Making my first bonsai pot and mould

[matty-j]

Hey everyone!

As like everyone else on here, at some point in time the thought of making a nice big training pot has occurred!
I have some trees in development in styro boxes and have been getting over them.
So i have decided to make my own, I watched a few videos and went with the papercrete option! (google papercrete bonsai pot)

First off I thought of how i was going to do it and what design I wanted. I decided on using primed pine skirting board, backed by form ply which extended past the skirting board to add a square edge on top of the mould.

I glued the skirting board to the form ply
Then made a base out of a off cut of form ply
Screwed and glued the sides together to make a box
Then screwed and glued the bottom base to the sides

My next stage which is tomorrow , is to cut some left over perspex to fit perfectly inside the box with a L cut in the corners to make feet for the pot!
If all goes well then tomorrow afternoon I will be pouring my first pot and leave it to dry over the weekend.
On monday I plan on submerging the pot underwater for a few days then bake it in the sun for a few weeks ready for this years repots.

I will post my progress and more detail about the mix and consistency when I do the poor

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Cheers
Matt

[Mount Nasura]

Wow love your work! Look forward to seeing how this goes. I think the checkouts in the Perspex is a great idea. Watching with interest.

[Scott Roxburgh]

What material are you using for the pot? Baked in the sun?

[k2bonsai]

take a look over here

http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATPaperBonsaiPots.html

[matty-j]

I didn't get around to pouring it today, it was a busy day at work and I am not feeling the best!
I will try and pour on monday

What material are you using for the pot? Baked in the sun?

The material i will be using for the pot is 1 part white cement and 1 part shredded newspaper that has been soaking in water for 24 hours.
I will add the two in equal parts, if i am unhappy with the consistency I will add more cement if to wet or a touch more water if to dry.

The ideal drying time for cement is as slow as possible, keeping it cool and damp while its curing will give the strongest pot.
When I say bake in the sun I only meant leaving it in the sun for a week or two so it will cure faster.

Cheers
Matt

[Neli]

Have a look how I make my pots on FB or on my blog:
https://www.facebook.com/neli.stoyanova ... 676&type=3

[matty-j]

Hey Everyone!!

My first attempt at making a pot didn't turn out all that well
In my Naive thinking I thought after the pot set i could turn it upside down and it would side right out ......... No chance it was stuck in there really well.
I ended up breaking the pot getting it out! Such is life, but a lesson learnt.
I pulled the frame apart and re designed it so the bottom could come apart and 1 long and 1 short side were joined in a L shape then the 2 L's were placed together.

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My second attempt went much better! the pot came out quite nicely and am very happy with the results
I let the pot cure in the mould for 32 hours, the Mould was wrapped in wet hessian and then wrapped in a plastic drop sheet to retain moisture and have the optimal drying conditions.
After the pot was removed from the mould it was placed underwater for 3 days for 2 reasons. 1 to remove soluble salts and 2 to aid in curing. then it was placed in direct sun for 2 days.
All this aftercare may have been a little over the top but if drying conditions for cement aren't ideal then the curing of the cement will not be sufficient.

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Cheers
Matt

[dan.e]

Great stuff what mix did you use

[Bush bunny]

Looks great to me, well done. One question, I remember when using concrete to line a fish pond, they said to let it leach the pond for months. Mainly because, if I remember rightly, cement is very alkaline and could poison the fish. How about concrete pots? Do you weather them a lot before planting your stock, especially if they are lime haters, ie. acid lovers. But great work. Persistence wears down resistance.

[alpineart]

Hi Matty-j , mate persistance certainly paid off . I like your thinking on the mould , as a chippy its a great idea and with a series of moulds you could punch out quite a few . I used the same 2 piece principle for the sides when making mud bricks for a house i built many years ago

Well done .

Cheers Alpineart

[Josh]

Top effort. Well worked through for a great result. How will you do you your drainage holes?

Josh.

[gerald randall]

This is a great pot. In one of the other posts I mentioned that my wife made a couple of pots. Nothing this size though. She seals the inside of the pot with a sealant used to insulate ponds. A bitumen sealant of sorts. The cement is not necessarily great for the trees. I suspect you are also going to seal this pot?

[Bush bunny]

Gerald what kind of sealant would do, bitumen isn't something I am not familiar with other than used on roads. Water proof?

[matty-j]

Great stuff what mix did you use

I mixed wet newspaper (that had been soaking in water for 24 hours) and white portland cement in equal parts. only add water to get the consistency right, but I added very little.

Looks great to me, well done. One question, I remember when using concrete to line a fish pond, they said to let it leach the pond for months. Mainly because, if I remember rightly, cement is very alkaline and could poison the fish. How about concrete pots? Do you weather them a lot before planting your stock, especially if they are lime haters, ie. acid lovers. But great work. Persistence wears down resistance.

Good question, the soaking for 24 hours would have reduced some of the free lime still with in the cement, this is not concrete, its cement and paper. concrete has lots of additives in it for different reasons, more than you would think are in it, it is quite complex! I think that dealing with a pond is different because water is being retained and would slowly build up alkalinity over time. the difference is i would be flushing any free lime away while i'am watering. I have not sealed the inside of the pot
This is just my and the reasons behind my actions. I'am not a expert

Alpine, thanks for the kind words!!

Josh, I used a standard 12mm metal drill after I removed it from the mould, it cut through like butter! but it still had a lot of curing to do after that.

Cheers
Matt