Preparations for the big cement pour continues...

So we are now in the final stages of the plan for the pour.  We only have one shot at getting it right so we are trying to allow for all possibilities and make sure responsibilities are clear and timing is in place.  We have been able to use a cage area behind our Technical Education Department that is concrete, fairly flat, and most importantly a fenced and secure area for us to cast our molds. I recently met with Don Landy from our District Maintenance and Operations Department regarding what help the school district could provide.  Don was incredibly supportive and offered many helpful suggestions and a crew to assist.  I continue to be ever thankful that everyone involved is such a positive force in this project.  Jasmine suggested a sandbox to keep the molds perfectly level.  Here is a simple drawing of what she wanted:

Don volunteered his crew to help with this and improved on the design by suggesting thicker and taller boards he had available at the yard.  He even had sand that could be reused at the end of the project for another project as nothing will be mixed or spilled into the mixture to spoil it.  The sand is simply a leveling compound.  A flurry of emails and meetings has resulted in the following simple list of events as described by Jasmine:

Tuesday April 30^th, 2013  Prep Day

            Don and crew build sand box and fill it with sand. Canopy installed?

1.     Rinse rubber molds in sinks in the art rooms

2.     Pat Dry with Paper Towel

3.     Ensure that all bolts and wing nuts are very tight (using pliers) on the mother molds.

4.     Return the rubber molds to the mother molds

5.     Put molds in garbage bags and tape the plastic bag tight around the mold

6.     Put molds in the sand

7.     Cut openings in the plastic bags to reveal mold (access to mold) but keep the mother molds covered in plastic to prevent moisture damage. (weakens the mother mold)

8.     Jasmine to install rebar hanging structure in molds

9.     Level molds with sand, leaving sides as exposed as possible to tap with hammer to eliminate air bubbles during pouring

10. Cover with plastic

11. Weight the plastic

Wednesday May 1^st

1.     8:00-8:30 Jasmine Ensure molds are dust-free, spray with mold-release

2.     8:30-9:00 molds release sets

3.     9:00 Lafarge arrives with truck, technician mixes cement with chemical to catalyze the concrete, Contech Concrete technicians arrive

4.     Approx 9:30-10:00 Contech concrete pours concrete into molds

5.     Jasmine stands by to release air bubbles with hammer and/or stirring deeper shapes (tin can, container)

6.     11:00 Pouring is complete, Contech will finish the concrete surface

7.     When concrete is hard enough soak cloth with water and place on top of hardened concrete.

8.     Cover in plastic and weight plastic.

Thursday May 2^nd

1.              AM hose the fabric on top of the concrete and re-cover with plastic

2.              Noon—check fabric/moisture. Adding too much water to the concrete will not damage the concrete curing as per Lafarge’s advice.

3.              4:00-5:00pm (end of the day) Add more water to keep moist over night

Friday May 3^rd

1.              9:00am Jasmine arrives to de-mold.

2.              Remove plastic and wet cloths.

3.              Prepare dollies and wood for lifting (Jasmine to explain)

4.              Turn the first mold over so that the mother mold is facing up…remove all nuts and bolts, keeping the group together.

5.              Jasmine will use chisels and hammers to pry open the first section of the mother, repeating the process until the mother mold is removed.

6.              Students to group and put the mother mold back together using the letters A-A, B-B etc…

7.              Jasmine to remove rubber mold and return to the mother mold.

8.              Slide the cast bench on to 2x4 supports.

9.              6 people lift wood supports with bench on it, on to the dolly.

Repeat until all casts are de-molded.         

 Students will be a key part of every part of this process where appropriate.  We have a crew signed up to help out whenever appropriate with the key days being the mold prep day and the demolding day.  It has been a long road to this point, and it does not seem real that we are finally here.

Local Publicity

We were recently contacted by the Richmond Review in regards to an article on the Hugh McRoberts Public Art Project they were covering.  Specifically they were covering the official endorsement of the project by Richmond City Hall.  Unfortunately this meeting occurred over spring break so we were unable to supply them with a student or teacher perspective.  However, The Richmond Review has kindly offered to cover the story of our cement pour and demolding.  We are so pleased to have them share in this exciting process.  Here is a link to the first article:

http://bit.ly/116Fvls.

Casting the lockers and objects

Here are some images of the change room lockers and the objects placed on top of them for casting.  The beauty of the casting portion is that we can cast almost anything using a similar compound to the "mini locker" exercise the students participated in previously.   All of these images were taken by Jasmine in her studio.  We decided since the compound required to cast such a large surface had some levels of toxicity (unlike the mini locker compound which was non-toxic) that this portion ought to be completed without students present and with the proper safety equipment in the studio. Jasmine was careful to keep to student ideas in combination with her own designs.  We now have funding for a potential 6 benches.  The two benches featured here are the lunch and book benches.  The books came from our art department in the form of collected cast offs and the lunch was Jasmine's selection.

Notice the incredible detail here on the books - including the embossed text on the spine.  The sandwich stuck to the casting material, however now inedible, will be forever remembered in concrete in perfect detail.  Once the initial mold is made of the exterior (pink part), then the mother mold is cast to strengthen the outer layer (white part).

We are now preparing for concrete casting day.  Jasmine has spent a fair amount of time researching what kind of concrete to use and how best to cast our design with longevity and structural integrity in mind.  One detail different from the original design is that all benches will be cast in the same tinted colour as opposed to each being a different colour. Through industry experts, Jasmine discovered it was not practical nor effective to try and hand tint the concrete ourselves on such a large scale.  As such, when the concrete truck arrives on site it will contain a uniformly coloured - the vote was for yellow - concrete material. Jasmine has researched coloured sealants that will also do the double duty of protecting the benches and enhancing the colour intensity.  We have not ruled out spot colour (i.e. tinting the object a different colour so it will stand out).  Skala has designed benches for the rest of the space that will be simple, elegant and smooth rectangular grey concrete forms - a perfect foil for our pop of colour and texture.

We are now at the point where we will are planning the details of the pour and demold on school property.  We do not yet have a confirmed pour date, but it will be soon.  Stay tuned!