non-interlocking textile block
concept
I designed and produced a mold which allows the casting (from concrete or resin) of a non-interlocking textile block with patterned or blank sides interchangeable along any of the four sides of each block to the orientation required of any given block. Corner blocks might need two patterned sides and two blank sides, middle row blocks might need just one patterned side and three blank, and a column of single blocks might need four patterned sides.
drawings
The mold concept is illustrated here:
production
It was cast in aluminum, and powder coated, to improve durability.
When used in a short wall or as a decorative element, the block is intended to be place in an ortholinear fashion with its neighbors, forming grids of patterned faces. Naturally, this configuration requires reinforcement when used at larger scale or to resist certain loads, so an interlocking and staggered-compatible design is under way which permits the production of ortholinear-patterned walls which offer greater structural integrity.
The blocks I’ve made so far are great, though one must take care to use plenty of mold release agent, or the pattern gets stuck in the concrete block. I use fiber-reinforced concrete to pour these, about 133 lb per mold. You could mix some vermiculite into the cement if you wished to make them lighter, though durability may suffer.
