02-01-2010, 10:32 AM
Well I gave this a shot....I made a simple frame out of stripwood and laid it flat on a piece of wax paper. I sprayed the frame and paper with a light shot of food release. I mixed up a soupy batch of hydrocal and poured it into the frame. I set a few weights on top to prevent the plaster from leaking out under the frame. A little bit did anyhow, but no big deal. I waited a couple hours till the plaster dried and then pulled off the frame. Now I had a "wall". Here's where I caused a few issues. After a day, and to ensure the wall had totally cured, I took a piece of sandpaper to it to smooth out a few bits and former air bubbles. Pressure caused the wall to break in half. Not a big deal, so I glued it back together with Elmer's and attempted some more careful sanding the next day. Same result only it broke into about 4 or 5 pieces this time. (grrrr....) Glued everything back together and a day later began scribing stones with a #11 blade. It looked good but all the gluing of broken pieces made the wall structurally a pain to work with so off to the land fill it went! Now I learned a few lessons and have poured myself another wall and am waiting for it to set. This time I plan on no sandpaper! Any irregularities will be taken care of with a hobby knife; shaving at almost a 90 degree angle and I believe that might do the trick. Will keep you informed and post a pic or two if this works out ok!
Matt
Matt