It is fun to experiment with new crafts, but it is more fun to see how they turn out. Some times you may experience an epic fail, but that should never halt your progress, as you should try and try again until you get it right. I recently purchased from Amazon,alphabet ice cube trays, which I did in fact try making ice cubes and they worked like a charm. I got the biggest kick out of dropping cute ice letters into my drink, and even shared a few letters in the dogs water bowl too, but I knew what my ultimate craft adventure was going to be for these little molds. Cement letters, of course!
I never worked with any type of silicone molds before, so I was curious as to how easy it would be to remove your item once formed from the mold. Removing the ice from the molds was super easy. I just stretched the sides of the silicone mold a tad, and the letters just dropped out. Now, I am going to purchase another set of these molds just for ice and/or chocolate, and I am going to use the first set for making my cement letters. I read that you can even use these silicone molds to bake right in the oven too (up to a certain temperature) and the molds don’t melt!
Anyhow, with the excitement flowing on how cool the ice letters turned out, I grabbed my silicone molds and headed down to my workshop to whip up a small batch of Quikrete Cement to make some cement letters. I scooped a small amount of Quikrete Cement into an empty plastic container and poured a little water in. Your cement mixture should be like a thick pancake mixture consistency. With Quikrete, you need to work quickly as it hardens within minutes. Once the cement was well mixed, I sprayed the molds with some Pam cooking spray, as this is called a release agent so the cement does not stick to the sides. I poured the cement slowly to reduce any air bubbles. Now, we wait. Quikrete Cement dries pretty quickly, but I left these to sit overnight, just to make sure.
The cement letters popped right out of the mold perfectly! I just stretched the sides of the mold just like I did with the ice, and the letters dropped right out of the mold! I let the letters air dry a bit more, and if there were any rough spots, I just lightly sanded them with a small piece of sand paper. The last thing I did was dip them in a cement sealer to protect them. The size of the letters are different per letter, but they are approximately 1 5/8″ in height, 1 1/2″ in width, and 1/2″ thick.
I can honestly say that working with silicone molds is really easy. I will definitely be purchasing another set so I can make some chocolate letters!
Here’e the rundown on what you will need to create your own cement letters:
- Silicone Alphabet molds
- Quikrete Cement
- Water
- A small plastic container to mix the cement & a wooden spoon
- Pam Cooking Spray to be used a the release agent
- Cement Sealer (optional)
At this time, I have almost made the entire alphabet, and looking at the cement letters I have made so far, it makes me think of the game Scrabble. How fun would that be to make enough letters to play Scrabble? Or perhaps make the word “grow” and set the letters in a flower pot?
Here’s some other ideas I came up with to use these little cement letters for:
- Attach a magnet with glue to the back of the letters to your fridge
- Hang the cement letters on your Christmas tree with a beautiful ribbon
- Spell out names in front of your dinner plates as place cards
- Attach them to your wood tombstones, which is what I am going to do with the “RIP”
- Spell out your name for your mailbox post
The possibilities are endless!
Aw. Thanks for sharing yet another great craftie-craft!!!
You might have to make Chloe her name in cement now! It is really super easy to create, not to mention how much fun it was! I think I might make my garden markers with these molds for our garden this year! How cool would that be?
That.Is.BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Permanent and heavy. Rain and wind won’t blow them off (or over)
Oh yes, Chloe has already made a name for herself, but now it could be in cement! LOL
Also, if you have not noticed, we just started our fundraising campaign for the Pledge For Pets Fundraiser for the APL, if you would like to donate again this year, here is the link: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nikitaland/2014-doggy-dollars-kitty-kash The red button can be added to your blog again too and just redirect it back to the donation link! Thanks! Hugs!
Wow. Neat!
Thanks! They are really super easy to make too! I can see you making them for your kids!
Wow I was expecting that to be harder than that. Nice one!
Hi Misaki! Oh no, these were super easy. Just dump a little cement into a plastic cup, pour a little water in, mix it, and slowly pour into the molds. Then wait for it to dry! They pop right out when they have dried.
Cool idea!
I hope you find some time and try out this little cement project too! It was really super easy to make! Not to mention really cute too!
I’ve got a couple silicone moulds, they’re great for baking. I love how things pop right out too. How heavy do you think each letter is? They look pretty hefty. Amazon.ca doesn’t have half the fun stuff Amazon.com has…I don’t know why. We’re still in the grips of super cold winter weather, so it’s hard to think of flower pots yet. This has been one for the record books 😀
Hey Boomie! We just got hit with more snow overnight. Thank God that is was all that fluffy stuff and I could use the leaf blower to clean off the drive, but there was a lot of it! Geez, I am so sick of this white stuff already. This was my first time trying out a silicone mold and I loved it. I need to get another set of these just so I can use for baking and for melting chocolate in. I am so happy that I got these molds for sure!
I forgot to mention that these cement letters are very light! So, if you wanted to make them for fridge magnets, it would work and not be too heavy.
Awesome project, love it!
I hope I encourage others to try some of my craft ideas too! It was super easy to do, and really cute when you see the final product!
I like to work with cement ( it’s great to work with muddy stuff LOL). I made my own flowerpots and a fire bowl :o)
I agree! Cement is really fun to work with! I would love to make a little cement table top for a table next to our outdoor chairs! Have you ever blogged about your cement work yet? I would love to see what you made.
we will start a cement-project in spring, then we will make photos and a post :o) th best is that you can mix it with color, so it isn’t just grey :o)
I have never tried adding color to the cement yet, but that sounds really neat! I would love to see that fire bowl you made too!
very cool! i want to do this
Hi Michael! You would have a lot of fun creating them!
Hi there Cupcake! Yeppers, they were as easy as mixing up some pancake mix! 🙂
So rustic and so cute. Sounds simple enough to do.