High-Tech DIY Projects: Large Homemade Mosaic Brick Planter

DIY bricks made of mortar with embellishments of your choosing. I used small tiles, jewelry, shells, pebbles, beads, glass stones for the dollar store and other found objects.

Dig a trench. To start the trench I used 2 large nails (one at either end) attached to a 40" string and marked my circle with spray paint to start.

large homemade mosaic brick planter, concrete masonry, diy, gardening

Now it is almost round!

After the trench was dug used regular bricks as my base.

As you can see there is still work to be done to get this circle round and level.

Started with food storage containers from Dollar Tree store. Try to find a container that does not tapper. Equal (as much as possible) in size at bottom and top. Coat container with Petroleum Jelly or cooking spray so the mortar brick will slip out of the mold.

Select your embellishments and design what will go into each mold before mixing mortar.

The containers I used are 5.5" x 6.5" x 4" tall. I filled them 1.5 to 2", depending on how much mortar I had mixed. They don't have to be all the exact same size.

After they are removed from mold, continue to wet them down. This helps to cure the mortar.

This circle has a 20' diameter, my bricks are 6.5" wide, with approximately 3/8" mortar fill, = 6.875" or 6 7/8". 240" divided by 6.875 = 34.909 or 35 bricks x 2 rows = 70 bricks total

After you have all your bricks made you mix mortar up in batches. How much you mix up depends on how much time you have but no more than you can use in 20 minutes. Apply mortar to regular brick base then set your bricks. Sometimes I used pieces of wood to keep the bricks propped up until they set.