{Shanghai ~ June 30, 2016}

You have to start somewhere!

As quite often, I was browsing through Instagram and Pinterest and got inspired by all the amazing DIY projects with cement.
Beautiful bowls, gold and silver painted from the inside. Vases, coasters and small magnets out of cement, in clean geometrical shapes. Absolutely inspiring.

Why not starting my own cement project? Too often I find myself clicking, liking, re-pinning and thinking “nice – I can do that too” – but then I never do anything.
So let’s get started!

Full of ideas, inspired by all the DIY posts, and full of energy, I had to admit, little did I know about the difference between “cement” and “concrete”, and what to use for my project. A few Google clicks later and a bit smarter I knew what to do!

A lot of DIY projects are made out of concrete mix that you can get in most of the creative markets. Cement mix sounds anyway easier – so I jumped on my scooter and drove down to Fuzhou Lu where all the painter, canvas, creative art supply shops are. But no cement mix for my DIY project.
I finally went to one of the places where all the supply for construction sites are sold – big projects like high-rise buildings. Not small little DIY projects…But I got what I wanted: a bag of cement.

My first cement project idea was “cement magnets”.
On one of my trips to New Zealand I bought a Kiwi-bird chocolate/ice cube mold that I never used and I thought about making cute little Kiwi-magnets.

THE PREP WORK & CEMENT MIXING

First, I rubbed the mold with cooking oil. It’s later easier to remove the cement mold.

Then mix the cement with sand [the recommended ratio is 1:2 means: 1 part cement and 2 parts sand] and add water until it is almost like dough for pancakes without any lumps.

I didn’t have any fine sand so I mixed the cement without adding sand…. It also worked but I think the structure is nicer with sand.

Now fill the molds and slightly shake and tap it so that you get rid of the air bubbles and the mix gets into all the little corners.

KIWIs FILLED WITH CEMENT


KIWIs FILLED WITH CEMENT

KIWI FILLED WITH CEMENT


KIWI FILLED WITH CEMENT

CEMENT HEART


CEMENT HEART

I waited for about 1 hour before I placed the magnet into the cement mix.

KIWI FILLED WITH CEMENT & MAGNET


KIWI FILLED WITH CEMENT & MAGNET

WAIT ~ WAIT ~ WAIT

Now we all have to be patient and wait for more than 24 hours before removing the cement mold. DON’T TOUCH IT!

Obviously, I wasn’t so patient. I moved the Kiwi mold around while it was still in the drying process and because the silicon mold is very soft I basically screwed up the whole thing….lessons learnt.

After ~24 hours I released the cement Kiwi from its mold. Unfortunately with broken legs and beak 🙁

LITTLE KIWI ~ SLIGHTLY INJURED


LITTLE KIWI ~ SLIGHTLY INJURED

Luckily the heart was not broken! It just needs a bit of rework with sandpaper and maybe clear coat.

HEART OF CEMENT


HEART OF CEMENT

HEART OF CEMENT


HEART OF CEMENT

LESSONS LEARNT

Clearly my first cement project was not successful. But it was a good practice. And there are a few things that should I should consider for the next project:

mix cement with sand & don’t touch the mold [maybe the Kiwi is a bit too filigree]

Oh well, at least it was FUN! And I guess that’s for me the whole point of doing it.
Let’s see how the next cement project goes.

I’ll keep you posted!

cheers a*