Hypertufa. Hyper-whata?

I am a collector of wicker baskets and have been for years. I think I can trace my interest back to when I was first married. I didn’t own much of anything, let alone anything that was non-essential. I remember buying a cute little wicker basket with a lid and 4 little wicker coasters inside that seemed like a luxurious treasure. I enjoyed opening the lid, pulling out one of the coasters and setting my coffee cup neatly in the center. I loved imagining myself having furniture valuable enough to even warrant a coaster. Among the furniture that graced my first apartment was a black pleather sofa with the cushion flatter than my newlywed pancakes, a kitchen table with 3 captains chairs, a plastic fake wood-grain coffee table with screw-on legs that wobbled profusely, and a bed. My husband purchased these items for us before we married when he was settling our first apartment in New England, over 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything I knew and loved. He wanted me to feel at home. He wanted to stretch his meager earnings to create a suitable nest for our new life together. When I look back at this time in my life, I’m in awe of how simple everything was. And how much I relied on my creativity and ingenuity to make things work.

What does hypertufa have to do with wicker? My love affair with wicker has followed me through my 30 year marriage. I use wicker baskets indoors to organize everything from mittens to snack foods. Outdoors I use wicker baskets for potting flowers or housing yard tools. Wicker baskets used indoors hold up pretty well but outdoors they don’t have much of a chance. I decided to turn some of my worn, sun-baked, old wicker baskets into forms for hypterufa planters. Hypertufa planters are a great way to upcycle old containers and baskets. One of the great things about hypertufa is that it is much lighter weight than cement so you can easily move the planters around your yard once they’re cured.

Hypertufa planter

Making the hypertufa planters was simple and fun and not nearly as messy as I secretly hoped it would be.

Step 1) I simply wrapped my wicker baskets with duct tape, found a little plastic flower pot that fit nicely in the center of the mold, and filled the wicker basket with hypertufa mixture.

Step 2) The mixture was easy to make by using 1 part Portland cement (I love that it has an Oregon reference), 1 part peat moss, and 1 part perlite. I just mixed it up in my wheel barrow and poured it into the molds.

Step 3) The hard part is waiting the two weeks until they are cured so you can fill them with flowers. I’ve heard you can add all kinds of organic materials to make the planters even more interesting. Next time around I’m adding old leaves, moss, and hazelnut shells. Enjoy!

Happy Upcycling!