Understanding Crochet Basics
Crochet is a creative and versatile craft that has been practiced for centuries, originating from various cultures around the world. It involves using a hooked needle to interlock loops of yarn, creating textiles ranging from decorative pieces to functional items like blankets and clothing. Learning crochet offers numerous benefits, such as improving focus, reducing stress, and providing a rewarding sense of accomplishment. To get started, all you need are basic materials like a crochet hook, yarn, and a pair of scissors, making it an accessible hobby for beginners and experienced crafters alike.

Choosing the Right Supplies
When starting your crochet journey, having the right supplies can make the process easier and more enjoyable. Crochet hooks come in various sizes and materials, so it’s helpful to choose one that feels comfortable in your hand and matches the type of yarn you’re using. Yarn also comes in different weights and materials, which can affect the look and feel of your finished project. For beginners, it’s a good idea to start with medium-weight yarn and a basic aluminum or plastic hook, as these are easier to work with while learning the basics. Starting with the right tools helps set you up for success as you practice stitches and create your first projects.

Mastering Basic Stitches
Mastering basic stitches is one of the first steps to building confidence and skill in crochet. Learning the chain stitch provides the foundation for almost every project, while single crochet and double crochet open the door to creating a wide variety of patterns and textures. Maintaining consistent tension is also an important skill to develop, as it ensures your work looks neat and even. With practice and patience, these fundamental techniques will help you create beautiful and functional crochet pieces.

Starting Your First Project
Starting your first crochet project can be an exciting and rewarding experience. For beginners, it’s best to start with simple projects like scarves or coasters, as they allow you to practice basic stitches while creating something useful. Learning to read and follow simple crochet patterns can help you build confidence and understand how projects come together. Along the way, you may encounter some challenges, such as uneven tension or missed stitches. These are common mistakes for beginners, but with patience and practice, they can be resolved. Troubleshooting as you go will improve your skills and make the process more enjoyable.

Building Skills and Confidence
Building skills and confidence in crochet involves gradually expanding your techniques and connecting with others who share your passion. Exploring new patterns allows you to challenge yourself and create more complex projects, helping you grow as a crocheter. Joining crochet communities, whether online or in person, offers not only support but also inspiration from like-minded individuals who can share tips and ideas. To further your journey, take advantage of resources like video tutorials, books, and blogs, which provide step-by-step guidance and creative project ideas, and stores, like Premier Yarns, which often sell crochet materials and products. These tools and connections make learning crochet both enjoyable and rewarding.

Crochet is a wonderful hobby that combines creativity, relaxation, and the joy of making something with your own hands. Whether you’re looking to craft simple, practical items or dive into intricate patterns, the journey of learning to crochet is both rewarding and enjoyable. With the right tools, basic techniques, and plenty of practice, you’ll find yourself growing in skill and confidence over time. Along the way, connecting with other crocheters and exploring helpful resources can make the experience even more fulfilling. So, as you continue on this path, enjoy the process, celebrate your progress, and take pride in the pieces you create.

Photo Credit

Photo is from Pexels

Guest Author Bio
Rachelle Wilber

Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s in journalism and media studies. She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, on the beach, or at the gym.

Quite a few friends and readers have e-mailed me and asked for more information on how I made the pot shown at the end of the second article in this series, A Thinner Mix. I have made a lot of progress since then. Here is an example of some new planters/pots I have made.

Large, medium and small concrete planters. The large one (back left) came out of a bigger mold, but I did not pour the sides as high.

Making The Molds

To make the molds, I used a variety of containers, and drilled a hole in the center of them.

TIP: Be as accurate as possible finding center as this will ensure that the concrete planters have an even wall thickness.

This first one, my medium-sized mold, uses a Paderno melamine mixing bowl for the outside, and an old plastic light dome for the inside. The dome gives a beautiful rounded interior to the finished product (see images at the end of this post). I found it in a second-hand store. I have been looking for more in different sizes but they are really hard to find and new ones are REALLY expensive!

Paderno melamine mixing bowl and an old plastic light dome.

This smaller concrete pot mold is made from 2 Paderno mixing bowls.

2 Padero mixing bowls

Note the bottom of the smaller red one, above. The bottoms of these bowls have a ridge as you can see in the blue one below. These ridges leave an unfinished look to the inside of the bowl. I used an orbital sander with 60 grit to remove the ridge from the red one. Then I worked up to a 220 grit to get it nice and smooth. I then gave it 3 coats of carnauba wax.

Another way to do this is with Bondo automotive body filler. This next image shows a plastic pot which is perfect for the inside half of my extra large mold. I used Bondo on it, then sanded with 220 to get it super smooth. Then I gave it 3 coats of carnauba wax.

TIP: Note that I am using melamine and plastic pots for the molds. Stainless steel also works – BUT these molds do not release nearly as well and will dent easily.

The Spacer

The spacer is a very important part of your mold. It will form the drainage hole for the concrete planter and also hold the 2 halves of the mold together, like this.

The parts below are a 5/16 bolt, 2 washers, a copper plumbing fitting (3/4″ OD) and 2 smaller pieces of plastic tubing cut to the same height as the copper fitting. In the second picture, you can see that the tubing has been placed inside the copper fitting. This gives me a nice snug fit for the bolt and also, when it is tightened up, the plastic tubing helps make a seal that the concrete can not leak through. I use a copper fitting only because it makes for a nice detail in the concrete planter as you will see in the images at the end of this post.

Here is the outside part of the mold with the bolt through it and the spacer in place.

TIP: If you do not want the copper detail, you can make a simpler spacer out of a rubber stopper which you can easily find at brew-it-yourself wine/beer supply shops or at any place that sells stoppers for test tubes.

Here is the assembled unit. Note the nice symmetry – even spacing between the mold halves.

The steps on how to make a concrete planter mold

Once you have all of your parts made, all you need to do is:

1. Wax the outside of the inside part of the mold.
2. Wax the inside of the outside part of the mold.
3. Spray some release agent on the outside of the inside part of the mold.
4. Spray some release agent on the inside of the outside part of the mold.
5. Assemble the mold as shown above. Take your time here, being sure to get as even a spacing as possible between the 2 mold halves.
6. Pour your concrete as shown in the graphic above. You will need a thin mix for this!
7. Allow to set for up to 24 hours (unless you are using the Kast Krete mix I discussed in A Thinner Mix.)
8. Unbolt the mold.
9. Gently pry on the inside part of the mold. It should slide out pretty easily.
10. Now flip the outside half of the mold upside down and lay it flat on a towel, or a piece of Styrofoam. Using a rubber hammer, gently tap on the top and sides until the concrete planter releases and drops out. If it is not coming out, turn it over and gently apply outward pressure on the side of the mold. Work your way around the mold. You will see a very small gap start to develop between the mold and the concrete. Now turn it upside down and again tap on the top and sides. Just be patient. It will pop out – unless you forgot your release agent!
11. Optional: I always sand the top edge of the planters. Some folks like to leave them rough. Experiment and see what works best for you. I talk a bit about sanding in this post.

Notes:

For steps 1 and 2, I use a spray-on car wax. It just makes the mold more slippery and easier to release the concrete (especially if you forgot to apply the release agent, which I have done several times … DOH!). Every 4 or 5 times I use the molds, I give them a coat of carnauba wax to seal them up and cover over tiny scratches that come from cleaning them after each use. I use Trewax clear paste wax for this.

For steps 3 and 4, I use Smooth-ON Universal Mold Release. It’s a great product and easy to use. I have also used mineral oil which works very well. Pam also works but I find it leaves a food odor on the finished product. It does wear off over time though.

For step 6, I typically use Starpatch Concrete Products Kast Krete because it can be mixed to a pancake batter-like consistency. Very easy to pour. But I have also used Starpatch’s Countertop Mix and Quikrete’s Countertop Mix.  Both are harder to pour in that small space. BUT – Starpatch sells something called a flow kit. When I add this to their Countertop mix, the mix becomes MUCH more fluid and easy to pour. ALSO – there is a new product out there called ShapeCrete. It’s available in the USA from Home Depot but not here in Canada yet. Looks great! Do a YouTube search for shapecrete and you will find many cool videos. I am really looking forward to trying it when it becomes available up here.

TIP: A great thing about these molds is how flexible they are. If you want lower sides (a shallower concrete container) pour in less concrete. If you want higher sides, pour in more. Have fun experimenting.

The Results

Here is a concrete planter made with Kast Krete. You can see the copper detail in the drain hole.

Here are 6 more images for you to look at of concrete planters and bowls using the molds described in this post. The rougher ones were made with Countertop mix. Click any image to see the large version.

I hope that you have found this information of use and that it will be helpful to you making your own concrete creations. If you have ideas you would like to share, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear about what you are doing with concrete!

Read more in this series:

Part 7 – Concrete Creations: Water Feature Ideas

Part 9 – Concrete Creations: Rubber Molds! – coming soon!

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

“What’s this you ask? This will be used for a water feature – which I will show you in the next post in this series very soon.”

So as promised, here are some pics of the concrete water feature idea I had in mind, and a few others. This is a picture of the foam cavity in part of my configurable concrete mold. It’s being held down to the silicone cookie sheet with a bolt at the top of which is a .75″ (outside diameter) copper plumbing fitting which will be embedded in the concrete. It’s a perfect snug fit for the .625″ (inside diameter) plastic tubing that gets hooked up to the water pump. The concrete is poured to the top edge of that fitting.

Concrete Fountain Top Feature – Foam Cavity

Here is the piece after coming out of the mold.

Concrete Fountain Top Feature – Out of mold

Here it is again after cutting away the foam and a bit of light sanding.

Note: The mix I used was a bit too liquid. See the sanded off lower corners? I had to do that because they were a bit crumbly due to the watery mix. Concrete is interesting and temperamental. Too much water, and the mix takes longer to cure. I took it out a bit to soon. Too much time between making things, and one forgets … well at least I do!

Concrete Fountain Top Feature

Here it is in action. I used a large round tub to experiment with. This piece would look nice in one or two larger square concrete bases.

Concrete Fountain Top Feature – In Action

Here is the same piece but I added a small spherical bubbler I had made last year to see what it would look like.

Concrete Fountain Top Feature – With Small Bubbler

This is a concrete millstone I made using a bucket.

Concrete Millstone

And this is a large spherical bubbler I made using two thin plastic 1/2 spheres that used to be covers for ceiling lights.

Large Concrete Bubbler

Here is what the inside looks like. Click on this image for a larger image. I love the way it looks! Like a moon’s cratered surface. I’d love to be able to get the outside to look the same. Something to work on.

Large Concrete Bubbler – Inside

Note the copper fitting embedded in the center. Again, a perfect fit for the plastic tubing that connects to the water pump.

Large Concrete Bubbler – Detail

And here is a picture of the small and large bubblers side by side. The small bubbler is solid concrete whereas the larger one, as you saw above, is hollow making for a much lighter bubbler, or perhaps a bowl!

Small and Large Concrete Bubblers

When I have built some large basses for these, I will post some images with details on how I made the basses. I hope that these pictures will get your creative juices flowing and I also hope that you will share what you come up with. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

Read more in this series:

Part 6 – Concrete Creations: Making Styrofoam Cavities

Part 8 – Concrete Creations: Concrete Planters

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

As I explained in Concrete Creations: A Configurable Mold, when I pour concrete shapes I will often use a Styrofoam block to form the cavity. Cutting Styrofoam cleanly is not easy. I did some looking around in YouTube and found some amazing videos by folks who make parts for model airplanes and rockets using hot wire cutters. Based on a few designs I saw, I made a hot wire cutter with a few modifications of my own. It does indeed cut like a hot knife through butter!

This one will also cut 45 degree angles and should make it through 3 inch thick foam no problem. For now, I am using a 12 Volt 1 Amp power supply and a 15 gauge guitar string for the wire. The wire gets to just over 600 degrees which is needed to cut the Styrofoam. I will soon be switching to a 5 Volt 25 Amp computer power supply and Nichrome wire (Bare Nickel Chromium Resistance Wire) which will give me more consistent heat and somewhere in the neighborhood of 730 degrees.

Introducing – My Styrofoam Hot Wire Cutter. Wait till you see my next concrete pours! I can now get REALLY creative with foam cavities!

Introducing – My Styrofoam Hot Wire Cutter.

Now that’s a straight cut!

Cutting angles by tilting the arm that holds the wire.

What’s this you ask? This will be used for a water feature – which I will show you in the next post in this series very soon. This was my first attempt at a cut. The next ones will be even better as I learned quite a bit doing this one.

If you find this interesting and want to build one for yourself, be sure to check out this video: 
How to make a Hot Wire Cutter for foam or polystyrene

Also … as I was looking around for ways to sand foam and especially for ways to fill in little indentations (concrete translates the smallest of indents), I came across an AMAZING article written by David Neat called Shaping Styrofoam. You really need to check out his work!

Read more in this series:

Part 5 – Concrete Creations: Christmas Presents!

Part 7 – Concrete Creations: Water Features Ideas!

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

Here’s what I made and how…

4-Candle Concrete Tea Light Holders

I had made some simple tea light holders which I showed you in part 3 of this series.  I wanted to make something a little more elegant.  I made 4 of these.

4-candle concrete tea light holder

To make these, I used the configurable mold and four 2-inch round anti-vibration pads I purchased from Princess Auto.  They sell them in bags of 4 for around $15.00.  Here is a picture of how I did it.  The picture shows the set up with only 2 sides of the configurable mold in place.  The pads are passed through 4 holes in the silicone rubber sheet and plywood then bolted down tight.  Just add the other 2 sides, clamp them down (as per Concrete Creations: A Configurable Mold) and you are ready to go!

Tea Light Mold

Here is a picture of the anti-vibration pads.  They come with a stud, a nut and a lock washer.  Just remember to spray a bit of release agent on the pads.  They come out pretty easy with a bit of jiggling/rocking.

2-inch round anti-vibration pad

Concrete Flower Floater

I made this one for Collie…my wife!  I used a large glass gardening bowl that I purchased from Michaels.  It is meant to be filled with water to float large flowers, like Camellias.  This one was a bit tricky because I needed to press the glass bowl tight to the silicone sheet, but I came up with a solution that worked very well.  If you are wondering how big this is, it is 9 inches square, 4 inches tall and the hole is 6 inches across.

Concrete flower floater with glass dish inset

Alas, I did not take pictures of the mold for this.  However, the image below should help you understand how I did it.  The white bowl substitutes for the glass bowl.  I made a clamp with a bolt through the middle that presses the bowl down tight to the silicone sheet.  The bolt has a piece of plastic tubing around it so it will easily pull out of the cured concrete, otherwise the threads would get stuck in there.  The green masking tape is placed around the tube for a pouring reference.  In this case, the bottom thickness is 1/2 an inch.  Again, I am only showing 2 sides of the configurable mold so you get a good look at how this comes together.  Just add the other 2 sides, clamp it down and pour your concrete.

Mold for concrete floater and candle

Square Candle Holders / Flower Floaters

Using the same technique as the flower floater, I made a few square candle holders.  The candles (which also came from Michaels) are in glass jars and are pressed down into the silicone sheet the same way as shown above.  When the candles have been used up, you could pour a new candle into the glass jar or clean it out and use it as a smaller floater.  One tip if you decide to try this…the concrete gets pretty hot as it cures and will melt the sides of the candle just enough that the candle will slip down onto the silicone.  So, when you take it apart, flip the whole thing upside down first so the candle does not pop out and make a mess.  You can then gently press the candle back down into the glass container.

Here is a picture of the type of candle I used.

At the time of writing this, I did not have a picture of the finished product, as I did not take one.  But, I will go visit the friend I gave one to and take a pic and then add it in here when I have it.

Snowman Fridge Magnets and Ornaments

While shopping at Home Hardware, I happened upon a really cool silicone mold for making snowman ice-cubes. It was only $5.00 and I just HAD to have it. 

Snowman silicone mold

 Here is what comes out of that mold…little concrete snowmen!

Little concrete snowmen

I made 8 fridge magnets by gluing neodymium disc (super strong!) magnets onto the back of the snowmen.  I used PC-11 paste epoxy to glue the magnets to the concrete.  If you have never used PC-11, it is an amazing product!

Concrete snowman fridge magnet

For the tree ornaments, I bent little hooks and then glued 2 snowmen back to back.  Next time I do this, I think Colleen will be painting them up just a little bit to add a splash of color to them.

Making your own presents is very rewarding.  All of these gifts were well received and fun to make and give!

I hope this post will give you some ideas on different ways to use concrete.  If you make something, PLEASE come back and share it with us!

Next up, in part 6, I will write about my configurable pillar mold!  See you then

Read more in this series:

Part 4 – Concrete Creations: A Configurable Mold!

Part 6 – Concrete Creations: Making Styrofoam Cavities

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

“While the mold for the bonsai pot is not that hard to make, there is quite a bit of prep work (screwing and un-screwing, caulking, gluing foam etc.) and as it is made of melamine (MDF) I know it won’t last long. Maybe two or three uses maximum, then I need to make a new one. And, for every shape you want to make, you need to create a new mold. There must be a better way … and there is … and yes … I will share that too!”

As promised, what follows is the solution I came up with. A configurable mold! Here is an example of what I have been able to build using it.

Rectangular Concrete Pot

I have taken a lot of pictures to illustrate how it works. I hope they will be of benefit to you if you want to build concrete pots or concrete troughs. I have captioned all of the images so you can read this as a slide show if you like. Just click on the image below and use the pause button which you will see at the top right of the image.

The mold consists of 4 L-shaped pieces made from plywood and covered with a smooth laminate. These can be slid into any number of square or rectangular shapes limited only by the length of the pieces.

Once you have the shape you want, you simply clamp the pieces together like this.The stronger the clamps, the better the seal you will get where they join.

First Pot!

My first use of this mold was to make a square(ish) pot with no drainage holes that could be used to float flowers.

Here is an example of the mold which is clamped down to the silicone cookie sheet. In this image you can see the concrete has been poured into the mold. A block of foam (not shown) will act as the cavity. This is better illustrated in the next section, on a trough I built.

Once the concrete has set, simply un-clamp the sides to free the concrete from the mold. You can see that there is a tiny bit of leaking on the bottom edge of the mold (on the silicone sheet) but this is paper thin and easily removed with an Exacto knife.

Here is a close-up of the leaking. As I say, it’s paper thin and does not cause any problems.

Here is the piece flipped over, revealing the foam block and the 2 screws which held it down through the silicone cookie sheet.

In this picture, the foam block has been cut away and the edges ‘gently’ sanded to remove the burs. The inside will also get a gentle sanding to remove the blue foam residue.

Here is that same pot, filled with water and floating some camelias.

A Trough

My second pour was to make a rectangular trough, again with no holes and thinner walls. This one was built as a gift for my daughters friend, Jess and she gave me the dimensions she wanted.

Again, the mold is clamped together and clamped down, and this time you can see the foam block which will form the cavity.

After the concrete has set, the mold is un-clamped. Again, you can see a bit of leaking, but as before, it’s paper thin.

Flipped over to reveal the foam, which will be removed.

The finished product. Jess is quite happy with it!

A Bonsai Pot

My third use of the mold was to make a bonsai pot. It’s very similar to the ones I made in part 1 and part 2 but as you will see, it is greatly refined. This piece was built as a gift for my daughter Robin and to her specifications. One major difference with this one is that rather than using foam for the cavity, I used a block of wood which was made by laminating 2 old pieces of oak and then asking my most excellent friend Garry C. to cut it and plane it in his workshop. I then gave it four coats of paint. Also, because this pot needs drainage holes and feet, a few more bits and pieces are required.

Here are the parts I used: 2 plastic chair leg caps, 2 washers, 2 bolts, 2 wing nuts, the wood plug that Garry made and a piece of wood with the corners cut off to form the feet.

Here is a view of the whole thing assembled and bolted down through the silicone cookie sheet and the plywood below.

A view from the side. You can see the plastic leg caps between the plug and the top. The edge of the top piece has 2 wraps of electrician’s tape to protect the edge and also to help form a tighter seal inside the configurable mold.

The configurable mold has now been placed around it, clamped together and clamped down to the silicone cookie sheet. Note that I used different clamps this time to clamp it down. These clamps worked really well for this pot! NOTE: The concrete will be poured through the triangular holes on the corners.

As you can see, the pour was a bit messy! Here, 2 of the sides are removed to expose the freshly born pot.

Flipped over to reveal the wood plug and the bolts that held it down. Note the paper-thin leak on the right edge of the electrical tape. Again, this just gets nipped off with an Exacto knife.

Here is the pot with the plug and top piece (well I guess it was actually the bottom piece) removed. It just needs a very gentle sanding.

And here is the finished product. Smooth as silk… well, almost!

I am very happy with the performance of the configurable mold and the pots that have come out of it.

What’s next?

I will be building another pot just like the bonsai pot above for my niece Sarah. Then, I will be trying out some different shapes using a new batch of ‘tan’ colored Kast Krete. As well, the lads at Starpatch Concrete Products sent me a waterproofing additive to try out. I am also designing an indoor fountain and then want to build a large outdoor fountain/bird bath. And, some table lamps!

Once I have made these,  I will write a follow-up post with some images and share any other tricks I learn along the way. There are still a few refinements I want to make to the whole process

I hope that you have enjoyed this series of posts. If you make something, PLEASE pop by and share it with us. I’d love to see what you come up with!

Read more in this series:

Part 3 – Concrete Creations: upside-down or right-side-up?

Part 5 – Concrete Creations: Christmas Presents!

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

What I learned from watching this video was that he pours upside-down. As an experiment, I decided to take one of my Tupperware containers and modify it so I could make a tea light. Here is the finished product. The top, while bubbly (more on that later) is smooth and required no sanding. The bottom required a light sanding  but no one sees the bottom of pots, or tea lights, so that really does not matter.

Here is how I did it. I used an IKEA container, some plastic tea light candle shells and some nuts, washers and bolts.

I drilled holes in the top of the container and also through the plastic shells then bolted that all together like this.

Next I cut a hole in the bottom of the container and then snapped the lid back on like this.

I applied a release agent (mineral oil) to all the surfaces and then poured the concrete into the mold. When it was cured, I removed it all from the mold, gave the bottom a light sanding and placed some candles in the holes. Here is another image of the finished product.

Not bad for an experiment! The groove around the top is formed by the connecting point of the lid and the bottom of the mold. While it’s interesting, I wanted to try again and end up with a smooth side wall. How to do it?

I decided to try a silicone cookie sheet. Yep … you read that right. I used the same bits and pieces and the bottom part of the IKEA container and a piece of plywood. I drilled holes in the plywood and into the silicone cookie sheet.

I then threaded the plastic shells through the cookie sheet and plywood. Then I used the wing nuts to tighten them down to the cookie sheet … like this. This makes for a very tight fit that the concrete can not penetrate.

The bottom of the container was then centered over the 3 plastic shells and clamped down using a clamp I created out of some scraps of oak, a few bolts and more wing-nuts. Here is what that looks like.

The concrete is then poured into the mold and allowed to set.

Here is the final product. Smooth walls and top … but still bubbles, which it turns out, folks like anyway! LOL 

Here is a side-by-side of the first and second attempts.

Having completed this test, I decided to try using this idea to create the same concrete pot I showed you in the previous post. I used the same IKEA containers that I used to create that pot. This time, the smaller one was bolted through the silicon and plywood and the larger one placed on top and clamped down (basically, the same as the tea lights shown above).

Here is the result:Lovely, if I may say so myself! Note the smooth edges, walls and lack of bubbles.

Getting rid of the bubbles was simple enough. I mixed the concrete, and then before I poured it I tapped the bucket on the floor about 20 times, then tapped the sides of the bucket. I then let it sit for about 3 minutes. You can see the air releasing from the surface when you do this. After I poured it, I tapped away on the sides of the mold and also used a rubber mallet to tap on the plywood all around the mold. Lots of air bubbles were released. A simpler way would be to buy a concrete vibrator.

What I learned and what I want to learn

• Silicone sheets are a great solution and lend themselves to all types of molds.
• Spend a bit more time on the mix and tapping to get rid of air bubbles.
• Tupperware and IKEA containers are very, very versatile.

For example, meet Ying and Yang! Solid domes. Paperweights? A bubbler for an indoor water feature (if they had a hole through the center)?  They are quite zen, actually. Folks love to touch them! I’m NOT making that up either …

What’s next?

In the next post, I will show you the next version of my mold, which produces some beautiful rectangular concrete pots. See you then!

Read more in this series:

Part 2 – Concrete Creations: A Thinner Mix

Part 4 – Concrete Creations: A Configurable Mold!

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

Thin walls

On my wish list was the ability to create items with thin walls – 1/8 – 1/4 inches. My first shot at this was done using two plastic containers from the deli section of our local grocery store. I made a fluid mix using the Quikrete Non Shrink Precision Grout and poured it into one of the containers. Then I pressed the other one in and placed some weights into it to keep it from floating up. I used small foam blocks between the two rims of the containers to get a ‘fairly‘ even wall spacing. Here is the result:

First round concrete pot attempt

I was amazed at how smooth the surface was and at how few air bubbles there were.  I learned later that this is because of the very smooth surface of the container and the fluid mix. I was not that impressed with the top edge or the consistency of the wall thickness. I had to use a file to grind down the top edge and again realized that I needed a better way to smooth things out.

I decided to try something larger using the countertop mix and an aluminum bundt cake mold. As the countertop mix can not be made as fluid as the grout, I had to press the mix into the mold. Here is the result:

Large concrete bowl / pot – using a budnt cake mold.

If you try this, us a LOT of release agent, I basically destroyed the bundt cake mold removing the pot from it. Fortunately, it was a used one that only cost me a dollar. Note all the air bubbles. This piece is quite heavy and will get used in our garden somewhere.

A thinner mix

The budnt cake mold experiment convinced me that for what I was trying to accomplish, a more pourable (fluid) mix was needed. I did more research and found a local company called National Concrete Accessories. I gave them a call and spoke to a young man named Ryan who was extremely helpful and patient with all of my questions. He suggested I try a countertop mix made by a company in Vancouver called Starpatch Concrete Products. I contacted Starpatch via e-mail and another very helpful man, Bendix, suggested that I try a product called Kast Krete. I had a look at the data sheet … wow! Kast Krete is a specially formulated polymer-modified concrete mix. It can me mixed to a consistency like pancake batter which makes it very easy to pour. It’s white and can be removed from molds in as little as 15-30 minutes. I immediately ordered 2 bags from Ryan as well as a bag of their Counter Mix and picked it all up a few days later.

I decided to start with a small pot and I wanted it to have a drainage hole. This time, I used two Ikea food containers that nested well together. I drilled holes in the bottom center of each container and then ran a screw through the holes and placed a 1/8″ spacer made from some rubber tubing between the 2 containers. I then tightened that up with a wing nut. This gave me a more even wall thickness. Alas, I do not have a picture of that to show you but I drew up this diagram  to better illustrate the pot mold.

Pouring mold diagram

I mixed my first batch of Kast Krete and then poured it between the 2 containers. I jiggled it around so that the mix was well distributed between them. Here is the result.

Now we’re getting somewhere! Note the lovely color, the very smooth surface and the drainage hole. And, this came out of the mold in one hour!

Sanding

The top edge was still pretty ragged so I tried sanding it using a 60-grit sandpaper. I just placed the sandpaper on a board, then holding the pot upside down, I made circular motions and that worked very well to remove the jagged edges.

Sanding with 60 grit sandpaper

Pleased with the results of that pour, I made another pot using larger containers and a thicker wall. I added some charcoal iron oxide to the mix – my first color experiment. Here is the result of that pour:

Concrete bowl using Kast Krete and some charcoal iron oxide to color it.

Note that the top edge is getting smoother. Again, I used the 60-grit sandpaper to knock off the jagged edges. Then, I used these!

Diamond Hand Polishing Pads

I found these on ebay from Caliber Stone Tools. They are foam-backed straight diamond hand pads for use on granite, marble, concrete, glass edges and surfaces. The set has 7 different color-coded grits, from rough grinding to final honing: 60, 120, 220, 400, 600, 1800, 3500 grit. For the pot above, I have only used the 60 and 120 thus far. These pads are great! I’ll re-visit this pot soon with the finer pads.

What I learned and what I want to learn

• I can now smoothly sand edges. I need to learn more here but I am well on my way.
• Still – I would LOVE to have a very smooth edge without sanding. In the next post, I will show you what I discovered about  upside-down vs right-side-up!
• Kast Krete is an amazing product. I just ordered two more bags. Another white, and a tan. Looking forward to trying the tan.
• Vibrating/tapping/jiggling the mix in the mold is very important if you want a smooth surface and no air bubbles. Here is a pot I made with the Starpatch counter mix that I did not spend enough time getting the air out. It was made using the same mold I used in part 1 – the grey pot. This one has 1/2″ thick walls though. I just made my foam insert 1″ large in all dimensions.

White concrete rectangular bonsai pot – rough finish

In closing this post, I just want to again thank Ryan at National Concrete Accessories and Bendix and his brother Peter at Starpatch Concrete Products. All three of them have been very helpful and happy to share their knowledge with me even though I am a very small customer in the grand scheme.

See you in part 3 where I will show you the evolution of my adjustable mold!

Read more in this series:

Part 1 – Concrete Creations: The Journey Begins

Part 3 – Concrete Creations: upside-down or right-side-up?

Photo Credits

Diamond Hand Polishing Pads – Caliber Stone Tools

All other photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

“I have long wanted to make some bonsai pots, table lamps and a few other creations locked up in my imagination using concrete, grout or some other cementitious product.”

Since then, I have been on quite a journey that has taken me from here …

Yep … it’s a concrete light bulb. It just had to be done!

… to here!

11.5″ x 9.5″ pot – no drainage holes – no feet – smooth white finish – 1″ wall thickness – beveled walls

Ben Uyeda’s ideas expressed so clearly in his videos inspired me to at least try a few things. Along the way, I have learned a great deal from others as well and I felt it would be a good thing to ‘pay it forward’ by sharing some of what I have learned. I hope it will help others who want to make things out of concrete and I also hope that they will leave some comments about what they have made and how. I will be writing this as a series of posts and will include details on how I made the white pot above and some other creations that I hope you will like. I will include as many pictures as I can. In this post, I will share some of my early experiments. In the following posts, I will drill down a bit more and keep them focused on specific molds.

How and where to start?

After watching Ben’s videos, I e-mailed him to ask what mix he was using. Ben told me he was using Quikrete^® Countertop Mix so I contacted Quikcrete^® with a few questions and they replied to me with some excellent information including a suggestion to try their Non Shrink Precision Grout. I headed down to our local lumber yard and ordered a bag of each. Both mixes are gray in color.

I wanted to try and use re-cycled items for my molds so I visited some of the thrift stores and purchased some old plastic containers (like Tupperware). I also retrieved two plastic salad bowls from our recycling bin, a large and a medium, the kind they sell pre-made salads in at the grocery store. And … a burnt out light bulb!

Note: I know that great molds can be made using urethane rubber. If you want to go down that route, check out Smooth-On. At some point, I will use some of this myself, but I really want to try and use existing shapes to achieve my creative goals.

First attempt at a bowl

I wanted to try both mixes so I started with the countertop mix. I mixed some up and then poured it into the large salad container and then pressed the medium one down into the mix and placed some weights in the middle to hold it down. 18 hours later, this is what came out of the mold.

First concrete bowl – made with two plastic salad containers

While the sides turned out very smooth and shiny, the edges were quite rough so I used a file to even them out a bit. It could use more sanding which I now know how to do.

First attempt at a pedestal

Next, I mixed up some of the non shrink grout. The grout can be mixed in a very thin mix, much more pourable than the countertop mix. I wanted to see what a pedestal would look like so I made a small mold out of a plastic container and a piece of plywood and sprayed the inside with Pam^® … I had read that it is a great release agent …

Here is the mold. The plywood has been painted and the edges wrapped in electrical tape to smooth them out. The grout is poured into the container and then the plywood piece is pressed down into the container to form the feet. It is held in place with a few weights.

Here is what came out of it. Note the very bubbly finish. It turns out that while Pam^® is indeed a good release agent, it is an aerosol and the air in the oil is what caused this finish. I will try this again with the same mold and a different mix (which I will cover in part 2 or 3) and see what comes out. That said, this was a very interesting result. I wanted smooth … I got bubbles … but it’s kind of cool!

First concrete pedestal attempt

First attempt at a light bulb

Next I tried the concrete light bulb idea. It’s pretty simple to do but if you decide to try this, please wear leather gloves while you handle the bulb. I used a pair of cutters to remove the electrical contact on the bottom of the bulb. Then I used some long thin needle nose pliers to remove the inner parts of the bulb. With the contact out, one can pour a thin mix into the bulb. Again, I used the grout and let it harden. The next day, WITH GLOVES ON, I used a hammer and gently broke the glass then picked away at it with a small X-Acto blade to get the glass off.

Concrete Light Bulb – quite a conversation piece!

First attempt at a bonsai pot

Now it was time to try something more substantial. An actual bonsai pot. I created a mold out of some old melamine shelving that I had in my workshop and then used insulating foam for the cavity and for the drainage holes. All inner seams of the box were caulked with thin bead of latex caulking. The foam is glued together with a hot glue gun and then glued to the bottom of the box with the hot glue gun as well. Here is the mold.

This time,  I used the Quikrete Countertop Mix. As it is a thicker mix, I had to work it into the mold by pressing it in. It was a very messy job! Here is what came out of the mold.

First Bonsai pot attempt using countertop mix

What I learned and what I want to learn

• ALWAYS wear a dust mask when you are working with the concrete in powder form!
• Playing with concrete can me pretty messy. Plan ahead. Have some plastic sheets to work on and buckets you can use to clean your tools in when you are done. DO NOT clean them in the sink! Very bad idea …
• Take notes on how much mix you need for a particular mold. It is better to mix a bit more cement than not enough. Just have a few smaller molds you can pour the excess into. I’ll show you some neat ones in upcoming posts.
• Why did the bowl turn out so smooth, but not the pot? While the pot looks OK, I really wanted to get to a smooth finish like the white pot I show at the beginning of this post. That said, many people seem to like the rough finish so knowing how to do either is empowering.
• Waiting 18 hours to take things out of molds is difficult! I wanted to do this faster … and I did! I’ll share that gem in part 3
• While the mold for the bonsai pot is not that hard to make, there is quite a bit of prep work (screwing and un-screwing, caulking, gluing foam etc.) and as it is made of melamine (MDF) I know it won’t last long. Maybe two or three uses maximum, then I need to make a new one. And, for every shape you want to make, you need to create a new mold. There must be a better way … and there is … and yes … I will share that too!
• Working with concrete is way more fun than fixing CSS and PHP code on web sites … just a LOT messier!

I hope that this has been helpful to those of you looking to create things with concrete. I’ll be sharing much more in the following posts. Please feel free to leave comments, questions or anything you have to share on the subject. I’d love to hear from you

Read more in this series:

Part 2 – Concrete Creations: A Thinner Mix

Photo Credits

All photos by Gil Namur – All Rights Reserved

Old French Furniture

Upcycling old furniture is the process of finding antiqued items that were abandoned and usually boring or unsightly in some way. The process of repurposing and restoring old items has become popular though television shows like This Old House, Rehab Addict and American Restoration (all of which I get through DirecTV ). Simply adding a new layer of paint or a touch of new fabric can create a masterpiece out of what was once garbage, and it’s surprisingly simple!

Step 1: Finding an item

The first step to upcycling furniture is, of course, finding the furniture you’d like to work with. A few places I like to begin searching are Craigslist, antique shops, flea markets, estate sales and garage sales, plus family members and friends, who might have old furniture hidden away in their garage or basements.

Intricate detailing and classic charm

Really popular items these days are mid-century furniture, items from the Fifties – reminiscent of the Brady Bunch household. Old telephone tables, vintage desks and dressers, and especially old windows and doors are hot commodities for upcycling furniture. You’ll want to find the items with intricate detailing and classic charm, so that just a simple touch-up will enhance these features. You also want to make sure the items are not damaged beyond repair (i.e. rotten).

Antique doors and windows are extremely popular interior designs for simple touches of decor and detailing in the home, such as using an old distressed door as a headboard, or vintage windows as picture frames.

Old Door Headboard

Step 2: Now what?

The big question, once you have your items, is “now what do I do with it?” It is important to first assess your project. Does the desk need to be stripped of paint? Does the dining room chair need to be reupholstered? Am I able to simply start painting? Each item is different and will need to be approached in varying ways.

If the item is battered or really out of shape, then it might need a good stripping and sanding. However, this is not always necessary, especially with newer pieces. If you don’t have a sanding tool, you can purchase simple sandpaper from the store to remove disfigurements and deformities in old wooden furniture. If you are looking for a quick solution, you can even use coffee grinds to get out dings in wood furniture.

If you are working with upholstered items, there is no need to get it professionally reupholstered, especially since that would cost a decent amount of money. Carefully remove the existing fabric by slowly prying it loose. It just takes a few steps to do an easy DIY reupholster.

If you don’t have the tools to strip, sand and buffer the furniture, there are also two types of paint on the market that are drama-free and allow you to go ahead and paint the furniture without any prep. These products are called chalk paint, such as the ones from Annie Sloan, not to be confused with chalkboard paint,  and milk paint, including Miss Mustard Seed which comes in powder form and must be mixed with water.

Provencal style French rush seat chair carving detail

Step 3: Make it pretty:

The final and most exciting part of the furniture transformation is deciding on your finishes and making it look appealing! First, figure out what color scheme you want to go with. Then decide, do you want to create a piece that is more muted and neutral, or do you want a pop of color? Do you want a distressed look, or a modern look? Do you want to just use a stain on the wood, or paint it? If you are confused as to what finish you want, you can always consult a professional for their advice. Once you have the idea in mind, take a visit to a local home improvement store, and find the perfect fabric or paint for your project.

Make it pretty

Another great way to spruce up a desk or dresser is to add new handles or knobs. If you are not using chalk or milk paint, make sure you use a primer on unpainted, wooden pieces to better seal in the color.

If you like the distressed look of upcycled furniture, you can go a few different routes: applying wax or using a dry brush or scraping with sandpaper/steel wool. This is a highly desired look for furniture today, and fairly simple to do. Make sure to use two layers of paint for the areas you plan to scuff since you don’t want to rub the furniture raw.

Upcycling furniture is a fun, creative and rewarding process. It takes old and drab, often unusable items, and breathes new life into them. The result is a unique piece that is easy on the wallet, which you can be proud to say you created.

Photo Credits

Old French Furniture – By French Finds on flickr – some rights reserved

Old Door Headboard – By Dave Jacquin on flickr – some rights reserved

Intricate detailing and classic charm – By Andy Roberts on flickr – some rights reserved

Provencal style French rush seat chair carving detail – – By French Finds on flickr – some rights reserved

Make it pretty – By Andy Roberts on flickr – some rights reserved

Guest Author Bio
Kate Voss

Kate Voss is a freelance entertainment writer from Chicago who loves restoring antique furniture. Her most recent project was upcycling her mother’s old trunk to be used as a coffee table.