JULY HYPERTUFA STUDIO

Our July Hypertufa Studio kept participants hopping.  Each person made 5 completed projects during the the two-day,  9-12 o'clock sessions.

 The garden is bursting with all sorts of nicely veined leaves for leaf casting.

 Here a bird water basin has been formed over a hump mold of sand.

 Patti is using a concrete mixture that approximates clay for fine detail sculpting.

David went a step further and made his garden gnome into a gargoyle with large pointy ears.

Hand sculpted stepping stones and two types of planting containers were also created by each participant in this studio.   That's a lot of cool projects in just one studio!    

Join us for our final Hypertufa Studio of the year, Saturday and Sunday mornings, September 10/11 , 9-12 o'clock.  

Visit: peaceinmygarden to enroll.

FALL STUDIOS AND WORKSHOPS

10HS2-Hypertufa Studio, 9-12  on September 5 /6  The Hypertufa Studio offers a hand-on experience making Steve’s “green” version of HYPERTUFA, a mix of cement, sand, recycled paper fiber and water.  You’ll mix, mold and sculpt concrete and hypertufa into unique and functional garden art including a box planter, a bird puddler, cast leaves, a stepping stoned and a sculpted garden gnome. Most participants take home 4-5 finished projects from this two-day session on Saturday and Sunday mornings.                                     ​21OCW - Collage Stone Creative Workshop   on Thursday evening, September 10   7-9 Create your own Collage Stone in this Thursday evening session.  You'll put together your mold, poor concrete and put together your own composition using odds and wends from our studio along with marbles, coins, keys screws, shells...you name it.  You can even bring stuff you want to preserve as a keepsake and incorporate it into your stone.  This makes a great group activity too!  You'll take it home with you the same evening! ​ ​ SAVE THE DATES!  KOOL YULE Our Holiday Sale KOOL YULE opens  Thursday, November 5th and runs every weekend up to December 6th. Visit from the summersgarden.blogspot.com  for details.

SCULPTING CONCRETE LIKE CLAY

If concrete is mixed on the drier side and includes only sand as aggregate, it can be used for sculpting using the same techniques in sculpting clay.  Of course concrete will never be as plastic as clay and you have a short window of time to do your work, but it is worth the effort and works well for our garden projects.

 It can be used to make amazing life-like  cast  leaves....

 ...and accepts all manner of pressed textures just like clay.

 Tina and Helen are using concrete to sculpt faces on garden gnomes.

 Letter stamps can be used to create words and phrases...

 ...and clay tools work equally week for sculpting in concrete.

Leftover tiles from a bathroom project add color and interest to Tori's hand-sculpted stepping stone.

 Each of these stepping stones was made by hand...

...by this happy group!

SUMMER HYPERTUFA AND HANDMADE PAPER STUDIOS START IN JUNE

LEAF PLATTERS-SPAS FOR THE BIRDS!

Birds love to have water nearby in every season, but in the summertime, they seem to especially enjoy water for frequent drinking and refreshing splashes.  A leaf platter water basin is ideal for this purpose because the water is shallow and the decorative leaves attached to the side made the perfect sundeck for the birds to preen and relax.  In our Hypertufa Studio you learn to make your own leaf platter. This is a creative, fresh twist on typical bird baths and a point of interest in your garden that's far and above typical bird bath projects.



You begin with a stroll through the gardens to collect the leaves you'll use in your casting. My favorite leaves for this project are hydrangea leaves because they can be found in multiple sizes are tough and have deep veining on the back. We cast individual leaves on smaller mounds of sand to use as the ornaments for the leaf platter.

The leaves are arranged face-side down on a mound of damp sand.  This hump of sand makes the bowl shape to hold the water in the finish water basin.  The leaves can be arranged in an accidental or an ordered fashion.  Once the mound of sand is covered with leave and thin layer of concrete is pressed onto them to hold them down and capture a perfect impression of their shape and veins in the concrete. 

To finish the platter, a thick layer of hypertufa is patted onto the layer of concrete to add support  and shape the outside of the plater.  The "sandwich of the concrete and the hypertufa make a perfect combination.  The concrete captures the leaf  detail and allows the basin to hold water. The hypertufa adds shape and heft without the weight.Usually basin bottoms are left plain but here old rosette irons were used to stamp a design in ot the bottom and wine corks were inserted as feet.Lyn used huge hosta leaves forger large elegant basin.

Caroline and Chris had us make this custom super large leaf basin.  It makes a stunning water feature with or without  a fountain and pump!Don't miss the chance to make your own leaf platter this summer.  

Join us in one of our Hypertufa Studios at From the Summer's Garden.  

Get sign-up info here! This is a great way to reconnect with old friends or enjoy your own personal "staycation." 

HYPERTUFA PROJECT-GRAPELEAF FOUNTAIN

Brenda and her husband grow grapes for Kansas vintners.  She has participated in several Hypertufa Studios and made lots of cool stuff.  Her latest piece is this stunning grape and leaf fountain.  She used a large and small wedge form for the base and upper fountain piece.  Then she cast real grape leaves and sculpted the bunches of grapes from concrete as ornaments.  The pump in the bottom, pumps water up into the upper unit where it trickles out of a hole among the grapes on each of the four sides. Awesome!

YOUR GARDEN GROT CAN HELP YOU THIS HALLOWEEN!

If you made a GROT, (gnarly garden gnome) in one of our HYPERTUFA STUDIOS, you can use it in your Halloween decorating this year. Include it among the pumpkins on your porch. It can also serve as a perfect jack-o-lantern stand.

END OF SEASON HYPERTUFA STUDIO

The last HYPERTUFA STUDIO of the year had very sharp stepping stone makers. They created original designs by hand forming concrete following the lines of their initial sketches.

How many gardeners does it take to mix a bag of concrete?

Kathleen created a heart-shaped stone and decorated it with smaller glass hearts.

Lucy found these awesome glass jewel tiles and cut the sheet into diamonds to

ornament her cross stepping stone.

Finished stepping stones.

As the first step in making my "green" version of HYPERTUFA, the shredded paper must be thoroughly mixed to a pulp. This process can be very therapeutic!

Julie used her expert pie-making skills to finish the edge of her HYPERTUFA planter...

...almost pretty enough to eat!

2009 HYPERTUFA STUDIO 5

The wonderful cooler weather has really affected the curing time of our HYPERTUFA this summer. The hotter the weather, the faster it sets up. We had to wait a bit longer to finish things up in this studios because of the low temps. It was worth the wait as everyone went home happy with their treasures. It just goes to show how making HYPERTUFA is much like baking bread - things turn out a bit differently every time.

Dusty and Phyllis mix up a rich batch of "green" HYPERTUFA. We actually recycled Phyllis's old lesson plans. She retired this spring after teaching and serving as a counselor for many years. She's already begun to do the things she has always wanted to do but could not find the time. Now she's a pro at making HYPERTUFA!

Phyliss may not especially care to eat rhubarb but she certainly loves those leaves! Here she is covering two of them with a concrete mixture to make unique cast serving dishes.

The day after, the rhubarb leaves are carefully removed from the casting.

This water basin uses five cast rhubarb leaves to create flower form.

A free-form sculpted butterfly garden stone.

This free-form stone sports a happy smile which is what you will be doing as you load up your car with all of the projects you've made form the HYPERTUFA Studio. Sign up today!

2009 HYPERTUFA STUDIO 4

We experimented adding dried grass clippings along with the recycled paper during mixing. I knew that using, moist green grass would be trouble because it would seriously effect the curing/setting time of the hypertufa mix. The dried grass mixed in wonderfully, adding a soft, earthy texture to the mix. It did slow the setting process however and we had to wait three days until we could handle the platters and finish them up. Every one turned out well, in fact, they were some of the best we've made! Now we have another "green" use for grass clippings!

Kari adds a border to her leaf platter which features a mini-spa for the birds on one side.

Jan put an island deck in the center of her platter for the birds to enjoy.

The real leaves used to create the desgin have been removed during the cleanup process. Kelly is going to seal her platter and use it as a serving piece. It will make a dramatic centerpiece.

Beau's finished leaf platter.

2009 HYPERTUFA STUDIO 3

Jean's box planter will take about a week to fully set and cure before she can plant it up with her favorite container plants. Because it is hypertufa and breathes, it can stay outside year round.

Kari placed a handprint on the bottom of her leaf platter for nice surprise on the underside...

...a nice signature in this medium.

Beau finishes the rim of her box planter with a nice hand-rolled edge.

Lee helps Kelly position a bike chain in her garden stone for her husband's birthday. He is an avid biker and will really get a kick out of her stone.

Jan likes to boogie to the music as she pats the hypertufa onto her leaf platter. Music aids this process tremendously.

All of these garden stones are sculpted by hand. We also used various sculpture techniques to create our grots, a garden gnome character. First we remove material form the hypertufa blocks we cast the previous day. This makes holes for the eyes and mouth. Then we use thick cement and add on the various features of the face.

"This is how you cut the the mouth..."

"and how you make the nose"

GROTS make wonderful plant stands.