Having the opportunity to travel outside the city is great, and if you also have a vacation at your own summer cottage, it’s generally great. But the standard dachas, where we see only cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and other necessary vegetables and fruits, evoke melancholy more than the desire to relax. And I don’t want to work in such an atmosphere at all. What if you put in a little imagination and effort and turn your country cottage area a real miracle? Believe me, your household members will not want to return to the city after the transformation of the dacha. And for such a transformation to take place, you will need DIY garden crafts. What do we mean? Watch, read, choose and be inspired.
Original DIY crafts for the garden and dacha from scrap materials
Of course, today most farm stores and flower stalls offer various options garden sculptures, pots and other beauty. But this pleasure is by no means cheap: to completely transform your site, you will need to shell out a tidy sum. Do you want to spend money? No? Then you've come to the right place. We will tell you how to create all this beauty with your own hands from materials that almost every thrifty owner can find.
So, this section of our website contains ideas that are worthy of taking a place on your site. We invite you to get acquainted with the technology of making flower beds from tires, original flower beds from plastic bottles, figurines of birds, animals, gnomes, the same bottles and other materials. And with us you can create real castles for your children, small fountains, relaxation corners, etc.
In addition to “traditional” materials, we will use completely unusual ones, for example, old typewriters, cases of different toy cars, children's buckets and much, much more. In principle, from our articles you will learn that you can decorate your garden or summer cottage with anything, and such DIY garden crafts will definitely delight your loved ones and guests.
Collection of ideas for crafts
Our articles and reviews are devoted not only to materials from which you can create, but also to various ideas.
We will tell you exactly what you can create in your dacha. How do you like the idea of such DIY garden crafts as:
- garden gnomes and other fairy-tale characters;
- children's slides;
- fountains;
- hammocks and loungers for relaxation;
- benches;
- swing;
- flower beds and flower beds;
- figurines from plants;
- Japanese stone gardens;
- original armchairs and sun loungers;
- play areas;
- houses and huts;
- birdhouses and bird pens;
- interestingly decorated booths.
Do you think this is the whole list? In vain! This is only a small part of what can be placed on your summer cottage.
Arrangement of crafts in the garden or on the site
It’s not enough to come up with and carry out a craft, you need to find a place for it on the site. Therefore, we have devoted a number of articles to how exactly you can place everything that you create.
In the articles there are many descriptions of different gardens and dachas with photographs in which you will see entire families of pigs walking in the garden, swans made of tires strewn with flowers, which are located near the porch of the house, and so on.
It is important when decorating the site not to overdo it and to correctly combine crafts for the garden with your own hands. The fact is that a large pile of everything will only repel.
How to combine different crafts, create entire scenes from them, organize a recreation and games area - all this will be discussed in our materials.
Creating with us will not only be easy, but most importantly, it will be interesting!
What can a person come up with! It would seem that from an unnecessary thing that just needs to be thrown away, you can make something unusual and useful, breathe new life into it.
Usually, old ones are adapted for a summer cottage. car tires, tires, sheets of plywood, old stumps and snags and other items.
Have you ever thought about what you can do? interesting crafts from polyurethane foam for a dacha? Some people have probably heard about this, but most were probably surprised. Therefore, today we will tell you what can be done from of this material and how to turn it into a craft.
What crafts can be made from polyurethane foam for the garden?
Polyurethane foam is a very common material in construction. With its help, seams and voids are sealed, in which it expands, filling the entire space. After hardening, it becomes hard, but has little weight. When creating crafts from it, it is worth considering the basic properties of this material. In addition, polyurethane foam can be easily trimmed.
Why can it be used to create crafts? The fact is that polyurethane foam takes any shape, and its positive property is resistance to various unfavorable factors environment - allows you to display crafts in the garden. They are not afraid of precipitation or frost.
Light weight and the absence of sharp edges and corners make such crafts safe for kids. Therefore, you can safely place your masterpiece on the playground. You can also make a fairly large structure from foam, which, as mentioned above, will have little weight.
The most popular figures from polyurethane foam are various animals: frogs, sheep, hedgehogs, cows, etc. They will look great near a pond, flower bed, on a playground, near trees and shrubs, and even in the middle of a lawn.
The craft can be either stylized, cartoonish, or very “alive”, similar to a real animal. It all depends on your personal preferences.
In addition to animals, you can make stylized mushrooms beautiful flowers. They look no worse than those made from stone, stump or wood.
If you really want to, you can even build a mini-house, an airplane, a tower and other similar structures. In addition, making garden crafts from polyurethane foam is very interesting activity, which will help take free time. And the ease of working with this building material will not require any special expenses from you.
We make garden crafts from polyurethane foam with our own hands
When working with this material, you should follow some rules. Thus, polyurethane foam has the property of quickly setting to the surface with which it comes into contact. It’s the same with our hands - they need to be protected from foam adhesion. To do this, you will need fabric gloves (cotton), and have several pairs of them.
You should also prepare a special cleaner in advance, with which you can clean the mounting gun. By the way, you will also need it, just like the polyurethane foam itself.
Having purchased everything you need and decided on what your craft will look like, you can get to work. The technology is not complicated, you need to make a figurine frame and cover it with layers of foam, each of which dries for about 15-20 minutes. Any available materials are suitable for the frame: boards, old unnecessary pots of different diameters, various banks and other containers.
It’s like an artist draws a picture - first the circles, squares and ovals that make up the figure, and then begins to draw out the details. It’s the same here – fill the mold on top and use a knife to give it the features you want.
The finished figurine can be painted and varnished on top. This simple technology will allow you to create almost any craft for the garden.
Now let's look at a few specific examples . It's very easy to make a cute hedgehog. This craft is perfect for a beginner. In addition to the materials discussed above, you will also need toothpicks. We make an ellipse out of foam, which will be the body of the hedgehog. When it hardens, cut off the excess, forming a figure. To make the hedgehog smooth, you can paste it over in several layers toilet paper with PVA glue.
After that, we start sticking toothpicks. Moreover, they can first be dipped 3/4 in black paint, and the ends in gold. It is better to paint the hedgehog itself before attaching the “needles”.
It's also easy to do and ladybug . Fill the hemisphere and cut it out the required form, then color it. When selecting paint, be careful; it should not corrode the polyurethane foam.
If your vase breaks, do not rush to throw it away. It is enough to cover it with foam, which will hold the shards together, and when it hardens, cover it with paint. Gold or silver coloring looks beautiful, and the vase itself does not need to be cleaned. Leave it textured and lumpy.
More complex crafts require some skill and more time. For example, to create a deer, the most difficult thing is to make the frame. Large plastic bottles are suitable for the body, wire legs are suitable, and a glass is suitable for the face.
Then we slowly apply layers of polyurethane foam one by one. Then we clean it, give it its final shape, prime it with paint (acrylic), apply varnish and paint it. As a result, you will get a cute fawn, almost like a real one.
For most owners, the dacha seems to be a place for relaxation. However, in order to properly design the site, you need to spend enough large amounts. In this regard, some summer residents are looking for opportunities to save money, which is why they are trying to create crafts from polyurethane foam that look no less aesthetically pleasing than figurines made of plastic, metal and wood. And today this option continues to compete with another equally common method - creating crafts from plastic bottles.
Every person who does not have special skills and knowledge is able to make his own personal plot more attractive. The main thing is to have abstract thinking, be patient and prepare minimal set of tools. All this will be enough for cheerful gnomes, frogs, sheep and Christmas trees to appear in the garden area, the creation of which will require quite available materials.
Manufacturing technology
The first issue that must be resolved by the summer resident is the preparation of materials and tools, without which it will be impossible to make crafts from polyurethane foam. Moreover, you should not neglect any element of the list, since this will subsequently affect the quality of the work and the time it will require.
To make a product frame, you can use plastic bottles, which are pre-filled with sand, boards, metal objects and thick wire. In some cases, you can use ordinary brick to create the basis for a future mushroom on your site.
- polyurethane foam;
- spray foam gun;
- gun cleaner.
A good idea is to use a sculpture for growing flowers in it. But to do this, in its center you will have to install a certain container, like a bucket, tin can or the aforementioned plastic bottle.
- varnish, paint and brushes for them;
- stationery or other knife;
- several pairs of gloves. You should definitely have them, as this will help protect your hands from mounting foam, which quickly and firmly sticks to your hands.
If we take a closer look at the process of making garden figures from polyurethane foam, we can distinguish two stages that are carried out in a certain sequence.
- work begins by covering the base with a layer of foam, after which they wait for a pause, which is necessary for the material to harden;
- Then we apply the next layer of foam and so on until we achieve the required shape of the product.
When the desired result is achieved, take a regular stationery knife and use it to trim off the excess protrusions. In progress similar work We give the sculpture the desired contour, after which we can proceed to painting it. To complete all the work, you will have to spend from 1 hour to several days. The specific period is determined by the size of the product and the thickness of the applied layer.
It is recommended to make garden figures from polyurethane foam in a separate dry room which should be clean and have limited access for children. Otherwise, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort to remove the foam from the surfaces, and for this you will need gasoline or acetone.
Manufacturing examples with instructions
Next, we will look at examples of various figures for the garden from polyurethane foam, which can be made even without having experience in this matter. But in order to achieve the required result, it is necessary to perform all operations in the exact sequence. A couple of hours will pass and you will feel like a real creator, in whose hands ordinary polyurethane foam turns into real masterpieces of art.
Christmas tree
The master class on making a Christmas tree from polyurethane foam is quite simple and understandable. Required in advance prepare the branches, which need to be fixed to the iron pipe. You can use tape or wire as a retainer.
Then, using a spray bottle, the workpiece is moistened, which will improve the adhesive properties of the foam when it is applied to the base.
After this, we begin to process the structure with polyurethane foam; in this matter, you can completely rely on your imagination.
Having such accessible things as scraps of sticks, twigs, polyurethane foam and fishing line on hand, it will not be difficult for you to do it yourself christmas tree. And to give a natural look, the tree can be painted acrylic paint Green colour.
Ball
If you are afraid to take on complex garden figures made of polyurethane foam, then you can choose the simplest product, which is a ball. Those who do not have experience in making figures from polyurethane foam with their own hands to decorate the garden are recommended to take the first steps by creating this particular figure. And, once you get the hang of it, you can try to create more complex decorations and sculptures.
The master class itself includes the following actions:
- first we need a paint can into which we need to pour sand;
- Next, we take polyurethane foam and cover our workpiece in layers;
- when the product acquires the required dimensions and the initial shape changes to spherical, take a knife and cut off the excess parts;
- we treat our ball with varnish;
- We complete the work of making the ball by painting, for which you can use the colorful material that you like best.
Ram and ewe
We begin the master class on making this garden figure from polyurethane foam with our own hands by creating a frame. To do this we need several plastic bottles that need to be connected to each other using tape. As a result, the craft should resemble something like the “skeleton” of an animal. To give our figure greater stability, the lower limbs can be filled with sand.
After this, you can begin to process the craft using foam. To avoid wastage of material, it is recommended to wrap the frame with isolon or other polymer material. After covering the figure with the first layer of foam, it should already be clear to you what you should get upon completion of this work.
To create the ears we use pieces of leather. You can also use plastic bottles to make them, which will first have to be heated and bent
To make a muzzle, you will have to use a knife, using it to form the necessary features.
To make our animals look beautiful, they need to be varnish.
Goat
To make the frame you will need thick wire, which must be wrapped around several plastic bottles.
To make a leg frame, it is recommended to use metal pipes. They are attached to the pedestal by welding, after which they are fixed to the ground, or they can simply be fixed bolted connection. Make sure that the base of the figure is firmly secured, otherwise the wind or rain will cause it to fall to the ground.
Then the craft needs cover with 1-2 layers of polyurethane foam.
To make the horns and tail, take wooden shelves or we use plastic cuts and attach them to the base.
Having finished applying last layer, it is necessary to remove excess parts, after which we wrap the product with sickle or fishing line.
We finish the job by painting, but first we need to apply a layer of primer. When choosing a color, you can completely rely on your own preferences, because this is your creation and you can show all your imagination here.
We use buttons to make eyes.
Now our goat is ready and can be installed where you see fit - next to a pond, in a clearing, surrounded by other design elements.
Keep in mind that the process of making this craft it will take you 1-2 weeks, since you will have to wait a pause so that each layer of foam can harden. Thus, using abandoned pipes, plastic bottles, pieces of wire and other garbage and a couple of balloons of polyurethane foam, you can easily create beautiful decorative elements for your summer cottage.
New Year's crafts
If you only have wire and a can of polyurethane foam at your disposal, then only with their help you can make wonderful New Year’s decorations for the garden. These materials will be enough to make a variety of ornaments, Christmas decorations, as well as crafts of varying degrees of complexity.
A good idea is to create a snowflake. For this you need to take a wire of a certain thickness so that you can bend it easily. It will serve as material for creating the frame of a future snowflake. We begin to cover it with 1-2 layers of foam. Needed immediately adjust the form, giving it an even and smooth surface, and this must be done before the foam hardens. If any part of the figure turned out incorrectly, then you can add a small amount of price at any time and remove unnecessary parts using stationery knife.
You will have even fewer difficulties when making a Christmas ball. The master class on implementing this idea will boil down to the following. To do this, you need to take a tennis ball and apply a layer of foam. When the material has hardened, we paint the craft, adding bright and positive colors to create a New Year's mood.
You can also offer a simpler option for making a Christmas tree. It will require cardboard or isolon, which is wound on a rigid base, giving it the shape of a cone. You can easily apply a couple of layers of polyurethane foam. Next, all that remains is to give the craft a smooth surface, paint and find a suitable place for the Christmas tree.
Conclusion
In order to make your backyard more attractive, you don’t have to go to the store and buy special decorative ornaments. It is within the power of any site owner to make their own beautiful crafts for garden. Moreover, for this you can use the most affordable materials, one of which can be polyurethane foam.
It's quite easy to work with, so even an owner who has never had to do such a thing can easily cope with this task. Just study the master class on creating figures for the garden, and you will succeed.
Garden figures It is quite easy to make it yourself from polyurethane foam; for this you will need a minimum of available materials. Armed with a can of polyurethane foam, you can make almost any figure that will become a real decoration for your garden.
Using a plastic bottle and polyurethane foam, you can make your own original garden figure.
How to make a stork from polyurethane foam?
You will need:
- plastic eggplant from under water;
- thick wire;
- Styrofoam;
- stationery tape;
- polyurethane foam;
- wood chip;
- electrodes (for bird legs);
- sharp knife;
- poultry feathers;
- paint and varnish for facade work.
A do-it-yourself stork made from polyurethane foam will become the highlight of your garden. The first step is to build a frame, which will subsequently be covered with polyurethane foam. The basis of the frame is a 5 liter plastic water bottle. The head of the bird is placed on the bottom side, the neck serves as the tail.
The stork's neck is made of thick wire: a small piece of foam is applied to the bottle, pierced with the wire at an angle so that the wire rests against the wall of the bottle. To make a bird's head, take a small piece of round-shaped foam plastic and place it on the end of a wire. The nose is made from a piece of wood or a small piece of wire.
Bird legs are made from electrodes that have failed; you can also use metal fittings. Pieces of foam plastic are placed at the junction of the legs and the body, since the legs of the stork are thick at the top. The stork will be inserted into the ground with electrodes, so the figure does not require additional weighting, but if desired, you can fill the eggplant with sand.
For the wings, flat pieces of polystyrene foam in the shape of a semicircle are suitable - they are attached with wire to the sides of the eggplant. In order to give the frame the necessary strength, it is wrapped with tape. Work begins from the head, gradually moving to the base of the bird’s legs. There is no need to wrap electrodes with tape.
PVA glue is used to prime the figure.
After all the parts are fastened together, they begin to shape it using polyurethane foam. The foam is squeezed out in small zigzags or stripes, but there is no need to try to exactly follow the contours of the bird, since all the excess will then be cut off. Important: foam is placed thin layers with mandatory intermediate drying. The construction material dries quickly enough, so the next layer can be applied in 15-30 minutes.
After the foam has hardened, they begin to form the sculpture: using sharp knife cut off all excess. All that remains is to paint the stork. In order to reduce paint consumption, it is necessary to apply a primer that forms protective film and will not allow the porous foam to absorb paint. As a primer, you can use PVA glue, diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 2. The neck and body of the bird are painted in White color, the tips of the wings and the tail are painted black, the nose and legs are covered with red paint. The result is fixed with any facade varnish. At the end of the work, a bunch of real feathers of a goose, duck or rooster is inserted into the hole for the tail (neck of the bottle). A stork figurine is placed in a flowerbed with electrodes (legs) buried in the ground.
How to make a donkey from polyurethane foam?
You will need:
- 10 liter water bottle;
- can;
- wire;
- sharp knife;
- polyurethane foam;
- glue gun or double-sided tape;
- wooden boards (for legs);
- façade putty;
- primer;
- facade paint and varnish.
Polyurethane foam figures can be small or large, it all depends on your imagination and available materials. To make a donkey you will need a 10 liter plastic water bottle. A tin can is perfect for the head, and if you don’t have one on the farm, you can use a cut-off 5-liter jar. The donkey's legs are made of wooden planks, the tail is made of wire or glazing bead. The head and legs are glued using glue gun or double-sided tape, the tail is inserted at a slight angle into the hole made in advance.
In order to make the figure heavier, you need to fill the eggplant with dry sand - it is better to do this after the glue has dried.
When making garden figures, a special gun for polyurethane foam is used.
Layers of polyurethane foam are applied to the prepared frame. It is necessary to let the previous layer dry for 15-20 minutes, only after that the next layer of foam is applied.
Donkey ears are made from wire, which is bent in the shape of a semicircle. Then the wire frame is wrapped with tape or paper, inserted into the donkey’s head, and then foam is applied to the ears. Next, the foam is cut with a knife in such a way as to give the figure the desired shape.
To make the sculpture look believable, it is necessary to apply it on top of the mounting foam. façade putty, having previously primed the product. The primer improves the adhesion of materials, so you should not ignore this process. Using wet putty, small details are worked out: nostrils are cut out, the eyes of an animal are made. After the putty has dried, pass over the surface sandpaper with fine grain. The donkey figurine is painted with acrylic façade paint and then coated with waterproof varnish.
Foam mushrooms
You will need:
- plastic bottle;
- Styrofoam;
- wire;
- stationery knife;
- primer;
- façade putty;
- acrylic facade paint and varnish.
Even a child can make mushrooms from polyurethane foam; for this you do not need to have the talent of a sculptor or artist. To make a mushroom stem you will need a plastic bottle. To give the figurine stability, the bottle is filled with pebbles or dry sand. Foam is applied to the bottle so that at the bottom there is a thickening characteristic of a mushroom. The foam is distributed in thin layers with intermediate drying.
To make a mushroom cap, take foam plastic, cut a circle out of it, and you don’t need to try to repeat exact shape, since in nature there are no mushrooms with perfectly round caps. Foam is applied to the foam in such a way that a cone is gradually formed. A strong wire is inserted into the stem of the mushroom, a cap is placed on it, and the junction of the parts can be coated with glue. Next, apply the last layer of foam, allow it to harden, and then cut off all excess.
Polyurethane foam is a porous material that easily absorbs moisture, so the product must be primed. If this is not done, the moisture from the putty will turn into foam, which will make finishing material drier, and this may subsequently lead to cracking of the surface. If the farm does not have a primer, it can be replaced with gelatin. Gelatin is soaked in cold water(15 g per 100 ml), allow it to swell, and then melt it in a water bath. Melted gelatin is diluted warm water. The figure is treated with this solution 2-3 times with intermediate drying.
Next, facade putty is applied to the mushroom (can be replaced with plaster) and left until completely dry. The surface is first sanded with medium-grain sandpaper, then fine-grained paper is used. The product is primed again - if this is not done, the paint consumption will double. The mushroom cap is painted in Brown color, for the legs use white with the addition of ocher. The work is coated with façade or yacht varnish in 2-3 layers.
Garden figures made from polyurethane foam will add an atmosphere of comfort and make the estate individual and unique. Anyone can make a mushroom, a stork or a donkey, if you show a little imagination and acquire the necessary materials.
Do you want to improve your summer cottage or the area near a private house, but are tired of the consumer goods offered in the store? Or do you want to decorate the playground? Then think about whether you can do everything yourself using... polyurethane foam.
In fact, the choice of polyurethane foam as a material for sculpture is unusual only at first glance, because if you take into account its pliability and softness, then the gradual increase in popularity of crafts made from this material becomes quite understandable.
Necessary materials
What will you need to create sculptures from polyurethane foam and where to start?
In fact, the list of materials is short:
- plastic bottles;
- cans of polyurethane foam;
- dye;
Plastic bottles will be needed as a frame for the future figure and their volume directly depends on the size of the sculpture. The amount of foam is also calculated based on the size of the planned craft. It is worth noting that the volume of foam at the exit of the cylinder ranges from 50 to 70 liters. Usually there is a marking on the cylinders indicating the amount of foam coming out. The choice of paint is entirely up to you; it can be oil-based, in spray cans, or any other. It should really be noted that if the craft is intended to be used outdoors under open air, you should choose paint that is resistant to natural influences.
To make a sheep you will need the following amount of materials:
- plastic bottles 4 pcs, 2 l each;
- Isolon (this is a special backing for linoleum, can be purchased at any hardware store);
- 5 cylinders of polyurethane foam, 70 l each;
- adhesive tape or in other words adhesive tape;
- paint, varnish;
First, we make a frame from plastic bottles. It doesn't have to be perfect, just well made so it doesn't fall apart.
Then you should cut the isolon into narrow strips 2-3 cm wide
The next step is to wrap the frame with strips of isolon to give it more volume. We secure the isolon strips with tape so that they do not unwind.
After the frame is wrapped with isolon, you can attach a sheep's tail made of ordinary wire.
After this, you can apply polyurethane foam to the frame. The foam is applied in layers. Apply each new layer only after the previous one has dried; to speed up drying, you can spray it with water. The fact is that water coming into contact with the foam triggers a reaction, which accelerates the hardening of the foam.
The foam should be applied as evenly as possible so that imperfections do not have to be corrected.
After our sheep has been shaped using foam and the foam has completely hardened, we can proceed to the details. To start, you can glue on the ears.
Then you can correct the sheep's face using a stationery knife, and then decorate it.
All that remains is to paint the hooves, draw the eyes, and the sculpture is ready.
It should be noted that foam is a fairly toxic material and should only be worked with in well-ventilated areas. It is also quite sticky, and therefore you should stock up on acetone or special solvent for polyurethane foam and patience.
In general, foam is a fertile material, and almost any figure can be made from it, as long as you have enough imagination, patience and time. Starting from the simplest and smallest to the size of a human being.
How to make an ironing board
