Garden Sink
My first attempt at playing with concrete last summer. This "gardener's sink" will find a home outside as soon as find the appropriate old tree root to use as a pedestal.
It is made by inverting a large plastic bowl on a scrap piece of plywood covered in plastic. Cover the bowl with wild rhubarb leaves vein side up (or other large-leaf deep veined plant). Coat the leaves with vegetable cooking spray or WD40 as a release agent. Cover the leaves with a mixture of portland cement, sand and water. Unmold when cured. Paint and/or coat with concrete driveway sealer. This bowl was painted with acrylics and sealed. For a larger picture go here:
http://groups.msn.com/SmashingGlassMosaics/concrete.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=23
B. Fetterly
posted by Okanagan Valley Garden @ 2:13 PM
3 comments
The 
3 Comments:
Perfect Bobbi! Artefacts and collectables make such a difference in a garden. It is a joy to wander around spotting them. One of my friends has a gorgeous little goddess statue sitting on a log in her garden. Recently they opened their garden for a week and Pam Irving showed off some of her 'Larry Dogs'. It was fun finding these characters lucking within the plants.
Bobbi that is so beautiful!
I wonder if domestic rhubarb leaves would work? I just have to throw them aside and let them turn to compost maybe I could try to make a bowl. It is weird that there is a live green leave in the middle of all of that stuff. Sure is pretty, wonder if it is ok for the envirement? How long do they last?
I sure am curious. Tren
Hi Tren,
Oops, I may not have explained properly. You use the leaves fresh to line the top of the bowl with (they are removed after the cement hardens). The leaves are just used to make the lovely impressions in the concrete.
Another really pretty thing to do is to place some leaves on slightly mounded sand or dirt (vein side up) and cover the leaf with cement. Flip the cement leaf over when dried and peel or scrap off the leaf and you are left with a nice impression. You could add them to the side of a birdbath that you have made (using a child's snow saucer for a mold is perfect). Make several leaves for decorations around the garden or incorporate them into a spillway for a small waterfall.
Once I got over the mindset I had that concrete was just for building houses and offices a whole new play world opened up.
If you want to add plant material to cement you can do hybrid-tufa or "tufa". You add sifted peat moss to your mix. You can also make papercrete (adding paper pulp from your junk mail). If you are interested I can find you some links.
Cheers,
Bobbi
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