Actually Jazzbone, you've found it! Got Faux bois? Well, here is how I do it. I actually took this from a post from Kathy Longlocks and have made a few personal adjustments. I take a plastic pot and line the inside with tree bark. I use pine, but anything would work. You can either face it inwards or outwards, depending upon how you want the finished stump to look. Pack in the tufa in the bottom and work up the sides as high as you want. I keep the top edge very irregular to mimic a fallen tree stump. I unmold usually after 1 day and then carefully brush off loose pieces, carve a bit more and rough up or smooth off depending on my whim. I add some details to the top edge too so as to create a delineation between the bark and the inside of the stump.
I don't use any release agent and the bark just falls off. Re-usable too as I have the same bark I collected over a year ago.
I usually stain with an acid stain or sometimes with paints. I have had more success selling the smaller stumps too. The logs I make are done free form. I have a bread mold like they use to make a baguette except a bit larger- a long half round. I form it in that then free hand the top half and then carve it by hand after unmolding.
Hope this gets you on your way to making some real fakes.
GB

Thanks GB, That's just the kickstart I wanted. There's plenty of bark of various kinds around here. My 22 acres has a variety of trees, some of which need harvesting due to storm damage.

I want to build a semi-circular retaining wall about 2 feet high with a flat cap for seating around an outdoor fire pit in a remote area of my yard/gardens. After seeing the Animal Kingdom tree in another thread on this forum I got to thinking about making the face of the wall a conglomeration of things I have seen here. I may put some grots along the base of the wall, maybe a reclining figure, and some masks similar to Peace and Happiness that... oh, who did those??... Marly? Jo? ... they are all so good, I can't remember and I don't want to stop and look back through the discussions. (I hope that is not a slam on anyone. It speaks more of my poor mind than uniqueness in their art.) Anyway, the faux bois would be an excellent feature to anchor the ends of the wall and intersperse as needed.

Thanks again.

DENA!!! I had to look back a get the name right. How could I forget to include her?!? She post so many great things in this forum.

Sorry for the oversight Dena. You are a wonderful artist and inspiration.

David

A retaining wall like that is surely going to need some armature to support it and the weight of people sitting upon it.
Build in re-bar and maybe make the interior solid cement with a tufa veneer to carve?
Others will have some ideas too.
GB

I agree, GB, the wall needs to be substantial. I have a very heavy clay soil here that packs very well and holds in place. Additionally, there will not be any drainage towards this wall so that I do not have to worry about hydraulic pressure during heavy rains. The mountain at the back of my land is filled with rocks (I'm not into faux rocks, I have plenty of the real ones.) so I will make the retaining wall 12"-16" thick with rocks and then face this with hypertufa and cap it with the same.

My circular area will be 38' diameter with the wall going around half of it. I plan to put a fire pit in the middle that will be 7' diameter and have a rock border.

Can't wait to see that. I hope you post pictures.