All About Hypertufa Sculptures
A great way to add a uniquely personal flare to your yard is by creating your own hypertufa sculpture. If nothing else, it will at least be a great topic of conversation at your next garden party. The word alone is fun to say. And making it could be even more fun.
What exactly is a hypertufa sculpture? Good question. It's what people create from a cement mixture of their preferred consistency when they have run out of tufa rock. Once mixed and set, hypertufa can be sculpted into any number of things. You could go practical and make containers, stepstones, birdbaths, benches, or fountains. Or you could go purely decorative and create sculptures of man, bird, animal, Mayan gods, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Pull out the Michelangelo in you that you never knew was there.
Now, how to begin. You have multiple ways to go about this. You could start with a tub and pour your mixture into it to create a container or the block to sculpt from. Or you could create a sturdy inner frame using things you have around such as PVC pipes, wood or even styrofoam. You would then add your hypertufa mixture on top of it until satisfied or until ready to sculpt away. And what is your hypertufa mixture? Every person you ask will give you a different recipe for how to make hypertufa. A basic recipe for a carvable surface would be to mix 1.5 parts of perlite or vermiculite with 1.5 parts of peat moss and one part Portland cement. You should know this is not an exact science. Experiment. See what works best for you by mixing it up and giving it a try. Expect your first to be a trial-go and after that, practice until perfect. Have fun!
