Warniment's concrete creatures are popular in several states

SEE SLIDE SHOW ABOUT CONCRETE CREATURES

OTTAWA - Shirley Warniment said there was a silver-lining to the flood last August. After being flooded out of her former location on US 65, Warniment moved her shop "The Shaker Shed" to a new location on Agner Street.

"It's a much better location for the type of work I do," she said.

Since 2002 Warniment has been making and selling concrete folk art shapes for shops in six states.

"It was a big step to leave an hourly job and go out on my own," Warniment admitted. "But I knew I could do it.  I've always been very creative." Most of her business is selling the folk art creations to shops who resell the items to individual customers.

"Folk art has been a steady market for me," Warniment said.

Using material and her hands she shapes the concrete into many forms. "It's very seasonal," she said. "In the fall the shapes are witches, cats, and pumpkins. The spring shapes are urns, flower pots and bird baths. In the winter snowmen are popular."

Warniment said she has to complete the projects early to ship them to the shops.

She often begins her creations by sewing material together to form the initial mold for the shape.

"I often plan how I will do a project in the morning," Warniment said. "I don't make a pattern with paper. I just start sewing material together."

The bodies of her witches are pushed into her fabric molds. Warniment forms the heads with her hands. "I just mold the concrete mixture into the shape I want," she said. "No two heads are the same."

Her witch's hats are also formed with her hands.

"The hardest part is removing the material from the concrete without breaking off some of the concrete," she said. "The heads can take a few days until I get them shaped the way I want them."

Warniment said John Cunningham does the pumpkins. "They take a lot of work to get the concrete into," she admitted. After the concrete has set in the pumpkins Warniment will add lines for detailing and scrape the outside where needed with wire brushes.

"It's time consuming and messy," she admitted. "But I love it."

Cunningham also uses a concrete mixer to mix the concrete. "I use peat moss in the mixture," Warniment said. "After it has set, it is very durable, but very light."

Cunningham estimated they had used over 6,000 pounds of Portland cement since February.

"We stay busy," Warniment said. Her folk art has been featured in ads in six magazines including Early American Life publications.

"The hardest part is meeting the deadlines for the orders," Warniment said. "I have to keep track of how many cats or pumpkins I have made and which orders are due at what time."

The orders are placed in old crates. Warniment and Cunningham often do their own deliveries or work with other places to have the folk art items delivered to different shops.

In addition to the concrete folk art items sold from the shop, Cunningham and Warniment also work together to design and build custom-built cabinets for bathrooms and kitchens.

"I've always been creative so I really look forward to coming to work each day," Warniment said.