Serene grot planter

20 years ago

Hi All and Happy Tufa New Year,

For Christmas I made a few tufa presents for family members. Many of the ideas I picked up from this forum. Thanks so much all your helpful information and creative ideas. One of the ideas I came up with is a peaceful grot planter for my mom. She thought the regular grots I made were to scary and evil looking. I'm sharing the picture below. Planter is 15" tall and a foot wide. There is a bottom to the planter with a drainage hole. I had to complete the planter in three sections (front of face, backside and then inside bottom). I used a 1,1,1/2 mix of cement, sand, peat.

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Comments (3)

rockyn
20 years ago
what a great grot! Mom must love this guy, he sends vibes of calm...

this is very similar to the size & shape of my desired "chia head" project. would you mind writing a bit of detail about how you built & attached the 3 pieces? Pretty please and thank you!
sereneseen
Original Author
20 years ago
rockyn,

That's for the support. Yes, mom loved the grot and now want two more to take with her to AZ next fall.

For the Serene grot planter I took a tall plastic planter (got it with a perennial I bought last spring)and cut it in half. Filled a gallon zip lock bag 3/4th full with sand. Layed bag of sand on work table as a support under the one of the halfs of the planter. Used a 1,1, 1/2 mix of concrete, fine sand, and peat to make a layer of tufa over the planter about an inch thick. Then started adding the facial features on top of the just place first layer. Covered with plastic and carved a few more details about six hours later. Covered with plastic for the night.

Second day I stood the face up, carefully replaced the half plastic planter with an uncut one, supported the front of face with a tufa brick I had laying around. Filled plastic planter with sand and then worked on the back of the Serene grot. Sprayed grot and the side seam with plenty of water so it would accept the fresh tufa. I pressed a two inch thick base layer on the back of the grot and worked up to the top, all the while smoothing some of the new tufa a little past the seams of face half of the grot so is would looked one piece. Covered with plastic for the night.

Third day mixed a small bit of tufa. Removed sand and plastic planter. Packed a two inch thick layer of tufa inside the planter to make a bottom to the planter. Stuck a 4" long fiberglass rod coated with vaseline in the center of the botttom to make a drainage hole. Covered with plastic and let it sit over night. Next day I placed it in a plastic tote filled with water. It sat in there for two weeks.

I made it in three parts so I could get better control of the tufa when making the face so I don't have to spend more time trying to carving later. Hope this helps and makes sense.

Serene
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Louisiana_greetings
20 years ago
Very cute grot :-) Have you tried putting your tufa inside a pot, and adding to it a few hours later? It's a much easier process.
bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: