With irreverent apologies to Joe Cocker – who lays that number down so smoothly (Ha! Joe and smooth in the same sentence)  that anyone would be dissuaded from total abandonment…

Base form ready to pour

When we create integral sinks in a single wet cast pour, that is, using a very flowable concrete which fills the form and self-levels, it is necessary to work with a form that is watertight and able to withstand the significant hydraulic pressure to which it is subjected. If you incur what is termed a “blowout” in the middle of a pour, it is difficult, if not impossible, to salvage the moment and all the effort of building that single-use mold is lost. Back to square one; not a pleasant situation and certainly not a profitable one to those in the biz. It has happened to everyone at some time. It’s a lesson which is learned rather quickly and stashed away in the “never gonna skip that step again” files…

Hat form in place atop base

When doing a three dimensional pour such as an integral sink bowl (or two!) built into a concrete countertop, a two part form is constructed. The lower form might be termed the base, the upper is often called a hat or cap form. Both are built carefully ahead of time, mated to each other and shaped/caulked/drilled so that they are completely ready to be pressed into service as the pour commences.  Nota bene: Wet concrete waits for no man – so there are no opportunities to insert a missing step while in the heat of the moment. The lower base form is filled with the fresh concrete to its upper edge, vibrated for consolidation and air removal, and the hat mold lifted into place and screwed down quickly. Then the sink cavity (all upside down and backwards remember!) is filled to its upper extremity, consolidated, and the pour is wrapped up. Performing this process with two discrete colors makes it even more challenging, as one need to be careful not to contact any errant surfaces which would muddy the transition. This creates a very unique look however, possible only with the dynamism of precast concrete. A current project (showcased here) was cast in a dark grass green pigment for the body of the concrete countertop and snow white rectangular sink bowls. Definitely NOT “off the shelf”.

Hat form's white concrete placed

The resulting bi-color casting

Concrete contraption

I have plans. They’re not grandiose or even far-reaching. Some might characterize them as pedestrian. But at least they’re mine. Dream a little dream, said Mama Cass.

Well, I’ve been spending a little (very slight exaggeration) time out in blog world, reading my webby friends and acquaintances periodic  feats of penmanship, and thinking to myself (which is where I do most of my thinking, come to think of it) – “I need to do something a little more useful and expansive with this blog of Concrete Detail” or something along those lines. I have had some helpful and encouraging discussions on the subject with a few confidantes and we (the royal we) are in the early stages of reformatting and reformulating this mouthpiece of  concrete communication. I would like it to be not only a means of presenting the craft of concrete countertops, but a look around at some of the other topics that inform our day-to-day operations and also some of the more esoteric influences that might underlie the mindset of this individual artisan. Warning: still waters may run deep. Or not.

I like writing. So maybe this is just an excuse, a convenience of permission. There is a horde of technical necessities to wade through (this, for a member of the IT-illiterati), much less the always looming content issue – what’s the drivel du jour? – but we’ll cross that boondoggle when we come to it. OK – so there’s that. Tally-ho!

Art Underfoot

We’re just wrapping up another facet of the studio relocation to the Book Press building: the new office/showroom space. A 14 x 20 area was partitioned out of the 4800 sq. ft. shop to create a dust-free and “quieter” administrative workspace and display area for our concrete countertops and other cast architectural elements. We approached the project with an intention of honoring the hard-working past by giving it a new task: providing a textural counterpoint to the displays of finely finished artisan concrete which we will showcase there in the coming months.

The pre-existing  40 year old concrete slab floor was in pretty rough shape from its former life as a printing factory – gouges, drilled holes, layers of grease, ink, solvents, oil, and other nastiness had left their industrial mark. We scraped and scrubbed off the topmost layers, then rented a diamond floor grinder to get down to the raw concrete in preparation for staining it with a wash of transparent colors. We removedabout 60 pounds of concrete dust with the machine and an attached vacuum, exposing the aggregate to varying degrees in the process. Then multiple washes and wet-vaccing to clean up all residue before we spray applied 5 shades of water-based stain to create a vivid organic land/waterscape, sealed with a satin floor sealer. The result is a walkable canvas – what we call “Art Underfoot” – which will set the space apart as befits its purpose and “wow” our visitors with implications of concrete possibilities. Stop in and check it out!

Does every blog entry require crisp photographs, maps and charts, or even links to other “relevant” content? Well, probably. At least the posting pundits and interweb wags would have it that way. But, I’m going rogue – at least briefly. Perhaps it’s just becasue I don’t feel like uploading another batch of pixels…

Concrete Detail is moving its concrete countertop studio to the BookPress building on the north end of the bustling burg of Brattleboro, Vermont. In two weeks. Are we looking forward to this transpiration of events? Yes and no: yes, because we will gain on several (or I should say many) fronts. More space, better space, cheaper space; better access for inbound and outbound materials and products; private entrance, showroom, room for expansion, synergistic neighbors, oh… I could go on and on.

No, because we have to schlep our worldly goods (after we sort through and fill several dustbins) piece by piece from one corner of town to another. I know, stop whining and get over it… OK, I’m over it. It’s all good.

Here we grow!

Despite the ailing economy and the continued stall (nosedive) in housing starts, the fledgling concrete countertop industry seems to be on the upswing. We all took a hit in the recent malaise of course- the ripple effect was more of a tsunami in its swathe of shutdowns, postponements and downright failures in the building and design world. But the personal artistic appeal and the sustainable common sense of artisan concrete is making upstream progress against the tide of woe, and noticeable interest is waxing steadily stronger. Remodeling has become the construction option of choice, as homeowners decide they will (or must) stay put for awhile, and make a personal investment in their domiciles (rather than plan for reselling and the bland appeal of mass “taste”).

There is a renewed commitment to giving a little more thought to the true economic cost of product choices, to the “comfort” of a handcrafted surface, and to the local producer (and your own community, by extension). All of this can be realized by making a concrete choice and collaborating on a work of functional art for your home or business – and we would love to help you!

E-correspondence is amazing and terrifying, all at once. We’ve been working at forging connections and expanding our presence, amateur SEO-types that we are, and the effect is palpable. Talk about ripple effect!  We are aiming to connect with other concrete countertop artisans and anyone interested in the same: designers, architects, specifiers, kindred craftsmen, and the like. Dilettantes and hoi polloi need not apply. We are Twittering and we are LinkedIn; we are blogging and we are surfing; and we check our e-mail like nobody’s business. Let’s hook up!

We are well underway with another local kitchen remodel project: concrete countertops and a concrete farm sink, fully integrated with a cool branching drainboard and soap recess. We performed another first with this undertaking – a simultaneous layered wet pour in two different colors: our “Night” and “Cayenne” shades. As expected, there is bleeding at the freeform interface where the pigments meet, in a very dynamic and organic manner. This is another example of the design possibilities of artisan concrete countertops and elements, made by hand and heart for the individual.  The photos above show the freshly demolded piece, ready for curing and processing in a few days…

Hand-pressed in gray and blue

Sorry folks – I haven’t been able to steal a minute and post lately… the phone’s ringing off the hook. With the launch of Concrete Detail’s website almost three months ago, the news is spreading and the interest is growing. A recent client (the Vermont Verde Antique-inspiration project) was just relating to me a story about their recent trip down South: nearly everywhere they turned, they saw concrete countertops – at a resort, a hotel, in several homes… And now they will have  one of their own in Brattleboro, Vermont! We have calls coming in from Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and of course Vermont. Concrete countertops have caught the conservative eye of New England and made a good impression; and why not? Concrete is a reflection of the owner and the artisan, a collaboration of art-formed. Always original, always extraordinary.

PS   Final install pictures of the marbled top coming soon…

We are working up our official sample sets, comprised of 15 beautiful earthy colors of concrete, showcased by 3 1/2 inch square “chips”  labelled and housed in a very nice wooden box with a hinged lid. These sets will be available for showrooms and designers to show prospective clients the range of expression possible in an artisan concrete countertop; of course, there is always the custom color option, since with concrete there are no limits! The colors were cast in small sheets at 3/4 inch thick, polished and sealed, then diamond sawn into squares, the cut edges eased for handling,  and each variety labelled with the color name for identification.

These are our fifteen colors (which will probably evolve over time – change is inevitable!):Night, Thunder, Fog, Bone, Stone, Fossil, Sage, Saffron, Slate, Moss, Mocha, Cayenne, Terra, Caramel, and Wine. And that’s just for starters.

We, here in New England, tend to be of a conservative nature when it comes to important decisions, be they financial or decorative in nature. And that has stood us well, because we have this bankable asset called heritage and character now – and the appreciative crowds that follow such. As a result, Yankees have been slow to adopt some of the nouvelle aspects of domestic architecture and concrete surfaces have had a delayed entrance into our hearths and homes. But eventually, common sense and cooler heads prevail and the late arrival is found to be as much at home as the beloved swamp pink and oyster stew (we are an eccentric bunch). And so, amazingly, concrete countertops can be found in staid farmhouses, kit-built ski chalets, grand old Greek Revivals, yurts and strawbale assemblages, and iconic modern statements. Concrete  has come home…