Concrete Clay Garden Face Planter

Made by Christine Kepler

I found Jonni’s You tube videos while searching for hypertufa recipes. I’ve used the old paper strip and flour paste paper mache before, and I’d made huge cast concrete leaves, so of course I had to try Jonni’s recipe out. I’d seen pictures on the web using a Styrofoam wig form to create a face urn, so that’s where I started. I started out attaching the shaved down wig form to a garden paver brick with some of the concrete clay, then gave the hollowed out head a skim coat. After that had dried for a couple days, I mixed up a larger and stiffer batch of clay and modeled the face and hair. I wrapped everything up for a couple weeks, let it cure, then used a wire brush, a large metal rasp, small file, and some emery boards to shave down and refine some of the features. I’ve never sculpted a human face before, so I have some studying to do, but I am hooked on this concrete clay. It is now outside in the rain after three weeks so it can leach out the concrete, then I will be planting it full of trailing sedum to simulate more hair. I want to try a man with a beard next!