Papercreters: [papercreters] Re: Paper...Rocks! faux boulders

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

[papercreters] Re: Paper...Rocks! faux boulders

Hi Bob,

I once worked for a company that made artificial boulders and rock faces for the local casino.
The clients (actually an American) had taken thick latex molds off local rocks. We sprayed a mixture of concrete and chopped fibreglass into the molds, compressing it with f'glass rollers. If I remember correctly, an ochre colourant was first sprayed/painted into the molds. (Not a lot of creative painting was done on the finished article and they came out a uniform light brown) The casino has since replaced them so no pics. Featured a 30 ft waterfall, which is another option to look at.

Another contact was making small f'glass rocks for gardens laying up f'glass into molds and giving them a more realistic rock finish with stains and sand.

The downside with latex molds is the time and material cost involved building up the thickness. I would also strengthen them up with glass fibre as well.
Digging large holes and trying to fill them with papercrete could be logistically difficult with wall collapsing into the mix, and sheer bulk of the 'rock'. ( I have images of someone suspended above the hole with buckets of papercrete.)

Latex molds, with a separate rigid f'glass backing shell would be the way to go, starting small as finances allow and building up to larger rocks. Dow Corning produces a silicon molding material but it is horrendously expensive compared to a similar amount in latex. ( I have experimented with builders silicone, thinning the mix with white oil to give a smoother coverage and strengthening with f'glass. Delicate balance with the white oil as it weakens the silicone).
A layer of coloured cement first, then the papercrete, preferably mixed with chopped strand f'glass for strength. Allow time and process for curing. We had a shed that was constantly 'misted' with water for curing. I dont know if this would also apply to papercrete tho.
A light sandblast to the finished concrete surface would give a rock texture.

Hope this helps a bit. Let me know how you go with it all.

Stephen
Perth
Oz.

Bob wrote:
>
> My sons and I have been thinking of a sideline business, making
> boulders & artificial stone. The large boulders would be for gardens
> and the artificial stone would be for applying like siding, over a
> metal mesh attached to the side of a regular frame home. Our soils in
> this part of Oklahoma range from sandy with no clay, to clay with no
> sand. I was thinking instead of making latex or silicone molds for
> either /(which is the traditional method for artificial stone)/, we
> would just dig deep holes in the sandy soil shaping the hole like
> different types of garden /(flower bed type)/ boulders, out here the
> rock companies are getting rich selling those large boulders and it
> takes a lot of equipment to move and deliver them, papercrete boulders
> would only weigh a fraction of an actual boulder and yet if it was
> formed in a sand hole I think it would retain some of the sand for its
> finish and pigments could be tossed either into the hole before
> pouring in the papercrete or poured into the papercrete mix. The same
> process could be used for the artificial stones only make them about 3
> to 4 inches thick and in all different sizes and shapes. The
> commercial artificial stone is quite expensive and the selling point
> is its light weight. Has anyone tried a technique similar to this?
>
> Thanks