What Cement To Use For Garden Ornaments

Aug 2019 DIY: COMPLETE YOUR GARDEN WITH THESE CONCRETE GARDEN ORNAMENTS

Sephaku shares stylish garden ornaments, pots, planters and DIY Décor advice to complete your garden landscaping with concrete garden ornaments. Concrete garden statues have come a long way from the assortment of garden gnomes and painted ducks that used to embellish backyards and gardens in the 70's and 80's. While much has changed by way of the type of décor, the materials and methods used to create stylish concrete garden ornaments remain largely the same.

Hard wearing, weatherproof and extremely versatile, it's no surprise that cement based outdoor décor and concrete ornaments are a product of choice by industry leading garden landscapers.

Before sharing some tasteful design ideas, let's begin by making sure your garden concrete mix and method is fool proof.

Whether you are making use of premixed concrete blends or mixing up your own Portland Cement blends and aggregate, consider the desired texture you want to accomplish from the final product. Keep in mind that cement mixed with larger aggregates such as course stone will result in a rough and irregular finish, whereas cement blended with finer sand will produce a more smooth result. When opting to use cement only (not recommended as cracking will be inevitable), the finish will result in a somewhat glassy and more polished product.

To create DIY concrete garden ornaments, work in small workable batches measuring out close to precise volumes needed for your project. When mixing larger batches of cement and water, greater volumes are more difficult to work with and start to become stiff within about 20 to 30 minutes after mixing with water. When casting concrete ornaments using moulds or stencils, it's important to line these with a lubricant, such as vegetable oil or even aerosol cooking oil that will help to remove the cast once the concrete has cured.

Once cured you can either opt to seal your concrete garden ornaments or paint them with a durable outdoor paint, which will help your DIY creations withstand the harsh outdoor weather conditions.

Search for more contemporary DIY concrete ideas on our blog to add a modern appeal to concrete garden ornaments.

Hanging Tiles or Decorative Footpaths:Using a wood or plastic frame in any shape or size but measuring no less than around 50mm in depth, pour wet concrete mix into the tray and using different textures, press desired items into the wet concrete to create their imprint in the cast. Think along the lines of gorgeous, delicious monster leaves, pinecone pressings, the out patterns of sea shells or smooth pebbles and stones of various sizes. Once you are happy with the desired design imprinted into the concrete, allow curing, later hanging your contemporary tile on boundary walls or even use these as creative directional footpaths and stepping stones following high foot traffic zones in your garden.
Glowing Globe:Using an old round glass globe cover, fill the sphere with fine concrete mix and once cured, carefully break the glass mould to reveal a contemporary domed garden statue. Be sure to wear protective goggles and gloves when breaking away at the glass mould and be certain all debris is later cleared away. Add function to form and paint your garden globe with glow in the dark paint to create energy efficient mood lighting for night-time entertaining.For more concrete garden ornament ideas, concrete garden furniture and DIY concrete crafting; see various topics and inserts in the Sephaku Cement blog collection here.