Create a Custom Cement Cigar Ashtray

This is how we (the wife and I) created a cement cigar ashtray. We learned a few things along the way that we would definitely do differently, which I will note along the way.

Step 1 Materials and Tools

Plastic butter knife, toothpicks, florist foam, paint brushes, sealer/glue, plaster of paris, cement, water, buckets, foil and a shoe box.

Comments

[Gerde]

Hej together,
even though this is an old post, I wanted to share my concrete ashtray.
As a hobby smoker, and full timer DIY'er I turned a rubber "clay mixing bowl" inside out, and filled it with concrete.
That gave me a pretty nice form.
See for yourself

[linseed1]

keep the cement-add some sand -just a little-vibrate or tap the mold after pouring and it will settle raise some of your bubbles- Also, if you beef up your mold and spray with release you can make more than one. Oh yeah, any reason you didn't make the foam one piece before carving thereby eliminating the seam? I think this project is a real winner! Concrete is a good thing...

[Rossiroller]

He mentions that he wasn't able to get a large enough piece of foam so he used two. Unless you mean he should have bonded them or something before carving in which case I have no idea how you could do that.

[linseed1]

you would do whatever you would do to bond them after the fact, just stay away from your carving area with the toothpicks and glue... Again-awesome project. I love cigars and making things- what could be better? Maybe a concrete vessel to sip single malt... lol

[Derin]

My experiments show VAM works well with foam.It was used to fix a RC helicopter of mine with a broken tail motor.

[headlessbubble]

great idea

[idogis1]

you should try doing this with a block of wax instead of foam. Much easier to remove, just hold at an angle and heat with a blow torch.

[Fildain]

Just use acetone to melt the foam out.

[Punkguyta]

I think the difference between Concrete and cement is that cement is one of the few ingredients in concrete as a whole. It's more of a mortar, but has more strength, but hence the smooth look when you're finished (which btw the ashtray does look nice). Concrete on the other hand has stone and limestone among other elements mixed in for strength and gives it more of a grittier finish. I have no idea how concrete is cheaper..

[Orchestrapit]

concrete is cheaper because it contains cheap abundant earth materials, while cement is a more expensive compound. think of it like if you buy 1 liter of orange juice concentrate, it is more expensive than buying 1 liter of plain orange juice. because the juice (concrete) is diluted, and contains less orange concentrate (cement) it is cheaper.

[106yeahboyz]

I did something similar while helping a plasterer mix plaster for a house being renovated .when he asked me to go clean the bucket i tapped the excess plaster out first and realised that the half set plaster was just like clay , so i hand shaped a small ashtray and left it to dry ,this was a year ago and i still have it , pretty durable as well -its been dropped a few times but still is in one piece ,obviously not as tech as urs but a good 5 minute make

[n0ukf]

You should have used some kind of release agent on top of the sealer before applying the plaster, perhaps wax or vaseline. Besides preventing the sealer and plaster from bonding, doing the same to the mold might prevent the water from the cement from turning the plaster into clay, as well as again helping release the cement from the plaster. The difference between cement and concrete? Sand or gravel added to the cement to make concrete. If you use colored sand, maybe you can see it as cement is worn away.

[SlothOnSpeed]

This is copied in it's entirety from ReadyMade Magazine's last issue. I looked it over and decided it was insane amounts of work for so little payback.

[Weissensteinburg]

Very cool...floral foam was a great idea for a mold.

[Mr. Rig It]

It sounds like you have learned quite a bit with this project. If you made another it would go so much easier, the second time always is because you learn the mistakes the first time :-) Good job Are you going to paint it now?

[reedz]

I think the paint would look REALLY bad, to me the concrete gives it a certain character by itself.

[b13ed]

I was thinking about staining it -- versus painting. I heard that they make cement stains... or on the next one, I might add dye to the cement.

[Mr. Rig It]

They do make cement stains and they look really good. You could stain it which wouild be cool or seal it and then paint it. Or just seal it with a clear finish.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Very nice. Complicated process for a simple object. Great job!

[b13ed]

It was so much more work than I thought, but I dig it. Thank you!