CHAPTER 13

Color Cement for the Garden

ARTISTIC GARDEN WORK can be enhanced by the use of color cement. While ordinary cement and concrete construction has been much used, there are still greater possibilities with the use of color cement. The use of color in the open permits the use of bright colors, in key with the flowers and foliage; and with color cement the formal or Italian garden scheme or the informal or Japanese manner of garden arrangement is delightfully possible. Pottery, garden furniture, fountains, walls, chimneys, pools and walks are a few of the possibilities with color cement.

LARGE GARDEN POTTERY is produced by the same principles as vases and bowls, but as the proportions are much larger, the methods of working are different.

Where a large jardinière is to be made, the form should first be built up from clay and be formed upside down. Bricks or any other solid material may be used for the main body of this form, and the clay built over it as it will not then require so much clay. If a long nail or rod or strong stick is placed in the center of this mass, it can serve the purpose as an axis to a templet which will form the contour of the jardinière when moved around in a circular direction. The metal must be good and heavy and sometimes it is necessary to reinforce the templet with wood.

After the clay form is built, cases are made in several sections from the plaster the same as for small forms; and cement and concrete used in large quantities after the same method as for small forms.

Large dish-pans, pails, etc., may be used for securing the inside form for garden pottery. Oil the outside and bottom of the pail or pan used and place it upside down on a table. If only a certain part of the bottom is wanted, clay should be built up around it, so that only the part wanted is exposed. With a strip of tin or linoleum for a moulding case surround the inverted utensil and then pour the concrete around and over it.

TO FORM THE GARDEN POTTERY more accurately on the outside, take it out from the mold in two or three days and trim with a knife to the desired form (in winter let the form stay in the mold four or five days). If extensions or additions are wanted the vase, bowl or jardinière, should be soaked in water for an hour or two and the form made from tin or other material placed in position and the cement poured into the forms.

To secure smaller parts independent from the larger parts such as fishes or cup forms for fountains, etc., the smaller part should be made separate from the large form but a pin or extension should be arranged so that it will fit into a groove on the larger form. This can then be built together by the addition of a little cement.

GARDEN SEATS. The seat and ends can be made by using wooden forms which can be released easily. Openings in the ends can be arranged by either the use of wooden blocks or clay bars placed in the right location. These blocks or bars should be taken out after the cement has dried three or four days. A few nails in the blocks will make it easier to lift them out.

Tiles made as previously explained can be inserted into the ends by scraping an opening to accommodate them while the cement is still soft. A little cement poured into the back and around the edge will fasten the two together.

GARDEN FOUNTAINS. The bowl for fountains should be made independent of the base or pedestal, but arranged so that the two groove together. This can be planned by taking a clay impression or a plaster casting from the surface. For instance, in making a bowl to rest on a pedestal, the bottom of the bowl should have keys or projections planned. Now supposing the bowl is finished, a pedestal should have depressions in it to correspond with the projections on the bottom of the bowl. To secure these the bowl itself or an equivalent surface in clay or plaster must be made to combine with the other parts of the molding case when the pedestal is made. These keys or grooves can be scraped out of the pedestal top when soft if care is taken to secure the right location. By resting the bowl upon the top a slight indentation will be made so that the indentation can be increased to the proper depth to secure complete “register” between the two parts.

When making plaster mold cases for large pieces, burlap, coarse cloth, etc., should be dipped rapidly into the plaster and used to build up the molding case. This produces greater strength in the plaster case.

A DESIGN UNIT used on large pottery or as a border to any large surface can be planned and modeled in modeling wax. From this model a mold is made in plaster. The clay can be pressed into this mold, lifted out and placed upon the surface to receive it. A slight pressure and joining of the edges will make it conform to the surface.

TO REINFORCE LARGE PIECES, wire, iron rods, wire mesh, or any such material will serve the purpose. Any narrow junction point or narrow part connecting two large parts should be reinforced.

PIPE CONNECTIONS FOR WATER, GAS, OR ELECTRIC WIRES must be planned for often in garden furniture. A round wooden rod with a smooth surface and oiled, having a larger diameter than the pipe to be used should be used in the mold. This is then withdrawn to make room for the iron pipe. A pipe can be used in place of the wooden rod, but of course it is then held firmly in place, becoming part of the mass. All pipe should be threaded for proper connections, and it is very advisable that you confer with a plumber or electrician so that no mistakes will be made.

Straight-sided forms can be made from tiles as follows: Take four tiles, soaked in water, afterwards imbed them on edge upside down in a layer of clay. They should be placed vertical and at right angles to each other. It is also better that the corners do not meet. Within these four tiles a clay cube is placed leaving a certain space all around for the wall. The cube should also be lower than the height of the tile to allow for the bottom as the box is made upside down. With clay or cardboard stop the corners and then pour in cement to the top of the tiles. Let harden for a few days; then remove clay, smooth up corners, and set in water to harden. Fern dishes, plant holders, etc., can be made in this way with as many sides as desired. The accompanying chart further explains this problem.

GARDEN WALKS can be made with large irregular cement slabs or stones formed with concrete. This will produce all the beauty that comes from natural flagstones and enables anyone to secure the effect even when flagstones are not securable. Flat tile or irregular tile can be produced as a finish surface to the concrete base underneath, the whole being one solid mass, eliminating much of the breaking up and loosening that comes when separate tiles are placed in a surface.

COLOR CEMENT FLAGSTONES are made as follows: First prepare a solid earth under-foundation. To do this the surface is pressed with an iron roller or tamped with an iron tamper or heavy wooden block. If the surface has been previously walked upon for some time, it will be good and solid. On this surface indicate by scraping with a stick or trowel the shapes of the flagstones desired, and scrape the earth out of these areas to a depth of one to two inches. This surface is then sprayed with water until it remains damp and is ready for placing the concrete mixture.

THE CONCRETE PROPORTIONS should be one part cement to two parts or three parts gravel. These parts are mixed well together dry and then water is added while it is mixed again. The best way to add the water is to have one person spray the water from a hose while a second person uses a hoe to mix the wet portions and expose the dry sections.

A MIXING TRAY can be made from wood and should hold water fairly well as it is important that there be no leaks while the mixing is proceeding as the leaking water may carry off much of the cement. After a box has been used several times, the cracks and crevices will become filled and the mixing tray will become more waterproof.

WHEN THE CONCRETE IS THOROUGHLY MIXED a portion is then taken and placed in one of the scraped areas and shaped with a trowel. The sides should be left thick and preferably tapering slightly upward. This prevents breaking edges later when in use such as occurs if the edges overhang.

THE TOP LAYER should be of colored cement and may be a very thin layer, but in order to be durable it should be composed of one-half part of cement and one-half part of gravel or sand. This is mixed with color sufficiently to tint it, but the color should not be too great in quantity for it will weaken the strength of the mixture.

THE COLORS FOR THE CEMENT FLAGSTONES is dry color and may be Venetian red, yellow, ochre, Indian red, lamp black, burnt umber, or burnt sienna. This mineral color should be mixed in well with the dry concrete before water is added. Colors can be changed by mixing one color into another. For instance, the red can be made less intense by the addition of burnt umber or with the addition of a little lamp black. When adding another color to a cement mixture to which water has been combined, do not add the color dry but mix it with water first until it is a paste before mixing it into the first mixture.

TO FINISH THE FLAGSTONES the color mixture is spread over the first portion placed in the scraped area and spread with the trowel until it covers all the surface of the first pouring. When this strata has partly set, it can be surfaced with trowel marks or a few twigs or weeds can be held in the hand and whipped over the cement surface, producing a roughened texture. The stone should then be covered so as to protect it from being walked upon and after the second day it should be sprayed with water to help its hardening process while drying. Do not permit the sun to prematurely dry the stones as the slower a cement dries the more durable it will be.

BRIDGE WORK FOR THE GARDEN can be constructed with cement, and the use of color combined with cement will enhance the project if used reservedly and in good arrangement. Iron posts or supports can be used as under parts of the bridge or a temporary support of wood can be used. A wooden barrel has been used successfully to form the opening under a cement garden bridge, the staves being knocked in to remove the barrel after the bridge was completed.

Stones and tree limbs can be combined with the cement bridge toward creating informal effects. The Japanese garden is delightfully arranged with many surprise effects of stone work and pools, all of which can be duplicated with cement.

NATURAL EFFECTS can be secured with the proper use of cement and the possibilities are only limited by the time and interest of the worker. It must be remembered that cement and concrete is a process of creating stone and the stones can be formed in pleasing shapes and finishes and colors according to the wish of the worker. There is great opportunity for the worker with color cement to create garden ideas either for pleasure or for remuneration and any enthusiastic worker can plan and direct such work for neighboring needs or for those who are always anxious for the different but pleasing garden creation.

A TILE EFFECT for walks or courts in regular pattern can be made by pouring a color layer over a concrete solid layer. Previous to the pouring thin strips of wood are placed so as to divide the space into the tile shapes. These strips are afterwards taken out and the tile edges scraped round, and the spaces where the wood was placed is then filled with gray cement. This produces at considerable less expense the same result as the inlaid tile surface.

THE DECORATED GARDEN TILE is where the color cement is poured onto the square or rectangular concrete stones and while it is semi-moist other color is dripped on or stroked into the surface with a brush, forming a design motif. These motifs may appear at regular or irregular intervals depending upon the pattern arrangement of the stones, and can be of flowers, quaint birds or animals, preferably in abstract arrangements.

CHIMNEY STONES or flat stones for surfacing fireplaces or stone walls can be made by pouring out the concrete mixture to which color has been added. These should be poured onto a fairly hard ground surface which has been previously watered. The stones can be of varying shapes and sizes and with varying tints of colors. Gray cement alone will give a good color to which may be added those made of Venetian red, Indian red, and lamp black or yellow ochre.

When dry they should be immersed in water and then added to the brick undersurface of the chimney or mantel by using a mortar made of a mixture of lime and clean sand with water. To this add one-fourth to one-sixth part Portland cement. The lime should be prepared previously to combining with the sand by adding water to it, letting it remain for a half day to two days in order that it will become slackened. Lime gives adhesiveness to the plaster, and the brick surface to which the stones are placed should be moistened with water before adding the plaster layer into which the color cement stones are to be pressed.

Many other fascinating uses of color cement will develop into successful applications in the hands of the craftsman who is interested in beautifying the garden.