Color Cement Handicraft

by Pedro J. Lemos; Reta A. Lemos

The tile after drying thoroughly may be polished with wax and used.

FOR MODELING LARGER OBJECTS such as flower pots, urns or similar forms, it is best to form some means of reinforcement to approximate fairly closely the final form of the object. Close meshed wire can be used successfully for this purpose. It should be tied and braced firmly so that the concrete or cement weight will not destroy its shape. The concrete mixture should be made with one part cement and two parts clean sand.

TO HASTEN THE SETTING OF CEMENT add a very small quantity of common washing soda to the water used in mixing the cement. This will cause the cement to set up rapidly so that the work can be done more quickly.

AFTER THE MIXTURE HAS BEEN APPLIED over the wire reinforcement and shaped and modeled until completed, it should be put in some covered place or in a moist location for the first two or three days so that the moisture in it will not evaporate.

TO HARDEN THE CEMENT OBJECT immerse it well in the water for four or five days. If it stays longer in the water it will not hurt the object. The water will harden or complete the action of hydration necessary to make cement durable.

TO SECURE BISYMMETRIC SHAPES to forms or to secure true circular shapes, a templet of sheet metal can be cut and rotated from a centrally located axis. This is used while the mortar or concrete is in plastic condition so that the templet will cut or model the right contour.

CARVED CEMENT is made possible by scraping or carving out the cement when it is in the right condition. This condition can be determined by scraping the cement to see whether it is hard enough to carve. If it is too hard, it cannot be carved successfully. About sixteen to twenty hours setting will produce about the right condition but this will vary according to the mixture and climatic conditions, as temperature will be an important thing to consider in all color cement work. Very hot weather is not a good time to do color cement, the winter days or gray cool days are best to work with cement for perfect hardening results. Avoid freezing weather.

TO CARVE CEMENT, the tools may be of metal or nails shaped with cutting points and the work done similarly to the carving of the sgraffito tile described in the previous chapter. No adding or building of parts is possible, the whole subject being a process of taking out parts and shaping the parts that are left. Backgrounds and portions can be varied in texture and different results will be secured with a little experimenting.

DIFFERENT TEXTURES are possible in the carved tile. A glazed surface to the carved tile is secured by carving on the upper side of the tile; while the dull under surface, the side molded against the glass or under surface, will be used if a dull surface for the carved tile is desired.

A GLAZED OR MAT FINISH BACKGROUND in the carved tile can be secured by immersing the tile in water for a day or two for glazed finish or an hour for a mat finish and then applying neat cement, plain or with color as described in the chapter on Color Work for Tiles.