Wow!!!

If I were to describe the time that has passed since my last post the title of this one will fit nicely.

My very first project this Spring was forty steps from top to bottom for which I transversed an estimated sixty times in three days.




Yeah!!!! Some two thousand four hundred steps!

That is equal and then some to taking the stairs to reach the top floor of the Sears Tower.

This was just a warm up to one of my craziest Springs ever.




I completed my next couple of jobs solo to keep labor cost down.

Pouring concrete by yourself is a blast let me tell ya.




Once I had a little working capitol I hired a helper with no concrete experience and the two of us tackled a myriad of pool decks over the next several weeks.

Mike helped when he could but spent much time watching from the sidelines while I tried to keep from letting the concrete get too hard with no time to teach.

He held in there when most would have run while the heat blasted us, every tool and piece of equipment broke under our fingertips from neglect and lack of repair and maintenance funds in recent years, rain threatened to ruin our hard work, bugs flew in our ears while we worked, and his boss all the while expecting him to learn quickly and keep mistakes to a minimum.

With Spring and early Summer slipping by we tried to find time for the finer things as well. Keep a little balance you know?

Sprung

While its been a few months since I've updated, I have certainly not been setting idle in the sunroom drinking coffee and waiting for a new visitor to the bird feeder.




My winter works proved futile in monitary terms though the experience was priceless.

Though I didn't sell a single concrete piece, I did give a few as gifts and my designs went from paper to placement.

For now my outside concrete work has begun and I must put on hold this chapter in my professional life.

Throughout the warm season while I dig in the sand and play in the mud you can be sure my mind will be swimming with new ideas and ways to improve and promote my current designs.

Stay tuned for some Spring time concrete craziness as I dig out the equipment and head out for another season.

What's up benches?

This is an idea I had for a smaller bench that came to life recently.

This was inspired because every time I visit someones house I have to take a knee to put my shoes on before I leave.

I am working on a bench, shelf and mirror combo that I hope will go well at any foyer.

I've been framed

I have been experimenting with concrete picture frames.

Again not as heavy as you might think at 3/4" think.







Getting the hardware fixed to the back was a challenge.

Some careful drilling and two part epoxy does the trick.







With color and design combinations seemingly endless, I am very excited about concrete frames.

The conex

"So I did this project."
If I were to post this in only pictures and just a few words it just wouldn't do this project justice.
It started when Emily asked me if I could help her get counters in her office.
This was a three year project in the works and she wanted counters open underneath so cabinets were out of the question.
We designed a concrete bracket to cantilever the 26" and 30" concrete counter tops.






A tremendous amount of time and resources went into these brackets which were built in the garage just outside the office itself.
Well...a design flaw left me with a pile of broken concrete and one broken heart.












So... Back to the drawing board we went with the brackets.
I was determined to have this done by Christmas but there was a lot of work to be done.
The bracket would have to hold all of my weight without failing.






By the time the brackets were completed I had all of the countertops poured and staged outside of the office door.












With a little help from Emily's mom and dad we were able to get her out of the house long enough to finish mounting the brackets and install the countertops.
I went so far as to make it look as if the countertops were still outside the door to the office so it would be a surprise.
On Christmas morning I gave her the keys.












It was "The best Christmas ever".

Failure is not an option it is a necessity

My first attempt at a concrete coat hanger. Sucess is important but failure sets boundries and exposes limitation.



Thankfully, I was able to salvage a portion of it!