At Dead Walk Designs, our team uses a variety of special materials and skills to achieve particular results when it comes to imitating the natural world. The approach might change depending on the look we are going for, how strong the final product needs to be and how the feature will be used.
Here’s a step-by-step look at how we make features with cement, and how the material can be used to achieve incredibly natural-looking results!
Step One: The structure & Scratch Coat
To begin with, we will make a wire frame of the structure we are creating using steel rebars. We cover this with a weld mesh and can then begin applying the first layer of cement on top.
This first layer we call a ‘scratch coat’, an initial pass with render to cover the mesh and give a good base for our detail coats to grip to.
Step Two: Top coat
The next layer is called the top coat, and this is where the details start to come in. We can start with wet render to cover the scratch coat and start shaping forms. Around three or four hours after application, the layer begins to harden and we are able to start carving intricate details. Timing is crucial for this step, as we only have a short window of a few hours before the cement begins to harden completely!
We may end up applying extra layers and details where necessary. When the sculpting part is finished, we leave the cement for three or four days to cure completely. A sign that it is dry enough to paint onto is that all the cement will be the same colour. Anything darker is likely still wet.
Step Three: Painting
When the cement is hard, we apply a base colour and then paint various layers on top of it. We use different painting techniques such as dry brushing and mottling to suggest layered textures. We also use washes (diluted paint) to age the rockwork.
Step Four: Final textures
After painting, we have a few tricks for adding additional details such as moss and snow effects!
If we have made a cement tree around a column or steel structure, we might collect fallen branches from a forest and integrate these into the structure. These will be treated for pests and dressed with artificial foliage.
We continue the process of adding layered detail until the features match the intended effect.
We always create cement features based on the needs of the attraction. For example, for a tiger enclosure, we made the cement at least three inches thick to take the weight of the tiger. The sturdiness of cement makes it an excellent material to use for permanent installations, and it can even be used outdoors without degrading.
Often this process is used for natural features such as trees and rockwork, although we have been know to create more unique features in concrete such as statues, a large boat beside a penguin pool and even a post apocalyptic car!
Here are some examples of our other cement creations:
The Dead Walk Designs team has developed a range of specialist practical skills to create convincing visual theming. If you’d like to discuss how we could help with your own ideas, send us a message!