Here ar pictures of a Rhubarb leaf that I just finished and painted. It measures 2 feet wide by 2 1/2 feet tall. I just couldn't resist when I found such a big leaf to work with. I used plaster of paris. Building a form large enough to hold the sand base I covered the wet sand with plastic wrap. Then placing the leaf face down onto the plastic. I then cut wire mess(the type used for crawlspace vents) I laid it on the leaf,overlapping each piece slightly for strength. Then I cut a piece of copper wire to make a hanger and threaded it into the mesh at the top of the leaf. Mixed up the plaster of paris and poured. This leaf took 9 pounds of plaster of paris. ooohhh my! Waited 2 days to move it. lol Today I cleaned up the edges with a dremmel and painted it. using red,green,copper and brass. Then I sealed it with clear coat. All that is left to do is find somewhere strong enough to hang it. LOL Here is a link that might be useful: http://groups.msn.com/cementleaves

terrestrial_man: lol IÂm a writer. I am rather familiar with Photoshop CS2 and write tutorials for it from time to time. Though, I find adding text to an image to be posted on this forum to be a bit cumbersome, at least in large volume. Textual highlights are at most times warranted. I also have years of experience in creating web pages; programming by hand. The USDA doesnÂt list regions for my state that seems to be why my tree species its not listed. Yes, I will be gradually exposing the roots over time. Though, I doubt I will need to for this one. The root system has already begun to harden up to where being exposed wonÂt cause harm. Not that I will risk exposure it for another year or two to be on the safe side. I am making it a point to take progressive photos of all my bonsai. IÂm now letting my root-over-rock bonsai thicken up at the base and two main trunks. In the end, I plan on this being a cascade or semi-cascade tree. I wonÂt be wiring it and will instead attempt this through pruning and pinching. Buy cheap paint and paint your plastic pool. White is best. It will extend its life by blocking UV radiation and oxygen. Both can degrade plastics rapidly, some faster than others. Root over rock is very easy to do especially if the plant is very young and the roots very thin. Picking the correct rock is the most difficult part, aside from patience. It should have a nice flat bottom, look good, and have lots of crags and crevices for the roots to flow around and through. The next time IÂm in the mountains I plan on looking for such stones. IÂve planned on cutting the bottom of stones flat if I need to. HereÂs an example of another bonsai I began last year. I found a rather tall, thin, and branchless maple sapling near my pond. The result of all that flimsiness is this, (Maple) 125KB. This is of course not an actual bonsai style and is instead uses mounds of artistic licensing. IÂm basically going to attempt to make it look like itÂs a dragon swimming in water. IÂm sure it wonÂt look too much like that, but it will be interesting to say the least. IÂve yet to repot this one this year and am waiting till at least next year to repot. My next traditional bonsai subject will be in the "exposed root" (not my tree), and I plan to go to extremes with it. IÂll be planting my subject tree in a very long narrow plastic pipe that is stood on end. Each year the pipe will be cut shorter from the top, exposing a little more root each time. The pipe itself will be planted in a large pot for when the roots finally reach the bottom. Though, I prefer the Sekijoju instead. I like stones. lol

Hi Kim, You can use paint pigment in the mix for integral coloring. I've done it and it works great. A little goes a long way and doesn't affect the cure. Paint pigment is what can give you those really intense pinks and yellows. I've colored grout for glass mosaic with it, too. If you'd like to see examples of work using paint pigment, check out Lynn DiNino's website gallery. For people who are interested in trying this, ask for paint tint at the hardware store. It's the stuff they use to mix into paint to give it color. And just to repeat this, do not use paint. It has crud in it that will keep your cement from ever setting. Paint pigment is the oil-based colorant that goes in it. Have fun! Deb

Coll, If you want to make a lavender color while painting, you know you have to have a certain ratio of red, blue, and white, right? If you look at a fertilizer label, you can't miss 3 prominently shown numbers, usually separated by hyphens. Those are the Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) ratios in the fertilizer. N-P-K. Just like mixing a ratio of red, blue, and white paint to get lavender. N, P, and K are the chemical symbols for those elements. That's where those mysterious letters derive from. So far, so good, right? Now, here's an article from a website about what those ratios mean: Understanding how to read a fertilizer label can be compared to learning how to read a food label. And just like food, it is important to provide the correct ingredients for strong stems, leaves, and roots. These ingredients can be found on any fertilizer package. The first thing you will notice is fertilizer is described in numbers. This is represented in a ratio where the first number represents the amount of nitrogen. The second number represents phosphorus and the third number represents potassium. Now that we know how to read the package, what exactly does this mean for plant growth? The N, P, K ratio describes the required primary macronutrients that plants need for proper growth. Nitrogen is a very important element and is used by plants during the photosynthetic process. It is also an important component of chlorophyll, which is what makes plants green. This element helps plants grow rapidly and increases fruit and seed production. The quality of vegetation, such as greens, improves with sufficient amounts of nitrogen. Phosphorus is another important element needed for proper plant development. It is part of the photosynthetic process just like nitrogen. Proper amounts of this element help the plant mature properly and tolerate stress. It also affects any type of rapid growth and promotes blooming and root growth. Potassium is the last element in the N, P, K ratio. It is used by the plant to build protein, improve fruit quality and reduce disease. Other macronutrients exist and include calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. All of these are involved in some form or fashion in the photosynthetic process and the conversion of proteins, enzymes and vitamins. Other information that can be found on the fertilizer package is the type of micronutrients that may be in the fertilizer formula. Micronutrients or trace elements are those needed in very small amounts. While these nutrients may be needed in trace amounts, do not be fooled in thinking that they are not important. Micronutrients for plants include boron, copper, iron, chloride, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc. All of these nutrients are involved in chlorophyll production, enzyme regulation, plant metabolism, and the growth of plants’ reproductive organs. Now, Coll, that wasn't soooo bad. Different ratios of N-P-K are needed for different types of plants. Some ratios of N-P-K favor the development of foliage, while others favor the development of flowers. To grow hostas (mainly a foliage plant), you need to check the labels to find out which ratio of N-P-K most favors that type of plant. According to Ohio State University's agricultural extension service, granular fertilizers with an analysis of 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 are recommended for hostas; these fertilizers have a ratio of 1:2:1 and 1:1:1. Did this help?