Good Morning, Everyone ~

Thanks for the warm welcome and for taking a look at my cement-dunked pieces . If you haven't played around with crocheted or lacy fabrics yet, you really should give it a try. So easy and so much fun.

I think you should start collecting doilies and crochet pieces (need to be cotton, not polyester...can even be stained with snags or small holes) to make your own "cement crochet" vases and bowls. These are so easy to do, and you're all so creative. These make cool votive candle holders, vases for dried flowers, or vases for fresh cut flowers if you put clear glass vases inside.

Note: You can even hang a cement dunked doily over the towel or other fabric pot you're making to have that crocheted look for your planter.

1) Get some Portland cement (not concrete mix, just plain Portland.).
2) Get some latex or vinyl gloves and a dust mask.
3) Find some plastic containers to use as supports (see my photo example attached).
4) Spray cooking spray on the outside of the plastic containers and wipe off the excess (for easy release of the cement pieces later).
5) In a tub (I use a cat litter pan or mortar pan), mix some Portland cement with water to get a cake batter consistency. It should be a fairly wet mix so you can saturate the fabric well.
6) Hose off/wet the doilies/crochet pieces before starting.
7) Now for the fun part: Dunk the doilies/crochet pieces in the cement mix and smoosh (technical term...lol) the mix onto the entire doilies, fronts and backs. I do one side and then flip the doilies over in the mix to do the other side. With your gloved hands, wipe the mix out of the doily holes, doesn't have to be perfect.
8) Hang the wet, cement-coated doilies/crochet pieces over the plastic container supports. You can adjust the doilies to make the pleats and folds hang however you like.
9) Leave the doilies/crochet pieces for 24 hours. After they've set up for 24 hours, release the cement doilies from the plastic containers. Easy...you're done!

If you don't like the gray cement color, you can always paint these with craft store acrylic paints. A touch of red or pink around the top would be neat for Valentine's Day.






Have fun with it!

alliumhead, it would be wonderful if you submitted that in an article for ATP. http://garden.org/ideas/

Stunning!

Very talented!

Thank you for sharing.

alliumhead, those planters are fabulous! My first one was a crochet shawl and it is still my favorite. I will have to keep a lookout for some cotton lace.

Here is my latest experiment with wall hangers. I sewed burlap over a wire frame and painted on the concrete.

Hi, Everybody ~

Hope you're all having a pleasant weekend.

Esperanza -- I LOVE your planter wall pockets. Those are all very, very cool! I really like the different shapes, colors, sizes, and your choice of plants. How many coats of your cement mix did it take? And did you use acrylic paints? What kind of hangers did you use? Can you tell I'm a curious type...hope you don't mind so many questions . Very creative, Esperanza!

You know, I'd thought about taking one of those hanging canvas shoe organizers with pockets, dunking it in a cement mix, hanging it on a wall and planting the pockets. Might be a bit on the heavy side though, don't you think?

Do you happen to know which page your crochet shawl planter is on? I'd love to see it. This is a great discussion thread, so I need to read through all the pages when I have a little more time.

Take care, All.

Yes! Do the shoe rack idea. I thought of this also and I have one but it has mostly synthetic material. I was thinking I could use it as a base though and drape the material over it. You will be my hero if you get that accomplished before I do.

The metal I used is the thick stuff that comes in rolls and is difficult to bend by hand. We use it around here for H posts at the end of the fence lines. That's why all the shapes are so irregular is because I had such a difficult time bending the stuff. I did the first coat pretty sloppy and then two second coats after that. They are brittle in some places and that allowed for drainage holes that I did not have to drill. It was my first batch with this technique so I still have a bit of a learning curve doing this type. I put plastic bags in the centers to keep shape while curing.

Here is my first with the crochet.

Wow, Audrey that planting has really matured. It is lovely.

Love the contrast in color of plants to container.

What a lovely location for your gorgeous shawl planter, Esperanza! Such a beautiful site and my eyes are drawn to your tall, dramatic shawl pot. It's now one of my favorites, too . And you've planted it so beautifully. (You didn't crochet the shawl yourself, did you?)

"Yes! Do the shoe rack idea. I thought of this also and I have one but it has mostly synthetic material. I was thinking I could use it as a base though and drape the material over it. You will be my hero if you get that accomplished before I do." --- Ooh, ooh, ooh...you've got to go with your wonderful idea of draping fabric over the shoe rack, Esperanza! That way, you could make the shoe rack look so much more interesting than just plain by adding shapes and textures. And I actually think the synthetic material might work better for planting the pockets. Go for it and take lots of pics!

"That's why all the shapes are so irregular is because I had such a difficult time bending the stuff." -- Funny how things work out, because I really like the irregular shapes of your wall planters. Is it hardware cloth that you used? I've wanted to try using stucco lath, but I've seen too many photos of bloody fingers from the lath...Yikes!

Wishing you all a great week ahead.

Thankyou Lynn, Bev, and Eva. I am not sure if I am going to deconstruct it for the winter or not. It would be a lot easier to take out the stuff that will freeze and maybe do a winter version with semps instead so it can stay outside. Actually I might do that now that it has cooled down some. I did not crochet that. It was my grandmothers and I knew I would never wear it. I get much more mileage out of it as pottery.

Eva, you have me going on the hanging shoe rack idea. I do believe I will be trying that soon. I don't think it would be very heavy. I guess I would need to figure a way to reinforce some wire in it. I have been using a really thick gage wire that we use for fencing. I am not sure what it is called but they sell it at home depot. I have been using burlap for my latest pots.

Love the crochet idea. I've used towels over paint cans and heavy felt over an exercise ball. I also like the shoe rack idea.
My next cement project is going to be making large flowers with the cloth/cement. I don't see why not and cement stains well so I think I can get some color in them.
But now I'm going to be searching around for old doillies, they might make good "flowers" too come to think about it.
Here's a pic of the "exercise ball" planter . . . really large, a good two feet across!

Beautiful Audrey.

DomehomeDee I like the color you of the pot. Very pretty.

Hi, Everyone ~

"Eva, you have me going on the hanging shoe rack idea." -- Good! Can't wait to see your creative take on this, Audrey. Photos of your process, please .

"Here's a pic of the "exercise ball" planter . . . really large, a good two feet across!" -- DomehomeDee, your ball planter is great! Did you make a flat bottom? How many coats of your cement mix did you apply? Any idea how much it weighs? The best use of an exercise ball EVER .

You know, you can also make large garden spheres by draping cement-dipped fabric squares over an exercise ball. Slightly overlap the fabric squares.



Or a hanging planter by draping a cement-dipped fabric square over a smaller ball.



DomehomeDee, hope you'll share your flowers with us all. What a lovely idea!

Hope you all have a pleasant day.

DomehomeDee said:Love the crochet idea. I've used towels over paint cans and heavy felt over an exercise ball. I also like the shoe rack idea.
My next cement project is going to be making large flowers with the cloth/cement. I don't see why not and cement stains well so I think I can get some color in them.
But now I'm going to be searching around for old doillies, they might make good "flowers" too come to think about it.
Here's a pic of the "exercise ball" planter . . . really large, a good two feet across!

I love your large planter. I have not attempted one that big yet. I cant wait to see your flowers!

O.k. so a word on the shoe rack idea. I went to dig mine out of the shed and it was basically little bits of nothing falling of cardboard. It has never been in the sun, gotten wet, or ever even used. I guess that will be a no go for me.

However, I did spot another idea. In the back of the shed I had a metal door rack I had taken out of a kitchen I remodeled. The kind that hangs in a pantry. That would be perfect and much much stronger and it already has a way to screw it to your wall.

alliumhead said:Hi, Everyone ~

"Eva, you have me going on the hanging shoe rack idea." -- Good! Can't wait to see your creative take on this, Audrey. Photos of your process, please .

"Here's a pic of the "exercise ball" planter . . . really large, a good two feet across!" -- DomehomeDee, your ball planter is great! Did you make a flat bottom? How many coats of your cement mix did you apply? Any idea how much it weighs? The best use of an exercise ball EVER .

You know, you can also make large garden spheres by draping cement-dipped fabric squares over an exercise ball. Slightly overlap the fabric squares.



Or a hanging planter by draping a cement-dipped fabric square over a smaller ball.



DomehomeDee, hope you'll share your flowers with us all. What a lovely idea!

Hope you all have a pleasant day.

The garden balls are great. Do you have any photos of them finished? Did you leave them rough/unpainted?

Good Morning, All ~

"However, I did spot another idea. In the back of the shed I had a metal door rack I had taken out of a kitchen I remodeled. The kind that hangs in a pantry. That would be perfect and much much stronger and it already has a way to screw it to your wall." -- A great way to recycle, Audrey. Will you drape fabric over it? Or make your own pockets? Will be an interesting project whatever you do, and of course, we'd all enjoy seeing photos of your process.

"The garden balls are great. Do you have any photos of them finished? Did you leave them rough/unpainted?" -- Thanks, Audrey. I'm working on (well, playing around ) with these now. Over the coming weekend, I'll apply another coat of cement mix and smooth them out with a damp sponge so the towel edges won't be visible. But these would also be fun left as is and painted or stained. I used 14-inch square shop towels saturated in my cement mix as a quick way to cover very large exercise balls. I'll take more photos when finished, Audrey.

Take Care,
Eva

Holiday chalice? ho ho ho. I am going to try and restrain myself from planting them before spring ing Ha who am I kidding. So these will be some of my new winter room mates.








Shell planters that well..... might turn out cool maybe not. It was my first try for that design.

Wow Audrey. How did you make the shell planters. I really like them.