Plastic Canvas

[fish4all]

I have been looking through a LOT of terrarium threads here and I don't see any mention of plastic canvas. It is so useful and can be made into any shape in almost any size. The holes allow it to hold silicone and many other bonding materials. It gives places to bind on twigs, sticks, rocks and a lot of other things.

I have made everything from tubes to cones, boxes, squares, prisms, rocks and many others things I can give a name to. It comes in pre made shapes for making shapes easier.

I haven't done this but I bet that you could easily coat it with titebond or even concrete and it would hold the shape very well and allow for very thin coating for lighter weight objects and structures. If you don't want the canvas in there after, line it with wax paper or use plain brown paper so that the paper can be washed away if wax paper mix get bonded too tight.

Make a tube: Take 2 cans different sizes but close together, cut off both ends, line cans with wax paper, put some plastic canvas inside, spray poly foam inside on plastic mesh for an easy light weight tube. Easy mushrooms made with the pre-made domes using titebond, poly foam or whatever you like to use.

If I knew more about the materials used in terrariums I would make some for myself but I have a lot to learn when it comes to that. Titebond, poly foam and all the rest are still Greek to me. I have used poly foam but only to insulate walls and would likely have a tank full of it if I tried to use it for a terrarium.

I have used plastic canvas for molding clay and ceramics with great success. It was so easy to make a mushroom cap come out perfect. Making clay tubes was just as easy. Folding wet ceramic slip that hasn't dried too muchover plastic canvas allowed it to dry really well and gave me some texture in the ceramic for trying to get aquatic mosses to grab onto it. Remember that ceramic needs to be fired in a kiln and so do some clays, some clays need to be baked but I am not sure if baked types are safe or not for terrariums.

If I can find any of them I made I will post pictures. Most were sold in my parents ceramic shop when they had it and the rest, let's just say 3 young children had fun with them.

[fish4all]

I do have a question to go with this, which Tite Bond should I look into getting? From the site I can only make an educated guess that is type I and II wood glue but I want to make sure. And does anyone have a "recipe" for adding water to thin it and other stuff to it?

[deranged chipmunk]

i have used plastic canvas for other projects, and surely, you can use it in a vivarium. there are many materials you can use, not just the ones you see that are popular. the only problem with plastic canvas is that is is kind of flimsy, so it's uses are limited. i have also seen people use papier mache, fiberglass and so on. remember, the only "rule" is it needs to be non toxic and frog safe.

the clay, both Lynn and i have both used the sculpy oven bake clay to make mushrooms for your vivs. neither of us have had any problems so far, not that i expected any. it's a great alternative for those of us who have no access to a kiln.

as far as titebond, unfortunately, your choices would have killed your frogs. no not really, but whatever you used it on wouldn't have lasted. titebond I and II are not water proof. only III is. it's the one with the green label. there's no recipe, just make a thick slurry with it. don't add water, i don't know where that came from, i keep seeing people talking about cutting it with water, which is kind of counter productive. if you add too much of whatever your covering material is, cut it with more glue.

[fish4all]

I have used regular plastic canvas for a lot as noted but I once found the rigid stuff and it was awesome for making cubes, cylinders and other stuff I wanted to stand on their own and not be so flimsy. Not extremely rigid of course but nice to have a thicker stuff when I was working with clay.

As for the Titebond, that is why I ask so many questions. I saw 3 different references to Titebond II being used for making fake stumps and root systems. Maybe they seal it or something when done. Price wise I can see the draw for the II but I don't want to have to make something and then seal it, makes the price about the same and more work.

And how far does a pint or 16 ounces of titebond go?

[deranged chipmunk]

the problem is, how many perfect cubes and cylinders do you see in nature. if you have the talent to mold over them, an i have the feeling you do, then go for it, the sky is the limit.

as far as the titebond, it may just be typos. the price difference for a pint bottle is about $.50, not even worth it. unless those were purchased at someplace like walmart, who doesn't carry #3

[fish4all]

Perfect wasn't the goal, just the shape. I usually butchered them up after with holes cut in them and squishing them and what not. I was making caves and stuff for aquariums.

[deranged chipmunk]

gotcha forgot to do the ol' reading between the lines there.....my bad...LOL

[fish4all]

It's more fun to make something perfect then make something that is actually useful out of it.

The price difference is insignificant when you add sealing costs for type I and II.

What else do you think would work with the plastic canvas besides Titebond, GS and silicone?

[deranged chipmunk]

it would probably make a fine grid to attach clay to. i wouldn't try to cover it with without some medium attached to it.

[UncleChester]

I think I've seen Titebond II used in very dry setups.

I've seen the plastic canvas used as a barrier between the substrate and the drainage layer, but not in other constructions. It's a good idea, and I'll keep it in mind as something to try as a mesh for a hollow cement construction.

don't add water, i don't know where that came from, i keep seeing people talking about cutting it with water, which is kind of counter productive. if you add too much of whatever your covering material is, cut it with more glue.

I made a very small test build (12x12x12" tank) and mixed some diluted Titebond III (about 2:1 glue to water ratio) with bone-dry peat moss (the stuff can be such a pain to hydrate once dry). I wanted to try sticking some branches directly to the glass with the glue. I can now lift up the tank by those branches. If your peat is already wet, as I believe you use, then probably no water needs to be added but with dry peat it helped mush everything together. I probably shouldn't have been so lazy and should have taken the time to soak the peat moss, but sometimes I can't reason with myself.

[fish4all]

I can only imagine the mess of the glue running through holes and not sticking to the plastic canvas. I figure some wax paper or newspaper on the underside would help keep it in place long enough to dry. Then it can be removed by peeling the wax paper off or by soaking the newspaper. There are likely things that can be left on the back side but they are eluding me right now. I know I will have to just try it without anything just to see if one has to use anything behind it with a straight coat of the TB III to seal up the holes.

I was also wondering about using Plasti Dip. Is said to be inert when dry but I think I would have to contact the company and get a lot more information before using it. I also wonder about Flex Seal, with the same concerns.

[fish4all]

Add to the list of things to check out, Rhino Liner. So many ideas from one single concept, maybe with enough ideas we will find one or more things that will work and give another tool for making things the way a person wants them to be.