Concrete Rock Pot/Slab?

[BE.REAL]

Hello,
Been a crazy month and sorry for not replying sooner, then again, who the hell am I. hahaha
@Leo in N E Illinois and everyone, EVERYTHING he said is all correct. And by all means bust my chops/balls, haha, thats what we do best in Boston. haha.
I should have explained a little more, I added the agricultural lime(had extra bags and was experimenting). From my research, that stuff, and the small amount used, would really only act as a filler, which I was intending to make it denser to assist in the F/T issue. @Leo in N E Illinois correct me if Im wrong(or rather where I was reading was wrong, haha).
But anyway, I have since stopped using it, as I did come across different info, and I finally came across marble dust, which will make it denser, but more importantly, more pliable and I can do some carving, once it goes "off" sets up.
As I mentioned I have experimented, and mixed many things with Portland C. and have tried multiple ways for armatures/structure strength. I have also messed with all kinds of ways to color cement. What I have found....we tend to over complicate/analyze projects. as the old saying goes K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid)
The average B. pot does in no way need added armatures, if your making concrete(adding gravel), no way, and no way needs fibers added. As Leo mentioned, the average concrete is at least 4inches thick. We are talking bonsai pots/slabs, they are making highways, stadiums, 100's of thousands of sq. feet of concrete, to hold up tons of weight. In 80-90% of the info online, is talking about what Leo does/did. But I am now seeing more and more info and video's on "decorative concrete" "sculpting cement" which is a lot closer to what this thread needs, but again that is still bigger, like retaining walls, and pools, and the like. But if you can understand what is being said, and its creditable and logical( hence why I stopped with the A. lime, if you are not 100%, then stop and get too 100% or adapt, almost all the info has nothing to do with small B.pots, but if you break it down to what you need, you can get the info. I have literally been researching/experimenting for the last year or so. Get a life, Right!!! HAHA. But we want our trees to be healthy and protected, so its all worth it, to me.
I will say, and have done myself, at the very least(which turned out to be more than enough) use mortars(just means theres not gravel mixed in with the sand and cement) Use a a ratio of 3:1 sand/Portland, some fortifier mixed in, and your good to go. Or even easier, and only making a few pots, use the premixed stuffed, previously mentioned, all you do is read directions, add water, mix it, and your off and running. No need for ratio's or weight by volume calculations. Ha. If your making a pot/ slab larger than 20in, start thinking of armature or fibers, depending on shaping and thickness. Ohh and speaking of that, if you wanted to make it super strong, make it 4inch thick, you could drive on it, haha, but its not practical, cause it would be too heavy. Hence why, they have come up with many ways to make it lighter. Again I have played with alot of recipes and ways to make my creations strong but light. I should also add I play around with sculpting and other mixed media art. I would have stopped experimenting a LONG time ago, if all I was making was Bonsai pots, because I realized it doesnt need to be complicated. But I am also trying to recreate mother nature and make large boulder sculptures, penjing landscapes, fountains, suiseki, and other forms of abstract art.
I could go on about what I have tried, but im sure most dont want to here some Patriots fan ramble on and on. So keep it simple!

 

[BE.REAL]

Hello, me again!!
Forgot to mention the hypertufa thing, Its does create some cool, aged stone like surface. Which is all I and maybe most of you want, "the look of age". Right, thats what a lot of Bonsai is about. We bend 8 year old conifer branches down, to look like an 80 year old. We carve right into a perfectly healthy 3inch plus thick trunk, to create age, experience, weathered, etc. So I figured I would just recreate the aged look. You make your pot as you would, shape, size, strength, etc. then once is cured(As @Leo in N E Illinois stated, and I researched, 28 days and you have more than 90% curing) You do what is called a slurry coat, but now you can mix some peat moss in it, and you have the aged look, once it weathers. I have even done the slurry coat, P.C. only, and paint it on, slurries need more water than 1 or 2 second coat so you can use a paint brush, its really a coat for "gluing" something on or other decorative affects, but after the watery slurry is on the surface or whatever spots you wanted, I take moss and stick on where I want. Depending on some factors, the moss is either gonna live or die...DUH! haha, but if it lives you have the green moss you wanted and if it dies, you have the perfect substrate to grow moss on.
Again, I am rambling, my bad,
Best to all.

 

[moke]

Here’s a quick and not so great picture of the forest I put into the Crete pot I made. I swear I’ll get a decent picture with my good camera soon as this picture did it no justice. I just wanted to share the progress thus far.

 

[Uncle Robo]

Looks awesome!
Can't wait to see what the good pictures look like.

 

[SU2]

Here’s a quick and not so great picture of the forest I put into the Crete pot I made. I swear I’ll get a decent picture with my good camera soon as this picture did it no justice. I just wanted to share the progress thus far.
View attachment 259021View attachment 259022View attachment 259023

Love it!!! The uniformity of the faux makes it look almost like the lava-rock areas by volcanoes & hot-springs, in any case that is quite the forest there I cannot wait to see how this guy progresses!!!

(just realized how F'd I am in terms of timing on making my own pots&slabs, was intending to have a HUGE batch ready for late-summer hard-prunes but if I don't have them done ASAP they'll never cure in time and I'll probably just end up dropping real $$ on scoria slabs to carve-out instead....guess that won't be so bad but I've got a TON of supplies for my next 'crete session including a ton of 'natural-rock forms' to press-into the outer layers and have a ton of novel ideas I realllllly wanna create!! Thanks for posting this was hugely inspirational to get at least some of my own going ;D )

 

[SU2]

Looks awesome!
Can't wait to see what the good pictures look like.

lol tell us what you really think! Srsly though I think I'm like OP in that, if I'm not trying to really show something finished (which, for me so far, has only been pots!), the photo is such an after-thought...can't imagine how bad some of my pics must look to people who see things as you mention (it seems you're speaking in-jest but it is true to a degree, looking at his pics I now see that the photography could be better but like him I'd have simply snapped shots w/o much care for photo-quality because my ADHD-brain just thinks 'good, tree is in-frame, that's all!' and never put more effort into it) I've gotta suspect that if I started trying to make my photos look good that I would waste absurd time trying to get crap out of the background / setting my black back-drop panels / etc which is time I'd rather play gardener [or almost anything else- til I've actually got trees worth showing, then I'll turn my cam's resolution to max & make sure the photography is on-point ;D ]

 

[Uncle Robo]

lol tell us what you really think! Srsly though I think I'm like OP in that, if I'm not trying to really show something finished (which, for me so far, has only been pots!), the photo is such an after-thought...can't imagine how bad some of my pics must look to people who see things as you mention (it seems you're speaking in-jest but it is true to a degree, looking at his pics I now see that the photography could be better but like him I'd have simply snapped shots w/o much care for photo-quality because my ADHD-brain just thinks 'good, tree is in-frame, that's all!' and never put more effort into it) I've gotta suspect that if I started trying to make my photos look good that I would waste absurd time trying to get crap out of the background / setting my black back-drop panels / etc which is time I'd rather play gardener [or almost anything else- til I've actually got trees worth showing, then I'll turn my cam's resolution to max & make sure the photography is on-point ;D ]

He said he wasn't using his good camera, so those shots could be even better.
These shots already look incredible.

 

[moke]

Thanks all, photos drive me crazy because they just don’t translate what the eye is seeing. I took these with my iPhone. @MACH5 takes the best photo’s of his trees definitely not tree pic slacker like myself.

 

[proninyaroslav]

Hi! I heard that some artists add various non-organic materials to concrete slabs and stones, which lighten the weight of the finished stone: turface, perlite, crushed coral, etc.
Does it worsen the structure of concrete, its durability? I think that a porous materials in concrete accumulate moisture and during freezing/thawing the concrete is destroyed.

 

[moke]

Hi! I heard that some artists add various non-organic materials to concrete slabs and stones, which lighten the weight of the finished stone: turface, perlite, crushed coral, etc.
Does it worsen the structure of concrete, its durability? I think that a porous materials in concrete accumulate moisture and during freezing/thawing the concrete is destroyed.

I did not add any aggregate in this particular pot because I wanted it to look more like a slate. I think I would add some depending on what I was trying to replicate or esthetics, I think if the correct cement and reinforcing fiber are used the aggregate wouldn’t effect the durability much if any? I live in an extreme environment for cement and concrete we experience highs 111F and cold -20F, I have pots close to 20 years that still are in perfect shape.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@moke
really nice work. Well done.

@BE.REAL and others asking about alternate aggregates.

I have not done it professionally, but have heard of using concrete with marble chips, marble dust and or other decorative stone particles to create a marble like product that can be used for carving. Or if not carved, finished to look like marble.

Exposed aggregate finish is a somewhat common treatment for concrete. Not practical for casting pots. You can use a sand blaster to remove the outer fraction of an inch layer of cement paste and expose the stone used. Then the pink quartzite, or other mineral used will be exposed. Cherry stone Poultry grit is a nice mostly pink, gray, & purple quartzite, it is quarried out of New Ulm, Minnesota. Often sold in feed stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Illinois.

You could get creative. There are stone suppliers that provide different grades of crushed garnets, carborundum (chemically non-gem form of sapphire), black obsidian, and dozens of others. I forget the name of the place in Milwaukee that supplies these things, it is mainly used for specialty sand blasting applications. Some of these crushed stone varieties are really cool looking. Added to a cement paste, then sandblast or otherwise buff away the outer surface, and expose the aggregate can be a cool look.

 

[Woocash]

Absolutely beautiful. It really does look like a stand in an old lava field. Love it.

 

[moke]

Absolutely beautiful. It really does look like a stand in an old lava field. Love it.

I very much appreciate the compliments, I plan on making a new one very soon and will document with photos my process and share in a thread.

 

[Woocash]

I shall look forward to it. I’d love to have a go myself, with standard pots being pretty pricey, and also being able to make the pot fit the tree.

 

[proninyaroslav]

For the pigment I went to a local concrete supply company. They had many colors to chose from. It’s a powder and a little goes a long ways, Here’s the link to the manufacturer of the pigment.
http://www.solomoncolors.com/ColorCard.aspx?ColorCardID=24

Do you mix pigment with dry cement or do you apply pigment to the finished slab (when it's still wet)?
I would like to get very diluted spots of paint on the slab, but I don't know which method of applying pigments is best.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Do you mix pigment with dry cement or do you apply pigment to the finished slab (when it's still wet)?
I would like to get very diluted spots of paint on the slab, but I don't know which method of applying pigments is best.

The pigments I am familiar with are added to the concrete while it is still being mixed. Most often I've seen dry powders, which get added before or just after adding water to the cement powder. The liquid dyes are also added to the fresh, still plastic concrete mix.

There are stains, paints and dyes for use on concrete after it has set. I am not as familiar with these products. Read the directions.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Here’s a quick and not so great picture of the forest I put into the Crete pot I made. I swear I’ll get a decent picture with my good camera soon as this picture did it no justice. I just wanted to share the progress thus far.
View attachment 259021View attachment 259022View attachment 259023

How's the forest doing?

 

[moke]

How's the forest doing?

I actually need to do some wiring work on it before it starts budding up, I’ll put some updated pics when I finish. It’s sitting in my bonsai shed just waiting to be let out for spring. Come on spring!!!

 

[Wulfskaar]

I actually need to do some wiring work on it before it starts budding up, I’ll put some updated pics when I finish. It’s sitting in my bonsai shed just waiting to be let out for spring. Come on spring!!!

Hey @moke, This is SPECTACULAR and inspiring!!! I would also love to see updated pics.

 

[moke]

Hey @moke, This is SPECTACULAR and inspiring!!! I would also love to see updated pics.

Thanks, I need to definitely get some updated pics put up. I will try and get it done this weekend. I’m seeing nice changes to the trees since repotting to the concrete pot the bark is beginning to show some fissures, which I’ve been hoping to see eventually with age.