In preparation for Artistry, Nasvik helped cast his concrete pad, shaping it for a rock and water feature, anchoring glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) castings in the concrete, and stamping a pattern he developed on the flatwork. On the first day of the show, he placed additional GFRC castings, attaching metal lath with tie wire between castings to create shapes that would carry the features from one casting to the other. Next, he troweled a primary or “base coat” of concrete followed by a texture coat, referred to as “embossing.” He shaped the mix of cement, silica sand, and latex polymer using a margin trowel, finishing the process with a small paint brush (chip brush) to add texture and character. Spraying several colors of water-based stain completed the work.
View more of the best in decorative concrete from the 2009 artistry demos at the World of Concrete.