Peter Mayer wrote: > > Jim's request and Edley's interesting links reminded me of a >material which I've always intended to experiment with, but haven't, >yet. The material is 'ciment fondue' usually produced by the Lafarge >Process, whatever that is. It is a form of cement, black in colour, >I believe, and is often used as a material for sculptures and >apparently is suitable for outdoor applications, though I doubt it >would pass the 'two centuries' test. > I tried a quick search on the Web, but didn't come up with >much of use. Most of what I've found in the past has been in books >on sculpting. Perhaps this will jog someone else's recollection and >they provide actual experience of using ciment fondue.
I had practical experience of using this high-alumina material with students back in the 60s when it was extensively used architecturally and to a lesser extent for casting sculptural works where its fine texture produced excellent detail work. When suitably finished/polished it took on a passable resemblance to weathered bronze and would be an excellent material for certain aspects of dialling if still available and used correctly. Unfortunately, unless its mixing was carefully controlled to include the *exact* amount of water required, it lost much of its strength within just a few years and 'rotted' back to a crumbly consistency. An entire brand new school a few miles from my home has to be demolished and re-built for this reason within just a few years of its opening. I'd be very interested to know if it is still produced. Indeed it would be very sad if a fine, strong and useful material has become suspect because a few incompetent operatives wouldn't take the trouble to use it as directed. Tony Moss -
