Oh my sweetums… I spent the weekend PLAYING WITH MUD! Big girl mud. Goes by the name of PAPERCRETE, a combination of concrete, all sorts of fibers, and other things like lizard eggs, dirt and eye of newt. Or something like that. People build HOUSES out of papercrete. It’s like cement, only lighter. And it handles like clay. Sort of.
Look it up. LOTS of stuff on the intertubes about it.
I discovered this wonder material at a cement sculpture workshop taught by Deborah Bridges. Deborah is my latest ART CRUSH.
Oh my goodness, I am soooo in love with her work.
Orb planter Deborah Bridges
Especially this piece. The first time I saw this I WANTED it. Wanted it badly. Sorry about the crappy photo but I thought you should see it on the pedestal.
Detail orb planter by Deborah Bridges
Here’s a better view. And down below is a single orb with river rock. Do you see the possibilities here? Texture. Rock. Broken spheres…oh, I am swooning!
Orb with river rock by Deborah Bridges
So when I heard Deborah was teaching a workshop how to make these I jumped up and down and did hand springs. Because oh, I sooo want me an orb.
We began Friday evening. Eight of us. A nice group of women all eager to mix up the magic potion and slather it on Pilates balls.
Mwah-ha-ha… You’d think women of a certain age would KNOW all about gravity. Really. But when mine kept slumping and sliding off the ball I was perplexed. Flummoxed. Confounded and confused.
There is a definite learning curve to all of this.
I finally got mine to stay on the ball. It stayed there all night and behaved itself until Saturday morning when I began working on it again. First it came off the ball before it was supposed to. But it looked really cool and I thought about leaving it just like that.
And then it broke. All by itself. With no help from anyone but the papercrete gods.
And it wasn’t the only one. A few of us had orbs behaving badly. But I always tell my students, NOTHING you make is precious, it’s all an experience. It’s all about LEARNING.
Yeah, right…
So I climbed back on the arty saddle and did it again. We all did. Because when it comes down to it, it IS all about learning the material.
By Sunday afternoon I’d made two orbs, one bowl, a planter pot and whatever the broken piece from Saturday eventually morphs into. I learned my lesson, I left the orbs at Deborah’s studio, still curing on the balls. I’ll pick them up later in the week when they’re good and hard. I’ll let them cure another week or so before using concrete sealer and stain. Then I’ll assemble them and find some plants I can’t kill.
This is the broken piece. I think it’s interesting. Don’t know what I’m going to do with it but I’m sure I’ll figure out something. Maybe some smaller river rock and a plant? Ha! I just noticed the lines from the ball.
This is the bowl. It’s about 14 inches across. I’m toying with the idea of doing some encaustic on this.
But I can’t do anything to these for at least another week, until the material cures to a certain level. I’ll show you when they’re done.
Meanwhile, be sure to check out Debora’s website. If you missed it up top, here’s the link again. Her work is fabulous! Seriously. Sculpture and encaustics.
And if you’re anywhere near northern California during the first two weekends of October, check out the the Open Studios Tour of Western Nevada County. Deborah and I are both on it and we’d love to see you!
swooning over here….absolutely SWOONING!
my fingers are itching to make something
with this wonder.
what a glad thing to know about!
thanks for the happy stir,
Jennifer
Swooning into the possibilities of concrete…I sense a poem here, Jennifer!
Susan this is beautiful. What a great project. I’m too far from California. So will keep coming back to see how it all unfolds for you here, and how you finish off this beautiful piece.
Real visits are nice but cyber visits are welcome as well, Suzanne. I’ll post the photos as I finish the pieces. : )
Love what you’ve shown here – such great character in the pieces, and I really like ‘the broken piece’ – doesn’t look broken at all!! An abundance of possibilities!
That’s what I think, Bonnie! Things happen and you make art out of them. : )
Can I be you, just for a little while?
Heh heh…sure Karen, but only if you clean my house!
Oh, what fun! Wish I come up in October to see the finished pieces. I love the broken one. It has real character and possibilities.
I feel the same way about the broken one, Pat. There are no ugly children, right?
If you can’t make it in October, just come up the next time you visit Betty. And bring her with you. We could do a group RAA!
They are soooo cool and I LOVE the “broken” one! It doesn’t look broken to me and I was shocked when I read that it was! I love your attitude about just diving in and none of it is precious. Beautifully said!
The broken one is getting all the kudos today, Michele. YAY! I think I’ll go outside and give it a hug : )
These are fabulous! Thanks for bringing us along on your creative journey!
Thanks, Jen! The journey is much more fun when shared : )
Susan, What fun! I love the photo with all the papercrete slathered on the exercise balls, looks like giant “little people” that my kids used to have. And I love your “failed” piece. It has a beautiful energy to it. If I got to name it, I’d call it “Open Heart.” 🙂
Ah, my kids had the ‘little people’ too, Janet. I had many adventures stepping on those suckers in the dark…bare feet, of course!
The broken piece is definitely a keeper.
I picked up the other orbs yesterday. In a few more days I’ll seal them and finish them with plants. They’ll be in the blog next week. : )
SQUEEEE!!! Not a very learned or intelligent response but I just adore these pieces! What an utterly cool experience and I would love to see them in person (or take the workshop…will it be offered again?). Being in SoCal, I’ll be at Mono Lake for a workshop that first weekend in October but am hoping to do a true NorCal visit down the road. Oh golly, if I had such a piece, I’d fill it up with succulents. Loved your post! – Sue
I’m sure Deborah will offer the workshop again, Sue. You can contact her through her website and ask. Funny you should mention succulents, she’s got a number of other pieces with succulents in them. Love the way they look. Before I do any planting I’m going to check with a nursery and see what will do best for me. I’m not the best plant person…
If you do come up here and do a workshop we’ll have to get together!
Hi Susan, this is a great idea. I was going to try and pin one of your photos to one of my pinterest boards, but I don’t seem to be able to pin individual photos from your post. Something to do with the share button I think! :(( x
Thanks for the compliment and the heads up, Caroline. I’ll have to look into the pinterest situation. I’ll be getting on there one of these days and will get things figured out.