There are so many broken pots lying around in my garden, I use them to prop up other plants that need a bit more sunshine or even attention. However, I had this need for more planters for the new plants I had collected on my trip. I could have cut up and used some soda bottles, but I suddenly thought why not mend these pots and use them. Why waste a planter that could be fixed. Throwing plastic around is never a good idea.
I had no clue what to do with it when I looked at this planter. I had a pencil cactus growing in it; the roots of which had grown so strong and broken the planter rather badly. I didn't think I could do anything with it and threw it in the corner and that is where I found it.
Why not use cloth to bind it I thought at first, but that would slip away in time. Then I decided to use the same cloth to design some thing that makes the pot look new. This was the first time I did something like this, I had no clue what the out come would be.
I mixed some putty (tile fixing paste) with wood glue and water dipped a piece of a T shirt in it and tried my hand at designing what I thought would be a rose. It was then I realized that the fabric was too thick to work with. The paste made the material even more harder to work with on the small surface of the planter.
What next? I cut the cloth up into tiny bits and made it stretch over the cracked portion. My design was large and not so delicate like I had imagined initially. I decided to go ahead and learn from my mistakes. With absolutely no design in mind and with just the need to cover the broken area and bind the pot up together I went ahead and tried to fix the cloth in place.
The fabric kept falling off and wouldn't adhere properly to the surface. I had to hold it firmly until it was fixed before I could fix the next piece. The mixture I used for fixing the fabric was slowly thickening up and I had to work fast.
Finally, I came up with a design as I went along. It looked huge and ugly after it dried. It didn't really matter, I learned from my mistakes that day. I understood that needed a lighter material to work with if I wanted to design something delicate. This thick material would do well for making cement covered fabric pots.
I spray painted the planter in black paint. Now it looked much better. I decided to leave it as it is, but then it needed some color. So I took out my bronze, copper and other metallic powders and let my finger play around. I messed up the black surface, but that was okay too. I had fun playing around mixing and blending colors. However, since it was metallic dust it didn't adhere well to the surface. I sprayed another layer of clear varnish and it took down more of the metallic colors, I just let it be as it be as it was.
I kind of liked the rugged look of the planter. Now, I had one planter ready to plant flowers. I took some other containers that had developed cracks or were too flimsy and tried decorating them with other kinds of fabric.
I could have wrapped a nice looking fabric around the container and sprayed it with clear varnish and be done with it, but I decided to play around and learn more about fabric art. Each fabric was an experience in itself. The cheese cloth I realized was the easiest to mold on any surface. I could roll it up to give a rope like feel or just spread it to give some texture. The baby wipes were not really good even though they are quite thin. These were some of the things I learned from playing around.
Then, I used the left over paste to create designs with a knife on the planters. Later, I had them painted with acrylic colors and gave them a clear coat of varnish to make the paint last longer. I have different ideas in my head now which I need to try out soon.
Thanks for hanging out with me thus far, I appreciate your time and support. Have a great weekend.