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!
