I have been having so much fun playing around with concrete and plaster lately, but I have been wanting to experiment a bit by adding a bit of color to the mix. I know that I could always paint the finished product, but I wanted to try to retain the matte concrete look by adding the color into the mix, and I also had the grand idea to create a marble look with the concrete using different colors of mix. The results weren’t exactly what I was going for (not marbled enough for my tastes), but they weren’t that bad, so I figured I would share them with you anyway. These tiny little layered concrete planters are the perfect desk accessory and you can easily customize them in your choice of colors. And maybe you will be able to swirl the colors together a bit more for a more marbled look!

The Supplies:

• Maker’s Mix concrete mix (available at Joann Stores) or any other concrete mix
• Acrylic Craft Paint (I have also heard that powdered tempra paint works well)
• Half Circle Silicone Mold
• Paper cup and plastic spoon
• Bottom of plastic Easter egg and a golf ball

I have seen several tutorials that say that you can’t mix acrylic paint with concrete or plaster, but I have found that you actually can in small amounts. Likely if you added too much it wouldn’t set correctly, but so far in my experimenting I haven’t had a problem with the concrete setting.

I began by choosing my paint colors. Since I was using a gray concrete, the colors that I mixed with the concrete mix wouldn’t be as vibrant and would darken slightly, so I went with shades of blue. I did try a bright pink and in turned into a light pinkish gray color, not bad, but not really what I was hoping for.

Once I had my colors (navy blue and turquoise), I started by mixing about 1/2 cup of powered concrete, about 1 TBSP of acrylic paint (I eyeballed this), and enough water to create a thick pancake batter consistency. This first color got added to my mold and then I quickly repeated the process with the next color of paint and poured it in the mold. Finally I finished with the plain gray concrete. Making sure to leave about a 1/4″ of the mold unfilled.

Now that my mold was filled, I gently swirled the colors of concrete together and placed my Easter egg bottom with a golf ball inside to weigh it down. As you can see above I did not follow my own advise and filled the mold a little too full. So I had to use my finger to gently remove the excess mix that spilled over the sides when I inserted my egg pieces.

Then it was time to let it dry. Once it had dried and cured overnight, I
un-molded the concrete and planted with my mini succulents.

The next time I make these I plan to try to swirl the concrete together a
bit more to create more of a marbled look. But all in all, these mini planters
are still super cute and I love that I have found an easy way to color the
concrete and still get that industrial concrete look.