As I shared when I wrote about my diamond cement push pins last week, I have been wanting to play with cement for a long time.  However, I was also pretty nervous as it seemed much more hardcore than most of the crafts that I do (which mostly involve gluing stuff or looping yarn around stuff).

So I was excited to find this mold (affiliate link – read our policies) which I could use for a pretty easy and entry-level project.  The mold is actually intended to make shot glasses out of ice, but I thought could be used to make a set of cute little cement bud vases.

Cement is actually pretty toxic and dangerous! Breathing it in is harmful, the dust can irritate your eyes, and prolonged contact with the wet cement mix can burn your skin.

To be extra safe, I wore a respirator, goggles, and nitrile gloves.

Those are exactly the sort of pictures of me I want floating around the internet, by the way.

As I did with the push pins, I used Quikrete Hydraulic Water-Stop Cement for this project, which is great for impatient people and craft projects because it dries very quickly. This is more expensive than regular cement sand, but at about $8 for 10 lbs it is still cheap enough not to matter to me. When I start mass producing this stuff and selling it at an insanely high profit margin I’ll go for the cheap stuff and deal with the extra drying time.

With cement, the set-up and clean-up are totally the hardest part, and actually doing the project was very easy. I just mixed up the cement in small batches, making it slightly more liquid-y than the package called for so it would be easier to fill the molds.

I carefully poured it into the molds, jiggling the sides to help it fill in and break up air bubble.

Since these would be sitting flat eventually, I used an old paint stirrer to smooth the top into a pseudo-flat surface.

I made four, and then let them sit for about an hour (because it was fast-drying cement) before popping them out of the molds to check them out.

Awesome! This was the fun part. It is so fun to see the strange cement gunk turn into a real object.

Don’t they look cool?  To think, they were just strange (and slightly toxic) dust just hours before.

I decided to make three of them into a set of vases.  I let them sit in my scary garage for a couple days to be sure that they were absolutely dry, and then brought them upstairs to paint.

To complement the modern shape, I decided to paint three stripes of varying heights on each.  I started by taping off the first two stripes (one along the bottom, and one a tape-width up), and then carefully filling these in with white craft paint.

I had some trouble getting the tape to form a tight seal on the cement, so I painted with a downward motion to avoid leakage under the edge.  The stripes came out nice and sharp.

Next, I taped off a third stripe on each, in the middle of the two white stripes.

I then filled these in with black, yellow, and turquoise (channeling Sage).  After the paint had dried, I coated them with a cement sealer to protect the craft paint and avoid water leaking into the cement.

…and of course I had to go get flowers to celebrate my amazing new bud vases!

I love the way the stripes turned out!  They’re fresh against the dark and dingy cement.

Working with shot glasses, I was worried that the flower arrangements wouldn’t feel substantial.  But I was able to fit a lot in there.

These are just the right size to brighten up any space.  Filling these only used about 1/3 of a small bouquet from the grocery store, but they can have a big impact.  The cement base makes them feel more substantial, too.

I had a ton of fun with this easy project, and am definitely more comfortable working with cement now.  I can’t wait to take on more ambitious projects!

(Sharing at Link Party Palooza, Tip Me Tuesday, Two Uses Tuesday, One Project at a Time, Think and Make Thursday, AKA Design, Remodelaholic,  That DIY Party, Your Turn to Shine Link Party, Friday Favorites,  Totally Terrific Tuesday, Create Link Inspire, Inspire me Wednesday, Pin Worthy Wednesday,  Create It Thursday, Pin Junkie Pin Party, and Thrifty Decor Chick – And Featured at Tatertots and Jello)

Now that I have totally freaked you out by showing you the horrible, terrifying pictures of my garage, I thought I would pop back in to share a sweet little craft project to assure you that there is still beauty in the world.  However, like most good projects, this one will also get ugly before it gets pretty.

I’ve been wanting to experiment with cement for a long time, and this weekend I finally got to try it out.  Since I was a total novice, I thought I would start out easy and use some silicone ice cube trays which are very easy to work with.

I originally picked up this diamond mold from Amazon (affiliate link – read our policies) thinking that the diamond shapes would make cool magnets or pendants, but when it arrived it was smaller than I expected.  Even better!  I had been wanting some decorative push pins, and I figured that the smallest size on the mold would be perfect for this.

I chose Quikrete Hydraulic Water-Stop Cement.  It cost more than regular cement (this 10 lb container was about $8, while I could get 60 lb bags of cement sand for less than that).  However, it dries very quickly – like in 5-10 minutes – and so is perfect for impatient people.  Also, I just had some small projects in mind; what would I do with 60 lbs of cement?

Regardless, this project could work just as well with normal cement, you just need to let it dry longer.

I also learned that cement is not the safest material to work with.  You shouldn’t inhale the dust or let it get into your eyes, and prolonged contact with the wet mix can burn your skin badly.  To be safe, I used nitrile rubber gloves, goggles, and a respirator.

I looked really cool and the neighbors love me.

This project really could not be easier.  First, I mixed the cement in a small cup.

I made it just a little wetter than the package directions so it would be easier to fill the molds.  Wetter mixes are less strong, but I didn’t need maximum strength for this project.

I then filled a mold with cement using a plastic spoon, pushed a basic push pin down into the mix, and cleared off the edges as well as I could using the spoon.

Since my cement starts to harden so fast I did them one at a time, but with standard cement it would be easier to fill all the molds at once.

Oh, that looks gross, but it really isn’t.

I made a set of six pins.  However, I would recommend making a few more than you want for your final set, since there will be occasional bubbles that get trapped that will ruin the shape.  To minimize this, tap the mold gently onto the table top to help the mix settle fully into the molds.

I let the pins dry for about an hour (because it is quick drying cement) and then popped out the pins.  I then let them sit for a few days to dry fully, just in case.

I think the shape and proportions are quite sweet!  I do like the bare cement look, but since this was my first cement project I wanted to see how they’d look with some color.  I painted just a couple sides of four of my six pins with white, yellow, or red craft paint to help define the angles.

I then coated each of the pins with polycrylic.  I figured that this would help minimize oil transfer from hands (you know, from very frequent re-arranging of inspirational cork boards) and also sharpen the tone of the concrete.  The difference is pretty subtle, but it does darken the finish and add a bit of shine.

I let them dry, and it was all done!  Seriously, this project is EASY.

I’m really pleased at how they turned out, and am already regretting not making many more.  I immediately pulled together an inspirational cork board to celebrate.

…I mean, of course I have an inspirational cork board in every room.  THIS IS A BLOG AFTER ALL.

But back to the cement push pins.  The size is really nice, as they are not distracting or impractical, but are substantial and add some interest.

These would make great gifts: they hit that sweet spot of being both useful and superfluous.  I could see giving them to co-workers…  they are office supplies!

I’m quite relieved that my first attempt at a project with a cement wasn’t a disaster.  It is seriously fun to work with!  I tried out a few more things that day (which I can’t wait to share!) and I’m sure I’ll be doing more in the future.

 

(Sharing at  Think and Make Thursday, Tip Me Tuesday, One Project at a Time, AKA Design, Link Party Palooza, and Remodelaholic)