Hello all, With the summer heat easing it's time to get back into perfecting my corner of the universe. I was trolling the oracle / internet and came across a project I had to try. It seemed too easy and too fabby not to give it a try. It was a small garden stool made of concrete. Recently I have become obsessed with cement - the versatility, the ease of mix and go, the rough texture, muted colour and the low cost factor. My love of a good bargain is second only to my love of FREE :)
So... I gave it a go. I purchased a small $2 bag of quickcrete and dragged it home ripped it open and began the process right in my kitchen. I have no restraint once on the project trail... oh well, I guess there are worse vices! I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket from my basement and a dowel (2 old broom handles would work just fine) and took them into the kitchen. I had to cut the dowels into (4) 18 inch pieces -- they would soon be the legs. I cut the bucket down to 9 inches high, this allows the legs to splay out a bit and not stand straight up. Cutting the bucket was the hardest part, I used an old carpet knife.
Next I took out my measuring cup and put 4 cups of water in the measuring cup-- it just looked like the right amount. Little by little I added the water to the cement and mixed it like cake batter -- started with a well in the centre and worked to the outside. A bit of a joke that because I haven't baked a cake in many many a year! But I knew not to over water and to fixate on a thick heavy mixture, like if peanut butter were cake mixture! Once it looked right I gripped the bucket and banged the entire thing on the counter a few times to smooth it out and get rid of the air bubbles.
Next I determined which ends of the dowels were the best, the factory cut ones, not mine :) I marked them, they would be the bit on the floor. Next I measured 1 1/2 inches on each stick. I wanted all four to be in the mix evenly. then I stuck them in, not too close to the edge so as to show through. I prayed they were perfectly placed :) You could measure - set up a quadrant etc etc but who does that??? Finally I left it on the counter to cure / dry overnight.
HERE is the most important bit. When cleaning up DO NOT wash your stuff in the sink- kitchen or otherwise. Liquid concrete dries hard, even under water! Think many, many dollars in ruined piping :( Don't even wash your hands in the sink, use another bucket and discard the sluice / juice safely.
Up at the crack o' dawn, I dashed to the kitchen to check it out. It had hardened nicely. Getting it out of the bucket wasn't too hard but it didn't slip out either! I tapped it with my rubber mallet right the way around and tugged at the legs. It came out - the bucket cracked a bit - but hey! my stool was perfectly imperfect! A few areas where the concrete didn't stick but round, smooth and grey!
I flipped it over and quickly sat on it - don't do this! Why? The concrete isn't really dry and it could crack -- mine didn't. It wobbled a bit, but I was undeterred, not taking it as a weigh thing. I found some old black rubber feet I had purchased for something else and put them on the bottom. On the shorter one (because alas it wasn't even!) I added some filler to make up the difference and Voila!!!
When showing it off to a friend she suggested stripes on the legs. Yes I thought-- STRIPES! Think hamburgler, think candycanes! But then I realised that that bit of decor should have happened before the legs were attached - save that for stool number 2! 'm now thinking mosaic! I fixed my thoughts on filling containers of all shapes - this was just the beginning -- yay a new obsession!!!
Anyway here it is. My perfectly imperfect stool!
Tool Diva
