DIY Concrete Craft: How to Make a Jewelry Bowl

Last week, I entered a contest to make a DIY concrete craft. I decided to make a jewelry bowl out of concrete and a dowel rod.

As part of the contest rules, I had to make a 2-minute video to go along with the craft. This was really quite a stretch for me because I had never created a video tutorial in my life. ?

Here’s a link to the video….(the written directions are below it)…

Materials:

4-5 cups of concrete mix (I used Quikrete Countertop Mix)

two plastic bowls (one that fits inside of the other with some room to spare) (mine came from Dollar Tree)

1/2 inch dowel rod cut to about 3 inches in length

coffee stirrers

How to make this concrete craft:

First, mix the concrete according to the package directions….

Next, wipe some vegetable oil around the inside of the larger bowl to act as a mold release.

Put some of the concrete mix into the bowl and press down with a gloved hand….

Now, wipe some vegetable oil around the outside of the smaller bowl. Place this bowl into the large bowl and press down.

Add a little more concrete mix in between the two bowls until it is near, but not all the way up to, the lip of the smaller bowl. Use your finger to smooth it out if necessary.

Put something heavy into the smaller bowl to weigh it down. I just grabbed a small can of stain and put a tape measure on top of it. ?

Cut the coffee stirrers into about thirds and poke them into the concrete between the bowls every 1/2-1 inch. I did not measure anything, but just eyeballed it.

Allow it to dry for about 24 hours and then remove the coffee stirrers. Next, very carefully, pop out the smaller bowl and then the larger bowl.

I sanded the top edges a tiny bit just to smooth out any really rough spots.

Allow the bowl to dry for at least a few more hours and then take some gilding liquid (I used the Martha Stewart brand from Michael’s) and paint around the lower edge.

I did not want a perfect line, so I didn’t tape anything off. I just free-handed the paint and even purposefully feathered it out around the edges.

For the ring holder part, paint the dowel rod piece with the same gilding liquid you used on the bowl.

Then put a dot of construction adhesive (I used this one) in the center of the bowl and press the dowel rod firmly down. Allow it to dry for a couple of hours.

The final result…

Unfortunately, I found out today that I didn’t win the contest. But even if I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t win, I absolutely would have entered anyway because I came away with A LOT of new knowledge about working with video. Plus, I completed a fun project that I will definitely be able to use!