Opulent Lotus Pond – Craft Cement Mixed Media Decor

Hey guys,

Mukta here on the blog today.  I am very excited to share this project with you all. I have never used cement in art projects  and that is why I was really excited to play with this product. This is what I have come up with….a Lotus Pond made from scratch using the craft cement.

Whenever I think of lotus there are few words that come to my mind…..exotic, luxurious, sacred and beautiful. So I have clubbed all these things to come up with this Opulent Lotus Pond.

Without much adieu I want to get on with the tutorial.

I started with some wires to make the petals for the lotus. I decided to make 7 big petals and 5 small petals. Each petal is shaped with hands and to be safe, I used pliers and wire cutters. The big petals measure 4.5 inches and the small ones are 3 inches each.

Once all the petals were shaped, I covered them with cheesecloth to fill in the gap in the petal frame. Once all the petals were covered, I curved them a little so that they get a natural look. Then I mixed the cement with water (2:1 ratio) and coated each petal with it.

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To let the petals air dry, I made small holders with aluminium foil for each petal.  It took 1 day for all the petals to dry completely and once dry, they retained the shape. When they were dry, I sprayed  water on each petal every few hours for the next 2 days…so no cracks developed.

 

After 2 days, it was time to unite them to make a pretty lotus. I have used a  bowl to shape the flower. I first tied the big petals together and placed them carefully in the bowl. On this, I poured a little cement mixture. Then I tied the small petals together and carefully placed it over the big petals in the bowl. Then I poured a little more cement mixture over this. I leveled it and sprinkled some silver microbeads in the center. To shape the flowers, I have placed aluminium foil filling behind the petals.

I let this be for 1 day and then carefully took the flower out of the bowl. I have again sprayed the base with water so that it becomes strong and no cracks are formed.  This is how my cement lotus looked. Initially I thought of leaving it as it is but then decided to go ahead with some mixed media work.

My lotus did not develop any cracks, but if yours does….just mix a little cement with water and make a diluted mixture. Keep brushing the cracks with this and it will get all patched up after a few applications.

To satisfy the mixed emdia artist in me, I coated the entire lotus with Little Birdie Texture Paste and white gesso. I let it dry completely which took about 15minutes.

I colored the lotus with various tones of pink. I initially used shades of peach and gold and pink but then at the end I changed it because I wanted a bolder look for the lotus.

 I jazzed it up with glitter and sparkle and added it to the base plate. I have used M-seal, a fast curing epoxy compound to do this. Then I covered the area around the lotus with microbeads in blue and green to give the effect of murky water and lotus leaves. I sprinkled it with little more gold shimmer and finished it with a fancy lace from my stash. That was the final touch of luxury to my majestic Lotus Pond!! Here are the pictures…I hope you like it.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Hugs

Mukta

Here is a list of supplies I used

 

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