I decided to try my hand at making some training pots for some of bonsai trees and recently heard of papercrete which is a mixture of cement and paper. The first mixture I made was not as successful as I would have liked because I did a mix of 60% paper, 20% cement and 20% sand. The pot turned out a little crumbly so I decided to change the mix to 50% cement and 50% paper.
I got some newspapers and ripped them up and put them in a bowl with some hot water. Left it to soak for 24 hours and then stirred and beat the mixture with a carving fork until it resembled pulp.
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| Paper mixed with water |
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I then took equal portions of the pulp and cement and beat this with the fork until it looked like this:-
Then I put it into this:-
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| Microwave bowl |
I added a rectangular piece of styrofoam to the middle of the pot which enabled me to form the legs of the pot. I pressed the mix down into the corners and bottom of the pot first and then built up the sides.
After a couple of days it was ready to be turned out and left to dry. I then sanded the edges smooth and sealed with concrete sealant and when that was dry painted it with a stone paint. This is the finished pot:-
I put a little fuchsia cutting in the pot basically just to see what it looks like. It is a very cheap way of getting a bonsai shaped pot.
Pot No. 2
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| Another pot |
