Concrete is a popular medium for outdoor garden statues.

The material is a
durable mixture of aggregates, bonding agent and water that dry to a tough,
durable state that weathers extremes of hot and cold year after year. Although
there are a large number of garden statues available from garden centers, you
can also make your own garden statues. One of the easiest methods of
making a garden statue is to build one from the inside-out using concrete
applied over a base.
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Step 1

Build your statue base by bending hardware cloth into the basic statue shape.
Hardware cloth is a wire mesh screen that is sold in rolls. Use wire cutters to
trim the hardware cloth to the correct size. The wire base of your statue is
called an "armature." The armature acts as the skeleton of your statue.

Step 2

Pull on a pair of rubber gloves for working with concrete. Concrete is caustic
and can burn your skin if exposed for long periods of time.

Step 3

Mix a solution of concrete and water in a bucket until the solution is the
consistency of a mud pie. Hand pack a thin layer of concrete into the spaces
between the wire until the entire sculpture is covered. Because gravity can
cause a thick layer of cement to fall from the wires, you will need to apply the
concrete in several stages. The first stage is a base layer. Each successive
layer that you add builds up the thickness of the statue. The final stage is the
layer of concrete that you will sculpt.

Step 4

Mist the concrete with a spray bottle of water and cover it with builder's plastic
sheeting so that the concrete will harden as it dries. Builder's plastic sheeting
is a sheet of thin, flexible plastic.

Step 5

Apply a second layer of concrete over the first, hardened layer. This layer will
be the sculpting layer. Hand-sculpt the features of the statue into the concrete
within an hour of applying the wet concrete to the sculpture. Allow the statue
to dry and harden for 5 to 8 hours. Carve the soft concrete with shaping tools.

Step 6

Mist the statue with a bottle of water and cover with plastic. Allow the concrete
to dry and harden for 24 to 36 hours.

Step 7

Brush the surface of the concrete with a concrete sealant to prevent it from
cracking.