Add a unique and creative touch to your outdoor space with these easy-to-make DIY garden concrete leaves. Read our guide for more details!
The easiest way to create a figurine for a garden is concrete leaves, which even an inexperienced master can make from cement mortar and burdock leaves. From
Add a unique and creative touch to your outdoor space with these easy-to-make DIY garden concrete leaves.
Finally, foliage doesn't have to be fleeting.
Make concrete stepping stones with leaves from your garden. Learn how to make concrete stepping stones, and see just how easy it is!
The easiest way to create a figurine for a garden is concrete leaves, which even an inexperienced master can make from cement mortar and burdock leaves. From
Here's another DIY using leaves from your garden or yard. I love garden art and this is an inexpensive and easy way to create unique pieces for yourself or to g…
A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I learned how to make concrete leaf castings to put in our gardens. Our instructor was Roberta Palmer, who sells her leaves all over Portland and also holds little how-to workshops in her own backyard. Roberta has her castings tucked throughout her garden. Some of them are left natural concrete, and allowed to weather and collect moss. Others are beautifully painted in gradated colors. This leaf is approximately 15" across. Her yard is lush with big-leafed plants grown specifically to use in her castings. She grows varieties that are quite large, heavily veined, and highly textured. Her garden plots are framed with wonderful arbors and collected treasures. She tucks old ladders and tools among the plants-- so charming! Here the rungs act as shelves for her handmade concrete planters. Roberta walked us through the steps involved in making the concrete leaves, including mixing the concrete, adding colorant, mounding sand, choosing leaves, working with the underside of the leaf, building up the concrete, smoothing the bottom with a brush, and adding a copper fitting (if we wanted to put our cast leaf on a copper pipe pedestal, for a raised bird bath or feeder). Finally, I got to try my hand at it. Here I am, hard at work on my leaf (sorry, can't recall the name of it): Roberta suggested not going all the way to the leaf's edge, but rather making a scalloped finish with small adjacent balls of concrete. (Oh my, I do believe it's time to touch up my roots...) We took our leaves (I made three) home, still on their sand mounds in the sturdy cardboard boxes, covered in plastic, where we are to allow them to 'cure' for several weeks. I peeled away the green leaves a few days ago, and this is what they now look like: Here's the same leaf, with its scalloped edge. That same leaf. I built up the pile of sand so it came out deep and cone-shaped. Notice the copper fitting inserted at the bottom; I think this will be a little bird feeder on a pedestal. My second leaf (rhubarb), just a small little guy to tuck in my yard somewhere. We added a reddish colorant to the concrete to give it a slight terra cotta tint. This was my third leaf, a hosta. Roberta helped me curl the tip over an extra lump of sand to add an 'elfin' feel to this casting. Again, fitted for a copper-pipe pedestal. Love that cute curled tip! And there you have it: my adventures in the garden of concrete leaf castings. When they are fully cured, I'll show you their final resting spots out in the yard. Added bonus: I don't need a green thumb to keep them looking pretty!
Collect your rhubarb leaves and make a bunch of stepping stones when you harvest. Impressive Rhubarb Leaves Concrete Pathway!
Add a unique and creative touch to your outdoor space with these easy-to-make DIY garden concrete leaves.
Add a unique and creative touch to your outdoor space with these easy-to-make DIY garden concrete leaves. Read our guide for more details!
When it comes to backyard decoration, there are many numbers of projects and ideas that you can incorporate to make your backyard inviting. You can expand
A few years ago I made a cement leaf & since then have been wanting to do it again. I finally did it. I love this craft for a couple reasons. First is just because it’s something different than my typical paper & sewing crafts. Also because it doesn’t have to be perfect. The imperfections … Read more "How to Make Cement Leaves"
In a world captivated by sleek designs and flawless aesthetics, could embracing imperfection be the key to creating a truly serene sanctuary? Enter the realm
Cement can seem like quite an uninspiring medium, so you might be surprised at the amazing things that these people have done with just a bit of cement and some hard work!
Customize your own birdbath using any large leaf, sand and concrete mix and some paint to really make it your own.
Create a one-of-a-kind garden path by making sand molds with oversize leaves—like the rhubarb here—and casting the shapes in concrete
Concrete Leaves for Gardens or Fountains: Kindly vote for this in the Concrete Casting Contest! Thanks ever so much. ( : This instructable is on behalf of Madeline Werner, the caster of these lovely leaves. Being inbetween jobs, I have the time (and inclination) to do it!  …
Make unique concrete projects with leaves; Concrete is such an amazing medium to make one-of-a-kind textural pieces of art!
Concrete Rhubarb Leaf Garden Decor: Hey guys! In this instructable, I'll be teaching you how you can make durable garden decorations using giant rhubarb leaves and concrete, this Instructable is also being submitted as my entry to the concrete and cement contest! Depending on how you …
A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I learned how to make concrete leaf castings to put in our gardens. Our instructor was Roberta Palmer, who sells her leaves all over Portland and also holds little how-to workshops in her own backyard. Roberta has her castings tucked throughout her garden. Some of them are left natural concrete, and allowed to weather and collect moss. Others are beautifully painted in gradated colors. This leaf is approximately 15" across. Her yard is lush with big-leafed plants grown specifically to use in her castings. She grows varieties that are quite large, heavily veined, and highly textured. Her garden plots are framed with wonderful arbors and collected treasures. She tucks old ladders and tools among the plants-- so charming! Here the rungs act as shelves for her handmade concrete planters. Roberta walked us through the steps involved in making the concrete leaves, including mixing the concrete, adding colorant, mounding sand, choosing leaves, working with the underside of the leaf, building up the concrete, smoothing the bottom with a brush, and adding a copper fitting (if we wanted to put our cast leaf on a copper pipe pedestal, for a raised bird bath or feeder). Finally, I got to try my hand at it. Here I am, hard at work on my leaf (sorry, can't recall the name of it): Roberta suggested not going all the way to the leaf's edge, but rather making a scalloped finish with small adjacent balls of concrete. (Oh my, I do believe it's time to touch up my roots...) We took our leaves (I made three) home, still on their sand mounds in the sturdy cardboard boxes, covered in plastic, where we are to allow them to 'cure' for several weeks. I peeled away the green leaves a few days ago, and this is what they now look like: Here's the same leaf, with its scalloped edge. That same leaf. I built up the pile of sand so it came out deep and cone-shaped. Notice the copper fitting inserted at the bottom; I think this will be a little bird feeder on a pedestal. My second leaf (rhubarb), just a small little guy to tuck in my yard somewhere. We added a reddish colorant to the concrete to give it a slight terra cotta tint. This was my third leaf, a hosta. Roberta helped me curl the tip over an extra lump of sand to add an 'elfin' feel to this casting. Again, fitted for a copper-pipe pedestal. Love that cute curled tip! And there you have it: my adventures in the garden of concrete leaf castings. When they are fully cured, I'll show you their final resting spots out in the yard. Added bonus: I don't need a green thumb to keep them looking pretty!
Capture those amazing details of botanicals forever in concrete with this simple DIY of Botanical Relief Casting in Concrete
If you’re looking to add more decorations to your garden, leaf castings are excellent choices. Not only are they elegant and eye-catching, but also fun to make! Take a look at this tutorial on how to make your own brilliant leaf casting. No one will be-leaf you made it! What you’ll need To make a...
After making those fabulous concrete projects they deserve some special finishing! My friends you deserve to know my secrets for the Best Way to Paint Concrete. What to do with the concrete: After I
A friend of mine, Laura, said we should get some rhubarb leaves and make some cement castings.... You can imagine my excitement!!!! Something I always wanted to do, but didn't know the procedure.... and my rhubarb leaves were HUGE this year! So, even though I have my hands completely full with trying to get my house clean for company, doing wedding stuff and trying to get yard stuff done, I was all into making a birdbath with a rhubarb leaf! Our first attempt, 2 of the 3 castings broke. We needed to get the cement thicker where the veins are sooo thick. So yesterday, I made two more and thought I would take pictures as I went along. FIRST... mound up sand (we used damp sand from Laura's grandson's sandbox.) When the sand is dampened, you can shape it to fit the leaf. SECOND.... cover the sand with saran wrap so it does not stick to the leaf or cement. THIRD... fit the rhubarb leaf over the mound of sand taking care to make sure the saran wrap is under the whole leaf. Make sure all edges are laid out flat. This leaf was huge. I measured it 24" from side to side and 23" from top to bottom. Use portland cement and mix it with water, the consistancy of like brownie mix. I just put one handful at a time down on the edges first, being careful to shape and form the edges of the leaf. Make extra sure, that all holes are covered. I probably mixed 3 different small batches and just kept layering the cement. I needed to build up where those heavy thick viens were. Then when you are all done working the cement, cover it with saran wrap again. Let it sit and dry for several days. I left mine sit for 3 days. I didn't move it at all.... Then I turned it over and let it sit for 3 more days before peeling off the rhubarb leaf. I took the pressure hose to it (not full blast) and it scraped that leaf off quite well. Here is one from the first batch I did. (The others will be done in 5 more days!) I LOVE IT!!!! I hope to get some paints and paint it some pretty colors or maybe even just green. and then seal it.... I have a masonary seal that I use with my stepping stones that I will use. (Thompsons Seal for masonay work).
This fake olive tree is made of durable and premium polyester material, the base is made of a solid cement mixture. Carefully imitate the appearance of real-life plants. Green leaves and strong & smooth trunks make this faux silk plant lifelike. Textured and vivid colours make it a piece of art for decor in any space. Its trunk and leaves are inserted with soft metal wire, so you can reshape it without worrying it breaks.
Yes, I know this is a food blog but one that encompasses “all things food and drink” so I’m stretching the parameters here to embrace leaf cast birdbaths—after all, our feathery f…
I was implored to save this nasty and very old concrete porch. It would cost many $ to replace. I used an acid to clean off a hundred years of gunk. I used a di…
These days I’m visiting the Art Department of Sir Thomas Picton School in Haverfordwest and I’m learning a lot of useful techniques, ...