For a quick, fun and very easy garden project, grab a bag of concrete, your imagination, and follow me!
Concrete planters and garden ornamentation are a wonderful addition to the outdoor setting around one's home. Often, such decor comes with a high price, enormous size and incredible weight which is not easily transported. The solution? Make your own.
While you would likely not fare well to dive right into large scale concrete landscaping, you can dabble a bit in a smaller project to begin with. Then, when you find how addicting this craft is, take it easy on me for suggesting it. So let's get started.
Curious about the intro bowl? See step five for details.
Curious about the frog? He is a real. Hyla versicolor have the ability to change colors.
Found a typo? Please, by all means, let me know. :-) I appreciate it!
Is your reply positive and constructive? I'd love to hear it.
Please refrain from being nasty or negative. That is not the purpose of this site.
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Signing UpStep 1: Gather your materials...
What you will need:
CONCRETE - http://www.quikrete.com/index.asp
QUIKRETE® Concrete Mix (No. 1101) is the original 4000 psi average compressive strength blend of Portland cement, sand, and gravel or stone. Just add water. Use for any general concrete work. (Ver batum as posted on the Quikrete site) Resist the urge to use heavy duty concrete, as it is very chunky. For those familiar with mixing their own concrete instead of using a mix, by all means do so. We use Quikrete because it is available in our area and has proven to be of quality for the items I've made.
Though many home improvement stores carry ready-to-mix concrete in 80 pound bags, it is also available in other sizes, depending on your preference as well as ability to lug it around. Be sure to allow store employees to help load the larger bags into your car. There are many types of ready-to-mix available, choose accordingly. I prefer Quikrete (mainly because it is readily available in our area) and Quikrete Vinyl Concrete Patcher, but these products are mere suggestions. Nothing is cast in stone. Yet.
COLORING - Not a necessary item at all, though coloring concrete is quite fun, and easy! Check out liquid cement colors near the concrete section of your local hardware store. A 10 oz. bottle will color quite a bit of concrete. If you want to maintain color consistency in your projects, consider making up large bottles of colored water for your project, and be sure to keep a lid on the container of mixed water. Shake well before using. Don't get carried away by dumping in more colorant than recommended, or your concrete will not set properly.
MOLDS - An endless supply of molds, containers and other ideas are available everywhere. Scour yard sales, thrift stores and other thrifty places for interesting shapes and sizes. Don't stick to bowls, use your imagination. You could even make your own. Try not to choose anything with great detail, as you may be disappointed. For finer detail, use Vinyl Patch mix, which has far less bumps and bits of rock, or use a good cement and sand recipe.
Just about any container can be utilized as a mold for concrete, provided you are able to get the finished product out of it. Bowls, cups, milk cartons, jugs, the ideas are bountiful. At present, I've found much delight in selecting unique glass containers from second hand stores and yard sales. If the finished item cannot be dropped or dumped out of the mold, after the concrete has fully set up, simply (and gently) tap the glass to crack or break it from your concrete creation, then rinse off the glass and be sure to take it to the recycling center.
Plastic, stainless steel and other materials release from the cured concrete easily when non-stick spray is applied to the mold prior to adding concrete.
NON-STICK COOKING SPRAY - Yes, release agents are sold specifically for the purpose of mold release when using concrete, but quite frankly, a cheap can of non-stick cooking spray works just fine. Use it generously to ensure your project will slide out of the mold. I've used both generic and Pam brand cooking sprays with success. Thanks to the many wonderful Instructable folks who have also suggested using other agents such as WD40 and perhaps even motor oil.
WATER - Necessary to mix with the concrete. Not too hot, not too cold, not too much, not too little. Perhaps my 'luck' has been the love of making mud pies as a child. Think Goldilocks, and mix well.
RUBBER GLOVES - Nothing fancy needed, but you should wear them. Be safe, not sorry. Concrete poisoning is no fun, and it's not pretty. I know this from personal experience.
EMERGENCY MOLDS - So you've mixed a pristine batch of concrete, you've sprayed the mold and you're in the process of filling it. Whoops, not enough concrete! Quick, dump it out and reach for another mold. Keep one close by for this very reason, and don't forget to spray it first. It is better to make a bit more than to end up a bit short.
A POKER - You'll need something about the circumference of a pencil to poke out air bubbles.
A LARGE SPOON - Or any similar item to mix the concrete. My favorite? A skinny garden trowel. Keep your eyes off items in the utensil drawer of the kitchen unless you no longer wish to use it on food.
BUCKETS, MEASURING CUPS, MISCELLANEOUS 'TOOLS OF THE TRADE' - Obtain inexpensive tools and reserve them for concrete projects alone, as they will become tarnished with concrete. Don't be wasteful. Clean and re-use your tools.
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Oh, yes! The instructions for the frog are to live in a good environment, provide bugs and water, and refrain from using garden chemicals and pesticides. The tree frogs will flock to your home and stay forevermore. :-)
I will probably make me some here in a few weeks when I have the spair cash to grab a damaged bag of quickcrete at lowes. (They sell damaged bags at greatly reduced prices here at the local one.)
I do want to point out that you might want to reconsider sticking the cureing product in with your Koi. Cureing concrete wreaks havoc on PH levels in the water. I suspect your pond is large enough to absorb the PH swings with out really messing with the PH in the pond. But if you put something really large in there to cure it might just be bad enough to damage the pond.
I have done some of the DIY hydrolic concrete and styrafoam backgrounds in a few of my fish tanks. (They look marvelous from the get go, more so when they are covered in growth, and weigh next to nothing) The cure time for them to stop effecting the PH levels was well in excess of a month. Most people that do 'oystercrete' for marine aquariums cure it for several months with daily/weekly water changes.
All that being said one of the most clever ideas I saw for that kind of cureing was to simply load the items in the tank of your toilet. So the water gets changed every time you flush the toliet. The water changes help speed the curing process apperently.
Any way thanks for the great information and keep tinkering away!
- Clark
(Frequently Z-man12 around the net)
My sincere apologies, I tend to forget about the comments section, and I really do need to check on them more often. Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments! I actually haven't tried hypertufa, though it sure looks fun! Yep, that was me and the tires. That seems like soooo long ago. Hope you will give these a try, and definitely hope you will share. :-)
Oh and I don't know if you have seen it or not by hydrolic concrete is a very fine premix. If some one is looking for something fine and smooth I think it would be excelent.
And I thank you, too. :-)
That would be a great form, if it held up...for these concrete creations.
For water features with fittings, just pour the concrete around the fitting. It will likely stay. If it slips, you can caulk it after the fact. I thought of inserting a chain link that is stainless steel, or weather resistant...then you'd have a ball and chain, haha.
I am very intrigued how to stiffen the huge vinyl balls enough to keep them spherical for concrete casting.
Ball and chain - what a fun idea! So glad you shared, thanks!
Everything in concrete is soon neutralized by water and time.
Some concrete producers have figured out how to leave voids which mimic coral stone and travertine marble but I have not pursued it.
I don't know Spec Mix but sand mix is commonly sold and will get pretty darn fine. But without rock, concrete is not that strong.
Form oil is pretty close to diesel fuel, if that helps, and is applied with wet rags or pressure sprayers.
-wrap a large inflatable ball with chicken wire- leaving an uncovered area as the opening at the top.
-pack on wet sand mix concrete all around the OUTSIDE- except where you designate the opening to be.
- When it is cured, the ball is deflated and removed-
You now have a hollow concrete ball that can be used as a planter, or a pond/fountain. I would suggest if you use it as a planter, to maybe fill it most of the way with packing peanuts or old plastic water bottles,then insert a plant pot, or a layer of weedcloth, covered by soil. You can also poke a drain hole in the side of the ball so it doesn't fill with water.
I just found an small, old cast iron coal stove that I'm putting in one of my flowers beds as a decoration piece. At first I was thinking of planting flowers in it, but now you got me (and the girlfriend) convinced that it would make a great base for a concrete bird bath!
Thanks!
Many thanks! A bird bath indeed! :-)
Can't wait for warmer weather - bird baths in mind, too!
1. Shouldn't the concrete be treated to prevent the chemicals from leaching out into the water? If so how do you do this...
2. Also is there away to prevent the items from cracking while outside during the colder season..if unable to bring in?
Thanks!!
I make concrete statues as well and when I cast spheres in order to save concrete I tend to make them hollow.
I do this a few different ways depending on what I have laying around. Sometimes I use a large balloon and fill it full of water or sand and then I cover it with something like a thick piece of plastic to keep the concrete aggregate from poking holes in the balloon. I fill the sphere 1/4 full and then put in the balloon and pack the concrete around it with the end poking out of the top. Then after it cures I open the balloon end and empty the sand or water out.
Another way I did this was to take a styrofoam sphere that you can get at any craft store and just permanently embed that in the middle.
I love the pieces made from the bubble bowls, those would look amazing clustered in a Japanese style garden.
Great job!
Many thanks for your compliments and mention of your ideas as well.
Funny you should mention such a fun project as your spheres, as
just this past weekend I bought a few blow-up punch balls and intend
to make precisely what you mentioned. If time provides. :-)
By chance, do you have a tutorial for your spheres?
Many thanks!
Karen
One thing you may want to try, I have always done this once and it was a very cool effect. After I put the balloon in the center full of sand and then I took thin candlesticks, like the kind you have on a dinner table, about an inch diameter. I wedge them either randomly or in a pattern between the form and the balloon and then pack concrete in around them. After the sphere is cured and you take out the center, then you burn the candles out! and you get perfect holes and you can put a light source underneath - they look really very cool. :)
"Intend". Ha ha, indeed! My problem as well.