Mushrooms!

13 years ago

Remember last year when I made these mushrooms stems? I used a couple of DS toy cheerleader megaphones in a bucket of sand with a 9 inch nail placed in the middle - into the sand and with the point sticking out the bottom.

Well I found the right mold for the caps finally. So I made some concrete (actually 60 lbs of quickrete mortar mix), and made two caps. Meanwhile I soaked the stems in water then after a few hours I stuck them into the partially cured caps.

I found these plastic colanders that had a rounded bottom (which made rounded mushroom tops) and put duct tape on the inside to cover the holes.

Ringo seems to like them and he wanted you to understand the size.

Here is one in the garden.

{{gwi:173173}}

The duct tape shape shows on the caps. Maybe I'll mosaic them, haven't decided really.

Ka

Comments (16)

concretenprimroses
Original Author
13 years ago
I made a bunch of other stuff, but its not ready to show yet!
Kathy
luna_llena_feliz
13 years ago
I like 'em! In the picture, I can't see the duct tape seams so if they aren't obvious, they would look fine the way the are. They would be pretty mosaiced too. You did some real creative thinking there!

Has anyone ever mentioned that Ringo is a ham? he-he He is adorable too!
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Calamity_J
13 years ago
That cat is hilarious!!! Love your shrooms, good job! You could also take moss and mix it up(I heard blender?) with yogurt and smear it on your shrooms and have moss growing on them! Or paint them...can hardly wait to see what else you made!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:173162}}
concretenprimroses
Original Author
13 years ago
Calamity, I love your mosaic cat. But why do yousay its gone very wrong? Fluffy didn't stand still too long did he?
Kathy
flagtruck
13 years ago
Hey primroses..those are great. I like the tops the way they are and Calam is right, yogurt and moss will do the trick. I think the colander with the duct tape on the outside would turn out neat too and you would have the texture of the lines on your top. Spray well with PAM tho so it would come out of the cracks. Your stems look good and just right. Can't wait like Calam to see the rest.
loribee2
13 years ago
Love the mushrooms! I've been wanting to make some for my garden. Thanks for letting me know how you did it. They're adorable!
Marlene Kindred
13 years ago
Great Shrooms! And Ringo is a doll!
excessfroufrou
13 years ago
Those turned out great, the tops and bottoms really work well together. I have a question, why did you soak the bottoms in water before you joined them. I think they look fine just like they are.You have more energy than me, working with concrete is not my favorite thing. I want to set some post for a trellis this weekend, so I'll have some concrete left over to work with.
Frou
concretenprimroses
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't know if I read this, made it up, or am getting it backwards. It occurred to me that the older concrete could suck the moisture out of the new wet curing stuff which would weaken the new 'crete and the bond between the two. So I thought soaking the stems would moisten them up and prevent that from happening. It was a last minute thought, but I think I was right.
Kathy
sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
The stems are so real looking on your mushrooms, really like them, think there will be a run on kids megaphones! Concrete does soak up moisture so good idea to soak or the stem tops might have dried too fast & crumbled. I would wet them down every day for few days or if extremely hot wrap old rags around them, that are soaked with water. They do that on our freeways when they build them, they use old quilts, padded moving quilts etc & use a water truck to keep them wet. Concrete needs curing slowly.Too fast of curing or not mixed well will result in cracking or crumbling.(Sidewalks, driveways,walls etc. same with small projects too. Jan
soinspired
13 years ago
Oh, I love those! Great idea too. I'm going to have to do this too. Thanks for showing. Love your kitty helper.
beany3u
13 years ago
You all make working with cement seem so easy. I'm going to go back and read more on working with cement. The mushrooms are great!
dollydee
13 years ago
Love, love, love them!!!! How long do they take to make/cure?
nanatricia
13 years ago
Those are so cool!! I love how they turned out!
jeannespines
13 years ago
I love 'em, too, crete! Like them just as they are...but I'm thinking the mossy idea would look pretty cool! TFS this idea for making larger ones! Jeanne S.
concretenprimroses
Original Author
13 years ago
I think next time I will use a shorter nail - maybe six or seven inches, I'll measure my little megaphone to make sure. With the big heavy cap on that thing is DANGEROUS!
I have a friend whose birthday is Sunday and I snuck one into her garden yesterday. I was going to sit tight and see how long it took her to find it, but it occurs to me I'd better warn her about the spike sticking out of the bottom! Now I have to make a bunch more for myself.
Curing: I unmold in a day or so, but particularly since its been so hot, I left them under a tarp and watered them for a bit longer. Gotta go do it soon. I unmolded the megaphones before a full 24 hours (I think?) so that I could carve lines in the stems. But that was last year, I'm lucky if I remember yesterday,lol.
Love the idea of putting the tape on the outside. I'm going to buy a couple more colanders and try it.
I only have 2 megaphones which could be a problem.
Kathy