DIY Cement Leaf Cast

 This is my first cement leaf cast! It is beautiful in my garden!

 

This is the one my mom painted green for her garden!

We moved into our new home this past May, and I discovered a small leaf made out of quikcrete. I didn't know what to do with it, but thought it was cute. So I gave it to my mom to put in her flower  garden. She then decided to paint it green, and it looked so pretty! 

I loved it, so I decided to make my own. Except that I wanted to make mine into a bird bath. (We have the PERFECT bird watching windows, and I just knew our cats would love to sit and watch). As a wedding gift my mom's boss gave us three large pots filled with succulents, purple peonies and elephant ears. The elephant ears are extremely cool, so I decided to try to make the cement bird bath cast from one of the larger leaves. 

Materials Needed:
1 bag of cement (concrete is too rocky)
water
1 bag of sand or a bag filled with potting soil    
spray paint, paint or concrete dye (optional)

Tools:
bucket for mixing the cement
sturdy stick for mixing
paintbrush (if you are painting the cement once it is dry)
,
Instructions:
1.Find a leaf. Use a sturdy leaf like a rhubarb, hosta, caladium, castor bean, zucchini or my personal favorite an elephant ear 

2. Make a dome shaped pile of sand on a hard surface . The pile of sand needs to be a couple inches larger then your chosen leaf.

3.Place the leaf face down on the pile of sand. After placing the leaf you might need to adjust the sand pile to make sure that the leaf is fully supported.

4. Then put the cement in the center of the leaf and work it towards the outer edges of the leaf. Cover the entire leaf so that the concrete is about one inch thick in the center and gradually taper down to approximately 1/4 inch along the edges. Or you can keep the same thickness throughout your leaf.

5. Let the cement dry. Depending on the humidity levels this should take just a couple of days. 

6. Peel off the leaf. Most of the leaf will pull off easily, but you might have to use a scrub brush to remove pieces that you can't get off.

7. Paint your leaf any color you desire.

8. You can use a thin coat of concrete sealer before filling it with water for the birds if you wish.








My finished bird bath is below! To make the stand I bought a cement vase from a second hand store and spray painted it to match my leaf :) I then used Gorilla Glue to secure the leaf to the vase.