Concrete leaf casting. Debbi and I have been making these concrete leaf castings for several years now, and my Garden Club members have also tried their hand at it.
There are many sites that show how to make them. This one has step-by-step instructions with photos: Since most of the leaves we create are smaller, we don’t often do the chicken wire reinforcement. Larger elephant ears do require a bit of reinforcement, though, and we have made some of those (the larger they are, the more likely you’ll need two people to move it when it’s dry!). Most of the ones we have done are made with leaves from hostas, pokeweed, grape leaves, caladium leaves, and smaller elephant ears.
Artists Little and Lewis ( suggest using powdered pigments to color your concrete before creating the leaves. We haven’t tried the “color-in-the-concrete” approach yet. This is the product we use: I buy my pigments from Michael’s or A.C. The good news: supplies for this project are CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP and the results are incredible! How to Make Stepping Stones for the Garden. Dig Deeper Newsletter, August 2011 — Timber Press Talks. DIY garden project: concrete stepping stones Working with concrete in the garden is both simple and affordable!
In their new book, Concrete Garden Projects: Easy & Inexpensive Containers, Furniture, Water Features & More, authors Nilsson and Arvidsson teach readers how to create beautiful objects for pennies on the dollar. The following is an excerpt from the book with directions for creating concrete stepping stones: Casting stepping stones using cardboard tubes is easy, as there is no need to build a mould, and you can also make multiple casts at the same time if you wish. Cardboard tubes are available in different sizes from builders’ merchants and other suppliers. You will need: fine concrete, cardboard tubing, pieces of rubber doormat, a piece of board, a saw, a ruler, oil, a paintbrush, a trowel and a stone or a file.
Concrete Garden Projects will be available August 23rd. Frustrated with dry shade? Dry shade areas don't have to be devoid of interest Gardeners at risk for Lyme disease. Leaf Imprint Stepping Stones. This Weekend Project is a decorative way to preserve the garden by capturing the beauty of leaves all year round as stepping stones.
You don’t have to work hard for a whole weekend to do it, though! It’s a simple project that is quick and fun to do, but the concrete needs some time to cure after the stones are poured. These stepping stones are an economical way to make a personalized pathway that protects your garden, or simply add them here and there as a decorative feature. As pretty as they are, let’s not ignore their practical importance: these concrete beauties allow a person to walk through their garden easily without worrying about hurting precious plants. Stepping stones are laid to prevent the soil compaction that results from tromping through the garden beds. Personalized Garden Stepping Stones. Make It: Create Your Own Cement Letters » Curbly.
Cement used to be one of those intimidating mediums that was only used for sidewalks and garage floors.
Not anymore! 26 DIY Concrete Projects. When we think of concrete, our first thoughts are sidewalks, cinder blocks, and Concrete Jungle by Bob Marley.
We don’t often think of beautiful objects for the home, until we got our hands dirty just yesterday when creating our own DIY Lace Planters, votives, and bookends. Here are 26 more projects to inspire your own concrete hackery. 1. Concrete iPad Stand: Of course, we have to kick things off with a little tech action. (via Instructables) 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. MyLifebox: DIY. Incredibly in love with cement!
The last couple of weeks I was trying to develop this project but unfortunately I didn't have much luck. Mariana had told me several times that she likes 3d letters. DIY Cement Letters. Guess who is turning one this month?
It’s crazy how fast the year has gone by! And I swear he gets cuter every day. DIY concrete letters. – Look what I made ...LOOK WHAT I MADE … It’s funny how the time flies and at the same time it’s really slow.
I’m looking forward to the weekend all week and suddenly it’s Friday and I’m like: oh, nice. Blog Archive » DIY Concrete Letter. May 9th, 2013 I’ve been wanting to play with concrete, and I thought a two-tone concrete letter would look awesome sitting on my shelf.
My concrete letter didn’t turn out quite right, because I was impatient. I picked up the mold before the allotted drying time was up, because I wanted to see if the concrete was still wet. It was, and it cracked into 3 pieces. Oops. Supplies: hollow cardboard letter (available at your local craft store) box cutter breathing mask (or something to cover your nose so you don’t breath concrete dust) disposable gloves two plastic spoons two disposable plastic bowls a disposable cup concrete mix cement color water Lay the letter face down and cut out the top side to make the mold. Next, mix the concrete wearing gloves and a breathing mask (do it outside so you don’t get concrete dust in your home). Once the concrete is mixed, work quickly to spoon one of the colors into the mold.