DIY concrete pots with blankets

Hello Gardeners!
Sometimes I get carried away and spend ages trawling through DIY sites on a quest to find something great to try...that involves recycling..and saving money.

wow, looks like Cora

Here is a nice little step by step guide with how I did it..


What you'll need
Various sized buckets
A cement mixing bucket (one of those flexible buckets works great)
An old Towel, or an old blanket that can be cut into smaller pieces
Quick dry cement
water
Something to stir the cement with
Gloves (if you have sensitive hands due to the lime in the cement)
A covered surface or an area you don't mind getting a bit messy
Masonry paint/enamel spray paint/anything !
Drill (to add drainage holes)

This bag cost £7.50 =)

The method is Really simple!
When it came to mixing the cement, that's the bit that I was most worried about as I'd never touched the stuff.

Basically, imagine you are making a cake in a mixing bowl. The cement is the flower and the water is...well some water.

You are hoping for a wallpaper paste consistency.

Add more water to keep the consistency

Once you have mixed it up, get the towel or cut up blanket and drop it into the mixture.

First thing you'll notice is the water in the cement will be soaked up by the material. So add more water, and keep slopping the material around in the mixture until it's nice and covered and heavy.

Nice and heavy

Once you are convinced the materiel is totally covered, it's time to get it out. You will need to drape this over an upturned bucket to set the shape. Depending on how deep you are looking to make it, you may have to stack the bucket on top of another one, or a paint tin...or whatever will hold it.

Wearing gloves , Pick the materiel out of the mixture and drape it over the bucket. Remember, what ever shape you leave it in will set, so make the ripples look nice on the edges.

For your first one, I'd use a small towel and bucket so you get used to the way the cement reacts with the material.

Drapey goodness

The setting time on the bag says 30mins but this is not the case with these as the material will hold alot of water so it takes ages to dry. I left mine overnight to set. (not in bad weather I'll add)

Here's one I made earlier...(pic at top)
I have given it a few coats of masonry paint that I found in the garage, but you can coat it in any paint really.
Enamel spray paint (poundland) works well then you can get creative with the colour.

Drill drainage holes in the bottom, or make you there is one in the right place before you soak the material.
I will add pics of the ones you see in progress in the pics as soon as they are done.

Any questions...let me know!