Concrete Spice Rack

Hello My Maker Friends,

Isn't this place all about inspiration? It is like those dense forests where there is no end to greens. And what could be more satisfactory than turning that inspiration to something new, posting it as ible and letting the world know, who inspired you and how.

Two of my super talented instructable friends Blissful2015 and Muhaiminah Faiz have recently posted these awesome Concrete casting projects

1. Concrete Letter
2. Concrete Modular Geometric Wall Planters

I was so inspired & motivated by these two ibles that I decided to get my hands dirty (actually messy ;)) with concrete.

I have learned a lot from these two ibles and also did some trial-error on my own. After having packed with the required information , I came up with the idea of making a concrete spice rack.

This is my first ever concrete project. I hope you will like it. As always, the keyword is easy :)

Lets jump in :)

Step 1: Material Required

In order to make this Concrete Spice Rack, you would need.

1. A geometrical compass (The yellow one in the picture, it is a real big one)
2. A sharp scissor.
3. Packaging tape
4. Duct Tape
5. Good Quality Cutter
6. Some plastic (or material of your choice) spice container (you can choose size of your choice) , I chose 6 of them.
7. 6 Toilet roll cardboard (or some sort of cylindrical object that matches the diameter (actually a little larger) of your spice container).
8. Some cardboard. I used a double wall cardboard (see this for more info about various types of cardboard)
9. Some used car or bike tyre tube
10. Some sand paper (I used 100 grit)
11. Some rubber based adhesive.
12. Cement and sand or Readymade concrete mix. I used cement and sand
13. Water.
14. An old towel or cotton cloth
15. Some white glue like Fevicol or Elmer's
16. A ruler plastic or steel.
17. A Pencil

Before you jump to next step and wonder why so much of work. You need to read this:

Try to find a spice container that can fit inside the toilet roll. This way, you will save some additional work that I did. Because my spice containers were exactly the size of toilet roll cardboard, it was important that I do some additional arrangements to ensure that the mold for spice container is slightly larger than container itself so that the container can be easily inserted and removed.

You can actually use any sort of cylindrical object so long as you can make it work with the spice containers.

Step 2: Making the Mold - Part 1

See the images above and follow:

I will encapsulate the spice containers with toilet roll so that they can be used for molds.

1. Split cut the roll cardboard.
2. Remove the container lid and insert it inside the roll.
3. Remove additional cardboard at the bottom using the cutter.
4. Now wrap duct tape around the cardboard to cover it nicely. I did this to ensure that the concrete can not reach the container surface.
5. Also cover the container opening with a piece of duct tape.
6. Repeat for all 6 containers.

You can also try to use packaging tape instead of duct tape but in my experience I found duct tape can be easily removed when the job is done.

Now that the spice container molds are ready, lets move on to see, how to make a mold for the rack itself.

Step 3:

See images above and follow:

1. Grap your cardboard.
2. Place all containers in a triangular fashion to guess the length of side of triangle. Make sure that containers are uniformly spaced from each other.
3. Once you figure out the length of side (in my case 11"). Draw an equilateral triangle on the cardboard using the geometric compass. See here on how to draw an equilateral triangle. It is good site to learn geometry.
4. Once the triangle is drawn,draw 2" wide rectangles on each side. I chose 2" because my spice containers are 3.5" long and having that broad rack would make the rack unnecessarily heavy. Also what is inside the containers can be seen before pulling out the container from the rack.
5. Cut the cardboard along the outer lines using the cutter.
6. Also make a shallow cut along the triangle lines. This will facilitate bending the cardboard in straight lines.
7. Bend the cardboard along the triangle sides, wrap the packaging tape around the sides to secure the triangle.
8. Cover the back of mold completely with packaging tape to prevent any leakage.

You mold is ready now.

Step 4: Casting Concrete Inside the Mold

See images above and follow:

1. Arrange the encapsulated containers inside the triangular mold uniformly spaced from each other.
2. Apply a dab of white glue at the base of container and stick them to the cardboard base. This will ensure that the containers don't move as we pour concrete inside.
3. Let them dry for few minutes , while we prepare the concrete.
4. If you have a concrete mix, just add water to make a mixture which is not took thick or too thin.
5. I used 3 parts of sand and 1 part of concrete and water to make the mixture.
6. Fill the mold with mixture gently without moving the containers.
7. If required, level the concrete on top using some flat object like a popsicle stick.
8. Leave it to cure for 2-3 hours.
9. After 2-3 hours, you will notice that concrete has started to cure. It is wet enough to remove the encapsulated containers and retain the hollow space.
10. Try to gently rotate the container. If it rotates without disturbing the concrete, that means you can remove it.If not, wait for some more time.
11. Once the containers are removed, you can remove them from cardboard roll and clean them.
12. Leave the arrangement for 12-15 hours.

Step 5: Curing the Concrete and Final Steps

See images above and follow:

1. After 12 hours, allow the casting to cure completely for 2-3 days (Thanks Blissful2015 for this tip).Keep it moist either by spraying water from time to time or by covering it with a wet cloth. I used wet cloth and place the arrangement in shade, the water in cloth lasted for almost 6-8 hours. The cardboard mold will eventually separate itself from the concrete.
2. Once the concrete is fully cured after 2-3 days, remove the mold if it is not already removed. Let it dry.
3. After the concrete is dry. You will know when the concrete natural color changes from dark or medium gray to light , ash like gray.
4. At this time you may want to sand the sharp edges or any uneven surface using sand paper.

Your concrete spice rack is ready. Being concrete it can cause scratches on any polished surface like wood or tiles, so I decided to attach something to the base of rack to prevent such scratches.

I found a old bike tyre tube in my store room, which was durable and perfect to use as a rack base.

1. I placed the rack on a piece of tube and cut it to approximate size using scissors.
2. Then I applied a layer of rubber based glue (you can try other glue like E6000 as well) on the rack and also on the piece of tube.
3. I followed the instructions on the glue package to wait for 5-10 minutes before joining the two surfaces together :)
4. After sticking the tube at the base of rack. I carefully cut the remaining tube using scissor and also using cutter at places.
5. No more scratches :)

Thank you for your time to read this ible. Should you have questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments below. If you choose to make, please share using the 'I made it' button and I will reward you with 3-month pro membership (I just have a lot of them :D).

I would really appreciate if you share this project and please do vote , if you think it deserves :)

You are awesome.

Stay Tuned.