A fellow rainforest dweller!The Nepalese project sounds fascinating. Unfortunately, this is the lightest way for fresco panels which have to be moved around. Bear in mind, that this equals the strength of solid concrete about two inches thick! Without the mesh or fibreglass fibres (special alkali resistant or nylon) the piece will break easily at 1/2 inch. Concrete is just plain heavy, but the mesh technique at 7 lbs a square foot is not really too bad - you could still get a lot of product into a 20 foot shipping container. If someone suggests lightweight aggregate, like perlite, do not do it, it will severely weaken this fresco mix. Do not add polymers, they will interfere with suction and pigments.If you choose the fresco painting way, the edges can be chipped/antiqued, which ironically increases their "styling" value and also solves any chipping while shipping problems. There is also the "styling" issue of 'heft' - objects have to have a certain weight in the hand to affect "perceived value".
The Indian plaster artists are famous for their modelled lime "stucco". The recipe reads like a cake recipe - including eggs and sugar! Like many cultures they added hair to the mix to increase its strength. Like many cultures they painted frescos with natural pigments and painted the sculptures and temple ornaments. All ingredients should be available in India or China - even mesh!
In a past life I was a consultant for small manufacturing projects and I am also (slowly)setting up a small factory in Mexico. Believe me when I tell you that getting the items into the boxes will be the least of your problems! The biggest problems are quality control (a consistent, hand made product) and minimum orders of catalog companies/major retailers of 5 - 10,000 pieces. It takes them orders of this size just to 'grease the wheels' of their marketing machines. Just when you get it all figured out, someone in China will start silkscreening them onto dried slabs, touch them up by hand, and sell these vastly inferior copies for cheap to Target & Walmart. By then you will have moved on to a new project with your profits. Thats the game, at least as I understand it.
