Saturday 8 March 2014

Taking rocks to the seaside.

A 6 hour drive to Cornwall with a van load of rocks for a photo shoot is normal, right?  

Carrying the rocks along the beach caused much amusement.   A few passers-by wanted to have a photo while holding the rocks above their head and after explaining that I wanted to carry them nearer the seafront they kindly assisted after having posed.   The rocks are lightweight but after trekking across a cobble-strewn beach, they start to feel a little heavier.


The photo session included three styles of fake stones: smooth rounded to represent rocks eroded by the sea, rougher rounded rocks and the more angular rusted rocks.   All are available in almost any colour.


The light grey rounded stones between 400mm and 800mm long have been digitally coloured in the second image to show how they can be produced in various colours to match the landscape.
























The image below shows how a recent rockfall had exposed a rock face that was almost exactly the same rust colour of the artificial rocks.




The rougher rounded artificial stones have more surface detail and are reminiscent of the Moeraki boulders found in New Zealand.   These ones are somewhat smaller however.   The incoming tide is fast in Bude, Cornwall and took me a little by surprise.   One rock was upturned by a wave and resembled a coracle as it made its way out to sea.   Fortunately another wave overturned the boat and I was able to rescue it.   You can see the rocks washed away on Youtube here: Artificial rocks all at sea! or in the following post.








Artificial rocks floating away.

Sunday 2 March 2014

Glow me the way to go home...

Pro-Teq Surfacing UK Ltd have been awarded a Global Business Excellence Award for 2013 in the category Outstanding Innovation for their product: STARPATH.   Starpath is a spray installed coating and aggregate mix for application on existing concrete or tarmac paths. Phosphorescent chips in the aggregate glow in the dark creating ambient lighting for areas where street lighting is often turned off in the darkest hours.


Starpath installed by Pro-Teq Surfacing UK


Starpath is durable enough for public pathways but can also be installed in domestic gardens.   The density of the phosphorescent chips can be varied and can even be arranged in patterns.

There are other glow in the dark stones and pebbles that can be used at home and these can easily be found on eBay.   Another glow in the dark product can be seen on the artificialrocks.co.uk website.   The illumination isn't photoluminescent this time however and the rocks need to be illuminated with battery powered led strings.   Warm white leds give the greatest effect but any colour leds can be used.   The smaller rocks can be used indoors with a mains powered cfl lamps to give a much brighter glow.








Illuminated rocks: artificialrocks.co.uk