Joe, Guess I'm a little dense (or a little sleepy just got in from school) cause I don't understand the question. Do you mean a quart or gallon plastic container that had grape juice or something in it that has indented sides? Are the indented sides the "uneven sides"? Billie

Sorry for not asking the question clearly. (my fault!)

Yes, like a grape juice or apple juice plastic container. They have various lines or uneven sides etc. In some cases the bottom is a little wider. I would like to make a japanese lantern and thought and apple juice container would work well.

Thanks for the assistance.
This would be my first project.

Joedes,

Use a carton container instead, or use styrophoan. Heck, build your mold out of LEGO :-)

So many materials out there. That's the good thing about Hypertufa, you begin to see alternate uses for just about everything

I've thought of this too because some of these are really nice shapes. My notion (not tried) is to carefully split the bottle top to bottom and then tape it back together. Add the mix and a mould for the center (probably a tall frozen juice cylinder filled with sand). Unmold it by taking the tape off and pulling the two halves off and work the finish a little the 2nd day, and then cure it in a plastic bag.

David

Joe, Most of us that have made lanterns make them in pieces. The firebox where your candle or light will go can be made from the lower portion of plastic jugs (cut the top off) or buckets or squares made from ridgid foam insulation(just butt the joints, push in a few long nails to hold joints and wrap with duct tape to re-enforce). The base can be made from bowls. Cut out styrofoam shapes for the arches between the legs. Place your hypertufa on the inside of the bowl and as you work your way up the sides place the styrofoam shapes toward the top edge of the bowl. If you're looking for a square base use any kind of sqaure mold and put a cross of styrofoam in the bottom to form your feet. I don't know if the info is still on this site. Try doing a search for japanese lanterns on this forum, the accoutrement forum and the japanese gardens forum. I'll hunt for pictures.
If it's you first project go for smooth side molds. Their easier to work with. Billie

Yes Joe you can make these molds from plastic juice containers. My DH and I made several using the large apple/juice containers. Cut the top and bottom off. Cut out one or more off the indents for the window openings we used thick styrofoam in these holes-screwed to the smooth inside mold, you will need a 1/2"-3/4" thickness for the wall. Remember to tap the cement evenly, making sure plenty gets under the windows, sometimes the wall thickness don't always turn out evenly but it won't show from the outside. We used old glass light shades covered in saren wrap for the roofs, also made holes vents for candle use. hope one of my links below work so you can take a look and see what we made. Billie gave you good advice above also. Good Luck Wendy

Here is a link that might be useful: Webshots

I use the juice bottles all the time. I don't cut out the windows until I have unmolded the piece in 24 hours. I cut the top off the bottle, leaving the bottom intact. I put about 1 inch of tufa in the bottom and insert a one litre sand filled bottle in the center and tufa around it. In 24 hours I use a knife to cut the large plastic bottle away. Empty the sand out of the middle bottle and you can twist it out. I then carve out where I want the windows. Be very careful carving the windows and don't make them so low that the candle shows.