: I don't know what limitations you may have.

: When I was studying unique freeform engineering (sculpture) in art
: school,
: we had a lot of fiberglass mat and polyester resin available for
: some reason.

: Some people liked to color polyester resin and pour it on plastic
: sheet to make
: tie dyed, stained glass like, panels. Looked cool, but the resin
: without reinforcement
: was like peanut brittle, any impact shattered it. But use the
: polyester resin with fiberglass
: mat and we built huge sculptures that were very strong.

: We soon heard about sculptors who got sick because they didn't wear
: respirators or dust masks.
: So we suited up, like deep sea divers and got covered in goo and
: dust.
: I hated the mess and stopped working with polyester resin and
: fiberglass.

: Then I shifted to bronze casting. But after our bronze furnace blew
: up, and our foundry was condemned,
: I was forced to find other work methods, so I started working with
: plaster.

: Plaster is a very traditional sculpting material, where you start
: with a wood frame, build
: volumes with chicken wire, or hardware cloth, and cover that with
: burlap soaked in plaster.
: Then you add plaster on top of that and carve hardened plaster, or
: model wet plaster to
: create the finished surface.

: (After all that work you can see why I love how easily wood strips
: create a surface, and why I keep harping on aligning strip
: edges.)

: I wanted something lighter, I wanted something stronger, so the
: figures I made would stand on their own feet.

: I thought how plaster without burlap was brittle and shattered
: easily like polyester resin without fiberglass.
: So I tried plaster with fiberglass mat and it was extremely strong
: and extremely light weight. This is the basis for
: my life size plaster figures shown on my web site.

: The beauty of the fiberglass mat is that you can soak small hunks
: of it in plaster (concrete?) and apply it to a surface
: covering any kind of shape. Small strips of fiberglass cloth might
: work also.

: I could tell you what I'd do, but that gets into the area of
: consultant fees.

: Good luck! But wear a PFD!

: Rob

: I've seen these races for years. The winners have learned to
: paddle.

Hi Rob,

That might just work, fiberglass mat soaked in cement, kinda like seriously heavy paper mache. Would have to have some kind of form to lay it on but might be able to make it strong enough yet not silly heavy.

Bill H.