r_murray, that will make a very good looking mushroom. I really like the pattern. I am looking forward to seeing it when you are finished. - Marylee

And thats one thing that a hurricane cant blow away hehehe great idea love it please post pic when ya finish it.
Angie

Now that's fun! Gotta remember this trick....

Looks like it will be very real looking when it is painted. Jan

Oh my. I had not intended to paint this one as it was only a technique I wanted to test. Why it doesn't even have a stem.

But for all you who are now awaiting a finished product I'll have to get back to work.

Just keep bubble-wrap in mind.

Robert

I've done this but wasn't happy with the result. Yours looks a lot better. I would love to make morel mushrooms from concrete.
Kathy

I've seen this technique done before too, but I like the small bubble wrap you used...it's amazing how we end up mind melding(Star Trek theme) on this forum so much!!!!

Here is a pic of mine. I think it looks much more like its made out of bubble wrap than Robert's. Not sure how to make it more realistic. Thoughts?
Kathy

{{gwi:131905}}

I just remembered that I brought some bubblewrap home just the other day for this "future" project!!! Kathy, maybe a swervy stem and some paint? It just looks like it needs to be another foot taller...

making it taller is an interesting thought as well as paint. I'll have to wait until the snow melts! Its well buried at the moment.
Kathy

Kathy it's perfect and I'll have to find a mold in that shape. It would look different in color but it is great the way it is. What you could do is make a friend to set next to it that is a bit taller, after all big ones grow into . . . . :)

In painting it, it sounds interesting to first paint it with a dark color, then highlight with a light color.

I like both of these concrete sculptures with the bubble wrap pattern. Kathy, yours looks great as is in your garden. I like realistic mushroom and animal sculptures, but am also a big fan of abstract sculpture that merely suggests and leaves a lot to the imagination. These two unpainted concrete creations would have people wondering: is it a fossilized animal brain? a fungus? a piece of bleached ocean coral? I really like this look and never would have thought of using bubble wrap to achieve it.

I've been thinking of making a cement form with metal spines protruding from it in a hedgehog-like formation. I wonder if I can incorporate the bubble wrap effect into this project.

There is a new big botanical garden in Maine along the coast, I forget exactly where. They have huge sculptures with spines comeing out, rather sea urchin like.
Your project sounds intriguing spedigrees. How would you get the spines attached or embeded in the concrete?
Kathy

That botanical garden sounds like an interesting place to visit. Sea urchin-like... yes just the look!

I envision my spiney sculpture(s) as much smaller and low to the ground, like some small garden creature(s). At present it is just an idea floating about in my mind. I'm toying with embedding spines into the mold, perhaps cementing them in with plaster or clay, something that could be removed after the concrete is added and set. Or perhaps drilling all the way through a completed cement form with a masonry bit and extending the spines all the way into the ground beneath it to anchor the sculpture down. I imagine there may be a number of failed attempts along the way! If a successful version does become reality I'll post pictures. Thanks for asking.

Spedigrees! YOU just gave me a Great idea for yet another future project!!!! I scrounged a bunch of old horseshoe nails and wanted to make something with them and I LOVE sea urchins!!!

I'd love to see pictures of your finished sea urchin garden sculpture, Calamity.

Horseshoe nails with their wide heads should stay embedded in cement well. (I do wish that cement reached a stage, like clay, where it was solid enough to hold its shape, but still soft enough to plant objects within.)

I love them both. Kathy yours reminds me of morels which grow wild here in Tenn. Robert yours doesn't need a stem, just prop one end up a bit with a smaller rock. I can see some half marbles scattered around the top to add a bit of color.