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diy concrete projectile
gardeninglily1
Posts: 424
Has anyone ever made anything from hypertufa or concrete? I would like to make plant pots / spheres / bird baths etc for my garden. I just don't know what concrete mix to buy or what to use as molds - it's a money-saving exercise so I don't really want to start buying molds. Any advice please? Thank you 
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*project haha sorry don't know how to edit title
Hi gardeninglily years ago the chairman of the board made concrete fancy bricks
he made a mould out of metal our local dIY shop sold bags of readymixed concrete just had to add water. Have you thought of using an old football as a mould for a sphere or half of one to shape out for a bird bath. If you've got idea's I'm sure you are creative and would love to see pictures of your garden features good luck???l
Thanks primrose and runnybeak - I definitely want to give it a go. Hadn't even thought of football! I will also check out threads for hypertufa. Pics to follow
Tons of ideas on Pinterest. I've done stepping stones in situ, and handprint step stones in damp sand to make the mold. I just used Quickcrete for repairs, it has a very fine texture, so you may need to reinforce with an internal wire frame for larger pots, etc.
I don't think I use pinterest correctly....I see pic and click on it but never see any pages on HOW they do it.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks runnybeak will do
Pintrest is just links to other pages - sometimes it's a video, sometimes it's instructions, sometimes it's just an image. There are loads of How To videos on hypertufa on You Tube. Also type in papercrete as well - same sort of thing but made without peat I think. I've been meaning to have a go myself. I want some shallow bowl shaped planters for alpines and succulents and some small pots for my lithops and other succulents indoors. I can't find nice small terracotta pots anywhere and rustic hypertufa ones would look just right.
to find a post either type in eg. hypertufa and a selection of posts to do with that subject will come up
or if you want to bring a post to the top of latests posts, just type bump or similar in the reply box and it will come to the top of latest posts.
or if you know who posted on a subject, click on their name and view their posts that way
My Ma-in-law always made bird baths from metal dustbin lids covered in cement (hypertufa would work too), resting them on an upright drainpipe, also covered with the cement mix. Made a nice, wide, shallow bird bath. You can make alpine troughs using two boxes that fit one inside the other, then filling in the gap with hyper tufa, but it is probably easier to use it to coat something else. I have a large trough made from an old army ammunition crate found in the garden when we lived near Catterick. The coating lasted over 25 years, but it needs re-doing this year.
Hah.. every time I read the title of this post, it catches my attention. A cement projectile would be SO MUCH more interesting. Not sure what one would do with it.. short of defending castle and keep.. or scaring local cats away.