Viewing post #184058 by rcn48

Keeping with the theme of "Cement" this is another project I finished in the last month. I wanted to do something special for DH's birthday to celebrate 30 years of "growing plants". Everyone asks me where the idea came from? Every year customers ask Rick if he has any special instructions for the plants they purchase and his comment is always the same...."Plant It Green Side Up"! My idea was to create hands holding up a seedling but I made a "few" cement leaves with friends this fall and thought the Hosta leaves worked just as well. Attaching the Hosta to the hands created a little problem!


I tried to make Hosta flowers but that didn't work so I used a dragonfly ornament to give it a little more height.



Remember the piece of PVC pipe I salvaged from my daughter's plumbing project this summer? Not exactly what I had planned to use it for but it was the perfect size to create a "trunk". My original plan was to have his hands coming out of branches from the trunk but I was running out of time!



I had a deadline and even though I finished it in time, in my haste to get it out of the workshop for the birthday celebration one of the leaves broke away from the hands.



I'll figure out a way to get it back on but for now the piece sits by our front door. I had planned to put it in the gardens but Rick likes it so much he wants everyone to see it!



It's tough to see the paint but I tried to achieve a "verdigris" effect for the hands. My inscription is a little "rough", my hands were shaking!



I got a little carried away with the "trunk". I started to add a few things and next thing I knew I was making miniature mushrooms and collecting moss to add to the base! Overall Rick loved it but the extras I added to the base are his favorite.