dizadncr I'm trying to make a "Face" jug using a cement mix. I just finished packing the first stage - the jug bottom. For the jug pieces I'll use 1:2:2:1, Portland, vermiculite, perlite,sand and some Quikrete Concrete Bonding adhesive. For the character features I'll use Fiber Cement as described in Lynn Olson's book - Sculpting with Cement. It is a steel wool cement mix. I used Quikrete Concrete Bonding Adhesive in the mix. The nose mouth and teeth are finished. Then I'll assemble all the parts using a slurry of pure portland and Quikrete Concrete Bonding adhesive. When complete a slurry of pure portland over the entire piece. Then the hard work begins burnishing the cement to a smooth finish. This is a difficult experiment and there are a thousand ways it could go wrong, but therein lies the fun of it all. Robert

Its funny I was thinking if any of you know some aging hippie packrats they probably have a bottle cutter. When I was young making glasses out of bottles was popular and there was a cheap cutter that scored the bottle and then you dangled this thing in and hit it on the inside I think. I have a crafty friend a bit older than I who keeps everything and I was going to ask her if she has one! Its nice to know that they still can be gotten - tho the one in the picture is more elaborate than what I remember. It looks like a beautiful project. Good luck and post pics.

I use anything to tie plants in place without regards to looks, training wire, string etc it does not matter. One year later it all comes off as the plant has attached itself with its roots. No plant has ever bloomed or reached a stage where you would want to display it before all this stuff comes off. I don't like fishing line, its harder to work with than an old shoe lace, in the end I remove fishing line too. If I want moss as part of the mount, I drill 4 holes making the corners of a small square in the mount, then loop training wire in a fugure of 8. When its cinched down, the wire is buried in the moss and becomes invisible. I have used silicon glue to attach a small Dockrilla cucumeria on a piece of bark to a larger piece just like aachenelf described. It worked well and looks natural. I was tempted to glue together same large chuncks of lava rock to create a bed for a large D speciosum hillii to rest on, did not and now the plant is beginning to bind it all together with its roots. A nice demonstration of lithophytic growing for orchid shows. Plant and rocks are in a tray, 1' x 2' bordered with bleached drift wood nailed on its base. Takes 2 people to lift it Nick

Thanks again for all the wonderful suggestions. I had considered wood for this bar. I still like that idea and if I can't find the right granite, I'll probably go with something like maple or maybe tiger maple. My cabinets are stained pretty dark, but the floors are unstained quartersawn white oak. Perhaps Q/S white oak might be nice for the bar also. Honed Black granite might also work really well since it is not the glaring dark black that most black granites are. I am just not sure a glossy dark black surface would work with the rest of the colors in the kitchen. I'll also look for a cream marble. My backsplash is tumbled travertine with small tumbled travertine and frosted dark gray glass mosaic accents. The BS is perfect with this granite. Now I know why people hire kitchen designers to figure all this stuff out!! lol!! I am going to try to get by the granite yard this week to see what they have. I think right now, my first choice would be Delicatus. But if that's not possible, then I'll look for something solid....not the ubatuba. Cindy