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

Once we create templates for a project on-site, we bring them back to the studio and translate the measurements, layouts, and notes into a three dimensional form to receive the concrete. The resultant countertop castings will follow the form details exactly – it is a literal translation of positive and negative. The result is completely dependent on the care invested in the preparation. This is a lesson you learn early in your concrete countertop career. Take your time, do it right: you only get one chance. It’s  an iteration of the old-school computing truism – GIGO “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. This is where forethought and planning, not to mention manual dexterity, come into strong play. Will that sink form’s shape release cleanly? Will the faucet handle clear the backsplash when actuated? Are the users right-handed or left-handed?

We do most of our wetcasting on sheets of 3/4 inch melamine coated particle-board. Nesting the required sections on the backer, placing the sink and faucet holes where they need to be – we do everything upside-down and backwards. This is a mind-bending exercise sometimes; there are moments when it is best to step back and take a deep breath, because the effort to re-do a mix-up is considerable at this point. Record-keeping and communication come into play here too: assumptions are a killer. This is why we require that all sinks and hardware be in our physical possession at the time of forming. Manufacturer’s specifications are usually reliable, but cannot be counted at all times. Products are revised, OEM vendors change, industry standards evolve. In the end, everything matters. Don’t Think, Know!

Yesterday we hopped in the van and ran up I91 to Hanover, NH for a consultation and templating appointment with a new client, a doctor in this beautiful university town with a world-class medical facility. Meaning Dartmouth  and Dartmouth Hitchcock, specifically… Rolling hills along the Connecticut River, venerable brick edifices and striking modern architecture denote this regional center of commerce and higher learning.

The good doctor is redesigning and renovating an apartment above his practice; one of the initiatives is a relocated and higher-functioning kitchen. Still very compact, the layout includes a raised eating bar, a dishwasher, an undermount sink, undercounter refrigerator and freezer drawers, and a slide-in gas range. Initially it was thought to  include a cast concrete farm sink, but in the interest of budget and size constraints, it was decided to go with a stainless steel zero-radius sink. The color decided upon is our “Cayenne”, a very warm (naturally!) bricky red with specks of black sand. The other colors in the kitchen will be built around this lead; the site-built cabinetry will have a painted finish and the walls and floor will follow suit.

Once a few of these “detail” decisions are made, it’s time to start the actual creation of the concrete countertops for the project. The first concrete (sorry) step is to pull templates from the site, in order to reproduce in our formwork the exact dimensions and relationships  for a perfect fit at installation. All of our castings are 100% formed; there is no machining other than polishing of the surfaces. It is a creative, additive process – not one of removing stock from a given slab and merely locating holes and edges. This is the thrill of the craft – envisioning something from nothing, or rather, from everything. We play the Creator, re-enacting Genesis in our small way.

Our templates are created using the old-school method: thin 3 inch strips of lauan plywood (a grade known euphemistically as “door skins”) are hot-glued together atop the installed base cabinets and/or half walls, following the walls and overhangs so a s to cretae a physical pattern that can be transported and used as a reference back in the studio. All pertinent information is noted directly on the templates such as finished edges, backsplashes, sink base restrictions, cantilevers, and the project name and date. Then they are carefully removed and placed in the van for the trip back to the shop, where we begin the steps to transform the two dimensional record into three dimensional sculpted sections. Here’s where a critical bit of process creeps in: remember to flip the template when building the matching molds! We perform what is known as reverse wet-casting (typically) and whereas the templates are made face-up, on the cabinets, the concrete is cast upside-down and backwards ( a running joke) and if this protocol is missed, all is in vain. Keeps you on your (steel) toes…

Goodness, where does the time go?   *mumbling*  “I’m late, I’m late – for a very important date!” – The White Rabbit.  And so, I return to the blog with an overdue post on our latest work (there’s been a slew of it lately):

We have just completed a seven foot long double bowl vanity for a home’s master bath in Wilmington, Vermont. The owners wanted to evoke a slightly woodsy feel with the room, which is set in the lushly forested foothills of the Green Mountains near a small lake. The walls are painted a leafy green; the cabinetry is constructed of maple stained with an orange-y finish; the ceramic tile floor is white. We decided to run with a neutral palette on the countertop and sink bowls, to calm the wash area and allow it to stand as an element on its own – not competing with the other colors present in the setting.

The top itself is cast in our “Bone” palette choice, which is what we have dubbed our natural white portland mixed with native sand and gravel – this throws the color of the pure white cement into a gray/tan off-white tone. The sink bowls (round vessels recessed halfway into the top to keep the finish height workable) are cast in “Fog”, which is a silver-gray shade with a slight touch of blue in it. The sinks were cast in a two part fiberglass mold in order to yield a finely finished interior and exterior, as both are visible. The forest theme is implemented with relief impressions of maple and oak leaves cast into the top, replete with veins and small undulations. The leaf images were the result of hand brushed latex copies of real leaves that had been cast in plaster to create a negative, which was then reversed using the rubber copy. The rubber makes a clean reproduction in concrete and releases easily when the forms are stripped to reveal the hardened concrete surface.

A last detail (another facet of the nature theme)  is the heavily ground edge of the top, the backsplash, and the sink rims. This exposes the native aggregate inside the concrete matrix to lend contrast with the more uniform polished planes and adds specks of color and shape to the strong geometry of the assembled installation. Setting the faucets off to the right side of the bowls allows easier access by the users and a welcome assymetry to the composition. The entire project is sealed with our new sealing system by Innovative Concrete Technologies, of which we are quite proud. It is a lithium silicate based treatment, which actually densifies the concrete surface to a point where it is difficult for liquids and staining agents to even penetrate the concrete. It is water-based and actually gains in effectiveness over time! Not sure I can make the same claim of myself…

Our local masonry supply store closed last fall after nearly 50 years of operation (if I recall correctly), victim of the economic blues and a multinational corporate parent bent on trimming away the marginal outlets. It was a sad day. The yard sat empty over the winter, full not with pallets of brick and block, bundles of #4 rebar, and assorted flue tiles, but with drifting snow, scuttling dead leaves, and blank windows. Then I received a postcard in the mail at the very beginning of March, announcing that Shanahan Construction Supply Company of Turner’s Falls, MA was buying the property, expanding the store, and re-opening on March 29th, reincarnating it as a new and improved version of its old self.

Being ever the opportunist, and always on the lookout for a public venue to showcase our craft, I beelined it down to the drab gray concrete block structure surrounded by chain link fence and sure enough, there was lots of activity. I went inside, promptly met the hardworking owner, Ted Whelan of Guilford, VT, congratulated him and made my proposal: “Wouldn’t it be great to have a custom concrete countertop at his checkout desk, for all the builders, and homeowners to ogle?” He agreed (Ted’s a nice guy) but said he was already talking to a bluestone supplier about that very thing. Ted also sells woodstoves and fireplace inserts, in addition to masonry, stone, tools, and landscaping materials,  so I  proffered something about future possibilities and took my leave.

The next day the phone rang. Ted had changed his mind and wanted to talk about taking me up on my idea. I scooted back down, got some quick numbers, and off we went, back to the shop – they were opening in less than three weeks!  The retail counter was a big ell shape, resting on a wood-framed half wall which would be veneered in stone as part of the display. I opined that it might be nice to have his company logo embeded in the top, a suggestion he liked a lot. We decided to work with the logo colors overall – a sage green background  with a dark red logotype. A heavy grind to expose aggregate and a grommet hole for computer cables were also requested. I decided to add some crushed amber glass at the 90 degree turn for sparkle, radius the three exposed corners for comfort, and a little shallow bowl depression for fun. The joint between the two 7 foot sections would be a “z” puzzle seam. It would be sealed with our new high performance reactive lithium sealer, to withstand the wear and tear of a building supply location.

A week and a half later, we carried in the finished countertop. Ted loves it, we love it, and his friends and customers love it. That’s what we like to hear! The new store opened March 29 th and we wish Ted all the best (and hopefully, some business coming our way!).

What can I say? Sometimes all you need is the simplicity of natural concrete to set off the gleam and pizzazz of uber-cool hardware. It works. My clients make me proud to be a part of their domestic visions – well, at least a part…

Please recall, dear reader, that our artisan concrete studio is located in southern Vermont, one of the smallest and most rural states in the Union – we are noted more for our cheese and moose than our taste in modern furnishings. And then along comes a concrete-inclined couple from Halifax, VT (population 792 in 39 square miles; 2000 census), living on a dirt road 20 miles from our shop, and plops a box with an deep, boxy Italian sink and a wicked cool German faucet setup in front of me, and says  “We need a bathroom vanity top!”. Of course.

These shots are from install day, which is our only chance to document our work most of the time unfortunately (the wall color in this little room was dominating, to say the least; the natural gray concrete top appears green! - I’m sure the clients will work out the balance as they begin to occupy the space). On these occasions, the lighting is usually poor, if not very incomplete; cabinetry is bare bones and lacking hardware; finish trim is missing; and all the little details that complete a living space are in absentia. We get the best images we can at the time; it is a work in progress and we move on to the next episode.

So, the walls are a deep orange (which re-tints everything in its glowing proximity) around the sink area and a soft purple gray (nice) in the bath area… there will be a full wall mirror over the vanity when complete and some funky Euro sconces flanking the alcove (once the contractor figures out to to adapt their svelte base plates to a hulking American wiring device box – good luck, sir!). You never know what lurks inside those walls: someone’s personal interpretation of a bathing retreat tucked into the hemlock and spruce forest along a muddy March road, replete with sap buckets and three foot snowbanks. But we do…

Yesterday we installed the Lake Champlain-inspired bartop in its intended home in Wilmington, Vermont; it “fit like a clock”, as a friend used to say, and the installation process went  quite smoothly and with dispatch. The thoughts behind the design elements incorporated in this highly figured piece were apparent once it was resting in the surroundings; all the colors, shapes, and features worked together to form an ensemble or collage that “belonged” in the owner’s beautiful new kitchen. And there’s the magic: it is all about the client, the environment, and the artisan’s interpretation of it all through the medium of concrete. Functional art: You have to see it to comprehend it.

The “Lake Champlain Shoreline” project we are currently working upon has taken on another manifestation: after several days of wet-curing, the piece was unwrapped and partially diamond ground to expose the native aggregate and the crushed beach glass hidden below the cast surface. The bands of color are striking in their many hues and shapes, wandering across the bartop suggesting eddies of water and an undulating coastline. The solid color band at the arched edge will be acid-stained after final processing and add its own characteristic mottled patina to the composition. Small terraced topographical indentations add to the freeform shape and lend contrast to the adjacent smooth surface.

The lake interpreted in customized concrete: Art-formed by Concrete Detail.

We are working on a sweet little project with some neighbors of mine in Wilmington, Vermont (I commute down the mountain to the studio in Brattleboro every morning…). The clients are a great couple I have known for a long time; I actually worked with Matt in my past life as a carpenter in the Deerfield Valley. He and his wonderful wife Angela have a summer cottage on the northeastern shore of Lake Champlain, Vermont’s closest thing to seashore (Vermont is the only New England state without a coastline!). Well, it may be a lake, but it’s a huge one and it has its share of beachcombing treasures. The bartop we are creating for their newly renovated kitchen in Wilmington is incorporating some of the glass treasures they have collected over the years. We are also emulating the undulating shape of a natural shoreline with the outer perimeter of this raised peninsula counter which will serve as an informal eating area overlooking the cooktop.

The crushed glass is only one facet of this accent piece: there will be three bands of color winding across the polished surface. One with the glass; another with exposed aggregate (native gravel), and a wider band with an acid-wash in greens and browns. Several small topographic terraces are sculpted into an edge to suggest natural erosion and the work of the elements that shape our world. Concrete is an excellent medium to showcase all of these design motifs in a single work of functional art which ties together the client, their environment, and the artisan/interpreter.

This is what we do – we love concrete!

The postman has nothing over us; we deliver in rain and snow also… Last month we transported and installed a new set of concrete countertops for a beautifully remodelled home in Putney, Vermont - just 10 miles north of our studio. With an eye toward the future and realizing her lifestyle was going to change, the client had Evergreen Homebuilders do a wide-ranging makeover of her residence. The accommodations in the kitchen include a universal-access stainless steel undermount sink and a dropped (lowered) eating bar. More typically, a kitchen layout might incorporate a raised breakfast bar section but this was a client- and site-specific adaptation – much as custom concrete tops are by nature.

The kitchen was cast in our deep red “Cayenne” base color, with black sand added for character and texture in a lightly polished finish. Maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances and range exhaust hood, a beautiful bamboo floor, and warmly painted walls…