The-Artistic-Garden's Blog

How Much Can I Charge for My Homemade Hypertufa Garden Art Items?

I get asked this question on a pretty regular basis. and just the other day I received another private email asking me about this, so I thought I’d put the question and my reply here for everyone to learn from.

I received a really nice email from Steve, an enthusiastic hypertufa newbie:

Hi Claudia: My wife and I just this evening began a hypertufa project that we saw in a local newspaper a few months ago. It was fun working together to make a small trough! I started to browse the Internet looking for more hypertufa info, and found your website. What a goldmine of information!!!

I went ahead and purchased your Hypertufa How-To Manual eBook, and can’t wait to start reading it.

We are pretty enthused about the hollow spheres we saw on your site. Every May, our city has a city-wide garage sale. For a few years, we have been selling assorted glass products, and have many customers who return to us each year. We think we’d like to add some hypertufa items, like the hollow spheres, to what we sell. How much do you think we can sell them for?

We look forward to your reply, and learning the many tips and ideas from your eBook to make this fun and successful (wait – that is redundant!). Thanks for setting up your website, and for offering the benefit of your experience through the book!!! Steve.

My reply:

Hello Steve:
Wow … what a nice way to start my day … thank you so much for taking the time to email me with your kind compliments. I do try awfully hard to provide thorough, clearly explained information on my websites and in the eBook. I needed a pat on my back this morning.

Your idea to sell ‘tufa spheres most probably will be a big hit, as long as you have lots of gardeners who visit the garage sale (of course). Just remember that you need to give any hypertufa or concrete object at least 30-days cure time before you can sell it in good conscience … not only do you want it to be good and “dry” (cured) but the issue of it being safe to plant flowers or other plants in is also an issue. You will find more info on this in the eBook. Also, if you live in a cold climate, the cure times might take longer, depending upon the time of year you make the items.

As I just told another crafter the other day about making some extra income via selling hypertufa garden art items you’ll need to keep in mind you need a dedicated work area (I would NOT advise you setting up a large scale project like this in your kitchen or basement, for instance) AND you need a spot to let the items cure for at least 30 days. Plus, being able to hose them off versus having to dip them in water baths is also a consideration if you start to get into larger items. In your case, I don’t know how large you want to make your spheres!

Even simple troughs/planters (rectangular or even round) would probably sell well for you, too. I have a friend who paid $35 for a very rough, unspectacular looking round hypertufa planter! (I was surprised she forked over that much $$ for it, to be honest, as she is one of the most frugal people I know! lol) It wasn’t very large and I know the cost of materials and time it took for the crafter to make it weren’t that much. (Note: I am sure you realize that larger spheres are going to be somewhat labor intensive.)

As far as price points, I guess it’s the old adage of “what will the market bear”? Obviously size, simplicity or ornateness of an object and consumer demand for that particular item all comes into play. I’d say shop around at garden centers; see what kind of pots and containers they sell and the prices for those, then try and calculate your material costs, time involved and mark-up desired and see if it is a reasonable price. Then try and sell it! If people grab up your pieces left and right … perhaps a slight price increase will pose no problem for you.

And as it always is with selling something, you’ve got to educate the person who might not otherwise have a clue about the advantages of having a hypertufa planter. If you’re at a street fair or farmers market setting, you’ll be able to give sales pitches to people as they are walking by. Grab their attention! Be friendly and work the crowd.

I wish you and your wife lots of fun and the best of luck in pursuing this project!

How to Calculate Amount of Portland Cement and
Other Ingredients for Garden Art Projects

I received an email the other day from Tess asking me:

Hi! We are going to try to make a 4 ft diameter millstone garden fountain out of hypertufa. I believe your recipe for the Hypertufa Recipe With Fiber Mesh for Added Strength is the way to go. Any idea how much of the ingredients we will need to get to accomplish this? Will this hold up with constant water and hard winters?

Thanks in advance, Tess

My reply:

Hi Tess:
About the quantity needed – here’s a nifty free concrete calculator on another website that you can use: concrete calculator.

In the “Round Footing” section, I filled in 4-feet 0-inches X 6-inches high and I got 9.4 80-lb bags required. So you fill in the calculator and see what result you get and then buy at least that much Portland cement. Then buy the rest of the ingredient(s) you want to use in proportion to the cement. **Better to have more on hand than needed – you can always return a bag of cement if it is unopened.

However, why are you making it in hypertufa, rather than a “pure” concrete recipe??? The peat moss will decompose over time, especially being that it will be in direct contact with water 24/7. Do you want small pits and crevices in your millstone, or do you want it to be more authentic looking like smooth stone? Don’t use a hypertufa recipe if you want a smoother stone.

Yes – your finished project, whether ‘tufa or ‘crete, *should* hold up to freezes and thaws for many many years, that is IF you concocted the recipe correctly and IF you allowed it to cure properly. I suggest you try your hand at a smaller project with the recipe you decide to use first … give it a month to cure and at least see if it holds together properly, etc. Then tackle the big millstone project. Better safe than sorry and wasting LOTS of product.

Best of luck with this project!

Metal Garden Art Fish Welded by an Alaskan Female Gardener – You Go Girl!

I love it when I see women break away from fearing heavy-duty type industrial equipment like welding torches! Yeah, I don’t care what is said about “we’ve come a long way, baby!” in terms of women’s lib (is that terminology dating me, or what?? Yes … I did march up 5th Avenue in NYC many moons ago, screaming “What do we want”? Equality! When do we want it? NOW!!!” But I digress…) I find that many woman are still very hesitant to pick up anything more menacing than a paint brush.

Anyway, I came across an article by an Alaskan gardener, Christine who shared her experience in picking up a welding torch and making these cool rusty metal fish.

I thought you all just might get some inspiration to try your hand at a new way of creating garden art items – whether or not your tool of choice is a welding torch. It could be anything, even something like picking up a sponge to try your hand at daubing to very easily create a decorative paint technique on a pot to use outdoors. Let your creative juices flow! It’s fun to try new things. You might find a new hobby, too.

You never know … you might gain a passion for something that allows you to give really personalized gifts to friends and family to grace their gardens (and they’ll always remember you when they look at what you made), or maybe this new hobby you enjoy could turn into a side income for you. Hey – who knows?

Anyway, as I always say “Remember … Have Fun!”

A DIY Idea for Constructing a Wooden Garden Gate -
An Element of Functional Art for Your Garden

Hey everyone. I’ve had this photo in my files for some time now (yup – I save up photos as I stumble upon them if I think they’ll be of interest to y’all ) and am trying to clean up my “to be filed” folder. I decided to post this today because for a lot of us, the temperatures are dropping and Fall weather is starting to kick into gear, which means the leaves are starting to drop off the trees.

What’s that got to do with this wooden garden gate project? Well, seems to me having less leaves on tree branches will make it easier for you to spot some limbs you might be able to use for this DIY project.

I love everything about this wooden gate, which is found at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden in California. I have had a real interest for a long time in “functional art” – meaning artwork that also serves a “functional” purpose, such as would be the case *IF* this particular gate swung open and led somewhere.

Though this gate is certainly a piece of artwork on its own and it serves a definite purpose … it really can’t be considered “functional” because it doesn’t “function” (swing open and closed). But it is sculptural and serves as a beautiful and artistic focal point in this spot in the botanical garden.

Anyway, some garden art is functional, and some merely serves a visual decorative purpose. These painted ladybug bowling balls nestled amongst garden greenery are what we would consider simple garden art. But these gorgeous functional art examples created by my friend, artist-sculptor Alice M. Bateman, are not only visual “eye candy” but also serve a definite purpose. You’ll see a window; gates at an exhibit at the Ft. Worth Zoo; water spouts for a private pool; and a very fancy fireplace.

But let me get back to this wooden garden gate project idea … whether you make your gate to be functional – it swings open and closed and defines the entrance/exit to a specific area of your yard or garden – or merely to lend visual impact to a special spot is up to you, of course. But I’ll wager that whichever way you end up using a bentwood gate like this in your garden will certainly prove to be a lovely focal point in years to come.

To make a similar wooden gate for your garden as the one pictured here, you will obviously have to be somewhat skilled with wood working and have access to power saws and such, and know how to construct a sturdy frame on which to fasten the branches. Or … you’ll need to convince a spouse, relative or friend to help you make it. (Heck – bribe them with cookies or pizzas if necessary! ) The frame doesn’t appear to be too complicated, nor will I assume the task of attaching of the branches.

*TIP: use screws instead of nails if at all possible, as screws tend to “stay screwed in”, but nails tend to begin to start creeping up and out of where they were hammered in over time, especially with wooden items left outdoors. As example, have you ever seen wooden decks that were nailed versus screwed together? Well I have – my neighbor’s backyard deck – and it is starting to fall apart after just a few years. My deck was constructed using screws and it’s holding together quite fine, thank you!

I am sure that somehow, this photo of this really good-looking wooden gate might help to kick-in some creative juices for you, and you’ll come up with a way to make one for that special spot or entrance to your garden that you’ve been wanting to liven up.

I tried searching online for videos that show how to bend branches in case some of you might want to construct a wooden gate a little differently than the Botanical Garden’s gate which utilizes rather straight branches, but couldn’t find anything worthwhile to watch. But, I did uncover this book, that you might want to check out Making Bentwood Trellises, Arbors, Gates & Fences. It’s not too expensive and might have some good bits of information that will make your project go a little easier.

If anyone has any tips about working with bentwood or willow branches, let me know please. I’m sure many others reading this blog would like to read about more creative ways in which to make their own wooden garden gate. Thanks!