Yesterday I had time so I decided to paint our papercrete flowerpots. We have made them last year and now they look a bit old. Also, I wanted them to look like other pots and to fit nicely on our blue metal stairs for pots.
Papercrete pots are a really easy way to make your own pots that don’t cost much, look like they were really expensive and they are great for plants.
When I’ve made them I’ve used this recipe:
Papercrete pots are a really easy way to make your own pots that don’t cost much, look like they were really expensive and they are great for plants.
When I’ve made them I’ve used this recipe:
– Tear newspapers or any kind of old papers into small pieces
– Leave them soaking in a bucket of water overnight
– The next day mix the papers. Mixed papers should look like oatmeal. I’ve used my dad’s drill with a tool to mix.
Place the papers in a food drainer or something with holes to get water out and leave for at least 12 hours.
– To get papercrete mass take a cup or pot to measure how much paper you have. The amount of papers should be equal to the amount of cement you’ll place inside the mixing pot. (If you have 6 cups of paper mass then you need 6 cups of cement)
– Mix the mass and then take the pot you want for your model. You can do your pot by modeling papercrete inside your pot or outside. The only difference will be that one will be smaller and the other will be bigger.
– Before you start making your pot cover your modeling pot with oil or pig fat, that way you’ll be able to get the model pot off easier. Make little holes on the bottom for the water 🙂 or don’t if you plan to plant something that likes water
– When you finish your pot leave it to dry for at least 24 hours. You’ll see if it is too wet(it should be dry like real concrete) then leave it extra 12 hours. Or till it dries.
– When it’s dry remove the model pot and then sand off sharp edges
– That is it. You can paint them if you want or leave them like as is
Before I’ve painted them they looked like this:
And like every time Nero decided he should help me paint them 🙂
For painting, I’ve used dark red concrete paint. It’s easy to use. You only need to add water to it. Also, you can wash it down with water before it dries, so it’s great if you get it all over your hands.
Also, I’ve used blue metal paint that I’ve found between our paint cans
All I did was paint them in red and then add a blue stripe on every pot. This is how they look when they were finished.
And I think they fit pretty well on the metal stairway.
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