How to make garden figures, vases, drinkers, cement coasters with your own hands

Features of working with concrete

At one time, concrete was used exclusively for the construction of houses, airfields and roads. Today it is also used in decorating adjoining territories. This is facilitated by the fine-grained structure and optimal hygroscopic moisture content of the material. Architectural concrete is especially popular among amateur sculptors. It is renowned for its greater resistance to moisture and aggressive alkaline environments.

Cement garden figures create unlimited possibilities in the zoning of suburban areas. Even if the most common gray mixture is used, it is important to make the solution correctly:

1. Stir sand, crushed stone, gravel and cement until completely homogeneous.
2. Dilute the mixture with water. It is important to remember that after adding liquid, it will slightly decrease in volume.
3. It is better to mix all the components with a perforator or a drill, and if you need to make large garden figures from concrete, then with a concrete door.
4. The amount of materials depends on the brand of cement. For example, when using M-300, 2 kg of sand and approximately 3.8 kg of crushed stone are used for 1 kg of cement. If you have M-200 cement at hand, the amount of crushed stone and sand should be increased by 0.9 kg.

Video "Crafts for the garden with your own hands"

This video will show you how to make some interesting DIY garden decorations.

Necessary inventory for concrete crafts

Shovels, scales, watering cans, hammers, buckets and dyes are useful in the work. The latter are needed to color the mixture in red, blue, purple or, for example, green. Ready-made fiberglass molds for crafts will help you to recreate the images of legendary characters faster and better.

To implement the frame technology with your own hands, you will need a metal mesh, foam or cardboard. If you need to fasten individual elements of the sculpture, it is better to use a wire with a diameter of at least 8-10 mm.

Master classes

Concrete will make unusual vases and stands for living plants. To this end, experts recommend using old shirts, sheets and towels as a basis. First, they need to be soaked in a cement solution. After 10-15 minutes - hang on the stands and wait for complete hardening. The optimum air temperature for solidification of figures is 30–35 ° C above zero.

After 2 weeks, tulips and hyacinths can be planted in ready-made pots. If the owners plan to decorate the area near the fountain or pond with such an unusual craft, it is better to use wild rose seeds.

For a frame that mimics the body of an animal, 5-liter plastic bottles are suitable. The wire will serve as a mustache, and the correctly processed foam will serve as wool for goats and sheep. The shape of the fountain can be repeated by a loosestrife leaf or a balloon.If it is important for the owners to achieve the maximum similarity of the craft with a fabulous insect, the surface of the products will have to be treated with fragments of ceramic tiles.

Cement pot

As a basis, you can take a volumetric round bowl, on the bottom of which a tube with a hole should be installed. It is better to put the ball on top. Cement, sand and gravel are mixed in a 2: 3: 3 ratio. The finished solution is poured into a bowl, and while it is not frozen, the product is decorated with pebbles or colored glass.

After 2-3 days, the ball can be removed. The finished flowerpot should be removed from the bowl after about a week.

Openwork ball for candles

This craft can actually be done in four ways:

1. Process the inner surface of the plastic mold with concrete. For a rainbow pattern, you need colored material. Candles can be placed in one of the hemispheres prepared in this way, and shells in the other.
2. Take advantage of the balloon. It should be placed in a smaller plastic bucket and coated with cement mortar. After 5-6 days, the air base is blown off, and an artificial product with backlight is installed in the hole of the finished craft.
3. Coat a large rubber ball with cement.
4. Wrap any other round object with reinforced mesh and process it with a cement mixture in 2-3 layers. At the end, the product can be painted with a silver compound.

Gnomes and Birds of Cement

For the first craft, you will need metal rods, old tights and thin cables. First, you need to pour the cement into the stocking. To prevent the material from tearing, insert the reinforcement into it. Pretty legs and noses are made from twisted ropes. A ten-centimeter piece of fabric will be needed to simulate a fabulous beard. Once the cement is dry, the finished gnomes can be polished with plaster mortar.

The algorithm for making concrete birds, especially swans, looks like this:

1. We insert a rod bent in the form of a two into the neck of a five-liter eggplant.
2. We fix the "neck" in the bottle with fragments of stones and broken tiles.
3. We expand the plastic container, imitating the sides of birds, with sand.
4. We mix the solution for processing the bottom of the product and the swan's neck.
5. We attach wings made of a metal mesh to the frame. For better fixation of the head and neck, we use gauze bandages.

Crafts completely harden on the seventh day.

Flower beds with images of faces

Sculpted concrete produces original figurines with wavy hair, deep-set eyes and expressive eyebrows. But since only experienced craftsmen can do this task, we recommend using old dolls as a template. The upper part of the toy will have to be cut off, since it is in this part of the flower garden that curly hoya or campanula will settle.

After complete drying, the heads treated with cement are covered with gray paint. Then a lighter tone is applied. In the future, such products can be used to decorate garden paths and areas near artificial fountains.

Figures and sculptures with your own hands

From almost any unnecessary doll and baby doll, you can make an original figurine for a summer residence. For this, the toys are placed on concrete supports. Fastening is done with hot glue. Wings can be cut out of ordinary foam, and colored glasses will become the eyes of forest maidens. It is better to sew a dress for a fairytale heroine from linen or mohair. These fabrics quickly absorb liquid, so that the desired shape will be obtained in just a few days.

At the end of the main work, the template should be covered with a cement-gypsum mixture and painted. In the same way, various figures and sculptures are obtained from toy ducks, lions, mermaids and carriages with horses.

Flowerbed in the form of a cat

For a large craft, you will need a 20-liter eggplant from under the water. You can use wire as a mustache. In the first step, it is important to thread the bottle with a steel cord. This is necessary for better processing of the base with a cement mixture. Next, we fix the wooden planks.They perform the functions of the legs, head and tail of the mustachioed owner of the blooming monastery.

It is better to mix the cement-sand mortar in a 1: 1 ratio. So that it does not dry out ahead of time, you need to work with gloves. In order to avoid cracks on the head, legs and tail during the drying period, it is important to spray these elements of the product with cold water every 3-4 hours. For coloring the finished craft, water-based compositions are more suitable. They tolerate mechanical stress well, are not afraid of moisture and ultraviolet radiation.

Fairy-tale and cartoon characters

If there are broken toys lying around in the nursery, do not rush to take them to the landfill. With proper processing of rubber and plastic products with a cement mixture, it will be possible to mold Cinderella, Vasilisa the Wise, Winnie the Pooh, Cossacks and even the legendary Captain Vrungel. If you are interested in modern heroes, we advise you to make little ones, fixies, octonauts, and for fans of exciting adventures - Lady Bug and Super-Cat.

Plastic bottles, polystyrene, aluminum rods, spatulas and paints will definitely come in handy in the work.

Such figures look great in children's gazebos and in the garden, surrounded by evergreen giants and fragrant beds.

Leaf-shaped animal drinker

Here, the main thing is to adhere to a clear sequence of actions:

1. Cut off a large leaf. To prevent water flowing out of the drinking bowl, preference is given to plants without a tail.
2. Mix the cement-sand mortar in a 1: 3 ratio.
3. Place the burdock leaf on a sandy surface. It is important that you get a small pea the size of a plant. Before that, it must be covered with plastic wrap.
4. Coat the sheet with a thick solution.
5. Decorate the concrete surface with colored glass. If there are none, use a hammer to break up a couple of dozen beverage bottles.
6. Remove the dried leaf after 7-10 days.

Candle holders

For homemade creativity, you will need cookie jars, M-300 cement, volumetric forms to create the desired texture, glasses, glue and sandpaper. The first step is to free the jars from the contents, wash and dry. Taking into account the optimal length of the candles, cut off the excess parts with scissors.

Patterned napkins should be placed inside the products. For their better attachment, construction glue is useful. Next, mix the solution. The mixture should be viscous and homogeneous. And since the highlight of any composition is not only different shapes, but also multi-colored elements, use a coloring pigment.

After the mixture is in the jars, the candle cups are immersed in the concrete. After 3-4 days it will dry out, after which you can take out the cardboard, napkins and molds. Sandpaper will cope with irregularities.

Other interesting ideas for concrete crafts

Thanks to the excellent physical and chemical properties of the material, it is possible to use it to create a mushroom plantation, a flower bed and even a stone garden. In the latter case, it is better to take polyurethane foam as a basis, from which it will turn out to mold a square or a circle. After that, you need to prepare a cement-sand mixture with the calculation of 3 kg of sand per 1 kg of cement. Next, we improve the shape. To make the artificial stone more similar to the natural one, it should be placed in a plastic bag. This will help you create original prints.

After final drying, we proceed to sanding and decorating the products. For this purpose, experts recommend aqueous formulations of red, yellow, brown and green. P80 sanding paper will give more realism to the finished crafts.

How to effectively use crafts in the exterior

Concrete figures can differ in shape and purpose. Small items look better along walking paths and on terraces. It is better to decorate the front part of the local area with large ones.

Around the concrete fountain, you can arrange a rest and sleep area. Blooming flowerpots will always find a place on the porch and on the steps of street stairs.

This is the best way to improve stone-faced areas where it is impossible to plant even the most unpretentious plants.