DIY Concrete Letter

This instructables will show you how to make concrete letter easily, using near-to-hand materials. Though it's a little tricky to make a few concrete letters, such as 'F, J, Y, P, O'.... I'm hoping to post another ible on that very soon.

But for now, I made a concrete 'M' and I was surprised to find out how easy it is to make concrete letter :)

Step 1: Materials Needed

To make concrete letter you'll need:

1. Concrete or cement and sand),
2. Bucket or pot (to mix the concrete),
3. Rubber gloves,
4. Cardboard (to make the mould),
5. X-acto knife,
6. Pencil and ruler,
7. Hot glue,

Step 2: Making the Mould

Sketch a letter of your choice on a cardboard and cut it out with an x-acto knife. Mine was 'M'. The width of the letter should be at least 1 inch, you can increase the width if you want to.

Now cut out 2-3 inches wide cardboard strips, long enough to cover the sides of the cut-out letter.

Glue the cardboard strip around the letter using hot glue,

When a strip ends, add another cardboard strip from that end and wrap a brown tape on the joint part to make sure that there's no gap between the strips.

This cardboard letter box will be the mould.

Step 3: Completing the Mould

This step is really important.

The cardboard will absorb water and ruin the mould, so I wrapped the outside of the cardboard letter with duct tape.

Step 4: Mixing Concrete

Wear rubber gloves before mixing the cement.

Measure 2 parts of cement and 3 parts of sand.

Mix them very well,

Pour a small amount of water into the sand and cement mixture and mix them well with the water,

Pour more water if the cement mixture is too thick. But keep in mind not to make the mixture too thin or too thick.

Step 5: Filling the Mould

Place the mould (cardboard letter box) in a hard, flat surface,

Carefully pour the concrete mix into the mould (cardboard letter),

Try to fill the whole cardboard letter box equally.

Allow the cement to dry overnight (or at least 24 hours).

Step 6: Concrete Letter

When the cement will dry you can easily get the concrete letter out of the mould.

Carefully remove the sides of the mould and then the rest.

If you want the letter to have smooth surface you can use sand paper to get a smooth finishing.

But I liked the rustic look rather than the smooth finishing.

Step 7: Coloring the Concrete Letter

Like always, I had to add some gold paint to it! The combination of concrete and gold looks awesome ^_^

Use fabric paint to color simple designs on the concrete letter,

Allow the paint to dry.

You can lay the letter flat or stand it straight as you want. I had fun making this concrete letter and it looks great too.

Enjoy!

Comments

[bartworker]

If ever you want to make your creations a bit sturdier, you can add some fibres in the mixture. I use those glassfibres regularly and they really make a difference in the strength of your work. It's like armed concrete, but without the iron skeleton making stuff. Lovely work, btw ;)

[Tarun Upadhyaya]

Dear Friend, Enlighten me about glassfibres over PM

[Millerhp]

in England there is a product called fosroc which basically already has these fibres in. Not cheap though so I guess adding your own will be more cost effective.

[bartworker]

Allright my friend, I'll send you a message! To other members: even wiki talks about it ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_fiber_reinforced_concrete

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Thanks so much for the suggestion :) I didn't know anything about glass fibers, I will surely give it a try next time. But first I have to check for glass fibers in stores :)

Thanks!

[bartworker]

You're welcome Muhaiminah ;) Like I also said to Tarun, you can add nails as well to your mix to make it 'armed'. Once I've seen the making of an industrial concrete parking, and instead of building a heavy rebar-structure first those guys added a kind of 'hairpins' to the mix. Same strength as armed concrete, a lot less work (it really looked like hairpins but you can use nails as wel). In your case: glass fibres (looks like cat hair) would be much more discrete. Succes! ;)

[pjadkowski]

Very cool

[toriosum]

It looke really cool

[No_Limits]

Really liked this instructable. Great Work!

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Thanks you so much! :)

[lindarose92]

This is so cool! I can understand your obsession with gold, I saw gold acrylic paint in a store a while ago and I HAD to get it :D

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Thanks Linda! out of swirl and into gold now! a small touch of gold acrylic paint can change everything! :)

[krummrey]

Have to try the gold and concrete combo. Looks great.

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Thanks! it sure does :)

[doodlecraft]

I too, love the combo of concrete and some gold! :) Nice work, fun way to make a monogram! :)

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

^_^ It sure was fun to make this concrete letter! Thanks!

[Tarun Upadhyaya]

Wow... M for Muhaiminah :). Lovely touch of gold :)

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Thanks! obsessed with gold color now :p