Faux Rock

Faux Rock is pronounced "foe rock".
Faux rock primarily started out in theme parks, specifically Disney World. The massive fake tree there may not be a fake rock but it is made with the same materials as any faux rock.
Basically, faux rock is a massive sculpture of a false stone. Its armature or frame is made of steel rebar. It is then covered with wire mesh. the higher quality faux rock has wire mesh covering the interior of the rebar in order to make the rock steel reinforced. Then you put chicken wire on the exterior of that so that the first coat of cement can be rather thick. The first coat is essential so that the structure lasts and stays strong. After the first application of cement, it's then covered by a second coat of colored cement. Once the structure has its final coat, it is then stamped with latex pads and some sort of release. The release is required so that the embossing tools/stamps don't tear the wet cement off the structure. This process is used to make trees and other things as well.
Faux rock artist tools
Faux rock artists obviously need a cement mixer in order to mix their cement.
A carousel pump is a small device that feeds cement through a thick hose and pumps it out at a high pressure. They're easy to fix and their application technique is much better than using a hopper which is typically used for stucco.
Hoppers are not very good because they shoot the cement at such a high velocity and require the cement to be so thin and watered down in order to run through their parts. They're just not practical.
There are two types of release. There are cons and pros to both of these methods. There's the powder release which is usually used by concrete workers. Then there's liquid based releases, which are either paint thinner, or diesel gas.
When working with the powder it's smart to use some sort of dust mask, preferably a high quality one because prolonged exposure to the lungs may cause cancer with many of these powder release products and cause other possible health problems.
The liquid releases are rather disgusting to deal with. No one likes wearing paint thinner or diesel fuel and getting high on unintentional huffing sessions almost every single day. If it's hot outside, then it just makes everything even worse.
Faux Rock artists, for carving tools, use a variety of different tools. They usually use metal carving tools because once the cement begins to harden it gets very difficult for them to continue carving with feeble materials such as plastic.
The most common carving tools are dental tools, which can actually be purchased at any Walmart. They also use essentially anything such as tuck pointers which are used by brickmasons for joints, but essentially anything can be used do long as it's made out of some dense material.

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