Sundial pavers

Warning!:

Please wear a paint shirt, a breathing mask and some glasses in this experiment

Pavers

Today Mr Forsyth taught us how to make cement pavers, the reason we’re making cement pavers is because they’re for our sundial that we’re making. We’re also putting clay tiles inside the cement block, but we’re not going to talk about that now.

Firstly, I’m going to tell you how to make white cement. The reason we’re making white cement is that it looks more decorative. You have to grab all the materials, a screwdriver, a hammer, gravel, a bucket, smooth white sand, sunflower oil, coloured glass (You’re only allowed 3 colours), white cement powder, a mould* to put it in, a trowel* and water.

We put the oil around the inside of the mould so the cement won’t stick to the mould. Then we put the coloured glass in the bottom of the mould. Then we put 3 litres of smooth white sand, 1 litre of black gravel, 1 litre of white cement powder and 1 and a half litres of water in the bucket and mix it all together. Next you have to scoop the mixture out with the trowel and place it in the mould not fully to the top. Then tap around the edges lightly to get rid of the air bubbles. We fill the rest of the mould up with some grey cement so then you don’t run out of white cement. Tap around the edges again. Finally smooth the mixture with the trowel.

Leave it somewhere not too hot and not too cold for about 30 hours and then after that, it will be hard as rock. To get the cement out of the mould you use the screwdriver and unscrew all the screws. Sometimes you have to use the hammer to separate the wood from the cement. Done.

*Mould* A mould is a wooden box with a hole in it where you put the clay block in.

*Trowel* A trowel is a piece of metal that you use to smooth wet stuff with.  

Sam

empty mold

mixing cement

filling the mold