Saturday 3 August 2013

Concrete and cements planters and tea-light holders...

 


This week I was tidying up my supply shed, and came across a bucket of cement and a bag of concrete mix I bought a while ago...I had a project in mind when I bought them (watch this space...)
, but as it is quite an ambitious project, I decided to play around with the cement and concrete....
I had seen these concrete planters  and some lovely tea light holders from one woman's haven  and  this was my inspiration....plus I thought this would be a great way to get to know these materials before I tackle the project I have in mind...
So I rummaged through my box of empty plastic containers and bottles (I save almost everything that I think can come in handy one day, my way of recycling...drives Mr insane...!), found some suitable shapes and sizes, and went to work....

Here's what I did:

 

 I started small: making some tea light holders out of my cement...
I had my cement at the ready: I used Wickes Rapid setting cement,
plastic containers to use as moulds, a couple of tea-lights and a bucket and spatula for mixing......
I wanted add some detail in the cement, so I grabbed some lace washi tape and stuck it into my plastic containers (these used to contain baking powder...)


...to make sure the (fabric) lace washi tape wouldn't get stuck in the cement, I dabbed a bit of cooking oil onto it once positioned in the "mould"...(taking care not to disturb the positioning..)


Then I measured out my cement using my kitchen scales....
The ratio for this particular cement mix is 0,25 litres water to 1 kg cement powder...


I mixed in the water to form a smooth, runny paste...


...poured it into my moulds...taking care not to fill them to the top, as I needed to account for the volume of the tea-lights....


Then I simply pushed the tea-light into the centre of the cement.
This specific cement will set in 20 minutes...so work quickly...
You may have to keep pushing the tea-lights down, so they don't float up, but I found  that after a few minutes, they stayed in place by themselves...
( It might have helped that this was a particularly hot day...)


Then leave to set....check after 10-25 minutes, and remove the tea-lights whilst the cement still has a bit of give to it...


I also used the cement to make a plant-pot, using a giant silicone cup-cake mould I had...
...and had a couple of plastic jelly moulds at the ready for any leftover cement mix... 

 

....again, I made sure to remove the plastic container I had used to create the cavity in my plant-pot, before the cement had set fully...


 ...this is so much easier than trying to get it out when the cement is fully set, and will also help speed up the drying time....


After 20-30 minutes...the cement is fully set, and I could peel off the silicone mould on my plant pot...


The tea-light holders were a bit more tricky to remove from the rigid plastic moulds...
...but here's a little trick I learned during my years as a mould-maker in the film industry:
The reason it is hard to remove a solid shape from a rigid mould, is because there will be a vacuum  created inside that will suck the form in...way to release this vacuum, is to drill a small hole in the bottom of the mould, then poor a little water in for lubrication....


....and simply use the back of the drill bit to gently push out the shape...


When they were out of the moulds, I peeled off the lace washi tape....
It didn't leave the detailed impression I was after, I think because it was made of fabric! Next time I will try to get hold of something else to use...


Looking a little rough around the edges...think I  am going for a rustic look!!


 Next I thought I'd play with my bag of concrete...to see how that compared to using cement...

 

I used Tarmac multipurpose concrete, a big bucket for mixing and some a cheap plastic planter from the pound shop as a mould...with a disposable plastic beaker to create a cavity....


 

I roughly measured out my concrete, by using my mould as a measuring cup...
I put the cement in the bucket, created a little dip in the middle then added water...
I pulled on my Marygold rubber gloves and got stuck in... (don't try to do this with bare hands, as the concrete will really dry out your skin and can cause dermatitis....also please wear a DUST MASK!!)
You can see the difference between the cement mix and the concrete straight away: the concrete has bits of rough gravel running through it, and makes a lumpy mix....
The concrete:water ratio can be varied...as I wanted the mix to be pourable, I added a bit more water...

 


 I poured the mix into my container...a little shy of the top, then pushed the plastic beaker into the centre...as I found that the beaker kept floating up and out of position, I filled the beaker up with concrete mix as well, to way it down...I also pushed another plastic container into this, filled this up with more concrete, then added a tea-light in the centre...(was trying to be clever and make 3in1....didn't really work here, but would have worked well with the cement mix I think...)
As I had more concrete mix leftover, I dug out the top half of my silicone cake mould, and filled this up as well...repeating the process above...


The concrete took about 2-3 hours to start setting.... 


I kept checking, and when I felt the concrete was set enough to hold its shape, I wiggled out the containers in the middle...


Then I left it for another couple of hours, before peeling back the silicone on the smaller concrete plant pot.... 


I turned it over so that it could dry out in the sunshine...


The bigger one took a little longer to set....


but after about 4 hours, I simply turned the mould over, gave it a few heavy handed taps, and the concrete just fell out...I guess it was so heavy that gravity helped....


Again, there was a few bits that crumbled off here and there...
I repeat: going for (accidental) rustic feel here!!


I put all of my concrete and cement shapes in a sunny spot to dry out and left them all to fully cure over night...


Then the next day I got my palm-sander and neatened off the tops and any rough edges....


Looking rustic, but nice for my first attempt at using concrete and cement...

 

After a quick trip to homebase, I added some suitable plants (don't ask me what they are...I have no idea...I just read the care labels in the shop, and went for plants that wound grow in rockeries and shallow ground...) I guess these would be nice for succulents as well!!


I love the contrast between the concrete/cement and the lush green of the plants...
...and I especially like the swirly,conical concrete planter (that was made by fluke, really)..
it is so unusual in that it cant stand up.....


and my little tea-light holders look nice as well!

What do you think?
Not bad for a first attempt, hey??

I had a lot of fun playing with the concrete and cement...and I've learned a lot!
I think  the cement is easier to work with, and would be my choice for the project I have in mind....
I probably will not tackle that one until  Little Miss Moo is back at school though...

I hope you will all have a great weekend...
xxx
June

Wednesday 31 July 2013

THE NOSTALGIECAT SUMMER KIDS CLUB....

 ....session 2 : Rainy day fun..


 

 Welcome to the second session of THE NOSTALGICAT SUMMER KIDS CLUB....
Today I will show you some fun projects to do indoors for a rainy day....
On Monday we had torrential downpoors and thunderstorms here in the UK, so me and Little Miss Moo and her friends, Reuben, Samuel and Freya spent a couple of hours in the kitchen....
....making fun soaps, doing some magical marble paper painting , marvelling at some water and oil fireworks and making a big fun mess with foam dough...

So here's how it all went down: 


SOAP MAKING...



The first thing we did was to make some fun soaps....we filled them with small toys so that every time the kids use the soap to wash their hands they get closer to the price in the middle.... 


YOU WILL NEED:

Clear melt&poor glycerine soap (you can get this in HobbyCraft)
Moulds (Silicone Cake moulds work well)
Food colouring
Small toys
glitter
Essential oils for fragrance 
 Surgical Spirit (in a spray bottle)

 

 Cut up the clear glycerine soap block into small chunks, place in a pyrex jug, and melt in the microwawe...it will melt quickly, so keep an eye on it the whole time....I found that 1 minute on full power was sufficient for a full pyrex jug. Do take care not to overheat as this will discolour the soap, but more importantly: you don't want anyone to get burned...(If the soap is heated gently, the melted soap will not be that hot, and should not be a burn risk for little fingers...)

 
Samuel an Reuben chose little toy cars to put in their soaps.....because "we are boys...."


When you take the melted soap out of the microwawe...give it a good stir...you can now add a few drops of food colouring, the essential oil and some glitter...


Freya giving the soap mix a good stir...


Poor a thin layer of the soap into the moulds, and let it cool and harden for a few minutes.....
 Give it a little sprits of Surgical spirit....this is important because it allows the soap layers to stick together.

Poor a little more soap into the moulds, then place the toys in...again, allow to cool and harden to set the toy in place and prevent it from floating out of position...

 Samuel has set his cars into the moulds...( He has muffin moulds, because " boys don't like hearts"...)

 

With the toys now set into the soap, sprits a little Surgical spirit into the mould..... 

 

...before topping it up with the soap mixture....

 

With the moulds filled up, the soap now needs to set... 

 Mia and Freya is very exited to see how their soaps turn out...

 To speed up the setting process, place the moulds in the fridge for 1-2 hours... 


The girls, glittery pink soaps with a treasure within....lovely aren't they??
Unfortunately the boys ran off with theirs before I could get a picture!!



So with the soaps setting in the fridge, the next thing we did was some...

 

MARBLE PAPER PAINTING...



 

This is not too dissimilar from making traditional Victorian wrapping paper , and you will probably have all you need to do this in your kitchen cupboards....


YOU WILL NEED:

Cooking oil
food colouring
Small bowls
Shallow pan (to fit A4 paper)
thick paper/card
medicine dropper
water

 

Mix a little cooking oil with some food colouring in a small bowl....beat hard to mix thoroughly.
Repeat with different colours...we had pink, yellow, blue and green.


Fill the shallow pan with just enough water to cover the bottom...
Let the kids drip the food colour/oil mix into the water using the medicine droppers...
The colour mixes will float on the surface ....use a fork (or similar) to swirl patterns in the colours...

 After a little while simply swirling the colours was not enough....a more hands-on approach was needed...(he he)

 Place a piece of paper on top of the water, and let it sit for 30-40 seconds....
We had lots of fun trying to count to 40....
The kids loved seeing the marble effect gradually showing through the paper.

 

Then lift off the paper to reveal the marbled paper...

 

 Place on some kitchen paper towels to dry....the paper will be very oily...as will the kids hands....and your kitchen......so a quick break to clean up and have some juice and biscuits seemed appropriate at this stage...


Snack break over, it was time to try some:

WATER AND OIL FIREWORKS....




 This activity fits in well after the previous, as you can use up any leftover food colouring/cooking oil mix...


YOU WILL NEED:

Tall glass vase
food colouring
cooking oil
small bowls
fork (or similar to mix with)
water 

 

Fill up your glass vase with water, then simply poor the oil/colour mix into the water...
Only do two different colours at the time, as using too many colours will just turn it into a brown mush...


Then wait and watch for the coloured drops to "fall" into the water...
  

....creating a fascinating "firework display" .... 



The last thing we did on Mondays session was having some messy fun with... 


FOAM DOUGH...




Kids love getting messy, and this is a great activity to have some messy fun with...
 The beauty of this simple recipe, is that although it will look like total chaos...it is really easy to clean up...



 YOU WILL NEED:

A large mixing bowl
Shaving foam
Corn flour
food colouring



Mix 50/50 shaving foam and corn flour in a bowl....add a bit of food colouring.
(you can also add glitter if you like)


 We gave up on the mixing bowl half way through, as it was so much more fun to just tip it out on the table and mix it with our hands...

 Reuben loved seeing how much foam dough he could get to stick onto his hands...

Working the corn flour into the shaving foam...



....will eventually turn it into a pliable dough... 

 

...and Little Miss Moo spent hours after her friends left making some lovely "ice cream sundaes"...

We had lots of fun, and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves....
My kitchen was a mess, but as it was just shaving foam and corn flour, so it cleaned up in no time...
  Everyone got a couple of pieces of their home-made soap to take home, and a piece of marbled paper for Mum to hang on the wall...

If you are looking for more fun activities to do with your kids over the summer holidays, have a look at my pinterest board KIDS CRAFTS AND FUN.

Pop back next Wednesday to see what we get up to at next weeks
NOSTALGIECAT SUMMER KIDS CLUB
Thanks for looking,
Enjoy your holidays!

xxx
June


 
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