instructables

Geometric Concrete Planters Made With Paper Molds

by Maker Design Lab

I wanted to make my own geometric concrete planters for quite some time. There are many different designs and
ways to make them. I planned mine to be for small succulents.

When you want to make a concrete planter, you first need some kind of mold for the wet concrete. Silicone molds
are great if you want to produce a large number of items but can be overkill if you just want to make a few pieces. I
decided to use a mold made from paper and cardboard to make my concrete planters. If the shape you want to
create is not too complicated, then using paper and cardboard is much cheaper and also quicker than using
silicone.

Below is a list of all the material and tools you are going to need for this project.

Material:
4 mm plywood
cardstock paper (200 - 300 gsm)
cardboard
tape
concrete mix
sand or small stones
sandpaper
wood glue
linseed oil (optional)
soil and small plants

Tools:
laser cutter or utility knife and saw
scissors
small putty knife or stick (for mixing concrete)
cup (for mixing concrete)
jar

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Step 1: Cut and Engrave the Paper, Cardboard, and Plywood

are three templates: for the cardstock paper, the

cardboard and for the plywood.

In the template for the cardstock paper mold, there

are red and black lines. The red lines are for cutting
and the black for engraving/scoring. The engraved
lines mark where the paper will be folded and also act
as a score line so that you will get very clean folds.
Just make sure that the engraving is not too deep
because then the paper might tear when you fold it.

If you don`t know the settings of your laser for cutting

and engraving paper make some test cuts first.
To begin, you will need to cut out the shapes from the
template files which are available for download.
In the template for the cardboard and plywood, there
are just red lines. Cut out all the pieces, and you are
I used a laser cutter for the cutting, but you can also
ready for the next step.
use just scissors or a utility knife and a saw. There

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Step 2: Fold and Glue the Cardstock Paper
First, slightly bend the cardstock paper along the
engraved/scored lines. For the outer mold, I folded
the paper so that the engraved lines were on the
outside and for the inner mold the engraved marks
were on the inside.
Then I used strips of tape to glue adjacent triangles
together and create the shape of the inner and outer
mold. In the image below you can see which parts
should be glued together.
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The tape for the outer mold was applied on the
outside and for the inner mold on the inside. This way
there won't be any marks from the tape on the
finished concrete. I was a bit perfectionist here
because when you fill the planter with soil, there is
not much of the inside visible anymore. So you can
save yourself a bit of fiddling when you just put the
tape on the outside for both molds.
Step 3: Building the Support for the Paper Mold

Using cardstock paper will lead to a very nice smooth

concrete surface, but when I did my first test pouring
with just the paper mold, I encountered two problems.
The first was that while in general, the paper held the
concrete really nice with nothing leaking, the damp
paper expanded a bit and this caused the triangular
planes to bend outwards.

An outer layer of cardboard fixes this problem. The

second problem was that even with the cardboard
added, the mold was still flexible. The image below
shows how it can be squished.

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Step 4: Adding the Wooden Support

To resolve the instability, I used a pentagon cut from plywood as a support frame. With the wood, you get a very
stable mold, and the great thing is that the wood and cardboard can be reused. You just need new paper molds
and can create multiple planters.

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Step 5: Sanding and Gluing the Wooden Top

The wooden top is mainly a design element. I really

like the wood texture in combination with the concrete
surface. I recommend sanding each piece individually
before gluing the pieces together. This way the
sanding will be much easier.

Use wood glue to assemble the five pieces into a

pentagon shape. Wipe off any excess glue with a
damp paper towel and then lay on a flat surface and
wait for the glue to dry.

Step 6: Prepare the Molds

Before you start mixing your concrete, you need to

prepare a support for the molds. Because the
icosahedron has a pointed tip, it won't stand on its
own. I used a jar and a roll of tape as support, but
anything with a similar opening will work.

Fill the inner mold with sand or small stones. This is

necessary because otherwise, the mold would just
float on top of the concrete.

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Step 7: Mixing the Concrete for the Geometric Planters

concrete mix, the sand and cement parts will bind

more closely, air will get pushed out, and this reduces
the volume.

You can use a pre-mixed concrete or mix your own

concrete. Just make sure you use a fine concrete with
no stones or sand grains bigger than 1-2 mm in the
mix if you want a smooth surface. With bigger parts in
the mix, the corners might not fill well, and you might
get air bubbles. I had an open batch of a self-leveling
concrete mix at hand, and so I used that. Also, read
and follow the safety instructions of your concrete.
When all the parts are prepared, we can now finally
start with the main part of this project - pouring the
The first step is to add water to the concrete mix. The
concrete!
amount of water you need will depend on the type of
concrete you use – check out the descriptions.
For one planter I used d about 200 ml of the dry
concrete mix. The volume of your dry concrete mix
Then, use a small putty knife or something similar to
will shrink once you add water. This seems counter-
mix the concrete thoroughly. I have to confess that
intuitive at first, but when you add the water to the dry
did not measure and just added small amounts of

water until my concrete mix had a consistency similar the planters and not for a load-bearing element in a
to honey. Not using the correct amount of water will building, I can live with that.
reduce the strength of the concrete, but as it is just for

Step 8: Pouring the Concrete

In the next step fill about 2/3 of your outer mold with This part might require a bit of fiddling to get right. If I
concrete. Afterward, insert the inner mold. would make the planters again, I think I would
redesign the wooden hexagon to hold also the inner
Fill the mold until the concrete level reaches the lower mold in place. This would make things considerably
edge of the wooden pentagon. Tap the mold a few easier at this step.
times to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped
inside. Almost finished! Now you can sit back and relax while
You might need to add some sand/stones to your your planter dries.
inner mold to keep it at the right height. Also, make
sure that the edges of the inner and outer mold are
approximately parallel.

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Step 9: Removing the Mold

The drying time will depend on the type of concrete Better check after a few hours if the concrete is hard
used and on the temperature. I did remove my planter to the touch and then you can remove the paper.
from the mold about two hours after the pouring.
Don’t wait too long to remove your mold because I I found it really satisfying to peel off the paper and
had one planter in the mold for about 24 hours and reveal the smooth concrete surface.
when I tried to remove the paper I found that the outer
layer of the paper kind of bonded to the concrete and
was impossible remove.

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Step 10: Finishing Touches

The two finals steps are to sand the top surface of are done! One thing to note is that regular concrete is
your geometric concrete planter and then glue on the not waterproof. Concrete will absorb water, and when
wooden top. For me, I found that the perfect time for there is too much water, it will leak through.
the sanding is about 12 to 24 hours after the pouring
of the concrete. At that time the concrete is hard
enough so that the edges won’t crumble while being
sanded, but still not at his final hardness which
makes sanding much easier.

For sanding the concrete, I used regular 150 grit

sandpaper. The goal of the sanding is to flatten the
concrete so that the wooden top sits flush. In case
you need to remove more material, it will be a good
idea to use wet sandpaper and start with a lower grit.

When you are happy with your top edges, glue on the
wooden. Then just fill-in some soil and plants and you

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Hard to imagine that you managed to make that with paper! I mean, with the help of the wooden
supports and all, but it's still very, very impressive! I would imagine that there will be people doing
lots of these as Christmas presents this year if word gets out about how easy it is to make!
NIce instructions! You have my vote!!

Thanks :-)

I did not know that. Thanks!

These look lovely, I will try these someday.

vury niice. I'll have to try your technique of washing; any time I use a low-aggregate concrete
(mainly quickcrete, which seems more like glue than anything else), I get a dust shedding for a
long time. This could certainly help I think!
Those are great! They'd make attractive loudspeaker housings.

Intresting idea!

Better put some rock in the mix "rock" hahaha

nice ;-)

That's exactly what I was thinking!

I would have never thought of using concrete but they look cool, I guess you could make them all
kinds of sizes! You could use dam it concrete sealer either on the inside or the out side paint the
outside and the concert will hold water might be a good idea make watering last longer!
Your result has excellent eye appeal, especially combined with your choice of plants. Thank you
for the share.
Awesome!

I love the look of the concrete and wood together :)

Absolutely gorgeous photos!

Thanks, still trying to improve my photography skills...

I LOVE these!

Thanks :)

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