Carnivores Plant Pot

Carnivores Plant Pot

In 2015 I bought myself some carnivorous plants to help battle a pesky fruit-fly infestation. They are very successful at getting rid of airborne insects. These are marsh plants and require their roots to be in a layer of water at all times. When I bought them I had no pots to place them in so I put them in plastic candy buckets. Those buckets didn’t look very attractive on my windowsill so I decided to make some stylish plant pots. It’s turning into a long-term project as it’s been a few years now and I’ve only actually finished three.

The base for most of these pots is a large (round) plastic candy bucket. After covering the bucket with plastic foil I add a thick layer of clay. The foil is added as an ‘in-between’ so I can easily separate the clay from the bucket. The type of clay I used is DAS clay and its awesome stuff! This clay doesn’t require you to add water (although I usually will), is dirt cheap, it air-dries, but most importantly it doesn’t shrink so it doesn’t crack! Once the clay is dry, I’ll remove the bucket, sanded the base shaped smooth and add detail. The paint I use varies depending on what I have available but I always finish with a layer of varnish to make it water-resistant. Spray Varnish is best when using water-based paint.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03

First


While surfing the internet for inspiration I found an awesome example! Carter Reid from the website thezombienation.com had posted his Cthulhu Idol Project and I decided to make something similar. This is currently the only version of a pot with ‘windows’, through which you can see the water level inside (very useful). The candy buckets have labels on them and even if you remove those you can still see where they were glued on, these parts are cover with clay. After the base layer I added the Cthulhu faces, tentacles and other elements. I couldn’t get the same detail as Carter’s Cthulhu cube, obviously I wasn’t using the same material, same tools and I haven’t had a lot of practice using clay. The black paint used is a wood-paint I had left over from a previous project. The whole thing looked pretty good in black and the wood-paint makes it water resistant so I left it as is.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04

Second


This pot was meant to be an Asian style variety. Started out with a square candy bucket to which I added scrap-wood. Any cracks, uneven areas or holes I patched up with clay. Base-paint was used to neutralize differences in colour and texture. Next I was going to paint it to make it look like rough concrete but it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it. I’m still pretty happy with the result though. Instead of small stones, I used sand as filler. This was a really nice look. Unfortunately the sand compacts when adding water so I might have to redo this one.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04

Third


This one I really liked! Its elements are based of the Ginkgo leaf. As you can imagine it’s a bit fragile so I have to handle it with care every time I move it. The pattern and colour makes it look like dragon scales.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04

Forth


Creating skulls from clay isn’t as easy as I though and I had various degrees of success with this one. The rough texture in between the skulls was created by adding bird-sand to the first layer of wet paint. Bird-sand (used on the bottom of bird cages) is very absorbent and takes on the colour of the paint. Adding the different colours really made it come to life.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04

Fifth


While watching the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series, I thought the Hydra logo looked pretty cool. It took more than a year to finish this one but I’m extremely happy with it, except.. the skulls were all different and the logo’s aren’t properly spaced, but those are the only two elements I regret not getting right. For the inside I used black wood-paint which is already water-resistant. The first layer of paint on the outside is a universal base-paint to neutralise the clay colour and fill small cracks. Usually I’ll add black first but for this one, going from light to dark, I started with the green details.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04

Sixth


This pot is inspired by the game Oblivion. Most of it is done, all that’s left is adding detail.
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03

Seventh


What can I say.. tentacles are cool :D
Plant Pot 01 Plant Pot 02
Plant Pot 03 Plant Pot 04
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