eight stunning concrete diy craft tutorials

a few years ago i was REALLY depressed. i’d just moved back to orange county to nurse a broken heart. funny, how many times that broken heart comes up here. i didn’t realize what a turning point it was in my life until i started writing for dear handmade life.

my first few months back in the oc, i idled between diligent self-care — long walks every morning, journaling my brains out and mostly vegetarian meals (courtesy of delilah) and blatant reckless abandon — drinking nearly a bottle of wine a night in the garage of delilah’s house (which i’d transformed into my workspace and which we all called the garoffice) while churning out paintings for my first solo art show. during those first few months i took a lot of long baths, read several books a month and fulfilled the promise i made to myself to say yes to anything good or even ambiguous. “want to meet us for tacos?” yes! “want to come along to an art show? restaurant opening? birthday party? baptism? dance party? my second cousin’s 1st grade holiday play? spaghetti dinner night at the local biker bar? three hour bike ride on a vintage bicycle with the most uncomfortable seat known to human-kind? etc…” yes!

then, i fell in love again and ended up luxuriating in marathon sessions of watching true blood while eating popcorn and chocolate chip cookies (i’m a sweet and salty gal) in my pajamas on the pull-out couch in the living room. my partner and i called that “getting bed-style” and it was very very good. getting me to leave the comfort of my ‘love jail’ became difficult. i was teaching kids arts classes at a community center and brought home their brochure of adult classes.  my partner and i signed up for the beginning ceramics course. the crazy excitement and anticipation ended far too abruptly on that first day when we realized our teacher was an artist but not a teacher. there is a difference. for the most part, we were left on our own to navigate through the kilns, clay and tools. we crafted our first objects then left them on the shelf as we were instructed, so the teacher could fire them in the kiln. when we came back the next week, we found out that four out of our five pieces were ‘missing’. we were told that they shattered in the kiln and were thrown away.

after that i kinda lost my desire to sculpt things from clay, concrete and plaster… until i discovered these awesome diy’s. hope you enjoy our collection of tutorials from some of our favorite diy bloggers like crafty chica (craftcation 2013 keynote speaker), chris gardner (craftcation 2014 presenter) and radmegan ( creativebug instructor and presenter at craftcation 2012, 2013 and 2014).

-nicole s.

have you ever sculpted anything from clay, concrete or plaster? how’d it go for you? (hopefully better than my attempt)

1.  DIY FACETED TEALIGHT HOLDERS FROM GATHERING BEAUTY

2. DIY CONCRETE LETTERS FROM AT HOME IN LOVE

3. MOLDED CONCRETE PLANTERS FROM RADMEGAN

4. CONCRETE COASTERS FROM CRAFTY CHICA

5. CANDLE HOLDERS FROM WEEKDAY CARNIVAL’S OK-BOOK

6. GEOMETRIC CEMENT PLANTER FROM 52 WEEKS PROJECT

7. DIY ROUND HANGING TABLE FROM THE MERRY THOUGHT

8. MODERN CONCRETE FIRE PIT FROM MANMADE

*all photos credited to respective websites unless otherwise noted.