I approach most miniature garden landscaping projects using the same methods, tools, and materials as real life projects, just at a smaller scale. This post concerns only the stonework created for the Mother Tree.Continue reading
Tag Archives: miniature garden
The Mother Tree: Papercrete & Cement-Soaked Cloths

The unfinished Mother Tree.
This post will focus on creation the planter and tree using papercrete and cement-soaked cloth. There will be a series of Mother Tree posts for the component parts and the finished tree.Continue reading
Experimenting With Cement Soaked Cloth

Draped Vase shown while still curing. Papercrete was added later to the inside and outside of the base for better support and balance.
I’m having way too much fun with cement-soaked towels to work on anything else at the moment. I’ve made draped vases, miniature fairy houses, funky steampunk looking flowers, and have a few more ideas I want to try before I work this obsession out of my system. So, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned while experimenting.Continue reading
Papercrete Fairy’s Castle Cottage Almost Finished

Old asphalt roof shingles can be cut, etched with designs, and then reused as shingles once more.
The Fairy’s Castle Cottage was one of the first batch of papercrete fairy houses for this season (2014). Creating the molds, forming the papercrete, waiting for the ‘crete to cure, and dry, are only a small part of the fairy house building process. Like building an actual house, the finish work takes the longest.Continue reading
Catching Up . . .

Baby Box became “Dew Drop”. After painting, she was embellished with aluminum soda can cutouts for window frames and round leaves for the potted tree. A pull-tab, screen, and wires form the front door. A plastic end cap was cut down to create a pot for the twisted scrap wire tree, and crushed lava rock dust was added for the pot mulch.
I’ve had the flu and been out of commission the last few weeks, so I’m taking a day to catch up the Blog with the papercrete fairy house projects. Some of the fairy houses were pretty cut-n-dry to develop. They were hand formed over disposable food containers, un-molded after set, dried, painted, and embellished.Continue reading
Hobbit Haven Finished
Sorry to leave you folks hanging. I was sick, busy, and . . . never mind. Here are a couple of photos of the finished hobbit house, a.k.a., one of the flopped hobbits.Continue reading
Experimental Papercrete Hedge Growth Results

Cured hedge growth/roof waiting for paint. A little thinner than I would have liked, but sturdy enough!
For those of you awaiting the results of the experimental Hobbit Haven Hedge growth results, here ya go!Continue reading
Papercrete Fairy House Hedge Growth

The front of Hobbit Haven (protected by a plastic bag) after the cement-soaked dish towel was formed into place.
I already have a few hours invested in Hobbit Haven and wasn’t happy with any painted options that I imagined for the top of the house. I wanted dimensional “hedge growth”, so I’m trying a technique of soaking fabric in cement slurry (watery cement). The idea is that the cemented fabric can be draped over an object, formed as needed, and then left to cure and dry.Continue reading
Never Give Up!

“Hobbit Haven” features carved stones on the chimney and around the doorway and windows. It will have a fitted wooden door and a moss roof.
The hobbit houses LIVE . . . the flopped hobbits didn’t flop!!Continue reading
Waiting Game
As I suspected, the Hobbit houses didn’t do very well. It took two days before I could remove them from the molds, and they might collapse anyway. They’re still wet, fragile, and spongy. I’m afraid this batch failed! I’m letting them set out to see if they will harden up any, or just flop. Either way, I can’t use them. I learned a lesson (or two), so it wasn’t a complete waste of time and materials . . . disappointing though!Continue reading