SYNOPSIS
A water well in the center of the backyard is not necessarily the most beautiful thing to look at. As a personal project for my mother, I decided to take it upon myself to design something that would hide the well but also maintain easy access if needed. The final product was a bird bath made of concrete and cedar wood.
TIMELINE
6 weeks (Summer 2020)
TYPE & TECHNIQUES
Personal Project // Sketching, Prototyping, Trial & Error, Woodworking, Cementing
before and after
First Cement bowl
While creating the first bowl, I used two circular trays bought from Lowes. Their original purpose was plant saucers to place under pots, but they worked perfectly for what I needed. One was smaller than the other by a few inches which made a nice rim around the edge.
The cement that I used was an old bag that had been stored in my family's garage for years. The cement did not hold the shape and crumbled apart.
Cedar wood base
The base was made of cedar wood. It is known to age and weather well, so I was excited to see that I could access it. The planks were tongue and groove which made assembly easy. After measuring each piece out, we cut them and started to assemble the frame.
The frame was made from some scrap wood pieces I had access to. I built two "H" forms with the scrap pieces to give the cedar wood something to be supported by and nailed into. After putting them into the ground, I had to carefully nail each plank by measurement and eye. If I didn't, the cedar tongue and groove boards would not match corners. I also had to level each plank, as the ground underneath was not level.
Second Cement Bowl
After installing the wooden base, I got back to work on making a second cement bowl. Although I perfected the timing and craft, it was too small to cover the top of the base.
Third Cement Bowl
It took a lot of searching to find bigger trays to cast the cement in, but I was able to find two plastic ones that fit similarly to the originals. Because the bowls were much bigger than what we originally used, I did not mix enough concrete. These trays were much thinner than the previous ones as well, which caused issues when trying to push the top bowl down into the concrete. After it dried, I sprayed it down with a waterproofing spray, but water still leaked though the holes.
fourth, and final, cement bowl
Trial and error only gives learning opportunities to the creator. This was the first time that I worked with cement and I was inexperienced with wood crafting, but this project helped my knowledge on both. The final bowl was created by putting down a base layer, setting in the top bowl with weights, and filling in the sides. It worked perfectly.
The Final
