There is an old saying, " Leap and the net will appear " Best of luck, your creative process hasn't let you down so far.

Shape,
If your ruins will be primarily stone block structures, you might look into papercrete (shredded paper + cement + Perlite + misc. aggregates). The material is lighter in weight than cement because of the additions. It will extend your quantity of cement, can be hand-formed or molded, and the finish may have little voids (doing most of your "ruin" work for you). It weathers beautifully and accepts paint, stain, and color very well.

I use it to make planters and mini garden houses. Here's one:


Here's how I made it from and orange juice carton: http://www.walkerswayweeds.com...

Bev - Very nice! Great idea! I am sure that information will be very helpful!

BTW - Your website is wonderful! WOW! So many great ideas and wonderful step-by-step instructions! Thanks for sharing that with all of us!

@Sundownr. Wow, I love your work, and agree that papercrete might be the way to proceed or at least to give it a try. I took a quick look at your website, and will have to go back. It looks wonderful!

Shape, no great ideas here for you, but I'm confident that something will spur your imagination soon, and you'll be off and creating.

ge1836 said:There is an old saying, " Leap and the net will appear " Best of luck, your creative process hasn't let you down so far.

That is so true....thanks!

Sundownr said:Shape,
If your ruins will be primarily stone block structures, you might look into papercrete (shredded paper + cement + Perlite + misc. aggregates). The material is lighter in weight than cement because of the additions. It will extend your quantity of cement, can be hand-formed or molded, and the finish may have little voids (doing most of your "ruin" work for you). It weathers beautifully and accepts paint, stain, and color very well.

I use it to make planters and mini garden houses. Here's one:


Here's how I made it from and orange juice carton: http://www.walkerswayweeds.com...

Thank you very much! But here is my problem..This will be huge..Its not going to be a cathedral but it will have the center built like one..A mansion with a cathedral center large enough to walk into..I want my wife to be able to garden from not only the outside but also the interior ruins will be accessible...So I need to build block by block..

plantmanager said:@Sundownr. Wow, I love your work, and agree that papercrete might be the way to proceed or at least to give it a try. I took a quick look at your website, and will have to go back. It looks wonderful!

Shape, no great ideas here for you, but I'm confident that something will spur your imagination soon, and you'll be off and creating.

Im working hard on it...I think it will come down to making each block by hand....

Doing it that way will give you lots of time to really think out what you want to do. I've found I spend a lot more time thinking about projects, than building them.

When I was a kid, we had clay soil. I spent a lot ofdays mixing clay and water, and molding it in different containers, and old lids. I'd let them dry and turn them out. I had building blocks, cookies, etc. It was a lot of fun! I think I'd like molding blocks and trying to build something now. I might have to give it a try!

plantmanager said:Doing it that way will give you lots of time to really think out what you want to do. I've found I spend a lot more time thinking about projects, than building them.

When I was a kid, we had clay soil. I spent a lot ofdays mixing clay and water, and molding it in different containers, and old lids. I'd let them dry and turn them out. I had building blocks, cookies, etc. It was a lot of fun! I think I'd like molding blocks and trying to build something now. I might have to give it a try!

I did the same..I used to build cities in the back yard...And my dad would be like a huge machine monster with his riding lawn mower slinging bricks ever where screaming like godzilla with a 4 stroke rumble hahahaha

Pictures of today..

Sundownr said:Shape,
If your ruins will be primarily stone block structures, you might look into papercrete (shredded paper + cement + Perlite + misc. aggregates). The material is lighter in weight than cement because of the additions. It will extend your quantity of cement, can be hand-formed or molded, and the finish may have little voids (doing most of your "ruin" work for you). It weathers beautifully and accepts paint, stain, and color very well.

I use it to make planters and mini garden houses. Here's one:


Here's how I made it from and orange juice carton: http://www.walkerswayweeds.com...

I did want to say I love your site and i think I can use your ides in this project...Its such a huge undertaking im sure everyone will have alittle something in it...

This is it I just found this...Look close at the statue in the center of the stair case...

What is that place? Looks like a grave yard in the center of it all. Amazing how much beauty in ruins!

beckygardener said:What is that place? Looks like a grave yard in the center of it all. Amazing how much beauty in ruins!

Its an artist concept painting and I have seen this picture in a few different ways...But gives you an idea of the direction im going...

Shape said:

Its an artist concept painting and I have seen this picture in a few different ways...But gives you an idea of the direction im going...

You mentioned something about the statue in the center of the staircase. I copied the photo and blew it up, but I still can't tell much about the statue. What do you see?

Thank you all for the kind comments! I'm a freak about using recycled materials for functional purposes, and I really love papercrete!!

Shape, If you do a broad Internet search, you will find that papercrete is a building material using recycled paper. Many folks have built homes and structures with papercrete for a very long time. Based on what I've seen of your craftsmanship so far, the ruins will be gorgeous regardless of the materials you decide to use!! I just hate for anyone to be limited by material expense.

Sundownr said:Thank you all for the kind comments! I'm a freak about using recycled materials for functional purposes, and I really love papercrete!!

Shape, If you do a broad Internet search, you will find that papercrete is a building material using recycled paper. Many folks have built homes and structures with papercrete for a very long time. Based on what I've seen of your craftsmanship so far, the ruins will be gorgeous regardless of the materials you decide to use!! I just hate for anyone to be limited by material expense.

Well here is a start..Went and got 8 of these for the the main building...

They're beautiful! Where did you find things like this? Do you have a place to buy architectural pieces?