I’m one day late for Earth’s day, but at least I made it ^_^, hear me out enthrallers.
When there is a need and want for aesthetics cement comes to the rescue, ok maybe not true for all situations but sure for this one.By now you must have known me well I’m a phytomaniac aka mad for plants. And as expected I have been running out of planters for my budding greens, and since I’m also propagating, hoarding planters would not really be a great option for me. So what to do? My best pass was to make one with cement as I had some leftover cement from my diy marble cement coasters and then all I needed was some containers for ascertaining the desired shapes.
Scroll till the end as I share my experience on the making of DIY Cement Planters and more.
What You would need:
♥ Containers (Primary and Secondary)
♥ Stick/Spatula
♥ White Cement ( You can go for black as well)
♥ Water
♥ Bucket for making the mixture
♥ Vaseline
♥ Weight (I used small paint bottles to keep the secondary containers still)
STEPS
Start by applying Vaseline to the outer surface area of the secondary containers ( the ones you will be putting inside the container to give the hollow shape)
Begin with equal parts of water and cement and add in more water as you go on to ascertain the goey mixture that we are looking for. Now quickly pour out the cement in your containers and tap them many times just enough to get the air bubbles out of the melange. Don’t fill to the rim as you will need to retain some space for the secondary container.
Now push the secondary container gently at the center and stop when you think you are deep down well enough as you don’t want it to go that deep that it reaches the brim, your bottom will end up fragile and crack when it dries up. Meanwhile into the procedure I realized that I will need to put something into the container as they were wobbly and wouldn’t keep the shape otherwise so I put in my acrylic paint bottles. Now let them sit there at the least for a day or two to cure .
Since I had applied vaseline to the containers, it made my task of removing the secondary containers easier. But I faced some difficulty removing the cement planter from the primary container, so I gently hammered the sides of container and flipped it upside down and tapped at the bottom and only then did it slide out smoothly. Smoothen the edges of the planters with a sandpaper and brush of the dust with a brush.
But one of them sadly broke, and the reason being that the rims were too thin to hold the pressure and I am only sharing this picture, so that you do not choose a secondary container that would leave very little space that makes the rim vulnerable, as the thicker the rim is the longer is its life.
You see the texture of the planter at the left, you might be wondering why the rims are so imperfect and edgy that’s because I made with gypsum and not cement. I tried Gypsum to check out how it would turn out, and they came out sturdy. So you need to choose your material as per the look you want to achieve, if you want a smooth textured planter then cement is your best bet, but if you like yours to be rough and natural looking try your hands on gypsum or concrete as better option. From the shop that I got mine sells white and black cement but for concrete I have only known it as dark.
I can’t get my eyes off these planters they are plain and simple, but they make a good company to any type of decor. The contrast between the white and green does not allow me to go fancy with it, lets see for how long I’m able to keep my urge to myself.
Do leave your comments below and let me know what you think of this DIY and is it worth your time and hard work. If you ask me I love it, and my favorite one is the hexagon one it is tiny and cute.
Till next time
Happy DIYing
