A Few Concrete Projects I Did

Below are some of my concrete projects completed during 2019 and 2020.

Square planter

planter
saucer
plants added

Round planter

molding with boba cups
planter and saucer

Outdoor planter

planter with reinforced edges

Organizing tray

organizing tray molded from a Pixel phone box

Stepping stones

about 1/3 of the stones were made of concrete, and the rest are natural stones

Process of making a natural looking concrete stepping stone:

Get an idea of the shape you want to create.
Mark the shape on a translucent plastic film.
Put the film onto a flat surface, and enclose the marked area with materials such as scrap wood, foam, landscape edging (good for curves), etc.
Pour the concrete to 2 inches in thickness or more.
Add rebar to avoid cracking.
Smoothen the surface.
After letting the concrete settle for a while, smoothen the edges and carve out some imperfections to make it look natural.
Final product

More tips for making natural looking stepping stones:

  • The shape of the stone needs to be irregular to mimic the natural ones. No circle, square, rectangle, etc.
  • add some dyes (such as Quikrete Liquid Cement Color) to the mix so that the color of each piece is slightly different. Natural stones never look the same in their colors.
  • Use the traditional Portland cement instead of the CSA cement. CSA cement is more suitable for making planters for it’s extra strength.
  • Don’t smoothen or carve the concrete when it’s too soft. processing it too early will round the edges too much.

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