Making Hypertufa




Hypertufa Mixes
By Kathy Woolsey
 
The basic recipe
1 part Portland cement, 1 part fine vermiculite and 1 part sifted peat moss( to remove sticks)
Add enough water to make a stiff mix. Concrete dye can also be added.
Plastic flower pots and Styrofoam coolers make interesting molds.
Spray molds with oil to prevent sticking, use 2 bowls or nursery pots one larger than the other. Add enough mix to make the sides and bottom about 2 inches thick add the second (container filled with sand to weight it down). Add more mix between the 2 containers. Shake to get out air pockets. Wrap with plastic and let stand over night.
 
Stepping stones can be made with
2 parts Portland cement, 1 part vermiculite or sand and 1 part sifted peat moss.  
Add reinforcing fibers to the water. Add enough water to make a stiff mix. Hardware cloth can be places in the middle of concrete mix for more support.


 
Glass beads, sea shells and broken pottery can be added to decorate the stepping stone
Pizza boxes lined with plastic and heart shaped candy boxes make great cheap molds.
Cover with plastic and let dry over night. 


The next day 
To make the hypertufa look old – after taking it out of the mold- brush with a wire brush so the vermiculite is revealed. Power tools such as drills and angle grinders can be used to carve designs in your hypertufa. Wash with water.


 
Curing the concrete – wet your pieces and wrap in plastic, keep it wet for 2 weeks or longer. This will allow the concrete bonds to get stronger and prevent cracking and breaking in the future. Later wash with white vinegar to remove cloudy film from glass beads and pottery.

5 comments:

  1. Such an informative idea on how to create and make molds out of cement. Better share this for my friends though.

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  2. These are just beautiful. I love the addition of stones. And the texture is nice. It appears it would grow moss easily. I also have a blog and had feared that no one was making hypertufa anymore. We need to revive the interest.

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  3. is there no way that you can buy the product hypertufa, in south Africa I cant find perlite of vermucilite rinaroos1958@yahoo.com

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  4. you could use sand and coco peat (coir) What do you use for potting soil ?

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  5. A suggestion for accelerating the aging of the stone, spray/saturate it with milk every week until the algae starts forming. This will shorten the aging process by months and make it look like it's old stone.

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