Very nice work tango!

You are truly an artisan!

Wow. I am very impressed...and inspired.

I wanna make some of those faux bois stools!

Now all I have to do is wait for the temps to fall under triple digits and I can work. Sigh. ;)

MMW

Tango, I agree with MMW, your work is just FANTASTIC! What a privilege to sit at the feet of such a talented and generous artist! Thank you for sharing your work and even more sharing your methods and tips.
spiderwoman

Wow! Wow! Wow! Tango, as always, you've created another stunning piece of faux bois! I hope we'll all be able to get autographed copies of your book one day.

Thanks so much for being so generous with the details. That's one of the many things that I admire about you, Tango: You're not afraid to teach others how to faux bois. You don't feel that by sharing your methods with us that you're diminishing your own ability to create and sell faux bois art. Thank you!

Eva

Aw shucks...(blush)...thank you guys. I'm not doing anything that anyone in this talented group couldn't do. And to me, sharing knowledge is the only purpose of gaining it in the first place. Am I afraid that someone out there will learn these skills and become better at than I might ever be? Quite the contrary. That's precisely what I hoping for. Only then will I have accomplished anything really meaningful. "We're only dancing on this Earth for a short time"...pass it on.

Amazing faux bois pieces! Your pieces look more like wood than some actual wood pieces do!

Thank you for sharing your art!

Jean

Tango, excellent work as usual! Ever do any work that your not happy with? If so, do you just pull it off and do it again?
Looking thru your album, I saw an interesting large oak planter, looked like it just got pulled up from the bottom of the ocean. Is that just acid washed? If so, how old was the concrete before the treatment?
Thanks for showing your stuff so we all can see.
Slate

Your work is beautiful!

I'm toying with the idea of building an armature for a simple bench, but am not sure where to begin, or how to begin, to fasten the rebar together. Do you weld it together, or use wires to twist it together? What do you put on the bottom of your table/chair "feet"? Looks like some kind of end cap?

Thanks!

Amazing! My hubby was looking over my shoulder and had a hard time believing it was concrete--and he's seen faux bois work before.

Tango, thanks for sharing your wonderful creations and knowledge with us. You rock!

Deb

Slate---The commission I did for the Mercer Arboretum had problems that made the first attempt at finishing the top unacceptable, so I ground it off and started over. And as for the planter you saw, it is likely one that has just the scratch coat applied. The finish is quite coarse and has been scarified to help bond the final layer.

keithcindy---Armatures can either be wired or welded. I prefer welding, but my friend Carlos Cortes likes to wire his the last I heard. And he does some installations that are massive in scale. As for the feet on most furniture piece, I generally use heavy weight steel washers and sometimes stack several, depending on how I'm oging to finish them off. Take a look through the photo albums, I believe there is a close up of one in there somewhere.

and Deb---Thank you. Assure your DH that it really is concrete & cement and tell him to give it a go. By the way, I loved the four months I spent in Bremerton and on the Sound many years ago...in spite of being in the Navy and just waiting there for another tour of the Tonkin Gulf. I hope it is still as beautiful as my memories of it.

Gotta' ask...does anyone know why the embedded pix go away? They showed up small from Yahoo, but were fine for a couple of days, then...poof...nada but little red X's??? Is it something I'm doing/not doing?

Can't help you with the x's. But I just wanted to comment on how faulous your pieces are!! I absolutely love the table! I would like to experiment with this, but after doing a tufa creek last year, I haven't quite recovered yet. Maybe when it cools down a bit this fall. Meanwhile, I've marked your page and I'm going to show it to some gal pals of mine.

Thank you so, so, so much for sharing! Sheri

Tango, what is your technic to obtain the wood effect. i would love to make trees for my pool project.

also what is the mix you used. i think the great info you know can save me time.

thanks

by the way your a very good artist. I love your creation

Easter --- The techniques involved are...well, involved. However if you will do a search of "tango88" on this forum, you should find quite a bit of the info that I have posted over the last year or so. As most of the regulars here are aware, I am working on a book on the subject, something no one else seems to have attempted. That's about the only way I know to get most of the processes across to someone. 'Til then, read up, jump in, and have fun.

Best of luck

Tango,
I have a wheelchair access ramp I did for my dad and I hate to paint it because it's not getting any better looking. :o(

If I use the metal mesh and cover it with tufa leaving wood under would the tufa stay in place even if I presume it will crack.

I will make a test but i am wondering, is your mix strong enough for that to your opinion.

thanks

To begin, I wouldn't reccomend 'Tufa for a ramp. Regular concrete would be much better. However, the wood, which I'm guessing could be plywood, is not suitable as a base. You could treat it like a form and set some rebar just above the surface to carry the load and then pour or build up the concrete. But you will certainly have to consider the weight. If one end is on a porch or some such, the weight of the ramp could collapse it. This is one of those projects that really needs to be well engineered to avoid disaster, so seeking some help from a local pro is where I would suggest starting. Best of luck.

Pretty funny I never thought to search for your ID LOL. DHUUU.

thanks for the info...tango

hypertufa is a great raw material that can become anything I wish and the info you pass by you and others along help the sponge learner I am to gather all the info to quickly forward in mastering.

I have been thinking about the access ramp. if i use a screwed metal mesh on the top of the ramp (wood). and cover with multiple layer of tufa separated by two metal mesh. nails holding the first coating mesh will prevent the whole thing from moving

This would give me a final thickness of 3 ". Since i constructed the ramp i know it is very strong. and the legs support i did back then is able to support a house ;O). The tufa weight would be supported properly.

The only question is the mixture:
1 ½ liters sand, 2 liters Portland cement, 175 ml stone dust (screened), 80 ml met kaolin, 1/6 tsp air entrainer
½ tsp super plasticizer, 1 to 2 tbsp fibers, water

i am thinking using that one. it will be strong enough.

Easter --- Since you did not indicate adding any peat moss to the mix, this really is a modified concrete mix rather than a Hypertufa mix and should be quite strong if cured properly. However, the mesh will not transfer any of the load and plenty of reber will still be necessary to support even a short span. Concrete is extremely strong in compression but very weak in torsion (bending movement), which is precisely the kind of load you will be applying. Even more critical if the ramp is supported solely at the ends. The wood base will only supply minimal support and load transfer for a very short while, as it will decompose fairly rapidly allowing the span to fail, possibly under it's own weight. Also, if you do decide to add rebar, it must be near the center of the thickness of concrete. I have seen a number of folks who placed it at the bottom of a concrete form only to have their projects collapse. Placing it on bottom or top of a pouring form also keeps it from properly distributing the load. There are spacers available specifically for this purpose available through most large hardware chains or cement & concrete vendors.