| Darrel Adamson,
Engrave-A-Crete |
Butterfly created with
Kaleido-Crete, Engrave-A-Crete |
Cutting Pictures
in Concrete
with Diamonds
BY ELISE CRAIN
The
only limit to decorative concrete is your imagination. You
may have heard that for years and it is just as true today.
Products, tools, professional training and ideas are just
waiting for you to make the most of your opportunities.
Picture an eagle with an eight foot
four inch wingspan! Darrel Adamson, Engrave-A-Crete, created
this image at a recent seminar. A line drawing of the eagle
was scanned into and enlarged with a CAD/CAM program. After
tweaking to make it just right, it was put on a floppy disc
and inserted into a computer- controlled mill to cut a template.
Seminar students used carpenter's pencils to trace the outline.
Reactive stains of various colors were applied with pointed
brushes to simulate feathers. DecoSup concrete dye's were
used for the flowing ribbon. After curing, the surface was
washed and a clear sealer applied. The template was returned
to the concrete and, using a Shark engraving tool, the cutting
began. Engraving provides a clean, crisp outline resulting
in beautiful concrete images like those shown above, Bald
Eagle or colorful butterfly.
Company logos, family crests, pictures
of pets or children can all be engraved. The caution is that
it may look "cool" in the beginning and then not
so cool when the household or business has to move.
Freehand creations are good for stones
and natural looking surfaces. Marvin Dodson, Rare Earth Labs
(Concrete Decor, Vol., 1, No. 1, February 2001, page 42) produces
concentrated stains that provide a wide variety of colors
and tones. His designs are both engraved and freehand. He
suggests when not using equipment (such as Engrave-A-Crete
or Kaleido-Crete) the design be placed using graph paper and
drawn on the concrete with chalk, soapstone, pencil or marking
pen. Designs can also be placed with a black permanent marker
since stains will not bleed across the marker lines, according
to Dodson. The freehand stone pattern is an excellent choice
to incorporate existing cracks as part of the pattern. Cracks
can be cleaned out, or made bigger, and form the skeleton
for the new "look."
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