Week 24 - learning about concrete

So yes, this blog is without doubt opening me up to some new things, unique experiences and plenty to learn that I had not given too much thought to before.  I think this week has gone beyond any of that.  A concrete masterclass.  Was I scraping the bottom of the proverbial concrete barrel?!  Perhaps, but do know what?  This is obviously something people want to learn as the class was booked solid (!) 

Not an everyday workshop, I found this through UCL.  The Institute of Making is a multidisciplinary research club for those interested in the made world.  Its work focuses on hands-on research into materials and making from many different perspectives.  It is available to all UCL staff and students and members are encouraged to make, break, design and combine both advanced and traditional tools, techniques and materials.  

Now in its third year is the Festival of Stuff: a four day extravaganza of unique masterclasses that are bookable to the public.  They're all free and put on by the Institute and UCL.  Quite frankly, the name was enough for me, I knew I had to do a class at something called the Festival of Stuff.  What made me choose concrete, I will never know.  There were also classes in plant moisture sensor, fish printing and experimental pewter casting to name but a few, so you can see the dilemma I had!   But concrete is what I went for and so last week I found myself in the thick of a University campus and straight into a fully-functioning workshop.

I guess my preconceived ideas about concrete were simply that it is mainly used as a construction material, probably the most ubiquitous one in the world and that its pretty cold, grey and depressing.  Of course, in this modern age, that is an utterly foolish and simple thing for me to think and Leigh Cameron, our teacher for the afternoon and a concrete lover, expert and maker was here to tell me and the rest of the class otherwise.  

Sat on a table in front of us was a curious array of objects that Leigh had made, ranging from bowls, lampshades, coasters, bracelets, ashtrays and realistic florets of cauliflower, all made from concrete.  The thing with concrete, as Leigh told us is that it is "fit for purpose"; essentially you can produce concrete from an array of ingredients and proportion them in such a way for durability and strength, that means you can make it however you want for your needs.

In essence,  concrete is a re-amalgamation of stone.  Its basically a mixture of stone and cement but it is being re-invented all the time as people are understanding that it is very easy to add a bit of "spice" to a concrete mixture to create something totally different.  Things like limestone, steel and silica can all be added to make something very refined.

At this point in the class, I have to be honest, I sort of switched off. Words like polymer, resin and plasticisers got bandied about with abandon, between Leigh and the more.....informed and appreciative classmates within the group.  I just wanted to make stuff.

Leigh had brought with him a bunch of moulds for us to play with, letters, numbers, boxes, bowls etc etc and began by showing us how easy it is to make concrete.  You need cement, water and an aggregate such as sand or gravel.  Leigh brought with him a load of cement powders that he had coloured with pigment particles and then began by mixing everything together in a bowl.

After that we all got to have a go. In pairs we picked out different cement powders and varying aggregates, weighed everything out and got pouring.  I had my eye on an ashtray mould that I managed to get my hands on for my first attempt.  (I don't smoke but I thought it could look quite cool on my terrace).  My partner, Elisabeth and I grabbed everything we needed including a nice purple coloured cement powder and gave it a go.

I then just had to leave my blancmange-like creation to set and wander round and look at what everybody else was doing in the class.  Of course, as I suspected, other people were doing a much better job than me but surprisingly with this one, I didn't mind too much.  I was perfectly content not being the best in the class!!  

After around 40 minutes my concrete creation was ready to come out of the mould.  Oh.  Hmmm.  Ok, yes, maybe I shouldn't have used such a thick aggregate for starters.  First rookie mistake.  Second, I mean, what on earth?  Concrete?  Calamity.  I'm all for trying new things but this one takes the cake.  I love the idea of what the Institute of Making are doing and making unusual concepts and classes available to people but this particular one was not for me.  Unfortunately, it left me a bit cold......and grey.....and depressed.