Hypertufa – How It’s Made
What exactly is hypertufa? Well, it’s a man made tufa looking material that is used to create a variety of garden art objects. It’s a sort of artificial stone that was created to substitute the natural tufa rock. In this article we will take a look at how it’s made and what uses it has.
The materials needed to make hypertufa include Portland Cement, peat moss, sand or gravel, perlite, vermiculite and others. There are a lot of different recipes and combinations of the ingredients you can use. The most basic hypertufa mixture will contain Portland cement, peat moss, sand or perlite, and of course water.
It’s quite amazing what you can do with hypertufa. It’s great for plant containers, pots, planters, troughs, stepping stones, pedestals, columns, leaves, garden spheres, fake rocks and boulders, sculptures, totems, and so on. A great way to spruce up your garden.
Did you make mud pies as a child? Making hypertufa is quite similar. All you need is an adequate mixture and a mold. All kinds of items can be used as molds – from tupperware to wastebaskets. All sorts of containers can be used to make hypertufa pots and planters. For stepping stones pans can be an excellent choice. Just use your imagination and look around the house.
The process is simple. You apply the mixture to the outside of the mold, cover it with a garbage bag and seal tightly. If you’re making planters, don’t forget to add drainage holes. Put it under the sun for about 3-5 days, then carefully remove from the mold. Cover it up again with plastic bag and allow it to cure for about a month. That’s it.
A word of advice – start simple. Mixing and building hypertufa is a like mixing and baking a cake. You don’t start with a complicated cake recipe, you start easy and work your way up.
Hypertufa is certainly a wonderful way to spruce up your garden. It’s fun, easy and not expensive to make. And it gets your creative juices going.