From rags and cement: a lightweight planter to repeat
In garden centers you can find flowerpots decorated to look like animals, the cost of which is very high. Considering that you need at least several of them to decorate a garden, the final amount for decorations turns out to be very significant. In fact, you can make a decorative flowerpot with your own hands, using cheap available materials.
What you will need:
- Cement;
- rags;
- wire;
- facade paint;
- black and red colors.
The process of creating a garden planter “Swan”
Before starting work, you need to prepare a plastic mold. This could be a small basin, colander or pot. It is placed in a plastic bag. You also need to build a stand on which you can place the inverted pan so that it is raised above the work surface.
In a separate container, mix cement with water. You need to get a solution with the consistency of sour cream. Soak a piece of fabric in it, then cover it with a form placed on a stand, turned upside down.
Using scissors, we trim the hanging edges of the flap. In this case, we leave one of the corners. The transition to it needs to be smoothly trimmed to form a swan's tail.
A thread is tied to the edge of the hanging corner and the fabric is stretched. This lace must be kept taut. This will allow the swan's tail to be at an angle relative to the body, rather than standing upright.
Immediately use scissors to cut a hole in the center of the pot for drainage. Opposite the tail, you need to place a wooden embed under the flap to create an arch of the neck. It is fixed on the form. It can be tied, if it is a colander, or simply glued with tape. As a result, you should get a neat fold above the mortgage.
Now use a brush to spread the cement mortar over the fabric. You need to soak the material well to get a strong shell.
After the cement has dried, the structure is disassembled. The result is a base that resembles the body of a swan. The wooden embedment is also removed. On the bend formed with its help, we punch 4 holes to tie the neck. Then we insert two pieces of wire into them.
We are waiting for it to dry completely.
You need to bend the neck frame from a separate rod of wire. Then thin strips of fabric soaked in cement mortar are wound around it. It is necessary to form first a thin beak, and then the swan’s neck with a characteristic curve. After rough preparation, we tie it with wire to the body.
We moisten the flowerpot from the inside with a brush. Then we coat it and the neck with cement mortar, but thicker than what was used to impregnate the fabric. This will create a smooth surface without depressions.
If everything is done correctly, you should get the shape of a swan with smooth lines. Moreover, brush marks leave waves that look like feathers. After this, wait for the solution to harden. Then we remove the blemishes with sandpaper.
The final touch is to paint the swan with white weatherproof paint.We also add some color to it and draw the eyes, beak, and edging. You can even coat the planter with a clear polyurethane varnish to make the paint last longer.
