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Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 3:30 pm
by alpineart
Ok so its out with the sabre saw
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and then the hammer and chisel
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. It looks easy but as a Tradie its not that simple
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.I have had a few breaks on the pinnacles
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but then again, i'm a bit rough myself . Working either side
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then into the center
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it slowly emerged into a
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3 D configuration ,
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.
Cheers Alpineart
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 3:35 pm
by alpineart
Hi Trent , its coming into its own now that's for sure .
Cheers Alpine
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 4:18 pm
by Booga
Hay Alpine I like the carving of the concrete, Looks good and cant wait to see the outcome. How many live plants are you using,

going bye a previous post you mentioned two cuttings, A good way of using lanky stock hay
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 4:30 pm
by alpineart
Well after 12 hours of carving it back into the swing of things and with the waterproofing drying overnight , it on with the base render coat .
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This is a blended acrylic with a waterproofing agent added . This material sticks like shari to a blanket and the working time is less than 5minutes so its flat out like a lizard drinking until it has a uniform coat .
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This was rubbed on by hand and brushed over , rubber gloves are a must as it sets like quick set cement .
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A short drying time and its onto the cement blended render in colour coats .
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This was dabbed on until 5 colour's , black , brown , red , orange and yellow were evenly dab coated then brushed in
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blending all the colour's together to give the finished coat .
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Again all renders have an added waterproofing agent which speeds up the drying process and aids adhesion to each layer
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The Dragons Den will now be allowed to dry completely before 2 more coats of waterproofing is sprayed on and allowed to dry . Then and only then will the Dragon and Rock Pot become one . Hope you enjoyed this as much as i did . Look forward to the final post on this topic .
The finished item is 900 mm high X 400 mm wide x 250 mm deep and with a healthy weight of 19 kilograms , the Alpineart art diet works in a day or two .
Cheers Alpineart
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 4:35 pm
by alpineart
Hi Booga , the only use for rubbish like these is to create a Phoenix Graft , so i did exactly that with a bit of a twist . I will use 2 cuttings off these original old plants that were taken a couple of season back . Basically it will be another Ishitsuki or Penjing .
Cheers Alpine
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 5:33 pm
by N Mac
Hi alpine that is looks great. Have you seen the white dragon it is a San Jose juniper by Michael Persiano? I found it in a book called The Bonsai School by Craig Coussins.
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 6:33 pm
by alpineart
Hi N Mac ,no mate i haven't seen it .If you have a pic you could send it to me via P.M , wouldn't want to breach copyright by posting here .I do have a C. Coussin's book but haven't looked at it for years .
Cheers Alpine
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 6:43 pm
by MattA
Hey Alpine,
Been watching this one during the day.... LOVE IT.... One thing jars me, the even parapets around the middle of the top of the 'pot', guessing by the time the dragon flies into place they will be partially concealed and wont be that noticable.
Dont be mad but I am off to

one of your old posts not dissimilar to this one...
Matt
PS Stop blaming the boat anchor

Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 7:13 pm
by alpineart
Hi MattA , the parapets will be trimmed to suit the dragons butt . I cant afford to remove the juni's from the pot to fit the setting so it will be trimmed the day i pot it up . I was wondering when someone would pick the flat tops , nothing a hammer and chisel wont fix . Mate i was up at 3.00 am this morning trying to put this topic together in one hit and its been a 15-30minute ordeal until 5.00 tonight get a single pic to load . The computer would time out or the server was too busy or the server error occur . I was about to throw this anchor down the drive way . I should have had the whole thing done in the early hours in 2 hours tops . The strange thing is all other programs ran well for the wife all day .
Cheers Alpine
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 7:19 pm
by fiveoffive
WOW thats coming along realy well. you did not tell me about that alipine.
Now i only have one question: Hows all that going to fit in my car next time I'm over ?
PS rolling stand so i can move it would be nice as well

Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 7:31 pm
by The Hacker
Hey 5of5 please don't

get to excited about Alpine's little rock thingy cos I'm headin up there in the combie & guess what there's plenty of room in her

to fit the dragon watchacallit in there

so it's on it's way back ta down town Frankston

Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 7:44 pm
by fiveoffive
Cry
SO close little rock thing yet so far.
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 8:49 pm
by alpineart
Don't worry fella's this will be chained and bolted to the real concrete block . Just for the record its already entered into the local show later in the year by a committee member visiting today , and it is designed to lay flat for transport purposes , thinking ahead as the Fig Ishitsuki is too tall for transport in my 4x4 .
Cheers Alpine
Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 8:54 pm
by MattA
A dragon with a big butt.. I like ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTx5sqvVJ4
Saw you online early this morn, my girl is in heat & despite nothing hanging between their legs the boys are giving each other filthy looks.. 3am they decided to make some noise about it & so did I

The older boy knows better than to wake daddy & the youngun found out all too quickly why that is so

Re: sticks , plants and a concrete block
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 10:04 pm
by Craig
Nice progression Alpine.
The Hacker wrote: the dragon watchacallit
