Hi Jack Actually it is very close to what I had designed myself. I used a coolie hat as my design for the roofs with a bamboo like finish running out like spokes in a wheel. Very like your drawings in shape. The problem is to look right they have to be very BIG. The bottom one would be 30 inches across in the scale of your drawing. The weight alone would be substantial, if it could be done at all. Smaller ones just look goofy. There is the potential to use REAL bamboo for the roofs. That might be interesting. My base is almost identical although the legs are a little more vertical and more substantial to support the weight. Windows I can make in any shape and I like your wide square-ish oval. The windows will have frames in them. Give my love of color I suspect traditionalists will not be impressed. I'm leaning towards a stack of 5 different pastel colored carved balls. I consider alternating black and white or simple sandstone. I make a nifty coal black concrete that everyone around here loves. So this is as much modern art/craft as it is lantern but it will be wired for lights. I plan to put it out as a lamppost.:)

When did you start to notice issues with the surface? Was it always rough? Scott

wow, cute baby! We just remodeled our smaller pool (12x24) with traditional white plaster. I had planned on going with a colored plaster or 3m until I discovered the price difference. I replastered the pool, had all new coping and tile installed, and he also jack hammered out part of a return line that had a slight leak, all for under $6500. The companys that delt in agragate plasters like pebble wouldn't touch it for less than $11-15000.00, and said the drain work would be extra. I went to an old plaster man who has a regular day job and takes a couple side jobs every season as his own business. Plaster was all he knew and he did it well. One thing he told me that really stood out was that pure white plaster was the classic style way back in the day, and although there are currently a whole lot of fads and color schemes out there now, history dictates that white plaster will still be the classic style in the future when all the other fads have come and gone. I was very wary at first. I second guessed and thought it would look too plain. But now that it's done and the pool is full, I love it. At night, I turn on the light and the white fully illuminates, showing every detail in the plaster. I must say he did a fine job, considering he hand trowed it all. I can only find one small mark, about the size of a fingernail, that's probably a trowl mark. Every spec of dirt and leaves can be seen, so when the pool is chrystal clean, you can tell. Often, with a darker colored pool, it's masking dirt and leaves. Who wants to swim in a dirty pool? And the nice thing is that the $5000+ I saved will pay a year or two of college for one of my kids. --J

I'm not sure how I came across this post, I think it was displayed on the right side and I clicked on it being intrigued by the tile making. I was at one time interested in working with papercrete and hypertufa. But after enlisting my brother, who wasn't as enthusiastic, and my niece, who poured cement down my laundry room sink, which original to the house had lasted 70 years, and ruining three blenders, my interest waned. True to form, if I come upon difficulty in a project, I think of it as a sign for me not to continue. And really, after all these years of trying various crafts that result in crap, I should know better. I also should have known better than to ask my brother, who always says it can't be done to any of my unique design ideas. And I should have known better than to ask my niece, who once stayed up all night before having to drive to LA for an art show, cutting mat after mat after measuring once, twice, sometimes ten times, but always coming out with the wrong size. I think we both have math dyslexia. I should video us trying anything crafty to see where we go wrong. I think both of us having ADHD might have something to do with it. Sorry for the backstory and run on sentences. So, I just wanted to see if you continued with your venture. And to say sorry for whatever tragedy occurred to cause you to have to move to Florida. Not that there is anything wrong with Florida, but it isn't Panama. Which is one of my favorite places in the western hemisphere. I hope no one is upset that I brought up a seven year old post.