I'll take some pix later today and get them posted.
I did realize that this will more than likely be a temporary solution
to the problem as I neglected to add borax to the mix and don't want to
attract any bugs. If nothing else, it as been a good learning
experience, meaning I stopped thinking about it, got out of the
computer chair, mixed something up, and did something with it!
For example, the little cement-less brick I made and cooked for two
hours (from the leftover patch material) is as hard as a rock on the
outside. I had whacked it pretty good while it was warm out of the
oven and made a small dent. THAT part I can scrape away with my
fingernail. The outer surface, no way. It is relatively heavy probably
due to the large amount of sand I added to it.
A thin slurry of the more paper mache like mix could be rubbed over a
styrofoam egg and stick to it. The patch mix came wouldn't stick at all.
I have just this minute rescued all test pieces of the more mache like
samples from the back yard. They have been sitting out in the rain
since sometime in the night...not a hard rain...a drizzle but the
ground is good and soaked.
The sample that was drained on the bed of sand is wet all the way
through (because I'm sure it never dried all the way through) but
relatively difficult to cut. It was always stronger to begin with.
The other sample, a bit thinner, was and is still more "delicate" for
handling.
The egg piece, with two thin coats of the slurry, is very surprising.
It is the piece that got the driest due to thinness of slurry over a
styrofoam armature. Though totally wet, I can only scratch a bare
amount with my fingernail. A harder "gouge" with the fingernail will
take it to the styro but it was a pretty forceful gouge. Rubbing it
with my thumb causes nothing to rub up with it.
I'm going to sit it in front of my fan to see how quickly it dries
out. The coating is more like cardboard egg carton texture which I
sort of like and could apply to some different sculpting/molding
situations.
As for the patch, the rain is not affecting it. It continues to dry
and lighten up in color. Ironically, my brick has one of those odd
mixes of colors on it, one of them being very close to the patch
color..which looks like our red Alabama clay. Once it completely dries
I will schuss some watered down acrylics on it to make it not look a
giant dirt blob has hit the house. There is a hairline shrinkage line
in a couple of places on the outer edges of the patch but nothing
huge.....yet. Those two places were places where I didn't smear a lot
of patch material over to the ajoining bricks/morter lines.
But, dirt blob or not, the hole is gone for the time being and I have
learned a lot from just a small experiment.
Wonder what kind of fun I can have when I actually add the CEMENT to
the mix???? :-)
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