Going Green with Concrete and Increase Sales

Backyardkitz Bench

SO how many of you have tried something other than plain old concrete mix in your decorative concrete molds? I am seeing and talking to more and more people creating a market niche for themselves by going green and using recycled materials in their concrete molds. They are saving themselves money on materials as well as marketing themselves as a Green Manufacturer. Customers are attracted to them and to their products.

SO what can I do to grow my business?

Papercrete: The recipe has been around almost 100 years. It is a light weight mix using 70% paper(almost any kind) with sand and cement. The paper is soaked in water and as it softens then ground or mashed up. Best to us a paint mixer attached to a drill in a 5 gallon bucket. The mix ratio is:

3 parts Paper (The paper used can be almost anything; newspaper, junk mail, cardboard, etc.)

2 parts clay/dirt and sand

1 part Portland cement

Recycled Concrete Aggregate:  You know all those roads and buildings they tear down and haul away the concrete. How about reusing the aggregate in your concrete wet mix and put it back into a concrete bench or Buddha statue.  You can even purchase pre-mixed Green cement mixes so if they are doing it why not you?  You can even go as far as using rain water in your mix.

Send me other ideas that you or others are doing out there!!

Declare yourself GREEN and increase your decorative concrete sales!

Making Custom Concrete Molds

Are you looking for a particular mold and can’t seem to find it anywhere. How about letting CementMold Company www.cementmolds.com make a custom mold for you? The cost of a custom mold can cost only slightly more then something in similar size.   

Note: We do not steal any other artists work by taking the original and dumping liquid rubber over the master tocreate a mold. We have our own full time sculptors that use their interpretation to carve new artwork in which we can then build the mold.   

So how do we go about doing this……..

1. First we need a jpeg or other electronic image of your item along with the dimensions you wish the item to have created.
2. Email me the information tim@cementmolds.com and I will review the item to make sure we can make a mold of the item and a cost estimate for you.
3. If you agree with the price quoted, we formalize the quotation and get the go ahead from you along with payment. Once we start the process takes 4 to 6 weeks.
4. We then organize one of a expert carvers to sculpt the mold master out of plaster. Within aproximately 2 weeks I will then send you a few photos of the new item for your approval.
5. You can approve or recommned changes to the master.
6. Once we have your approval we then begin the construction of the mold:
   1. We prepare the master and spray it with our latex rubber mixture.
   2. A form fitted fibreglass casing is built to support the mold and allow it to stand.
   3. We then package and ship you it out via FedEx.
7.  Finally you receive the new mold to make your new concrete or plaster item.

Please check out concrete molds we have made for other customers:

Coloring Decorative Concrete

Want to add value to your Concrete Sculptures, Planters, and Fountains then why not color? 

There are 3 basic methods for coloring your concrete:

1. Pigments

Pigments are added to your wet concrete mix. They tend to be in powder for, but can be in a paste from. Typical colors range in the natural earth colors such as rust, brown, and charcoal. You can find in blues and greens but they can be rather expensive. The oxide will stain the entire concrete statue all the way through so fading and cracking will not effect the color. The color may not be as rich as you, might like as well. 

2. Stains

Stains can be found in acid or water based liquids. Most stains have been specially designed to work with concrete and will penetrate the concrete without effecting the surface texture.  You can add several coats to get your desired shade.  It is difficult to stain your items in several colors to add detail. 

3. Paints

A good quality exterior paint can be used once your decorative concrete piece has thoroughly dried. Anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. There are limitless colors to choose from and a fine detail can be achieved for the small pieces. This can be very time consuming but rewarding in sales value. You should use a masonry primer as a first coat. Also leave the base unpainted to allow your piece to continue to breathe and moisture to pass through.     A top coat of a light acrylic may be used to seal the item as well to keep the paint bright for many years.

I personally feel all methods have value and can even be used in conjunction with each other, such as a pigment with a paint to highlight or give an aged look.  I do recommend to try and limit the number of color choices to 4 or 5 so as to not confuse the buyer.