The Test Samples are Poured

I did nothing on the house today but did manage to pour my two test samples of concrete. I will show you what I did, but let me start by saying that I have no idea if this is going to work for our purpose and won't know until Sunday or Monday.



I threw broken colored glass in one mold along with slithers of candle wax cut from a thin piece that I made by pouring melted wax into a shallow tray made from aluminum foil.The other mold contains pieces of broken marble tile with candle wax that was poured into a bowl of water to solidify.The plan is to melt the wax using an iron and a paper towel after the piece is ground but before it is polished. The void will be filled with a grout-like slurry of black pigment and portland cement.



I then mixed up a small amount of "Quickrete 5000" with no color added because I want to see how raw cement looks when polished. I put it in the molds. Now, I did a little experiment.



I tried to buy some red pigment yesterday but would only be able to get a 24 lb. bag for $50+. This would be a silly purchase because I only need a few ounces for the small piece that I want to make for the fireplace hearth. So, I squirted some red and some blue acrylic artist paint into a small amount of mix to produce a plum color and added this to the right mold.



I did this to see if in fact layering colors is possible and to see if there would be any bleed through that might create swirls or stains that could look interesting in a finished piece. These are just test samples to see if certain effects will work and if I can use them in the actual pieces. Now we all have to wait......