Color Cement Handicraft

by Pedro J. Lemos; Reta A. Lemos

A THIRD ROTATION may be necessary if the bowl is a large surface or if the slip used has been very thin. After each rotation the mold with its layer of inside color should be covered over with a damp cloth to prevent too rapid drying of the color. The second and third mixtures should be thinner than the first.

THE WALL MIXTURE is then rotated over the color stratas and is made of one part of cement and two parts sand. This mixture is necessary to give the bowl or vase strength and to make it waterproof. If neat cement alone is used the vase will check and crack in time, particularly if water is ever poured into it.

FOR SMALL VASES only one rotation of color is necessary and the second and third may be of cement and sand with a fourth finishing layer in color. This finish layer may be of any color desired within the range of color cements or of neat gray cement only.

THE FINISH ROTATION is the layer that will appear as the inside lining. This is made of color and neat cement and is rotated so as to cover the cement and sand mixture. This mixture may be placed in the mold after the vase or bowl has been removed from the mold, and this permits the possibility of carrying the inside color over the edge of the mouth and partly down the side as a decoration.

AFTER THE ROTATED COLORS HAVE DRIED, which generally takes from two to five days, the mold is carefully opened and the vase removed. Flaws or bubbles on the surface, if any, are corrected by scraping with a moistened knife parts of the neck that are not to remain and others filled in. The false neck or that portion that extends above the actual vase is now carefully trimmed away, leaving only the actual bowl or vase.

CARVING AND SCRAPING of the surface can be done while the surface is slightly soft which is soon after the bowl or vase has been removed from the mold. Glazed color may be placed into the spaces carved or scraped from the surface if the surface is moistened well with water, then adding neat cement over which the color is dripped following the instructions as given for the tiles.

TO HARDEN THE OBJECT molded it is immersed in a bucket of water and left for several days. If the surface has had color added to it after it has come from the mold, it cannot be immersed in water as the color would be floated off. It should have water poured on the inside and left to dry in a cool place.

TONING WASHES can be made of thin color and brushed onto the surface after the bowl has been well dampened. This will permeate the fine pores of the cement as well as gather into the crevices particularly of a carved or relief surface and if a contrasting color is used, it gives pleasing effects.

GLAZING BOWLS AND VASES is much more difficult than coloring tiles. The curved surface requires careful application. Prepare a quantity of desired color to be applied. Then spread it out in a pan or dish (a platter will do very well), revolve the bowl on the fingers so that the surface comes in contact with the color. The color will adhere and the bowl should be kept slowly revolving until the color sets. The bowl can then be filled with water and left to dry. If the bowl is kept in one position before the color is set, the moisture will cause it to run and mar the surface. After the first color has set an additional color can be dripped on at the top or other colors added into or onto this surface. Different effects will be possible, depending upon how soon the color is added to the first coating.

Dry color can be sprinkled onto the wet color and permitted to become absorbed, giving an interesting effect. The color may be applied with a brush or palette knife, and other ways of producing variations on the surface may be produced by experimenting.