She sent me some seeds just recently! She'll answer a D-mail quickly. I know she's around here somewhere...
xxx, Carrie
How to make papercrete containers.
Thanks Carrie!
Has anyone else made any of these? If so, would you mind sharing your photos?! Thanks
I've read that papercrete is the same as the other stuff, hypertufa? Something like that. Except in papercrete there is newspaper for texture and the other stuff uses steel girders, or aluminum screen, or something easier to work with and less texture-full. I've been wanting to try it (papercrete) for a year and a half, but circumstances just haven't been right.
xxx, Carrie
Take a look at this, it IS the same. Lots of pictures.
http://www.efildoog-nz.com/hypertufa.htm
xxxx, Carrie
Hypertufa uses peat moss (or more recently, coir - shredded coconut husks, a renewable resource) rather than paper. Both mediums can be used with reinforcing wire or other metal choices for support and strength, especially with larger projects or pieces that will hold plants. Yuska
I dmailed TomTom a few weeks back, letting her know we wanted to see what she was up to this spring. She hadn't done a lot this season, and didn't think her posts would be "worthy!" I told her that her WORSE pics would be our greatest JOY to behold!
She said she'd look for something worthy to post, so stay tuned.
She has a thread called 'container starts' or something like that - lovely and amazing!
xxx, Carrie
Really good links, Carrie. Thanks!
I just wanted to Thank You TomTom for this thread! I gave the info to an elderly lady across the street that was going crazy from boredom.. She made several pots, and gave me quite a few, but this one is my favorite!
I also wanted to add.... I have one of the first pots she made which ended up breaking in the bottom.. so I pounded out the entire bottom and use it in my flower bed like a border.. I build up the soil and plant inside it.. no one knows it doesn't have a bottom AND the plant gets much more room for roots! It's just a ring! LOL
I don't have a picture right now, but hopefully soon.
The pot you pictured looks like the top of a man's trousers/jeans. It's neat!
Though it seems that no one posts on this thread anymore, I wanted to post my efforts at papercrete. I made these for a Main Street Festival in my hometown of Dillon, SC, but sold only one. I was attempting to sell them for 10.00 and 15.00 and didn't think that too much, but apparently everybody else did! I didn't mind too much, though, because I wanted them myself!
This was my first attempt, but I got the slurry too wet and had to keep adding cement. It turned out to be much too heavy, but it should be a sturdy one!
I haven't planted anything in them yet, but will post again when I do.
They look so much better with plants growing in them.
sos, they look great to me! I dont think the "outside world" can appreciate them without plants in them. Some people just dont have the vision. Even if you put a few coleus clippings in each one, I think you would sell them all. I still need to make a few more, but I need them to be kinda big so I have been procrastinating. Spring planting is almost done so I should get to them soon.
Great job!
chris
sos, thanks for posting your work. It looks great to me. I think I'll be doing my first ones this summer. A few of us are getting together (I think) as moral support when we try our first one. If I had a camera...I'd post hte results here!
Post any time you want to. I love to see the different ideas that people have had.
I love how rustic the containers look! The plants look so much more enhanced with the rough textured planters. I think I might give this a try soon. I'm always wanting new containers but hate paying for them:LOL: I have a bunch of mini hosta that I think would look great in some of those dark gray planters.
I love all of the photos and everyone's experience making these. It is very inspiring to those of us who haven't quite convinced ourselves to make one yet!
Thank you Tom Tom for the instructions and everyone else who has shared. This looks fun and the planters are incredible. I can't wait to try one.
Thanks Everyone for your positive comments. I'm sure you're right, Chris, that they needed to be planted with something appropriate in order to properly display, but I did slip some already potted plants into a couple of them. I really think the Main Street Festival was the wrong venue for selling pots. People didn't want to have to lug them back to their cars that were parked several blocks away.
My daughter plans to take this pot to her dentist tomorrow and hopes he will want to purchase it for his home or office. I planted it tonight with a succulent that I know only as Ghost Plant. It will grow anywhere!
Some of my midsouth friends are getting together in July for a hypertufa demo at a local Summer Celeration and we are planning to come back to my place to give it a try.
I am thinking that this papercrete technique might actually be better to try as my friends could take their pieces home with them that day. (Not such a good idea with hypertufa) Do y'all think the would survive a roadtrip back to their homes (between 1 and 2 hours)?
carol
PS I just love all your pieces. True works of art that make regular containers seem boring!
I need some help on what type of "cement" to get. There are a couple of different kinds.
Do I need to buy plain cement or the stuff that has lime in it? I see concrete mix, and the guy at HD said that mortar mix would probably work, but I want to get the right mix.
What have you used?
Wow! My daughter sold the pot to our dentist for $20.00 and he wants more! He's recently redone his home patio and thinks my pots will be a wonderful addition. I have visions of starting a little cottage industry. LOL I planted more Ghost Plants in two other pots today, but haven't taken pictures yet.
justfurkids, I'm sorry, I don't know if the papercrete would survive a trip. I covered mine with plastic and left them under my back steps for 24 hours before uncovering them and removing them from the mold. I removed as much of the newspaper as possible while they were still not fully dry. Then I wrapped them back up in the plastic for another 24 hours before washing them to remove the rest of the newspaper. Someone may know better than I as to whether or not they would survive a 1 or 2 hr. trip. I would think they could, especially if they are wrapped up good. Perhaps you might want to open them up after getting them home and check to make sure the mixture hasn't fallen in on itself. I don't think the papercrete would be so hardened in a couple of hours that you couldn't just push the walls back into place if they did fall down.
rustyswoman, I used plain cement, not mortar mix. It was from Lowe's and I think it was Sakrete. But be aware that Sakrete makes mortar mix, Quickcrete and all sorts of stuff. I think the plain cement does have lime in it. Just make sure it isn't anything but plain cement since you'll be using paper in place of rocks or whatever is in mortar.
It seems like my old memory is pulling Porter Cement out...
Carol, I like papercrete because it is lightweight. The regular hypertufa, I think I remember... is heavy.
And papercrete uses a renewable resource, paper (wood pulp) that might otherwise be sent to landfills. Hypertufa uses peat, which nature created over long periods of time and which has been dangerously overharvested. Coir (shredded coconut hulls) can be substitued but has to be ordered if not available locally and usually is provided in dry blocks that are not easy to pulverize.
Wow, Yuska, great point. I still haven't dared to make my first papercrete anything - but I still think it's a great idea. It's a question of logistical set-up - most tables DON'T reach over my wheelchair arms, or my WC arms are too high to fit under most tables. It CAN be done.. but it needs to be thought through very carefully before I'm up to my elbows in Portland cement.
xx, Carrie
purchased containers:
Carrie, what a beautiful collection.....and all my colors, too!
Thank you sos and flowerlady, now I can start!
Carrie, a couple of suggestions. Work with small objects at first. I have a pamphlet that shows making birdhouses. And for practice, why not try papier mache? An oldtime craft that uses simple materials most folks have readily at hand. Not suitable for holding water but can last a very long time. A umbrella holder made of this material sat just inside my grandmother's front door for some thirty years. Here is just one of many references to the process. http://www.papiermache.co.uk/exec/cms-gallery/p-jackie/
Yuska
Editing to add - this technique can be adapted to the making of pinatas.
This message was edited May 15, 2007 11:56 AM
Another thought or two re the work surface, Carrie. There are "lifters" available for bedframes that would maybe give a work table enough height for you. Or perhaps someone could setup enough concrete blocks for ends that would give enough height for a couple of planks or slip a plank at the appropriate levels between two opened stepladders.
FlowrLady, I went to Lowe's today and checked out the cement. You were close--it's Portland cement. Porter would have been close enough to find the right stuff.
At Lowe's I also found a plant for the first pot I made. It was such a light gray color I thought it needed something with burgundy tones. I wanted a grass, but they were all too big, so I settled for this tropical plant. Don't remember the name and the one I bought didn't have a tag. Some of you DGers might know the name...
That looks great with your pot! I've seen that plant before, and I'm sure I knew the name that day, but I don't know it now... You did good!!!
sos210_14
Your pot is fantastic. I love the way the plant compliments the pot and vice versa. And thanks for the reply on the portland cement. I'll go to Lowes
Yeah, sorry I called the cement by the wrong name. I can't ever remember the real name, but like you said, what I said is close enough for someone to find it. (I hope!!!)
Thank you also FlowrLady. It was very close and I am sure that someone at Lowes would have known what it was from Porter. I couldn't find anything close at Home Depot. Hmmm?
It's time for me to go home. Go to bed. Finally got my work done at the office and even got to play on DG's a bit
Yuska,
We got those risers once - no good, not solid enough and ugly as sin. I don't think they'd take any leaning on them or accidental banging or the way I move when I'm in my electric cruuiser, LOL. I think I'll ask my DH to whip me up something from PVC pipe. Of course he "whips" stuff up over a period of four to six months!
x,C
That plant almost looks like a Wandering Jew...
Has anyone tried molding papercrete? I'm thinking of trying it in my 1/2-sphere mold....
Gymgirl, It does look a lot like Wandering Jew, however, I went to another Lowe's today and found out that it's Moses in the Cradle. It's an annual and likes part sun/part shade. That's where I put it, except that it's going to get our hot afternoon sun. If it seems to wilt I'll have to move it when our temps get into the triple digits. Ugh! I don't look forward to those days. Fortunately they are usually relatively few and not for prolonged periods.
imapigeon: I'm quite certain it will work in a mold. I recall a thread where the poster explained how to make beautiful mirrors and frames out of papercrete.
sos,
That grows in full sun here in S. FL....it grows in full shade....take your pick.
Hap