FAIRY GARDENS IN THE SNOW!

Here's a first- making hypertufa in the snow!  The last creative workshop of the winter/spring program went on in spite of our snowy environment.   Of course, it helped to be able to work INSIDE the studio.  This last group did a great job making their own fairy gardens.  We discovered that the mixing of recycled paper pulp for the hypertufa was made much easier by using very hot water in mixing shredded paper and the sand with the bonus of warming up chilly fingers!

Molds of the different parts of the fairy garden need to be made and assembled. We used rigid construction insullation foam because it is lightweight, strong and easy to work. A separate mold was created for the the base trough, a house...

...and a roof.

Janet uses her finger tips to cast the small dimensions of the house mold using hypertufa.

Lori puts the finishing touches on the rim of her trough, the large hypertufa planter that holds the fairy garden.

Studio Assistant Matt's a great guy with a terrific attitude. He helped participants cast their molds and mixed up three huge batches of tufa for everyone.

Note how neatly this mold has been hand cast by Bob.   He will have very little clean up to do when he unmolds his house.  Picture-perfect for certain!