Shapecrete Flower Pot

I wanted to make a colored molded item using ShapeCrete and paint to explore different possibilities for projects. Knowing a little about concrete, I was aware that paint may decrease the hardiness of the finished project but I was interested if I could allay that by making the item a bit thicker than your average flowerpot. Well here is how it went.

For this project, I used items at hand, such as a chinese food takeout dish, a paint cut, a top from a 20 oz soda, and of course, the ShapeCrete. So while the picture may not illustrate clearly, what we have is a chinese food dish, then the lid from the 20oz set right side up and more-or-less centered in the dish, then the paint cup centered over that. Holding the stack in place, I put in the premixed concrete. Using some discarded pieces from other attempted projects to weigh down the cup, I left it to dry for the requisite 24 hours.

The mold released fairly easily. When your mold is plastic, you can just flex it a bit and slowly the item will come free. I used an ice pick and a hammer to free the soda lid. Unfortunately, some cracks developed during this step. I chalk it up to a bit of chaos in my design though. Looking at it, I think it will go quite well in a broken pot garden.