the real deal - cloud concrete drawing

now that we have sorted out how to make the image we want and tested the resist and process we can do an actual real piece.

the first concrete drawing is of a cloudy sky.

 

it is also the smallest drawing we are doing at 1.5 m x 1.6 m.

 

concreting begins early in the morning, around 7am, with the first delivery of the white concrete

 

before we put any concrete down we have to mark where the final cuts will be, and position the lifters for each final piece. this will be cut into 4 pieces.

 

the base has been sealed a week earlier and then oiled the day before and left to set.

 

the white concrete comes from the factory mixed to our specifications.

 

then we begin to place the white concrete in the frame positioning it so that it resembles the to scale print out we have on the floor next to us.

 

it takes a bit but eventually we think we have it

we leave the white as it is and wait for the blue concrete to be delivered. we dont want the white to set up too much before we add the blue.

 

again the blue is mixed to our specifications and we begin placing the blue around the white to make the rest of the image.

this again takes a bit of time

 

we need to get it on quickly as we then have to tap the surface of the concrete and make sure all the air is released from the bottom which will eventually be our top face when it is flipped over.

 

we tap the surface and keep going while the concrete is setting. we dont have long to get all the air out. if we were using one colour we would just vibrate it out but since we dont want to loose our sky image we have to do it by hand.

 

then we leave it to set up for about 45 minutes and wait for the next delivery.

 

the next delivery is a plain grey concrete, to fill up the back of the mold and make the pavers to the correct thickness.

 

we place some concrete in and then place the structural mesh in place.

 

we keep adding the concrete in and fill it up.

we have to make sure it gets in around all the lifters and under the metal support.

then when it is full we can use the vibrator to level it out and get all the air out

 

then we level across the top and make sure it looks perfect

then we add some lifters to the back of the piece so we can flip it over later.

 

we remark the cut lines and put in the 4 lifters.

and now we wait a couple days before we try and flip it over