How to make garden figures with your own hands (60 photos)

Decorating a garden, backyard, summer cottage is an endless process. All the time something is changing, removed, added. One way to decorate is to make garden figures. If you correctly place them, they transform the appearance of the site. 

Cement figurines: what are good and how to do

You can make garden figures from cement – this is one of the most used and affordable materials. It is inexpensive, allows you to create a variety of figures – from simple and small, to full-length sculptures. There are several ways to make garden figures from cement mortar: with a frame, without it, from a semi-dry mortar. More about everything further.

What to add to the solution

There are many additives in cement that improve/change its properties. There are a lot of them, but they are sold in fairly solid volumes, which may be needed only for the manufacture of garden sculptures on an industrial scale. But there are ordinary substances that also change the properties of the concrete solution.

• PVA glue – increases the frost resistance of the finished product and the plasticity of the liquid solution. It fills the form better, but “grabs” faster. Dried cement with the addition of PVA can be processed many times worse than ordinary cement. Therefore, do not miss the time while it can be molded.
• Liquid glass – reduce water permeability, the solution sets faster. But it should be added no more than 1% of the total mass of the solution.
  

• Plasticizer – an additive that increases the plasticity of semi-dry (with a small amount of water) concrete mortar. You need to add quite a bit, literally a teaspoon per bucket of solution.
•  The HYPERTUF additive will help make concrete lighter.
• Laundry detergent or dishwashing liquid – works as a plasticizer and speeds up hardening. Add 0,5-1 teaspoon per bucket of solution.
• To make the surface of the figure smoother, it can be covered with putty. But putty is needed not for walls, but for a wooden floor. After drying, it becomes very rigid, and it seizes firmly with concrete.

These are the main additives that are needed in the manufacture of garden figurines from concrete. They are easier to work with. But don’t add too much. Maximum – one teaspoon per bucket, otherwise you will only make it worse.

How to paint and some technological nuances

After the concrete figure has dried, it must be sanded to smoothness, dust removed and can be painted. In order for the paint to lay down more evenly and be spent less, you first need to cover the product with a primer layer. The primer is selected depending on the type of paint. The painting process itself is no different – usually you need brushes of different sizes. But it is worth knowing some features.

• Acrylic paints become brighter after varnishing.
• Can be painted with floor paint (enamels PF 115).
• Aerosol paints in spray cans are good – from automotive to interior. But the best option is for outdoor work. They last longer.
  

• Can be painted with facade paint. They are just designed to withstand the weather. One problem – they are sold in large packaging.
• In order for home-made garden figurines to better tolerate precipitation, after the paint has dried, they must be covered with two or three layers of varnish. The best option is yacht varnish, but it is expensive and incompatible with acrylic paints (they have a different base). Acrylic paints require a water-based varnish, but be sure to take it for outdoor use. And look at the degree of gloss. There are glossy, matte, semi-gloss.
• If molds are used to make garden figures, they must be lubricated with oil (any, even sunflower, even technical) before pouring – so that they come out easily.
  

• Sand the concrete with fine grit sandpaper before painting. In the process, not too well-kept sand is scraped off, the surface becomes smoother.
• Wool on animals can be made from an old faux fur coat soaked in liquid concrete.
• Feathers or short hair can be imitated by adding long (or not so) shavings to the solution.

There are still a lot of different technological nuances, but these are the main ones. The rest you will master or invent in the process of work.

How to make garden figures: cutting from a semi-dry mortar

It will not work to make garden figures from a fresh cement-sand mortar – it is too liquid. Even if you mix it with a minimum of water, you won’t be able to blind anything intelligible. But you can wait until the solution begins to harden, but remains still quite soft – it will crumble under pressure. In this state, it is possible to make grooves in it with a metal object, cut off the excess.

From a thick mixture, you can form an approximate shape of the intended character – put it in a piece of film, tie it, give it the desired shape. If there is a liquid solution, find a more or less suitable container or use the same film. The solution in the form is left for 8-12 hours. The time depends on how liquid the cement was initially and the temperature at which you withstand the product. The optimum temperature is around +20°C, at a lower setting time increases, and at a higher one, there is a possibility that the cement will dry and not “set”.

Periodically check the condition of the workpiece: there should be a solid mass under the fingers, and when you apply more force, the cement is slightly pressed through. In this state, you can already begin to form a sculpture. You have 7-8 hours to work. For small figurines this is more than enough, but for large figurines, you will have to hurry. To delay the drying of parts that are not yet processed, they can be wrapped with a wet rag.

Take a knife, wire, spatulas, start to cut off the excess little by little. You don’t need to be afraid, if you remove something superfluous, you can add a little solution later, correct it when it dries. In general, the technology is not too complicated, but if there are no artistic abilities, it is difficult to come up with something intelligible on your own. For such cases, there is one trick: find a small figurine from any material, looking at it, sculpt your own.

Making figurines from cement with a base or frame

The technology for manufacturing garden figurines from concrete on the basis consists in layer-by-layer application of the solution onto the frame. But this technique is required when making large figures – about 150 cm and more. Then the bearing capacity of the concrete itself may not be enough. In this case, a solid foundation is needed. In other cases, the frame or base is needed only to minimize the consumption of concrete and reduce the total weight of the product.

The frame for complex products is made (weaved or boiled) from wire, for simpler ones, improvised materials are used. A layer of mortar (thick) 1-2 cm is applied to the finished frame, it is laid with a fiberglass mesh-serpyanka, the solution is applied again, again the mesh. The process alternates until your product acquires the desired shape.

Where and how to find the foundation

The main task is to find a dish, a bottle, a box that is suitable in shape for the intended product. If the shape is complex, it can be grown or completely created from pieces of foam. It is light and cuts well. But such figures – with a foam base – do not withstand the load. If you assume that someone can sit on your products or otherwise mechanically act on them, it is better to use wooden bars or foam concrete blocks instead of foam. Foam concrete is perfectly cut with a saw on wood, it can be planed with a planer, a large knife, and grooves can be made with a sharp object. Everyone knows the principles of working with wood.

The found form is covered with a solution, wrapped with rags, tow, ropes, and then also coated with cement. If the solution layer is more than 2 cm, it is reinforced with a fiberglass mesh (a sickle mesh is used for plastering walls). If plastic is used as a base, it is very difficult to apply a solution to it – it flows down. Such products are wrapped with rags soaked in a solution. After drying, the next layer is applied very well on them.

In the dried solution, grooves are made, which indicate feathers, wool. In general, there are many tricks. Let’s give a few examples to make it clearer how to make garden figures out of concrete. Another option is to coat it with a solution into which pebbles are pressed. It creates uneven terrain.

Swans

For example, we want to make figures of swans. The basis for the body is a small rounded basin. The neck is a wire curved in the shape of the letter S. We attach the “neck” to the body in any way possible.

We put a thick solution on the basin, forming the desired bend, add polystyrene foam, pieces of rags, etc. We leave to dry. On the wire (it is better to find a thicker one, you can rebar) we wind rags soaked in the solution. We fix and leave everything for a day. During this time, the concrete will set, and on the “body” you can form wings, make grooves, draw feathers, etc. with the help of scraping.

Closely engaged in the neck and head. We put a solution on the resulting base with our hands (do not forget to wear rubber gloves), forming a neck of the desired shape and thickness. You won’t be able to “build up” a lot at once – only in thin layers. When the neck becomes more like a real one, you can begin to form feathers, outline the beak, eyes, etc. Leave the finished birds to dry for a week or more. Next – sanding, priming painting.

frog princess

In this example, we will demonstrate how garden figurines can be made from cement mortar and stones. A foam block was taken as the basis, trimmed and hewn where necessary. Top coated with a thick solution in several layers.

In the upper, still soft layer, pebbles are reinforced – small flat pebbles, glass fragments are used on the crown. After drying, the figurine is painted with acrylics and varnished twice.

Frameless technology: concrete drinking bowl

If the product is small or thin, a large load is not planned for it, you can make it without a frame. So do all sorts of bowls, plates, small sculptures. For example, a drinker for birds in the form of a leaf. It can also be a stand for flowerpots and flower pots, other figures that do not want to come into contact with the ground.

We find a large leaf – burdock, rhubarb, etc. We put the sheet in the water, from the sand on a flat surface (table) we form a gentle hill, cover it with a film.

We lay out the sheet on a hill, pressing it into the sand. We knead a thick solution – it should not drain. The composition of the solution for sculptures is 1 part cement, 3 parts fine sand, you can add a plasticizer. We spread the solution on top of the sheet, pressing it tightly. In the middle, the thickness of the layer is about 2 cm, towards the edges it becomes thinner – up to 1 cm. Shape the edges carefully. They can be trimmed, but this is not so easy to do.

In the middle we insert a segment of a plastic pipe with a diameter of about 10 cm and a length of 10-15 cm. Coat the joint with a solution, fill the pipe. Cover with plastic wrap. It protects from overheating, rain, dirt. We press the edges with stones or something heavy, but it is not necessary to achieve tightness – excess moisture should evaporate.

Keep the garden sculpture without turning over for at least 2 days. Then remove the outer film, carefully turn over, remove the sheet. If it does not go away, moisten and wait a couple of minutes. Remove debris with a brush. Wait a few more days before painting – preferably two weeks.

Before painting, sand with sandpaper, remove dust. If desired, you can cover with a primer. Its type is selected according to the type of paint. The primer is needed so that the paint lays down more evenly and so that it is less spent. When the paint dries, the product is covered with two layers of varnish. Choose a varnish for outdoor work. Better – matte or semi-matte.

Decorative figurines from polyurethane foam

Very quickly and simply, you can make garden figures from polyurethane foam. Just keep in mind, they are very light, so you need some kind of weighting agents. Plastic bottles, metal containers, cardboard boxes, etc. are suitable as a base. For thin parts – arms, legs, necks – any materials of the desired shape and size are suitable: branches, wire, wire frame, plastic pipes, metal corner, etc. and so on.

The basis for thin or strongly protruding details of the figures, can be stuck in later – after the “body” is ready. A wire, a corner, a stick, you can simply stick it into the dried foam. If soft materials are used, they can be nailed or screwed with self-tapping screws, grabbed with staples from a stapler, glued. In general, use whatever method is available.

It is better not to save on the quality of foam – choose an expensive one. It does not flow like a rising yeast dough, but increases in size, maintaining the shape specified during application. But even with expensive polyurethane foam, you should not rush. The main secret is this: apply a thin layer at a time. Then wait until it stops increasing in volume, hardens (25-40 minutes) and apply the next thin layer. Such a consistent increase in volumes is the key to success.

Advanced Technology and Tips

If in steps, then you need to make garden figures from foam like this:

• We take the base, apply the first layer of foam.
• We wait until it stops increasing in volume and hardens.
• We apply the next layer.
• And another layer.
  

  

• So until the desired volume and shape appears.
• Let dry for two days.
• We take a sharp knife, cut off the excess, giving the desired shape.
• We putty the finished product (acrylic supermastic is suitable, the composition for puttying walls), dry it.
• Level the surface (if necessary) with fine-grained sandpaper.
• We clean, prime and paint.
  

  

In general, the technology is simple and now you know how to make garden figures from polyurethane foam. But there are nuances. First. If cheap foam was bought and it began to spread, you must wait until it begins to harden, moisten your hands with water and form what you need from it. It is important to catch the moment when the foam is no longer very sticky, but has not yet completely frozen.

Second. If a part of the figure fell off in the process, it can be fixed by dropping foam on the joint, sticking a piece of wire – for greater strength – to connect the parts. Cover the seam with mastic, putty.

Third. When the putty dries, cracks form on the surface of the figurine. Covering them with putty again brings almost no result. The cracks reappear. To avoid them, we take a bandage, wrap the figurine smeared with putty, apply another layer on top, level it.

Fourth. If using a spatula it was not possible to obtain a perfectly flat surface, but you need it, then when the putty dries, you can smooth it with your hands. Moisten hands with water if necessary.

Photo of homemade garden figures and sculptures