How to Casting Cement Bonsai Pot

For plant and bonsai hobbyists, often requires a lot of pot supplies. making your own pot with the desired design is sure to be an additional hobby with its own satisfaction.

Cement pots are one of the pot options that are often used by hobbyists of makeup plants and the process of making pots from cement is very easy and fun.

Follow these steps to start a new hobby that is continuous with your main hobby or to start a new hobby altogether

- Plastic pot - as a mold, you free to choose any pot design according to your interest and the type and size of your plant. cut out the bottom part of the pot for ease of removing from the cement pot later on and stick it back together with sticky tape during the casting process.

- Cement and sand - you need to adjust the quantity of the cement and sand according to the pot size that you going to cast. the mixture ratio will be 3:1 (3 part sand and 1 part cement). You will also need a pure cement mixture (add water only) without sand for the thin outer layer of the pot prior to the casting process.

- Paintbrush - for applying the outer thin layer of cement

- Cement spatula

- large tile or anything that similar as a base during the casting proses

Apply a thin layer of wet cement onto the inner surface of the plastic pot. make sure that the cement is not too liquid or too thick, just enough to stick and cover the whole surface.

Once all inner surface has completely covered by the thin layer of cement, immediately applying the thicker cement onto the same inner surface to form the pot's wall.

Please consider the thickness of the wall by considering the size of the finished pot, the rule of thumb for this is the bigger the pot the thicker the wall should be. the average thickness should be between 1-3cm for the average size pot.

Make sure the cement is applied evenly with no air pocket formed that will create a hollow that will jeopardize the strength of the pot.

Don't forget to poke a hole at the center base of the pot for water flow. you can use anything like a piece of wood or polystyrene as long it will not stick to the cement for ease of removing it when the cement has dried.

Once done with the cement process, leave the pot dry for at least 1/24 hours under the sun.

Once dried, remove the plastic mold from both the surrounding wall and the bottom part.

You can paint it with your favorite color if you like. and you are done.