Making garden figures with their own hands: the subtleties and secrets of technology

Recently, the decoration of summer cottages and household plots, especially with their own hands, has become a fashionable and popular occupation and hobby for many people. This is not strange, because in addition to the main goal - the harvest, many people go to the country to relax and have a good time away from the bustle of the city. Therefore, almost all owners of summer and garden plots are puzzled to create the most cozy, comfortable atmosphere, as well as to give the space an aesthetically unique look.

More recently, the decoration of the site with original and sometimes amusing figures and small sculptures came into fashion.

Of course, many will prefer to buy ready-made figures, for example, made of stone or plastic, in a store, where a huge variety of different fairy-tale characters, animals and so on are represented. However, it is much more interesting to do the work with your own hands. Thus, in each of the sculptures you can put a piece of your love and, of course, creativity. Handy materials are quite suitable for creating any conceived figures. The process of "invention" and "sculpturing" your character is always very like and fascinates children. You can add them to the creative process.

The ideas in the creation of landscape sculptures are vast. These could be favorite fairy-tale heroes, for example, multi-colored gnomes, the fierce Serpent Gorynych, the cunning Puss in Boots, the Golden Fish, or the raven-haired Firebird. There is no limit to the flow of fantasy!

An important rule is that decorative figures should correspond to the design of the space and appearance of the house. If there is a small pond in the garden, the army of funny frogs will fit perfectly into its space, and brave golden-maned lions, sitting on the lawn at home, will be able to guard and guard the dwelling.Some craftsmen and craftswomen are so addicted to the process that the summer cottage or garden turns into a real fairytale city.

Garden figures can be made with your own hands from a variety of materials.

Gypsum is a popular material in the manufacture of figures for the garden, and it is also easy to use. One of the main conditions in working with gypsum is that the figures must have strength and resistance to moisture. Precision in manufacturing is not important. Small figures, as a rule, are made with their own hands without the basis and use of any equipment.

Scale models where it is necessary to reproduce massive parts of the body or work with large parts require a reinforced frame. It performs the function of the "skeleton" of the product. Finished work is mounted on the foundation with protruding elements of the foot.

The technology of fashioning is quite simple. A mixture of diluted gypsum with white glue is laid out layer by layer, allowing each previous layer to dry.If desired, the finished gypsum product can be painted and varnished.

To decorate the garden, you can make a variety of shapes yourself from wire. It can be both self-sufficient products, and decorative elements, such as supports for flowers, lamps, as well as elegant vases. With the help of wire, you can make a decorative brazier, resembling the image of an animal or character, it can also be small benches, a table, miniature gazebos and more.

Nowadays, such a trend as topiary, or in other words, garden shrub sculpture is gaining popularity.

As you know, plastic is easily cut, painted and retains its shape for a long time. One of the most spectacular products made from plastic bottles is a palm tree. In addition, a tropical plant in the middle of the garden or cottage looks quite exotic and unique. To perform such work, you must stock up with a large number of plastic containers.green and brown shades.

Very often various flowers, trees and birds are made of this material. The technology is very simple, but the finished work looks really attractive.

Wood is a unique material from which you can build a lot of options for garden crafts. Owning the basic technique of carving and burning wood, even an ordinary old stump can be turned into a work of art. Wooden decorations look natural and are able to transform even the darkest corners of the garden or cottage.

Wood is affordable, and the range of its varieties is very wide - it can be rods, old snags, stumps, sheets of plywood or chipboard. In work, the tree is very nice, easy to process.

Products made of birch branches look incredibly beautiful. Even without surface treatment, wood work will look very attractive, and if you varnish it, you can prolong its life and make it stronger.

Cement can not be called "capricious" material, butIn order to get a high-quality and durable result of working with it, you need to follow a number of rules and a clear sequence, in a word - you will have to try. As a rule, for the preparation of a standard cement mortar it is necessary to mix cement, water, mortar sand and tile glue (it is used to avoid the appearance of cracks in the finished crafts).

Cement requires prolonged drying. To figure out the cement is completely frozen, it may take from 7 to 10 days. For smoothing roughness use sandpaper or a file.

Metal products are primarily characterized by high strength. Often, such products in the garden perform not only a decorative, but also a practical function. These can be small forged shops, lanterns, openwork flower stands and more. As a rule, people prefer to buy forged pieces in stores or ask to make to order. Such a pleasure is quite expensive, although it is distinguished by its uniqueness and is often the author's work.

But having made efforts and imagination, having rummaged in blockages from old improvised metal materials, which somehow slowly accumulate in each house (and even more so in the country), you can build a real masterpiece.

For example, old nails can be excellent stems for daisies or dandelions, the old coins that have become obsolete can serve as feathers of the miracle bird or scales of fairytale fish. You can bond the metal parts together with the “Moment” glue, unless, of course, the product is very large.

To seal the miniature metal parts, you can use a soldering iron or a blowtorch. To improve the decorative appearance of the finished product it is covered with a special paint designed for application to a metal surface.

Concrete is a material from which you can recreate any form and shape. Many ideas with the use of concrete can be carried out by a person who has not dealt with this material before.It is worth remembering that when working with cement or concrete, gloves are always necessarily worn.

The essence and principle of working with concrete is the same as with cement. To give the figure the necessary dimensions, the concrete is poured into the baths or forms, left to dry, and then polished and decorated.

Perhaps one of the most fashionable solutions for the garden is topiary. As mentioned above, topiary is a green sculpture made from artificial grass or moss. The product is able to revive the landscape of the site, as well as the most natural way to fit into the picture of the environment.

Manufacturing topiary requires considerable effort and time. However, if you put persistence and patience, everyone can do the work. The easiest way to make hollow figures is to use a metal frame, which can be easily purchased at any gardening shop. The frame is made in the form of a lattice with sufficient gaps to access the penetration inside. In the "core" of the metal structure is placed a mixture of earth with peat or moss.

The simplest and cheapest material to decorate your garden or cottage, are ordinary stones. From stones of different sizes and shapes, you can create the most unusual compositions. Many of us, returning home from a summer vacation, cannot grab with them even a small armful of sea stones, which lie in a “long” box, only taking up space. Just sea pebbles would be an excellent material for any crafts.

From such stones, you can lay a bright path, various mosaics, lay out multi-colored stones with inscriptions of the names of the owners of the country house, make a homemade small fountain of stones and much more.

What do not use self-taught designers in order to elevate your favorite suburban area. It can be almost anything that comes to hand: old cups, forks, spoons and plates, watering cans, obsolete cars and carts, tires, plastic bags, nails, and so on. This list can go on forever.

It turns out that you can also create real works of art from old automobile tires. Rubber is a durable material that is resistant to both temperature changes and to increased moisture.The most popular decorations of the landscape with the use of car tires are homemade flower beds, figures of various animals, sandboxes, swings, and so on.

In working with tires, the following set of tools is most often used: a jigsaw, a knife, an electric drill, a grinder, and a saw on metal. Rubber is quite malleable and easy to paint.

Polyfoam easily gives in to processing and weighs almost nothing - these are the key moments that the novice designer of the dacha space should know. That is why each figurine made from this material should be fixed on the ground with a cement solution. Polystyrene, as a rule, can deteriorate due to interaction with acetone and dichloroethane. However, working with him is easy and pleasant. The details of the foam plastic are perfectly bonded to each other, and in shape they can be both flat and voluminous.

Choosing the right shape for making figures is the right key to success. Speaking of the water bodies, in the first place, on practicality and convenience, are silicone molds or molds, the main advantage of which is the easy separation of the filled product from the mold itself. This is more relevant in working with a plaster mortar.Also, in some cases, it is necessary to use special chambers for drying, if we are talking about large-scale figures.

But in most cases it is the improvised means that are used as forms for the future product filling. Take, for example, the most simple and popular figure of plaster - a mushroom. As a leg, you can take a cut plastic bottle, and for pouring the cap - an ordinary small bowl or plate.

Many owners of suburban areas have a sculpture of a dog near the house. The faithful friend will always protect your house from troubles and please the eye, moreover, 2018 is the year of the dog, therefore it is considered that the presence of an animal in the garden or at the dacha is particularly favorable for karma space.

The following is a small step by step master class on making dogs, where the main material is ordinary (preferably thick) bags of any color.

• We form the body of the dog from foam rubber and we cover it with a cloth. We sew ears and a tail from the same pieces of fabric.

• From the packages cut by strips, we make mrushushki (it has to remind a fringe).
• Then, starting from the back, in the direction of the head, we sheathe the foam rubber frame of the doggie with chopped strips with fringe.

• Sew on spout (can be cut from fabric or leather).
• We sew eyes from beads.
• We decorate the dog bows or collar.

As it became clear from the article, the work on making the figures in the garden with your own hands is a whole creative process, where there is no limit to perfection.

Below are a few successful works done by yourself.

How to make a cute cat out of plaster with your own hands, you can learn from the following video.