The-Artistic-Garden’s Blog

A Frustrated Hypertufa Trough Maker Seeks Helpful Advice

I received an email this week asking me:

A friend and I tried one of your basic hypertufa recipes without adding the fiber mesh. Our results are very crumbly. I think we goofed by not using it, right? Where does one find fiber mesh? NewLearner

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My reply:
Hi NewLearner:

I hate to say it, but I don’t believe the lack of fiber mesh in your basic recipe was the cause for a crumbly failure. Sounds like the amount of water you used and/or wrong proportions of ingredients was your problem.

You didn’t tell me the “basic” ingredients you used, nor the ratios. Too much or too little water is often the cause of failed hypertufa recipes. Sometimes too much of one of the dry ingredients can be the culprit. Since I wasn’t there to observe you mixing up the recipe, I can’t be more specific in figuring out the cause.

I suggest you (re)read this article: Hypertufa Recipe Mixing Guidelines.

About where to find the fiber mesh – you can check with commercial concrete companies if you cannot find it in retail stores that have a good assortment of concrete products. Fiber mesh can sometimes be hard to find in certain areas of the country. I also suggest you Google “fiber mesh for concrete” and many results will come up and you’ll find online sources.

Also read the blog post I wrote on just this subject: locating silica fume and poly fibers. I believe you’ll find it quite informative and helpful.

Remember … hypertufa “success” often takes a couple failed attempts. Really. Portland cement can be temperamental to work with. Most crafters really have to get the hang of the correct water ratio in relation to the portland cement, along with following proper curing methods. Keep trying your hand at small projects (less wasted materials) until you believe “you’ve GOT IT!”

Sometimes These 2 Ingredients are Hard to Get Your Hands On

I often get asked by many hypertufa and concrete garden art enthusiasts where to find “silica fume” and “poly fibers”, also referred to as “fiber mesh”. Depending where you live, it may or may not be very easy to lay your hands on this stuff.

PLEASE NOTE! Silica fume is sometimes confused with fumed silica (also known as colloidal silica and pyrogenic silica). These materials have different derivations, technical characteristics, and applications. Silica fume is very fine like beach sand and completely black.

Silica fume and poly fibers are used as strengtheners, normally referred to as fortifying agents. They help make your cured hypertufa or concrete object stronger. Often, you’ll want to use one or the other for items such as stepping stones or very thin spheres. I do have some recipes sitting on my website that I’ll refer you to, in case you aren’t familiar with recipes and/or projects that utilize silica fume or poly fibers. Here are three of them:

Hypertufa Recipe Using Fiber Mesh (Poly fibers)  (refer to last recipe on the page)
Hypertufa Sculpture Recipe
Concrete Recipe For Very Thin-walled Spheres

How to Locate Silica Fume and/or Poly Fibers

My first suggestion is to call commercial concrete supply companies in your area. Many times they will have either fortifier, and will be willing to sell you a couple of pounds. (You don’t need much of either one in a recipe – unless I guess you’re making something collosal in size! ).

I’ve even read of people walking away with some for free, after explaining to the sales people what they will be doing with the silica fume or poly fibers. Seems the sales people get a kick hearing that Portland cement is going to be mixed with peat moss and water to make an odd concoction called hypertufa!

My next suggestion is to do what else … that’s right, find suppliers who sell via their online store. In doing a Google search today, I found EpoxyUSA.com carries poly fibers for a very reasonable price on the Fillers-Thickeners webpage. Note – I have no affiliation nor experience ordering from them. Perhaps you should contact them first to check shipping charges, etc. before you order. But I’ll wager a guess they are legitimate and probably fine to deal with.

Finding silica fume online seems to be more of a daunting task. I did find this link to the SilicaFume.org webpage. If nothing else, call them and see where you can purchase a small quantity online.

So, there you have it. I hope I’ve helped you locate two ingredients that do help make a difference in strengthening concrete and hypertufa recipes.

Please Explain Deflatable Balls for Making
Hypertufa or Concrete Hollow Garden Spheres

I received an email from Debbie asking me:

In the instructions given for the Hypertufa Hollow Garden Sphere, one of the materials needed was a deflatable ball.

Can you advise me where I would get such a ball? What size does it come in and what type material is it made of? (Guess you can see I don’t have any young kids at home nor any grandchildren. )

Thanks for your help. Oh by the way, I love the project info you send. My neighbor and I have tried a lot of the projects you have sent to me in your great little Newsletter. Debbie

My reply:

Hi Debbie:
I’ll be happy to explain this for you. You can use a plastic blow-up (inflatable) beach ball like the kind you’d toss back and forth to each other while frolicking on the beach which you can buy at most drug stores, Wal-Mart, etc. Just depends upon the climate zone where you live as to whether you’ll be able to find them year-round. Stores don’t usually stock them during frigid winter months. Or of course I am sure you’ll find them on the internet. And they’re pretty cheap.

The main thing, though about using these balls for a hollow sphere mold (form) is that they can deflate S..L..O..W..L..Y and without it being noticeable in the beginning. Most normally this is due to a pin-sized hole that allows the air to escape. I know in my case, as a kid, sometimes I’d find that my new beach ball was pretty much totally deflated within about a day. This was probably caused by a tiny pinhole leak.

Now … add the weight of a heavy, wet ‘tufa or concrete recipe pressing down on the ball. The weight helps to accelerate the air escaping. Some crafters have reported that when they came back the next day to inspect their sphere to see how it was curing – yikes! They found a pretty sad looking deflated and slumped down sphere.

Now … perhaps this “disaster” might prove to be an interesting sculptural form that once cured can be painted and utilized in some other fashion, but let’s just say most folks end up having to trash the project. So … “cheap” beach balls are quite OK most of the time and hold air without causing a project failure … but just be aware of the potential deflation problem.

Or you can get one of the big heavy-rubber inflatable types that people use to exercise with. These can be found at Wal-Mart or Target in the exercise depts. (as examples) and just the other day I saw some at T.J. Maxx for sale. This size ball would of course be used if you want to make a really big garden sphere. But deflation problems from small leaks most likely won’t be an issue for you.

Now, there are other smaller, sturdier type balls you could use, but you asked about inflatable/deflatable, so I am mentioning the most often used balls. You want something with a stem you can blow into or can hook-up an air supply to for automatic inflation. And the stem allows you to deflate the ball easily after your sphere has cured enough.

Good luck with your hollow sphere project!

A Reader Asks Construction Questions About A
Decorative Cast Leaf Fountain

I received an email from Jan R. asking me:

Hi there, I want to make a hypertufa leaf or concrete leaf fountain. After the leaves are made how would I form the fountain and to what? Got any ideas? Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Jan

My reply:

Hi Jan:
Thank you for contacting me about making a concrete or hypertufa leaf fountain, which is a fun project to do. The answer to your questions will be rather difficult ones to answer at this point, as you’ve not told me how the leaves are to catch and/or collect the water; how many levels you want; or what sort of base you want the fountain to set on, to name a few.

Make sure you read through the ins and outs of working with hypertufa and concrete for leaves. Here are a couple of articles on my website that will be of help: Leaf Casting with Hypertufa: Tips for Success, and Concrete Leaf Casting: Super Tips From the Pro’s.

There are many variables I’d have to know in order to walk you through this, but basically here is what I believe will help you think this project through:

• Most crafters make two or three leaves set in a tiered fashion, and at angles to each other, which allows the water to spill over the edge(s) and finally collect in the bottom leaf.
• Joining all the pieces can be accomplished by mixing up a fresh batch of your recipe with bonding agent included in it and some bonding agent also painted onto the areas of where everything will be joined for good measure. (You would have to wait until the leaves were cured enough to be handled before you start joining them.)
• You need to seal the concrete or hypertufa leaves with a water-proofing sealant.
• You need to know how to install a simple pump in order to get the water flowing back up to the top-most leaf; you also need to get a pump that has the right GPH rating to effectively keep the water flowing.
• Another consideration – WHERE are you going to hide the pump and cords? Inside the base, or …? I wouldn’t think you want the pump and connections visible.
• You will need a GFI electrical connection available to plug in the motor for the pump. **There’s no side-stepping this requirement – water + electricity do NOT mix!

To learn about GPH and GFI, read this article on my website. Skim about half-way down: Garden Spitters Installation: GPH & GFI Considerations.

This is as specific as I can be for you at this time as I’ve no clue as to what actual shape/form you want your fountain to have. Nor how large you foresee the thing to be. What kind of leaves do you plan on using? Huge gunneras or something medium sized?

But, I do hope these tips help get you to thinking and sketching your ideas out on paper. Though not the easiest project, it is quite doable. Obviously your creative skills will really come into play with a project like this!

Good luck. I really hope you are successful with this leaf fountain project … personally I think there’s nothing nicer than the sound of trickling water in my garden.