There is no question: a waterfall artificially created from natural stones looks particularly natural and is an attractive eye-catcher in the garden. However, chunks of natural stone are not only heavy and - depending on their size and weight - also quite unwieldy, they also cost a lot of money. With self-made artificial rocks, on the other hand, you save both your strength and your wallet.
High-quality artificial rocks don't look all that artificial
It's so easy to make your own artificial rocks
You can buy artificial rocks in hardware stores or garden shops - or you can make them yourself using simple tools. And that's how it works:
The basic materials you need are polystyrene, if necessary PP or PE foil, rabbit wire, even mortar mixed from trass cement, sand and tile adhesive, as well as epoxy resin and fine granite sand. The quantities depend on how large the artificial rock or rocks should ultimately be. The mortar mixture consists of one part trass cement, three parts sand, one part tile adhesive, water and a dash of washing-up liquid and should be easy to knead. The basic structure of the artificial rock consists of suitably stacked and cut polystyrene, which was first wrapped in foil and then with rabbit wire. The wire is essentially used for stabilization.
- Then apply several layers of mortar, whereby each individual layer should dry thoroughly.
- Finally, with the last layer, you model the surface of the "rock".
- To do this, first smooth the modeling clay with a wet brush.
- Now crumple up a piece of aluminum foil and treat the rock surface with it.
- This allows you to create irregular structures like real rock.
- Now let the "rock" rest for a day until the material has become reasonably solid.
- Now dig in the typical indentations and grooves with a spatula.
- Smooth the rock with coarse sandpaper.
- Now paint the finished artificial rock with epoxy resin or clear parquet varnish.
- Sprinkle the fine sand using a sieve.
- Let the rock dry thoroughly.
The finished rock or rocks can now be used for decoration or to build a waterfall.
tips
To make the artificial rock look even more real, you can also paint it in dark colors with heavily diluted tinting paint. Make sure to color depressions darker than higher areas. This will give you more depth.