A neighbor dipped soft toys in cement and built a fountain at his dacha: photo

Introduction

Cute touches for the garden

For many people, a garden is not just a useful area for growing berries and vegetables. This is a place where the soul can rest after stressful workdays, the bustle of the city and everyday worries. Here you can recharge your batteries, relax properly, and feel relaxed.

A place that was created with love will definitely respond to you with a warm and peaceful atmosphere. Friends and relatives will be happy to come here to sit by the fire in the evening and have a barbecue in the open air. And even weeding the beds in the morning won’t scare anyone.

Of course, ready-made statues can be purchased at garden stores. But it’s much more fun to create your own, unique designs, showing creativity and artistic taste.
Moreover, the process brings all participants together very closely; all family members, even the smallest ones, can be involved in it.

What kind of figures are there?

Phlegmatic Tortilla

You can come up with and implement any ideas. Some people want to “plant” fancy flowers in their yard. Or make original flower beds and flower beds for living plants.

Others want to elegantly design garden paths, hang an unusual swing, create a chic lantern or outdoor washbasin. Some people have magical gnomes and good fairies, forest animals or pets “living” in their dacha.

A country yard with a pond is inhabited by frogs, flamingos, fish, and its banks are skillfully decorated. In a corner you can create a funny clearing with porcini mushrooms led by the important fly agaric. Without limiting their imagination, they create entire fairy-tale towns with different characters.

Fans of abstract art will love the options for casting their own unique statues. Working with polyurethane foam helps to build unusual and unique structures. Even from old iron rods, waste wire and ordinary cobblestones you can create chic things.

Tools for making clay crafts

To create crafts from clay with your own hands, you need to prepare not only high-quality material, but also a tool for working with it. Of course, as you gain experience, you can purchase additional devices, but first you need:

Solid work surface;
Knife, blades and other cutting tools;
Rolling pins, devices for rolling out clay mass;
Needles or wooden sticks for creating small details, holes and more;
Cutting forms;
Hygiene products (rubber gloves and wet wipes).

Before you start creating

A hut on chicken legs

In any work, even creative work, adherence to general rules and adherence to the concept are required. Garden decoration is no exception. Otherwise, you risk creating a tasteless landscape of chaotic objects, the puzzles of which do not fit into a coherent picture.

So, check out these helpful tips before you start:

Pre-select the places where the figures will be installed. For some of them it will be necessary to prepare the foundation. This should be taken into account so as not to interfere with the growth of garden crops
Look around your garden and determine what style its design belongs to. It could be a Japanese design or a simple rustic country style. Or maybe there are romantic accents or elements of the high-tech genre?
It is necessary to clearly understand that cute colored hearts and balloons will not fit into the world of metal structures, and fairy-tale characters will feel strange in the exterior of the Japanese landscape
Let the size of the figurines be combined with the size of the rest of the garden items. For example, among large trees you can install a large mushroom. And next to low bushes it is better to place small gnomes or lambs
All designs must be compatible with each other. If you have chosen the theme of children's fairy tales, you should not add iron lizards made of nails and nuts, abstract geometric spheres made of cement, or wooden bicycles with flower pots.

Practice moderation. Sometimes it's so hard to stop, especially once you get the hang of it. However, several funny figures in different corners of the dacha look much more harmonious than a pile of them over the entire area.

What are sculptures made of?

Final stage: painting

The most popular materials are:

Old car tires
Unnecessary plastic bottles and eggplants
Gypsum
Cement
Polyurethane foam
Wooden blocks, logs, winding driftwood

In addition to the specified raw materials, be sure to prepare primer and decorative paint, metal rods for frames, construction glue, protective gloves, scissors and pruners, and other auxiliary tools.

Master class on creating decor from plastic bottles

Country crafts made of plastic

Plastic bottles are a favorite material for amateur garden decorators. It has a lot of advantages:

Long lasting, durable
Easy to work with and easy to paint
Can be fixed and installed
Available and cheap

And also, it allows you to create amazing things: cool animals, luxurious birds, graceful flowers . Let's look at a few simple options.

Pink flamingo

Pink flamingo This bird looks graceful and incredibly beautiful. Despite the apparent complexity, creating this miracle is not at all difficult. Flamingo will fit perfectly into the design of your garden, giving it a sophisticated piquancy .

Prepare: 4 plastic eggplants, 1 liter bottle, hose, 1 lid, 3 metal pins, pink paint, brush, large scissors.

Take a whole bottle with a lid and make a hole in it. This is the body of the bird, and the neck will come out of the hole. At the bottom, make holes for two metal rods that will act as legs.
Cut the remaining bottles. Cut them into long, narrow feathers. Cut the edges of each feather around the entire perimeter into thin strips
Make thin cuts in the upper part of the flamingo's body and insert feathers into them. The number of holes should match the number of feathers. Insert shorter specimens closer to the neck; in the tail area, on the contrary, insert long ones.
Insert the bent rod into the neck area and place the hose on top. Attach the head to the end. It is made from a part with a neck from a cut-off liter bottle
Attach rods-legs to the bottom

On average, the height of the figure is 1.2-1.5 m. To make it stand steadily, you can pour a cement foundation. Finally, paint the bird with paint, and the leaves, body and head can be painted in advance.

Daisies

Wonderful and bright daisies

Daisies To make these wonderful daisies, prepare metal pins and a hose for the stems, eggplants and paint. Cut even petals and leaves from the walls of the bottles. Use the bottoms as the core.

Glue petals to the inside of each bottom with construction glue. Place the structure on the rods with a pre-attached hose. Attach leaves and paint each flower.

Bells

Delicate bells

Bells Study the picture: it’s easy to repeat the design even without step-by-step instructions. Metal tubes for stems, bottles with caps, wire for securing inflorescences and scissors for cutting will come in handy.

Finished bells (cut, bent and painted) are attached with wire to the stems, which are securely connected to each other in the lower third of the base and dug into the ground

Piggy

Cool family

Pig It's even easier to create pink piglets. Find bottles and eggplants of different sizes and fill them with sand. Cut one and cut out the ears that need to be inserted into the “head” area.

Next, simply paint the pigs pink, including the lid. Draw the eyes. Make a neat patch with nostrils using black varnish.

Plastic modeling options

Plastic modeling often involves making a product from a whole piece of clay, using special molds, and working with a pottery wheel.

Using any modeling option, you can make beautiful dishes, unusual decorations, themed, for example, New Year's crafts from clay.

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Experimenting with wood

Wooden figures

Wood, unfortunately, is not durable. It fades, so the colors of the figures will need to be updated from time to time. It also gets wet from moisture, so the statues should be covered during rain and wrapped securely for the winter.

But such structures fit perfectly into the rustic style and look very cozy and pretty. The parts are connected to each other with ordinary nails, so the structures are quite strong.

Goat

Goat made from birch chocks

Goat To make such a goat, find two birch logs. Make holes into which you will need to drive the neck and 4 legs. Prepare narrow sticks for these body parts.

Connect all the parts and secure with nails and a hammer. Attach horns. If desired, you can draw eyes and a mouth on the “muzzle”.

Other options

By analogy with the previous option, you can make different animals:

Deer

Donkey and wooden men

Pigs

Plaster creations

Gnomes guard the country Christmas tree

Gypsum is a very convenient material; it is strong, durable and water resistant. Paints fit perfectly on it. Working with such raw materials is a pleasure.

So, the first thing you need to do is go to a hardware store and buy the necessary form for pouring. Silicone ones are best. Let's look at step-by-step instructions using a plaster gnome as an example, but you are free to sculpt any other character.

If you plan to sculpt a tall statue, more than 1 m in height, you will need to make a metal frame. It’s better not to bother and create a short figure up to 0.7 m. This way it will become lighter in weight, it can be lifted, rearranged, put away in the garage for the winter
Following the instructions on the plaster packaging exactly, dilute the composition with water. The mass is mixed well until it has a homogeneous mushy consistency. To make the material elastic, PVA glue is poured into it. Approximately 10 g per 1 kg of dry gypsum
Now fill half the volume of the mold with the prepared solution and let it set. Then fill the container to the top. Lightly tap the sides to release the air.
The form is removed only after the gnome has completely dried. Give him at least two days
The painting stage begins. First, prime the entire surface. After this, you can apply colored paints, and after they dry, varnish for better color preservation.

Artificial or polymer clay

This clay is based on polyvinyl chloride with the addition of substances that give the material resistance to high temperatures and plasticity. This polymer material is made neutral or colored, transparent, with the addition of phosphorus; a metallic or mother-of-pearl option is also available.

This clay can be fired or dried naturally.

It is better to create your first crafts from polymer clay. It is much easier to work with, there are no stains or dirt. This material makes beautiful small toys and jewelry.

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Decorative flower pots (plant pots)

Unusual cement pots

In addition to heroes from fairy tales, animals or little people, unusual flower beds, flower beds and pots organically fit into the country decor.

Prepare cement mortar. Take an empty waste bucket and a large rag. Thoroughly rinse the material in the cement and place it on top of the bucket, evenly distributing the folds. When the structure is dry, the bucket is removed. To do this, you need to carefully tap it with a hammer. In front of you will be an unusual vessel made of a frozen rag.
Old tires are used under the flowerbed. If desired, they are simply decorated and flowers are planted inside. And also, the inner circle can be cut into cloves and turned outward - it will turn out beautiful and elegant
Cut large 20L plastic bottles and paint them a bright color. Arrange them in an interesting ensemble and plant them inside the plant. Just don’t forget to make holes in the bottom so that water doesn’t stagnate after watering.
Make a cement cast of the head of an unwanted children's doll. Coat it with the composition, leaving the top untouched, and when the substance dries, remove the plastic. The stone head needs to be painted for aesthetics. The soil is filled inside and flowers are planted.
Vessels are made from balloons in the same way.

Country ideas made from cement

Mushrooms for the garden made of cement

Mix the cement mortar.

The mass should be thick and homogeneous. Remember simple proportions: 1 part sand to 1 part cement. Water is poured in portions, checking the consistency and constantly mixing the raw materials.

Openwork ball made of ropes

Braided rope sphere

Openwork ball made of ropes Dip a thick rope into cement. You can tear old clothes into strips and sew the ends together. Wrap them around a large balloon, wait for the composition to harden, and pop the balloon.

Gnomes

Cement gnomes

Gnomes Here we will tell you how to make a gnome without buying a special silicone mold.

What you will need:

Solution
Metal pin
Ropes
Nylon stocking

Stages of work:

Pour cement into the stocking and insert an iron rod there for stability.
Select the area of the nose with your hands and twist the rope there. It should be a round ball.
Make round legs, similar to how you made the nose.
Under your nose, place a piece of thin rag folded in half, previously dipped in cement. It will be a beard
Pull the stocking over the pin, secure it and hang its end to the side to create a sharp cap with a tassel.
When the structure is completely dry, it is coated with a cement-gypsum mixture. This way the colors will fall on the surface better and brighter.
Color the new dacha resident

It is necessary to work with the cement mixture wearing gloves. Make sure that it does not get into your eyes or mucous membranes. In case of contact, immediately rinse the area with plenty of running water.

Dragon eggs

The mystical beauty of dragon eggs

Dragon eggs Add a little mysticism and mysterious paraphernalia to your garden design. How do you like the idea of placing real dragon eggs in a thicket?

Take regular balloons and spread them with cement mixed with plaster until about the middle of the mold
Let the edges of future eggs be jagged
Remove the ball when the shell is dry
Now paint the inside of the egg with yellow paint with reflective or glare particles. This will create the impression that the shell is emitting a fiery light from inside.

In the evenings, you can place lit candles inside.

Vegetation

Stone leaves

Vegetation Look for large, thick leaves with a raised vein pattern. Plantain or burdock will do. Carefully apply a thin layer of cement on them. Make sure that the mass exactly follows the outline of the leaf.

When the substance dries, you will get nice stone sheets that can be intricately laid out near a pond, around a fire, or to decorate a gazebo. Use your imagination and create a whole composition from different crafts made from cement.

From toys

Fairytale fairy statue

From toys Elegant garden statues can be made from ordinary toys. Take, for example, a Barbie doll, put it in an interesting pose, put on a fluffy dress, and dip it in a cement composition. Shake off excess, wait until dry and cover with white paint or lime in several layers.

If you want a garden fairy, first attach fairy wings from a plastic bottle to the toy. Place cement hares, cats, and dogs next to it. Any animals that have taken a cement bath in the same way.

New Year's crafts

The most interesting activity for children is preparing for the holidays. Before the New Year, clay crafts will transform your home and give you a lot of pleasant emotions. You can sculpt beautiful snowflakes for a Christmas tree, unusual snowmen, Christmas tree-shaped figures in various sculpting options and using different clays.

When working with polymer clay, children immediately select the desired color for the finished product; work with it is easier for novice talents. However, it is much more interesting to completely immerse yourself in the process of clay modeling - to make a product, process it, dry it and paint it in the required colors using acrylic paints or gouache.

We work with old tires

Fence made from car wheels

Car tires are a universal material. They are used to make figures, country furniture, flower beds, borders, steps, and swings. Rubber is cut, painted, bent and twisted.

We offer 5 cool ideas for using tires in the garden exterior:

Bright border. Cut each tire in half and plant the cut sides into the ground. Paint it in cheerful shades
Picturesque hedge. When there are a lot of tires, you can use them to lay out a wall, stacking them in a checkerboard pattern on top of each other. Fill the soil inside and plant grass - you will get an amazing flowering fence
Wall flower beds. Just hang the tire on the wall, fill it with soil and plant flowers
Swing . First, the wheel is painted and a board is nailed to the bottom to cover the hole. It is then suspended from a tree by a chain or rope
Animals . Two small tires are dug horizontally into the ground. One large one is installed vertically on them and another smaller one on top: the torso and head

Bear made from car tires

One wheel is cut separately and cut into strips, from which paws, ears, and a tail are formed. A muzzle is drawn on the top tire. The animal is decorated and, if necessary, supplemented with tails, horns, and different paws.

Structural modeling options

This modeling is characterized by several commonly used techniques:

Cane - threads are created from different colors of clay and collected in a certain bundle, the cut produces the intended design;
Making small parts separately (by hand or using molds), then joining them together using a clay solution;
Filigree is a technique in which thematic designs and patterns are collected on a large layer of clay;
Using a play of color.

Foam sculptures

Curly sheep

When working with a spray can, follow safety precautions and carefully read the instructions. Wear protective gloves and do not work near fire. This material is very popular in the independent decoration of summer cottages.

Firstly, it is practical, inexpensive and lightweight. Secondly, after drying, the foam is easy to cut and give the figure the desired shape. Thirdly, it is not afraid of weather conditions, does not get wet, does not freeze, and does not deteriorate from the heat.

To create figures from polyurethane foam, a frame must be prepared. In essence, the foam helps to present the statue's shell beautifully. The foundation ensures the strength and stability of the structure.

We'll tell you step by step how to make a cute sheep:

Make a base from plastic bottles: stick 4 legs from one and a half sheets into the body from an eggplant. Attach a can of cans to the place of the head
Shake the can and start spraying foam. Make sure that the “wool” lies evenly. After the material has dried, it will become clear where it needs to be added.
Dry foam is cut with a stationery knife. Give the sheep a round shape. Sand it with sandpaper to make it smooth
Paint the animal with soft yellow paint, draw eyes, and color the hooves

Character for a fairytale atmosphere

As you can see, garden figurines are very easy to make with your own hands. A minimum of skill and special skills are required. You spend virtually no money, while creating a unique and unique design for your site.

No design project, no complex installation, no huge list of materials is required. If desired, you can use any construction waste, cement residues, old bottles and unnecessary tires. Add a little paint, a little imagination and a pinch of enthusiasm.

Surprise your guests with your site and enjoy it yourself. Free your patio from boredom and monotony, protect it from a banal, albeit newfangled, landscape style. Let fancy flowers grow here, fairy-tale characters appear and funny animals from the magical forest settle here.

DIY garden figurines

Watch the video, the author of which gives summer residents and gardeners fresh and original ideas for creatively decorating a country plot with their own hands:

Natural clay

It is a natural raw material, without impurities and dyes. There are several options:

Red – clay, which contains a lot of iron, has high heat resistance, and after firing it acquires a beautiful dark red (brick) color, which allows you to create products without additional decoration with paints. Dishes that have a long service life are made from such clay. You can buy it only in a specialized store.

Blue is a clay with a high salt content, a rare rock, often used in cosmetology.

White is the clay that is most often used for creativity; it is inexpensive and available in almost every art store. After firing, the products acquire an ivory color, on which you can safely apply paint without fear of color change.

Any clay is sold in briquettes with a certain weight, more profitable packaging from 15 kg. When using, you need to observe the proportions (clay, sand and water).