Color Cement
Projects
for the Schoolroom
[Illustration]
CEMENT TILES simple in form may be made in any grade where tiles are
made in clay or the modeling waxes. Many times clay is used in making
tiles and the coloring is done with colored chalks or paints. These can
be but temporary in effect and are broken easily, being impractical for
use. The child’s interest will be much greater where he knows that with
cement the results will be durable as well as to know that he is working
with the same materials that the “grown-ups” use.
COMMENCING WITH SMALL TILES IS THE BEST PLAN. Have the class plan from
nature a rosette design for a two-inch tile. An excellent way to secure
interesting patterns is to fold a two-inch square paper into four folds
and cut a design in the four folds. Opening out these folds will often
reveal a very interesting design. When the student has completed the
design, it can be traced with a pencil onto a flat layer of modeling
wax, and a pencil, stick or nail used to cut away portions of the
design. The pattern designed may be the part taken out or the background
may be the part to be removed. In either case the part removed should be
scraped out about a quarter of an inch deep and the sides should not
slope in but rather outward. If the design is to be simply produced by
incised lines only (and charming results can be thus secured), the
stick, nail or instrument used should be sharpened so that it scrapes a
groove in the clay that remains widest at the surface. The design being
completed in the clay or wax, a few strips of thick cardboard or heavy
oiled paper is cut so as to project above the clay or wax tile. This
projection must equal the thickness of the mold to be made in
plaster-of-Paris. These strips may then be placed up against the tile so
as to surround it, and are to be retained in position with nails or pins
or heavy objects.
When the pupils have all reached this stage of the tile, the teacher
then may mix up the plaster and pour it into the molds, illustrating the
correct method for the students to afterwards follow.
AFTER THE PLASTER TILE IS RELEASED, it is brushed well with oil and
again surrounded with the strips of paper. Cement with any desired color
added to it is then poured in and after two or three days the completed
tile can be removed.
To secure color effects it is only necessary for the teacher to mix two
colors of cement sufficient for the student’s use. The student then
places a thin layer of the color on the plaster mold, keeping it within
a certain portion of the design. The second color is placed on the
spaces left, and after the color has set for a short time it is backed
with ordinary neat cement and the whole tile permitted to dry several
days.
TILES WITH THE DESIGN IN A RELIEF LINE can be made as follows: The
teacher should have previously made a number of plaster tiles with a
smooth surface. These can be easily made by flowing the plaster onto
glass or other hard, smooth surface, the plaster being retained between
two strips of wood 4 × 4 inches. Cutting these bars of plaster into
squares, one is given to each student. A simple design is made on paper
first and traced onto the plaster tile. A nail or hard pencil is then
used to incise the design in the plaster, after which it is brushed well
with oil and surrounded with cardboard strips and cement poured into it.
This will result in a tile with the design in relief. Within these
relief lines cement with color added to it may be placed and the tiles
placed in a tray of water with the water coming half-way up the side of
the tile. The tile will be hard enough to remove in five days.
SIMPLE ROUND PAPER WEIGHTS and tiles that are not square can be made by
the same method. A little ingenuity in arranging the retaining cardboard
strips around the plaster or wax model will solve the producing of
irregular forms.
FLOWER AND PLANT HOLDERS, FISH PONDS, AND BOOK SUPPORTS can be made by
using the tiles as the principle part. Take four tiles that have not
been permitted to dry and place them face against the inside wall of a
rough box form without the bottom, the size of the box to conform to the
tiles. Pour about an inch of cement into the bottom of the box to form a
bottom. When this has partly set, place strips of wood across the inside
covers to hold the cement which is then poured in so as to connect the
tiles where the corners meet. The cement should be poured also into the
outside corner spaces. After the complete form has dried for a day, pour
water inside and let it remain for three days or more. Release and trim
corners and inside as desired. A thin mixture of colored cement placed
inside and then poured out will give an inside lining, producing a
finished effect.
SAND BOX ANIMALS AND TOYS can be made in a very durable form by the use
of cement. The method to follow in class should be as follows: Have the
pupils outline an animal in simple form on paper. No intricate or small
details should be attempted in this outline and the feet or lower
portions of the animal must be planned so that it will stand up easily.
After the outline is made then secure thin strips of tin or other sheet
metal and have the pupils bend it with their fingers and with the use of
a ruler to conform to the outline. The metal should be about two inches
wide. The outline need not be made entirely of one piece of metal but
perhaps of several. When the outline is completed in metal, it should
conform fairly closely to the outline on the paper. This metal rim is
then pressed slightly into wax or clay, or it may be placed on glass or
on an oiled card. If clay is used, the eyes, wings, or other parts may
be incised in the clay within the metal rim. A one-inch layer of cement
is then poured in the metal rim, and after several days, the metal rim
is removed and the cement around it is evened where necessary and
colored if desired. By making the feet of birds or animals first,
combining wire legs with them, the body can then be cast, combining the
body and the legs through the wire connection.
MOSAIC CEMENT TILES can be easily produced as follows: Secure a number
of the small mosaic stone squares used by masons and tile setters for
inlaying floors. These come in many colors and different geometric
forms. Plan a four-inch tea tile arranging a design with the use of two
or three different colors of mosaics. When the arrangement or design is
decided upon, the mosaics should be glued face downward to a piece of
cardboard or glass. If glass is used, it should be brushed with oil
after the mosaics have been glued into position and before the cement is
poured. Where glass is used the design arrangement on paper can be
slipped underneath the glass to show the location and correct position
for gluing the mosaics onto the glass surface. The mosaic pattern is
then surrounded with retaining bars or slips of wood or surrounded with
metal and the cement poured over the mosaics until the right thickness
is secured. It is then left for several days to dry, after which it is
removed from the glass or the cardboard is peeled away from the cement
surface. The tile is then finished after being placed in water for a
week to harden. Glue a piece of soft leather or felt on the bottom when
the cement has thoroughly dried.
CEMENT BOXES AND BOOK SUPPORTS can be made by the use of mosaics, gluing
them onto sections of boards and then assembling the boards and tying
them so that they will hold the cement that is poured in to finish the
object. Where cement is removed from the mold before it has thoroughly
hardened, it can be shaped with a knife, and mosaic book supports or
boxes made in general form can be shaped easily this way.
VASES AND BOWLS as a problem for the schoolroom can be simplified if the
teacher produces previously several vase molds so that the pupils can
make their casts in individually selected colors, after which they can
scrape or slip paint the shapes as they are removed from the molds.
THE POSSIBILITIES OF COLOR CEMENT for schoolroom applied arts are many
and the interested teacher can arrange working equipment and methods of
presentation according to space and class size. One ingenious teacher
placed building paper on the floor of a schoolroom corner section,
covered several old tables with oil-cloth and secured excellent results
with her class room problems by permitting a small group of students to
work at a time on account of the limited equipment.
Another teacher had her students design and make tiles for a new school
building and today they are used as part of the enrichment of the
school. This correlation of the student’s work with every day utility is
one of the attractions of color cement for the school student, and
innumerable practical applications can be found for color cement. The
various problems for which directions have been given in the chapters of
this book can be arranged in more or less simple form for the various
school classes; and as a vocational subject it combines design with
construction in a sensible proportion.
[Illustration: Schoolroom Projects in Cement]
[Illustration: A Tile in Cement Made in the Grammar Grades]
[Illustration: A Tile Made in the Intermediate Grades]
[Illustration: Color Cement Tiles and Pottery Made by the Students of a
High School.]
[Illustration: Problems in Cement by Students of an Art School. 1 to 3
are Elementary Problems. 4 to 13 are Secondary Problems. 14 is a Palette
Knife Painting in Colored Cement. 15 is a Fish Bowl and Sun-Dial Made in
Cement by the Use of a Glue Mold.]
[Illustration]