So here's the second day of Concrete Week and submission #3 to the Panduro Concrete Challenge. Yesterday was about the outdoors but I wanted to make something for inside too.
I prefer making stuff that has a use and a purpose rather than just being decorative and I really needed a bookend. Here it is! B goes three ways. B for Benita, B for books and B for böcker (that's books in Swedish).
My bookend started it's life out as a Ferrero Rocher container. I know, too yummy. The MDF letter B came in a craft swap about a year ago.
When filling concrete into a hard container like this plastic one it's advised to coat the inside with some vegetable oil. I ended up breaking the container to get my bookend out but I think it would have been even harder without the oil.
So again after filling the two sides of the container with the concrete mix and with the B placed at the bottom of the lid I left it for 24 hours in the garage (don't leave it outside in the sun, it'll dry too quickly and won't cure well). Broke the mold, got the bookend out (had to do a bit of scraping to get the letter to emerge as some concrete had seeped in under) and sprayed with water several times over the next day.
I ended up painting the B white and added felt dots underneath so my bookend won't scratch the shelf it sits on.
And there you have it. I'm really pleased as this was something I truly needed.
Oh, if you are wondering about the air bubbles, I don't mind them. I think they add character. As a matter of fact over the weekend I noticed that the items I made in closed containers had more air bubbles and the ones I made in open containers had way less. The reason is pretty obvious though. You can tap out the air bubbles from the open containers but not so much the closed. But like I said I don't mind them.
Have you ever tried concrete crafts? You should. It's pretty messy but real fun.
62 Comments
Benita you really are very imaginative and very clever. LOOVE IT! Will you be selling in your shop?
Kram Julie x
If anyone wanted to pay a gazillion $$$ for shipping I’d add start selling :)This baby is h.e.a.v.y!
Isn’t the bookend really heavy?
I want to do some concrete crafts soon and I’m slightly worried about the weight of them all.
It IS heavy. But that’s what you want in a bookend 🙂 If you make large thick pieces they will weigh quite a lot but you can make thinner things too. Concrete is really versatile!
Oh I totally agree. Just having visions of the shelf collapsing from the weight. 😉
Want to do a coffee table and source some broken glass / glass pebbles.
Nice! More “Ferrero-pyssel”.
Love-love-love this idea!!
Wonderful idea, and beautiful product: You rock!
Kjempegod idé! Veldig inspirerende å lese bloggen din! Skal definitivt prøve betong snart!:o)
Just love it!!!
Great idea… Love it! So simple, unique – and it would fit into by book self!
These are great projects, Benita – I especially like the bookend one. I have a really stupid question that I hope I don’t embarass myself with here, but I’m going to go ahead and ask it as you’re a very nice lady: you said to fill each part of the Ferrero Rocher box – but how do you do this, and still get the box to close? I’d be worried that when I tried to snap the parts of the box together to close them, the concrete would drip out, or else, I’d have to fill them about 4/5 full, then accept that there’d be some room left in the carton that might create a huge air bubble…Am I explaining myself very well? Probably not. I’m sure you can explain much better!:)
The bookend it so cool! I really want to try that one.
That bookend is just genius, and I love the simplicity of it, it´s very “you”. I would love one (or two) myself as my only have thin, old metal ones (read: ugly) to hold my books. You´re so clever, Benita!
Happy and sunny thoughts from Finland!
Yours,
Mia
That was a little tricky I have to admit. I filled the lid all thte way but left a little space in the bottom part and quickly turned one onto the other. Again it helps if you keep the concrete kind of wet because them you can wiggle out any excess as your pressing the two parts together. I also slid a knife between the layers a couple of times to remove a little bit. I didn’t get it perfect, there is a little groove along the closing line but concrete is kind of forgiving, it doesn’t really matter 🙂
This is a fantastic project! Next on our house renovation plan is our Study/Library… I’ve give much thought to the shelving but forgot the all important bookends! Can’t wait to give this a try. Thank you!
Have a lovely day,
Laura
http://www.currykaydesgins.etsy.com
And coincidentially, I received a subscription offer for ‘the concrete magazine’ at work today: http://www.concrete.org.uk/products/magazine_subscribe.asp
Perhaps you’re interested?!
😀
I quite like the bubbles, actually I was just going to ask how we could get even more bubbly bookends, bigger bubbles for example?!
I like your bookend.
I recently made some concrete bricks with my children. We used a kit from Michael’s. The mold was a plastic rectangular frame into which I poured concrete. Next, we used plastic letters to stamp their names into the bricks. Then my kids added shells and colored glass for decoration. After letting it set for a few minutes, I carefully removed the mold and the stamping letters. It dried for 24 hours and then we had a personalized bricks for the garden.
I guess you could stir right pouring and then let sit quietly.
Cute!
Ummm, let’s call me interested in concrete but not quite that obsessed. Yet. 🙂
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Miracle. Girl.
I really love this idea!! It’s so industrial looking, yet cute!! I’m trying it for sure!
I love the tip about drying in the sun vs. drying inside. And I like the bubbles too. Thanks for sharing!
All of your concrete projects have been beautiful in their simplicity! [And how often does one use beautiful and concrete in the same sentence?! :D] Thanks for sharing your steps and tips on using concrete! -Michelle
Lovely bookend 🙂
But, isn’t it a bit too heavy for the bookcase? Some bookcases even get “sadlebacks” after being filled with only books.
But if one is afraid of that, maybe you could have a plastic container inside the bookend, or just make it hollow inside some other way.
It’s heavy but not THAT heavy. It weighs 1.5 kilos /3.3 lb. The whole point of a bookend is to keep the books from falling over…
I like concrete, heck, my home is made of concrete. You get pretty attached to concrete when you live in a place where your whole house could be lifted off the ground by a hurricane if built with the wrong materials. This is a project I really dig. Great job!
I have a question, because I sometimes do things with plaster (similar process), did you consider taping the two parts of the mold together and making a hole at the top to pour the concrete through? I am not really sure how you got both pieces together. I think I missed, or misunderstood that part.
I didn’t consider that option actually but it would probably have worked too. I answered the assembly question a bit further up when kellee asked the same thing.
“I ended up painting the B white and added felt dots underneath so my bookend won’t scratch the shelf it sits on.”
When i read this.. i just feel it is so Benita… Cute Project… i want to become copy cat.
I’ve never made anything with concrete before, but am loving the look of this bookend. I’m pretty sure I have the same chipboard letter as you used (in P instead of B) that would work great. And who doesn’t have Ferrero Rocher containers?! Thanks for the idea!
So clever, you are!
So sweet! I have a lot of concrete left from various yard projects…I’m going to make a couple of those for my friends who just moved in together. They’re not married but their names both start with “H” so it works out perfectly!
Oh, and of course I will make some for my husband and I, too.
I love all of these concrete projects!!! especially the book ends… so original!!!
Oh! I just love this. It is so unique.
This is fantastic! I’m buying me some concrete..
Yes, that totally makes sense – it turned out great so if I try it (I sure would love a set of bookends like yours!) I’ll take your advice! Thanks for explaining it so well! 🙂
Ah, quick hands! Ok, I read the comment the first time and it was still a bit confusing, a second reading fixed that.
i didn’t know concrete could look so cute!
Really neat!
I never thought about crafting with …concrete but now I can’t wait to sty it. Thanks so much!
I dont get it – did you let the 2 containers with concrete dry before you put them together? Dindt it fall out when you put them together to one?
Understand what I mean?
Check out my answer to kellee further up 🙂
oh wow~!!! impressive! I’m definitely going to try this! thank you for all the inspiration!
Åh, det där måste jag testa! Ett annat tips är att fylla en gammal sköljmedelsflaska.
Kram på dig!
I read through this diy idea this summer and wanted to make my own. Just today I almost got my hands on a Ferrero Rocher container, but alas it was too large a shape compared to the one you found. To remind myself, I tagged this project on my blog. I hope you don’t mind….
I love your inspiring ideas!
I love thi one.. have to try my self!!
I’ve put together a round up of monogram and letter projects on Craft Gossip today and included your project. 🙂 You can see it here
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/6-monogram-and-letter-projects/
If you would like to share the Craft Gossip love and show your visitors you’ve been featured, you can grab a button here!
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/
This is fantastic, I seriously cannot wait to do this. Thanks for letting me reblog!
“B” for bookend!
Very nice!! The bubbles look great. Is this just water and concrete or did you add sand (and in which proportions)? By the way, you can make this block lighter if you just put a block of polystyrene “floating” inside. But since then you probably couldn’t use it as a book end, try this: use a filled air balloon, or some better fit mould as a means to leave an empty space inside the concrete mass, and leave an open end out. When it dries you’ll have a way to fill that empty space with sand to make some weight. It will make the bookend more fragile, but also shippable! 🙂 If this idea gets you some business, send me one with a J on it 😉
It’s just water and concrete. This stuff was very powdery and fine, not the kind you buy for larger constructions which tends to have a lot of bits and rocks in it.
uuoowww it is a great ideia!!!
congratulations!!!!
xoxoxo
deise – brasil
I’m sure if you’ve used vaseline instead of oil, it would have popped out of the container.
How to make a really cool monogrammed concrete bookend
Very cool. Seeing this makes me think of a whole bunch of neat designs I could do with concrete.
J’adore! Merci à vous thank you
I just made a whole set of these! Such a wonderful idea, and really cost-effective if you’re looking for nice things on the cheap! I think my cost averaged out to about $6 a piece, but that’s also incorporating the chocolate in there, haha. Thank you for the wonderful idea. Now we have personalized bookends that will last a lifetime!
HI BENITA! ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR CEMENT CRAFTS, BUT I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS – – 1) IS THE “B” THAT YOU USED WOOD AND DOES IT GET REMOVED FROM THE CEMENT, AND 2) EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF CEMENT ARE YOU USING? I HAVE MADE CEMENT STEPPING STONES IN A MOLD BEFORE, BUT THE CEMENT I USED HAD STONES IN IT. YOUR CEMENT DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE ANY. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF CEMENT YOU ARE USING. CHECK OUT OUR BLOG TOO – http://WWW.NIKITALAND.WORDPRESS.COM THANKS, CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR BACK FROM YOU! -VAL-
1) It’s wood and I didn’t remove it, I painted it after.
2) This is the concrete I used http://www.pandurohobby.co.uk/Catalogue/50-Decoration/5020-Plaster/502005-Plaster/1/100823-Fine-concrete-Pack-of-3-kg
Ps. Please don’t use all caps when commenting. It’s like your screaming at me 🙂
That’s a pretty idea.