Color Cement Handicraft

by Pedro J. Lemos; Reta A. Lemos

	CHAPTER 19 Color Cement Projects for the Schoolroom

CEMENT TILES simple in form may be made in any grade where tiles are made in clay or the modeling waxes. Many times clay is used in making tiles and the coloring is done with colored chalks or paints. These can be but temporary in effect and are broken easily, being impractical for use. The child’s interest will be much greater where he knows that with cement the results will be durable as well as to know that he is working with the same materials that the “grown-ups” use.

COMMENCING WITH SMALL TILES IS THE BEST PLAN. Have the class plan from nature a rosette design for a two-inch tile. An excellent way to secure interesting patterns is to fold a two-inch square paper into four folds and cut a design in the four folds. Opening out these folds will often reveal a very interesting design. When the student has completed the design, it can be traced with a pencil onto a flat layer of modeling wax, and a pencil, stick or nail used to cut away portions of the design. The pattern designed may be the part taken out or the background may be the part to be removed. In either case the part removed should be scraped out about a quarter of an inch deep and the sides should not slope in but rather outward. If the design is to be simply produced by incised lines only (and charming results can be thus secured), the stick, nail or instrument used should be sharpened so that it scrapes a groove in the clay that remains widest at the surface. The design being completed in the clay or wax, a few strips of thick cardboard or heavy oiled paper is cut so as to project above the clay or wax tile. This projection must equal the thickness of the mold to be made in plaster-of-Paris. These strips may then be placed up against the tile so as to surround it, and are to be retained in position with nails or pins or heavy objects.

When the pupils have all reached this stage of the tile, the teacher then may mix up the plaster and pour it into the molds, illustrating the correct method for the students to afterwards follow.

AFTER THE PLASTER TILE IS RELEASED, it is brushed well with oil and again surrounded with the strips of paper. Cement with any desired color added to it is then poured in and after two or three days the completed tile can be removed.

To secure color effects it is only necessary for the teacher to mix two colors of cement sufficient for the student’s use. The student then places a thin layer of the color on the plaster mold, keeping it within a certain portion of the design. The second color is placed on the spaces left, and after the color has set for a short time it is backed with ordinary neat cement and the whole tile permitted to dry several days.