A Marathon Hypertufa Making Session
How about let’s just make one big mess and get a whole lot done at once? That is what I decided to do, and with the help of the family, we all pitched in a made 9 hypertufa planters of different sizes in one long marathon hypertufa making session. Note to self: This was great for getting a lot done at a time, but Wow! was it ever exhausting.
Now some of you young whipper-snappers can probably make tufas one after the other all day long, but I really got tired of doing it over a long session like that. It was probably about 5-6 hours and that really doesn’t seem to be such a long time. But I think it’s the psychological impact of knowing that you’ve mixed a HUGE batch of ingredients and it will all go to waste if you don’t just keep making more…and more…and more.
Measuring out all the Portland in gallon jugs ( I think we ended up using about 9 gallons of materials) and then screening 3 gallons of peat moss too takes a bit of time. Thank God I have the electric cement mixer. We were doing this inside in the basement for the most part although some of the screening and measuring was done on the back deck.
I line my molds with plastic, and I chose some shower curtain plastic from the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree, whichever was the one I was in at the time. It was WAY TOO FLIMSY. It didn’t do well at all and was not easy to pull from the folds after the hypertufa pots cured. Some even imprinted with the colors of the shower curtain. Weird, right? Next time, I will go back to the party Table cloths that I usually use. Those hold up and peel off much better.
When we were all finished, I left the wrapped pieces in their molds inside in the basement. It is a very dry basement as basements go. If I am to believe the barometer on my clock, it ranges only about 35% most of the time. Probably not the best humidity for my plants but that is its natural level. In the other side of the basement, I have a dehumidifier running and use that water on plants as it accumulates. So far my plants have been growing well in this humidity, so I will just carry on!
In total, we got 9 planters from this marathon hypertufa making session and some of those were fairly large. The tiniest one was for just a sprout or a tea light or votive candle. I have not tried a candle in hypertufa yet, so we shall see.
It was fun and I will follow this with the unwrapping video too, so watch for that one too. And be sure to check out the video and see how I made that Green Flimsy Liner mold and help me with the mystery of the Marble Hypertufa.
Here’s the Unwrapping Post and Video. See how they all turned out.