Our Materials & Methods2023-09-14T11:14:03+01:00

OUR MATERIALS & METHODS

We are a team of skilled men and women with many years experience in producing high quality garden ornaments. Everything is done by us on one site, allowing us complete control in every step, allowing us to ensure the highest of standards.

DESIGN & CREATION

We work closely with a local sculptor and use our years of experience and feedback from our customers to create new and exciting items, great care and attention is made to ensure that not only does your item look beautiful that it is also functional, we have seen too many fountains in garden centres that just don’t run water well!

Once the item has been designed we manufacture a mould using industry leading techniques and materials: silicone and fibreglass. Silicone is used to give the fine detail to the mould, it does not shrink or deform allowing a crisp, sharp reproduction of the original design.

A glass fibre case is then built around the silicone to give the item structure and support during the manufacturing process.

fibre glassing

MATERIALS WE USE

Our items are a reconstituted stone, the stone choice depends on you. The different stones we use all come from quarries in the UK.

watley pit quarry

Whether it is limestone (white or grey) or sandstone we get the raw stone milled from 6mm to dust. We bulk the stone out with large course chippings, this provides a lot of strength to the finished item.

As with all natural stone they can be slight colour tone differences between one load to another, please feel confident that your items will all be produced at the same time ensuring it is all the same colour, but the shades may differ slightly from that of the pictures on our website as they dig deeper in to the quarries. We mix the milled stone with add mixtures. We work alongside Armcon and add products called AP3000 and Armproof.

These added mixtures give:

  • Improved strength gain at all ages
  • Improved durability – more dense, less permeable
  • Reduces segregation and bleed water effects whilst improving cohesion
  • Improved surface finish
  • Excellent workability retention
  • Reduced permeability/less water penetration
  • Improved durability, more resistant to frost attack
  • Reduces efflorescence effects
  • Improved colour retention in pigmented mixes
  • Hardened surface finishes stay clear
  • Reduced aggregate transparency effects

All in all these help create a product that is strong, durable and built to last. We also use a fibre reinforcement strand in our bowls and urns, these strands disperse in the mixing stage creating lots of additional bonds though out your item ensuring ultimate reinforcement.

Finally we mix in Lafarge cement, again this company has years of experience in producing a high quality sustainable cement ideal for pre cast use.

OUR METHOD

We use a wet cast method which allows for greater detail in the item and for consistency in it’s use.

The materials are mixed together in various quantities to our specification, then the mix is poured in to the mould. We use vibrating tables and sticks for compaction and to evenly disperse the mix fully though out all of the detailed areas of the mould.

The mould is then placed into our drying room to cure for 24 hours, once the item is cured we then carefully release it from the mould and store it in our warehouse to dry fully before dispatch. Once the item is dry, it is then hand finished to a high standard and wrapped onto a pallet for shipping.

WINTER CARE

Our products are frost proof and are suitable to be left in the garden year round, however we can not protect and can not cover our products against ice damage, this is caused by freezing expanding water / ice in water receptacle’s and could possibly crack due to the expansion of freezing ice, as with other products like your water pipes in the loft and your car engine to name a few, some care and attention is needed for your item in the really cold winter months, we there for recommend draining your water fountains of water to prevent and damage caused by the ice and ideally to cover over as this will prevent rain water from re filling.

mould vibrating table
mould being finished

COLOUR CHOICES

colour choice antique stone

ANTIQUE STONE

This is a darker grey wash we apply to our classic limestone product and it is our interpretation at ageing the product and giving it and older appearance.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

colour choice bronze finish

BRONZE PAINT EFFECT

We can apply a bronzed finish to a wide range of our products using a range of paints developed for interior and exterior use.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

colour choice classic limestone

CLASSIC LIMESTONE

This is the natural colour achieved from our limestone mix, a pale grey colour similar to the colour of a button mushroom.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

colour choice sandstone

SANDSTONE

This is the natural colour achieved from our sandstone mix a pale yellow, buff colour very similar to bath stone.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

colour choice white limestone

WHITE LIMESTONE

This is the natural colour achieved from our white limestone mix, not brilliant paper white but more of a chalk white similar to white marble.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

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MOSS GREEN

This is a paint finish we apply to our Classic Limestone product, a Moss Green colour that gives the effect of natural weathering.

‘Click’ on the image to view a more detailed picture.

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ANTIQUE RUST

This is a paint finish we apply to the product to give the effect of a terracotta colour.

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SILVER GREY GRANITE

 

We use silver grey granite in the construction of our products to give a unique finish, that look and feels of quality that you would expect from hand carved stone

we use 4 mm to dust and a course 10 mm Granite chipping for strength, this does make for a very strong and heavy product approx.20 % heavier than concrete, has the same values and properties as a slab of granite to this extent will age beautifully in your garden.

 

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