it?
You can learn literally anything you want by spending a few hours perusing. Once you start however, it's hard to stop!

My latest subject has been various forms of decorative concrete.
I'm not talking about staining here as much as I am creating the look of stone with light weight concrete.

Tajmawall.com is a fascinating website that you absolutely have to visit! With free how to videos and the coolest stamp for creating the look of wood graining right in to concrete! Your mind will start reeling with the possibilities!

Imagine being able to create beautiful stone looks with real concrete! Interior and exterior applications.

Concrete is really no different than playing with joint compound or plasters. The applications are pretty much the same.

My own Mother, Fay Forsythe wanted large boulders in her landscaping. So she and my sister Lynn Low decided that since boulders were expensive to purchase and a buger to try to move around the yard, that they would make their own! I was amazed at the result!

After fashioning the size and shape of the rock out of chicken wire, they began the process of padding it with various dried grasses then covering it with pre-tinted concrete. They had a blast and everyone believes this boulder is totally real!

They made some smaller boulders that "used" to sit not far away but alas, they were stolen in the night by faux rock thieves who must have thought they were pretty darned cool!

As I find new and interesting websites on concrete I'll keep you posted!

Recipes for Lightweight Concrete from MoldCreations.Com

Recipe 1
   - 1 quart of water
   - 2 quarts portland cement
   - 3 quarts sand
   - 3 quarts perlite
In a mixing container (bucket) mix all dry ingredients together. Next in a separate bucket add 3/4 of your water next slowly mix in your dry ingredients until you have good workable consistency. Continue to add the rest of your water until you reach brownie mix consistency.

Recipe 2
   - 1 quart of water
   - 2 quarts Portland cement
   - 2 quarts sand
   - 3 quarts vermiculite
In a mixing container (bucket) mix all dry ingredients together. Next in a separate bucket add 3/4 of your water next slowly mix in your dry ingredients until you have good workable consistency. Continue to add the rest of your water until you reach brownie mix consistency.

Comments

[Paulette]

Hi Victoria,

I am a long time customer and fan of yours. I am about to start working on a faux stone indoor project using your stacked stone stencil. I have done a number of sample boards before I start on the real thing. However, I can't get the coloring in the stone to looks just right. It looks fake. Please tell me how to get the colors right, the technique right, and the materials. I would really like them to look as realistic as possible. Thanks!

Response:
Hi Paulette,

The trick is to add 2-3 different colors (for instance, deep brown, rust and black) to the white joint compound, stir the colors only enough to where you see them "swirled". Not at all "mixed" in to one color.

When you smear the mixture over the stencil, it then blends better but again, you don't want to over work it. The more you work it, the more "muddy" it will appear.

That's the "easy" way....
But let's say you get it on the wall and some areas are great and others appear a bit "muddy".
Go back then with a sponge (small one so that you can control it) and streak the stones with the paint colors you used (mixed with a little glaze so that they are more translucent). You can even use white if that seems to be the color element that's missing.

Try a test board using both methods and with just a hint of practice, remembering always "not" to over blend either in the container when adding colors or when you are smearing the stencil, and you should come out with crisp, beautiful, very natural looking stone.

Let me know how it turns out!

Victoria