There’s something a bit bizarre in seeing St. Albert Farmers’ Market vendor Bryan Rhoades pick up an 80-pound concrete 8-ball. His muscles pop, but he doesn’t break a sweat.
Rhoades and his wife Barbara, founders of Concrete Creations, fabricate garden accessories that add character to any yard. Strong and durable, the concrete yard decor attracts the eye of busy shoppers searching for whimsy with low maintenance appeal.
Using imported Australian moulds at their 1,300 square foot Edmonton workshop, the couple fashions world-inspired collectibles ranging from Aztec fire god planters and Japanese teahouse lanterns to Chinese lucky coins and Grecian urns.
But it’s those hard-to-roll spheres that are the real conversation starters, and certainly no pushover for lurking vandals.
As Rhoades explains it, the 80-pound balls are 15 inches in diameter, but inside there is a 12-inch diameter of air. They are hollow.
“If it was filled, it would weigh 300 pounds,” he says. At this point, a few lingering shoppers crack weight jokes and everyone shares a loud laugh.
The Rhoades couple has been business partners for 25 years punching the clock at various blue collar trades from contracting, renovations, roofing and transportation. Their entire life has been a partnership of long hours and calluses.
But in the fall of 2012, the Rhoades’ left the trades choosing to pursue more artistic avenues.
“It was always an interest of mine. I started doing it instead of just looking at it,” says Rhoades.
An additional partner in the family-run venture is daughter Pamela, 26. She makes the trendy hypertufa pots. The ĂĽber light, rustic looking receptacles are a sharp contrast to her parents heavier, earthy creations.
Describing the fabrication of hypertufa Barbara says, “Instead of using sand and gravel which makes pots heavy, we replace it with moss vermiculite and perlite to make them lighter.”
After mixing the hypertufa ingredients in a grout mixer, the clay-like consistency is shaped into a pot and covered in plastic for three days to retain moisture. Pamela then carves a design and recovers it with plastic for another 30 days.
“The slower the cement cures, the harder it gets,” Barbara explains. “At the beginning, we add colour so it goes throughout. If it’s chipped in three years, the colours are still the same.”
Rhoades’ main tool of trade is a regular-sized concrete mixer. Once his spheres, planters, pots and wall plaques are cured, he paints them, treats them with an acidic stain and an acrylic sealer to prevent fading.
The hours are long, but it’s all in a day’s work.
“I find it relaxing. I enjoy doing crafty work over doing trucking and dealing with employees. I find this therapeutic,” he says.
As for Barbara, “I like meeting people. We have pride in our work and I like to share it. And there’s nothing more satisfying than being able to sell what you’ve created.”
