Bruce Hirst, of Hirst Arts, has just released an entirely new type of stone mold, the Rubble Block Mold #263! This is possibly of the most realistic stone patterns I have seen available and certainly more so than other types available from Hirst Arts.
According to Bruce, "I do plan on expanding the rubble stone though. To me, this style would work really well for an eerie crypt."
Bruce also stated that, "I'm currently working on the wall builder mold and floor tiles in the rubble style."
According to Bruce, "I do plan on expanding the rubble stone though. To me, this style would work really well for an eerie crypt."
Bruce also stated that, "I'm currently working on the wall builder mold and floor tiles in the rubble style."
Bruce says, "This shows a finished fireplace using the mold. The smoother block was used for the mantel. If this were to be the chimney of a house, then you would remove the sloped blocks from the sides of the chimney (where the walls would meet on the center sides of the chimney).
I painted this using the earth tone color scheme. These blocks were all made using actual stone and cut with tile nippers (pliers). I wondered if I would be able to hide the horizontal lines but still keep the random look of the stone. You can still see the horizontal lines but I don't think they are bad enough to completely ruin the random look.
There are a few quirks to this mold which make it a more difficult mold to use. I'll try to explain the advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages of this mold are that you can get a more natural cut stone look. You can also break the blocks with pliers and it won't look odd, especially since all of the rocks were originally broken with pliers anyway.
Now for the disadvantages (and there are quite a few).
1. The mold had to be made one-sided similar to the small brick mold #250. The rock shapes and gaps are so deep that I could not make full blocks like the fieldstone molds (and I really would have liked to). If I had made full blocks, this rubble type of stone would have been almost impossible to cast without air bubbles. Even as it currently is, you will need to take all precautions to end up with bubble-free castings.
2. Because the mold is cast of 1/4" thick slabs it will take you twice as long to build anything with it.
3. The edges of the blocks are broken stone. The edges had to be irregular or the stone would look odd on the corners when you put together a building. Because of this, the blocks are not as square and exact as on other molds. However, when I laid out 16 blocks next to each other, it came out pretty close to 8" on the nose."
I painted this using the earth tone color scheme. These blocks were all made using actual stone and cut with tile nippers (pliers). I wondered if I would be able to hide the horizontal lines but still keep the random look of the stone. You can still see the horizontal lines but I don't think they are bad enough to completely ruin the random look.
There are a few quirks to this mold which make it a more difficult mold to use. I'll try to explain the advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages of this mold are that you can get a more natural cut stone look. You can also break the blocks with pliers and it won't look odd, especially since all of the rocks were originally broken with pliers anyway.
Now for the disadvantages (and there are quite a few).
1. The mold had to be made one-sided similar to the small brick mold #250. The rock shapes and gaps are so deep that I could not make full blocks like the fieldstone molds (and I really would have liked to). If I had made full blocks, this rubble type of stone would have been almost impossible to cast without air bubbles. Even as it currently is, you will need to take all precautions to end up with bubble-free castings.
2. Because the mold is cast of 1/4" thick slabs it will take you twice as long to build anything with it.
3. The edges of the blocks are broken stone. The edges had to be irregular or the stone would look odd on the corners when you put together a building. Because of this, the blocks are not as square and exact as on other molds. However, when I laid out 16 blocks next to each other, it came out pretty close to 8" on the nose."
This is yet another mold that I will be adding to my collection, so I will be reporting back with my thoughts on it.
RSS Feed