Garden Castle

Leann
by Leann
3 Materials
Whimsical castle for the garden
Poured mortar mix (4 parts mix to 1 part water) into large plastic cups for the towers and funnels for the turrets. The wall was made by pouring the mortar into a hard ice cube tray and then glued together. The bridge was made by drilling holes in pieces of driftwood and wired with copper wiring. Arch was purchased from 'fairy section' of Hobby Lobby.
Find your 'mold'. I used large and medium sized plastic cups and a larger water bottle with the top cut out for the towers. For the wall, I used 2 hard plastic 1/2 moon shaped ice cube trays. I purchased 3 funnels from Ace Hardware store and plugged the holes so the mortar wouldn't seep out. SPRAY EVERYTHING WITH PAM!!
Mix the mortar, 4 parts mix to 1 part water, pour into molds and allow to dry for a few hours. The ice cube trays are super easy to work with and if mixed properly will pop right out. If using water bottles, you will probably have to cut them off the hardened mortar. The plastic cups I used were hard plastic but flexible and slipped out pretty easily. Allow to dry overnight. I strayed the 'turrets' with brown spray paint and I've also used the Rustoleum Hammered Texture Spray Paint which gives a rich surface. For the 'towers' I used Rustoleum Stone spray paint and allowed it all to dry overnight and then sealed it with Thompson's Water Seal spray. For the wall, I took one row of ice cube shapes with the flat end down, glued the next row upside down onto the first row and continued building for my desired height. The arch for this one was purchased from the fairy section of Hobby Lobby, but I've also made an arch out of a metal wreath hanger and glued river rocks to it. The bridge was constructed with flat driftwood with two holed drilled in each end and then strapped together with copper wiring.
Suggested materials:
  • Mortar mix   (Menard's)
  • Ice cube trays   (Bed, Bath and Beyond)
  • Drift wood, copper wiring, fairy arch, and Locktite glue   (Hobby Lobby)
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