I’m wondering if anyone can provide me with any sources of information about how to build a rock/water garden. Almost all information from design to actual construction techniques would be helpful at this stage.
One thing I’m particuarly interested in discovering is how to build imitation rocks so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time experimenting with colors, materials, techniques, etc.
Jack
Replies
You might want to ask "Over the Frence". That is the Fine Gardening forum.
For the ferrocement part, start here: http://ferrocement.com/english.html  The ferrocement list http://www.ferrocement.net/ had several accomplished faux rock people last time I looked. Getting the colors right apparently is an art.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Why would you want to build fake rocks? Real ones are so much more pleasing visually. You can't improve on mother nature.
The purpose of Art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls
Big natural ones are a little difficult to move. I've got some if you want. Bring your pickup and I'll load:PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Those are some serious rocks. No thanks. How DID you move those puppies? PamilynThe purpose of Art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls
With apologies for a brief highjack...
How DID you move those puppies?
Same thing my client asked. <G> And I thought you said you liked real rocks....
That Caterpillar can push (downhill) about twice its weight, to 16 tons, if you do it right. Some of the smaller rocks I hauled off. Here's a ~5 ton example, in a 7' wide truck bed. I've been thinking about taking over a larger tractor to get a bigger rock or two. The guy with the rocks thinks anybody who'd want one is deranged. DW and I find them wonderful. We're still thinking about what to do with them, but they're a scarce resource here.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Hey, those would be perfect for a project I have. I think with the tow hitch on my '82 Pacer (aftermarket) I could drag them home. Oh, boy the wife will be so excited!! Thanks!!Andy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
Why fake rocks?
BIG natural rocks are heavy and difficult to move to my site.
Transportation for the kind of rocks I might use is expensive
The color and type of rocks available where I am is limited.
I'm sure I could think of a few more reasons if I spent a bit of time ...
Jack
I thought fake rocks were made of concrete...so they would be heavy. I guess I am just spoiled. Lots of cheap rock in my neck of the woods. PamilynThe purpose of Art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls
Fill out your profile so we know where rocks are hard to come by. I wondered by your name if you are in Jacksonville, Fl. I know there aren't enough handy rocks here to even pick one up and throw at a cat, but there are sources for rocks, plenty of them and in a good variety.
Once you set the rocks in place they're there for a long time for you to look at. Do it right with natural stone.
I checked on the "update profile" link and I see no space to indicate where I am located.
I think I mentioned that I am in Chile, in the Lakes District and the only rocks near me are course gravel. Anything else would have be transported at least a few miles. It seems that faux stone will be easier and certainly more fun to work with.
Jack
This actully just came up a month ago (Custom Interior Waterfall) so I'll just repost what I posted then.
Custom Interior Waterfall
We've built a couple of realistic indoor water features. This one is koi pond on the second floor of a garage addition.
The photo below is of the preliminary framing
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The photo below is of the room once the "rockwork" was completed. Most of the rockwork is Structo-lite & Hydrocal plaster over metal lathe and styrofoam forms except where the stream and waterfall are. The stream and waterfall sections we surfaced in fiberglass reinforced surface bonding cement.The stream starts on the top of that pile of rock on the right and then comes down to in front of the circular window and then switches back to empty into the pond basin and while the fiberglass reinforced surface bonding cement is water resistant the stream bed was waterproofed with coatings of fiberglass reinforced epoxy. The base coloring of the rockwork was done by adding dyes and/or pigments to the plaster and cement but then the real detail work that makes the rock look real is essentially faux painting using sponging, airbrush and glazing techniques. The floor however is the real thing "1" Pennsylvania Irregular flagging in a medium bed thinset application. The pond itself is fiberglass reinforced epoxy in a sheathing application over a wiggle plywood form.
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The plants installed are all real and keeping them watered was done by building and automatic watering system into the rockwork.
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We've also built a waterfall using the same techniques for a pet store too.
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And we've used the same techniques to build a shower that was in the shape of two cupped hands. Sorry no pictures of that one. I really regret that too in that it was really pretty cool. You could sit on a bent over thumb to scrub your feet.
Any questions feel free to ask.
I have some more information on this I can give along with some URLs but I'm headed out the door in 10 minutes to go visit some family for Christmas Eve and I probably wont be able to get back to play around on Breaktime until Monday but this is a start.
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Wow Jerrald, you've done what I hope to do, although I expect that what I'd like to do will be done outdoors.
I'm in Chile, and a lot of the ready made, kit-type solutions and specialized products are not available and would need to be imported, however if I can find basic information on how-to using commonly available materials I think I'll be able to put it together from there.
Do you know of any information sources on how to build, color, finish, faux rock, etc.? Books, or on-line or whatever would be be appreciated.
Jack
Jax try....www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIndex/rockselpdart.html..hope thats right.
Keith
Jack my recommendation would be to build yourself a form work out of curved and angular plywood shapes that you'll then attach wire lathe to. You then push pull and dent the wire lath to get the rough underlying form of the shapes you want you rockwork to take. You'll then want to apply either mortar mix (we prefer mortar mix to a mix sand mix concrete because the lime in it makes it stickier) as a brown coat to the wire lathe. You'll then give a second coat of concrete to start building up your shapes still keeping the coating relatively thin (maybe anywhere from a 1/2" to 1" here and there) and then to finish off the rockwork and really add some structural strength to it we like to use Quickwall Surface Bonding Cement which you tint to the base color you want the rock to be. You don't really need to worry about batch consistency with the coloring since in real life the coloring of rock will vary slightly within itself but you will want to stay in a certain range for sure depending upon what kind of rock you are trying to emulate. That cement coating is waterproof and incredibly strong thanks to the glass fibers in it. You'll then go back again and add detail and cover up spots where the fiberglass is showing with mortar mix again which has be colored roughly the same as the base again.
Then to really finish off the rock you're essentially faux painting it from here on in. Although rather than paint per se we color it with what is essentially a staining technique like you would use if you were painting a watercolor with dyes. It looks a lot more genuine. It also help if you can "paint" a la fresco technique where you are painting into the wet plaster (the surface bonding cement coat).
How good an artist or painter are you?
Unfortunately there aren't any real how to web sites on the techniques for making fake rock. Serching for "rockwork" however you will find some good sites to show you just what can be done. I just really figured it out on my own based on what I learned in college where I majored in theatrical scene design. It's going to take some practice and you really need to get out and study very carefully just what real rock looks like. I have a huge photo library that I've built over the years of great rock formations so that I would have a real good pile of reference material.
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