Making Pottery from Portland Cement
VERY few people realize that anything artistic can be made from ordinary Portland cement. A contributor to the Scientific American of June 12 has a very interesting article on the manufacture of concrete pottery. Of course the Portland cement mortar has to be worked very much differently than clay, for clay can be formed into almost any shape and will remain there, for the reason that it is more or less sticky and the particles of which it is composed cling or adhere to one another. Cement is not capable of being so molded, and unless it is placed in a mold or form it will fall to pieces before it hardens. The first step then in cement pottery is to make the forms. These are usually constructed of wire or wood, or they may be made of plaster of Paris. The use of the wire forms is the simpler when there are but one or two of the same shape of articles to be made. If a large number of pieces are desired, then a wooden or a plaster of Paris mold is advisable. The best material for wire forms is No. 20 Clinton wire lath, having about a half-inch mesh. When buying it, ask for galvanized wire lath. This is better to work than the ungalvanized. Those interested in the making of such pottery will find very full descriptions of the work running in a series of articles now being published in the paper above mentioned.