Hartinez
Masterpiece
Hey everyone. While I have my annual bonsai downtime with my trees mulched in, I’ve decided to try my hand at some slabs.
I recently purchased a natural slab/shell from Bonsai Kreativ out of Europe. I want to know so badly what these are made out of as it’s clearly not ceramic and clearly not concrete. Light weight, strong, but so dam natural.
I tried my hand using a sand mold and countertop concrete, but the results were less than desirable and so dam heavy.
Since I don’t know what the European based material is I thought I’d try something new other than concrete. I’ve decided to try out tile thinset as a material for slabs for its light weight finish and the fact that it has additives to create more flexibility in the freeze/thaw cycle and way lighter than concrete when dry.
I made a ridgid foam base/mold and covered that in plastic. I Applied a thin layer of died thinset over the top, then smooshed some metal screen in that layer, then covered with another layer of died thinset. I then added other dies and colors to give it a natural feel. Applying the thinset was hard even with gloves as the material is very sticky like mud and my gloves were caked with material. But it also has a consistency almost like a thick whipped cream allowing for interesting textures and opportunities to build up layers, because it holds itself up. Because of this stickiness I could also build the pieces in stages allowing each stage to dry before applying another layer
I do really like the aesthetics of them and they are much lighter than concrete and feel Very strong. Not sure how well they will hold up with trees in them but we’ll see. I’m going to pot them up this spring so I will report back.
I recently purchased a natural slab/shell from Bonsai Kreativ out of Europe. I want to know so badly what these are made out of as it’s clearly not ceramic and clearly not concrete. Light weight, strong, but so dam natural.
I tried my hand using a sand mold and countertop concrete, but the results were less than desirable and so dam heavy.
Since I don’t know what the European based material is I thought I’d try something new other than concrete. I’ve decided to try out tile thinset as a material for slabs for its light weight finish and the fact that it has additives to create more flexibility in the freeze/thaw cycle and way lighter than concrete when dry.
I made a ridgid foam base/mold and covered that in plastic. I Applied a thin layer of died thinset over the top, then smooshed some metal screen in that layer, then covered with another layer of died thinset. I then added other dies and colors to give it a natural feel. Applying the thinset was hard even with gloves as the material is very sticky like mud and my gloves were caked with material. But it also has a consistency almost like a thick whipped cream allowing for interesting textures and opportunities to build up layers, because it holds itself up. Because of this stickiness I could also build the pieces in stages allowing each stage to dry before applying another layer
I do really like the aesthetics of them and they are much lighter than concrete and feel Very strong. Not sure how well they will hold up with trees in them but we’ll see. I’m going to pot them up this spring so I will report back.
