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18 DIY Garden Sculpture Plans You Can Build Today (with Pictures)
Pete Ortiz
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Colorful flowers and lush vegetation are the showcases of the garden, but almost any backyard could use more permanent artistic elements to tie the landscaping together. Garden sculptures are lasting displays, enduring pops of color and form to show off your personality in ways that floral arrangements never could.
You can buy your sculptures at a local home improvement or crafts store, but it’s far more satisfying to build them yourself. Add essential hints of character to your backyard with these inspiring DIY garden sculpture plans you can build today.
Whether you’re a marine lover or not, these garden fish made from plastic bottles are a quirky and joyous addition to anyone’s lawn. The examples in the pictures look impressive, but they’re surprisingly easy to replicate if you follow the clever tips and tricks in the tutorial. Make a school of fish, add some acrylic paints, and tinker with the tints to create a sea of colors for your yard.
Add some fun to your garden with this teetering flower planter and birdbath working together in one piece. A hidden piece of rebar creates the illusion, and a smooth coat of paint and playful flower adornments make the tower a delightful attention-grabber. It’s simple to make, and the results are impressive, a sculpture that brings color and life to your garden.
A garden obelisk is a classic garden feature, and you can save hundreds on the cost by building your own. Use a collection of 2x1s to create a pyramid frame and add a decorative top and a coat of paint for a fashionable feature. Position it among creeping, vining plants to give them a skyscraping foundation to crawl up.
A wheelbarrow planter is a fantastic adult crafts project, a whimsical addition to the garden that’s fun to build. It has some function if you use quality materials and precision during construction. But the primary purpose is aesthetics, a generous amount of growing space for a standalone raised flower bed or collection of potted plants.
Coneflowers are a popular component of many flower beds, a pretty umbrella-shaped bloom attractive to not only gardeners but also bees and hummingbirds. While pollinators may not be drawn to the garden coneflower art in these plans, the oversized floral sculptures are as gorgeous as the real thing.
The metallic glint of copper will catch the eye in this DIY trellis, a gorgeous complement to lush green plants weaving around the metal frame as they creep up the structure. It can be tricky getting used to the pipe cutter, though, and the glue takes a while to set. Your patience will pay off when you see the gorgeous yet subtle patina highlighting your garden growth.
A DIY sculpture project can fall apart when you don’t consider the outdoor elements. With these weatherproof giant pinwheels, you won’t have to worry about harsh rain or cold ruining them right away. The creative design incorporating heavy plastic binder dividers is sturdy if you give it a solid hold in the ground, giving you a brilliant display when the wind picks up.
There is a lot of inherent freedom in these concrete statue plans, offering perspectives and general directions rather than step-by-step instructions for specific results. The results are uncertain, and it can take some trial and error to get them right. If you have the fortitude to keep it up, making garden sculptures like this can turn into an excellent hobby.
Take a break from artificial art and try to make organic creations like a moss toadstool. The chicken wire acts as a frame for moss and succulents, resulting in a quaint table of rich colors and textures.
The technical side of this huge concrete face sculpture isn’t demanding, but you might need some artistic chops if you want to execute a lifelike visage! Fortunately, making it is much easier than you might expect once you get used to working with styrofoam. The form doesn’t have to be perfect and finessing it into a believable face after you make the mold may be a surprisingly simple task even if it’s your first foray into sculpting. When you get the first one out of the way, a later tutorial walks you through an easy way to make duplicates of your face sculpture to fill out your yard.
The gleaming gloss of these garden globes can add kaleidoscopic arrays of metallic and glassy glints to your garden. There are tons of materials to use as decoration, from marbles and glass bits to beads and seashells. Make it a fun project for the kids or make a collection yourself to space out among your flowers and shrubs.
Gnomes are always a fun and sweet ornament to add to your garden, and the underground creatures are believed to be a good omen. You can easily make one or more on your own to bring you luck with this tutorial. It explains how you can use a nylon sock or stocking to create a concrete garden gnome ornament.
You will fill it with cement and work the cement within the stocking to form the gnome’s feet and nose, which makes it suitable for the outdoors. You can also personalize it with some outdoor paint, choose your gnome’s hair, and add some embellishments.
A collection of various-sized concrete globes can add structure and color to your garden. Mixing and pouring concrete to make these garden globes is easier than you may expect, so you can really have fun with this project. You can create globes of all sizes and spread them around your garden beds to add something different and eye-catching. You can also consider keeping them plain and placing them strategically so that they look like glowing orbs when the sun goes down.
Due to its inventiveness and organic appearance, rustic furniture constructed from twigs and logs has been a favorite for decades and continues to be popular today. With a DIY willow arbor, you can give your landscape some interest all year round. This straightforward arbor design is easily customizable and can be done on a weekend.
The tutorial tells you exactly what size sticks you need, so you can’t go wrong. Once you are done, you can add some fairy lights or flowers to personalize it. The satisfaction and ease of this project will likely have you wanting to prune your garden more often so that you can create more just like it!
Adding enchanted creatures to your landscape can help your garden flourish and create a peaceful haven, and this wood nymph structure will likely be a favorite! Nymphs can be seen as a representation of the delicate beauty of nature, which is a great reminder to have every day. This tutorial shows you how you can make your unique wood nymph using two ingredients and an old doll. You can place it against an old tree in your garden where it can look over your landscape.
Branches from trees have such a sculptural beauty, and you can use any old branches to create this amazing and natural sculpture for your succulents. If you don’t have any branches lying around, you can ask neighbors or your local tree trimming service. Don’t be afraid of the size; the bigger, the better to create an eye-catching natural structure for your garden. This DIY requires real tools than you may have anticipated, but it is a fun project, and the results will last.
Totem poles are monuments that reflect and remember lineage, histories, individuals, or events, but you can adorn your landscape with one or more of them purely for their artistic beauty. This tutorial shows you a simple method for turning your garden into a work of original art! Using only glassware from the charity store and clear silicone caulk, you can create your own glass totem in a matter of hours. With glass balls and rounded shapes, you can make yours in a range of sizes and shapes or make each one unique. You don’t want it to topple over, so it will be more durable if the base is heavier.
Pagodas are beautiful Indian structures that represent the way to heightened perception and awareness. It is a lucky symbol representing knowledge, harmony, and peace. While they are usually large structures, you can add your own take on a pagoda to add a peaceful and interesting charm to your landscape. This tutorial guides you on how you can assemble a pagoda that will stand 35″ tall. However, you can customize it to your design and size to suit your landscape.
Final Thoughts
If you want to give your green thumb a rest, a garden sculpture is a pleasant project to fill out a free afternoon. There are few material demands and with some brilliant takes on repurposed household items, you can create fascinating forms with minimal effort. Use these DIY garden sculpture plans as inspiration or follow them through to completion, and you’ll yield some incredible artwork you’ll want to show off!
Featured Image Credit: Wirestock Creators, Shutterstock
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Writer
Pete Ortiz
Pete has been working in the trades since high school, where he first developed a passion for woodworking. Over the years, he has developed a keen interest in a wide variety of DIY projects around the home. Fascinated by all sort of tools, Pete loves reading and writing about all the latest gadgets and accessories that hit the market. His other interests include astronomy, hiking, and fishing.
As the founder of House Grail, Pete's primary goal is to help consumers make educated decisions about DIY projects at home, in the garage, and in the garden.
