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Is my Toad going to survive a Minnesota winter?
A lot of people are getting anxious to know how my experiment with the paper cement clay is working out. Our snow melted enough for me to find my toad this morning, so I checked to see how he’s doing.
I put the recipe online in July, 2022, and a week later I made my sculpture of a toad sitting on a squash leaf. The toad has been outside since early August, in hot sun and very cold snow.
So far, he looks exactly the same as he did when I put him outside seven months ago. The paper cement clay is still hard as a rock, and the sealer I used has protected the paint, even though he sat in the hot sun for several summer months and under a foot of snow this winter.
I’m looking forward to making more outdoor sculptures. Now I just wish I had a nice flower garden to put them in. 🙂
Links to things mentioned in the video:
- Paper Cement Clay Recipe Video
- Leaf Casting made with paper cement clay
- Folk Art Bunny
- Gnome Tutorial
- Gnome Update (about the paint)
- Starting the toad sculpture, with pattern
- Painting the toad
Several other people have created sculptures with the recipe, including Michele’s lizard, Anthony’s Frankenstein’s monster, and Janice’s very tall giraffe. If I missed any, please let me know so I can add them here.Â
We hope to hear back about their experiments in the spring to find out how well their sculptures are holding up.
This is what I used:
https://www.acehardware.com/departments/paint-and-supplies/waterproofing-and-sealers/concrete-and-driveway-sealers/1021614
Thanks, Rhonda!
Hey Jonni, my jacks have survived 3 months outside so far. Fairly mild winter, but lots and lots of rain.
That’s great! I checked your previous post and you mentioned using a cement block filler and sealer. Is there a brand name for that product, or do you maybe have a link to it, so we could see what you used? I’m really happy that the paper cement clay is holding up in snow and rain, and with different sealers. Especially since my house is running out of space for more sculptures, so I need to start putting my new ones outside. 🙂