Concrete challenge 1 and 2, tablecloth weights and a candle holder
Concrete week begins. Thirty-odd bloggers were sent a bag of it.
Concrete week, so named in this house by someone other than me.
A craft supplier ran a challenge and sent about thirty Swedish bloggers a box of materials, and the main material was concrete. I have cast a few things before, so this was an easy yes.
Submission 1, tablecloth weights
Weights for the outdoor tablecloth, and they came out looking like acorns, which was not planned and is the best thing about them.
The moulds are the little plastic capsules out of chocolate eggs. The ones that hold the toy, saved from when there was someone in the house young enough to be given them.
The clips came off curtain rings from my sewing box. Cut a slot in the top of the capsule with a craft knife and push the hook end of the clip into the slit, so it stands proud and the concrete sets around it.
Wear gloves and an apron. Concrete is hard on hands. It dries the skin out badly and will sting if you have any cut you had forgotten about.
The bag gives a mix ratio. I go wetter than it says; a gruel consistency pours into small moulds far better and gets into detail.
Fill the capsules, leave 24 hours, then cut the plastic shells open with the craft knife and peel them off. Spray with water a few times over the next day. It helps the cure and gives a stronger piece. Then let them dry out properly before use.
Submission 2, a candle holder
This one is concrete casting at its most basic: two containers, one inside the other, concrete poured into the gap between them.
I have made plant pots this way before. This time I sized the inner container to take an outdoor candle rather than a plant.
The only thing to watch is keeping the inner container centred and weighted down, or it floats up and drifts sideways and you get a wall that is thick on one side and paper-thin on the other.
More to come this week. It turns out crafting is even more fun at somebody else’s expense.