How to Make a Bust Planter
Years ago, I happened to come across this bust, and it reminded me of my boys. The resemblance is uncanny really. Anyway, I couldn’t come up with a sensible place to display it and so it was tucked away in the garage to collect dust. I couldn’t bare to give it away, though, so I’ve held onto it for close to 15 years. My love for plants and decor seem to be doing a sort of mash, where the things that I love that I have collected are coming together with the greenery that I love as well. It made sense to bring these two together for a more useful and delightful purpose around the farm.
Whereas with previous planter projects that have ended up outside, this guy will need a permanent home inside, though. I chose to plant a string of pearls in it, and they tend to do better inside where I live. The intense heat and crazy wind would take out the pearls too quickly. But if they do die off, there are many other choices of plants to put in this guy now that he can be home to just about anything. At the time I didn’t consider too much that the bust was made of a plastic resin, but this turns out to be a plus! If it were, say, plaster, or chalk, my options would be fewer as those materials tend to break down faster in our environment. The plastic resin allows for either indoor or outdoor display.
If you are going to do a similar project, you’ll want to look for a bust in material that you know will stand up to either the weather outside, or moist conditions inside. A hollow metal bust might work, if you have the tools to make the cuts to make it into a planter. For mine, using a dremel fit with an appropriate bit was just fine. I traced an aproppriate sized circle around the top of the head, careful to keep the elements that I wanted to preserve outside the border.
Doing my best to keep the cuts as smooth as possible, I worked my way around the crown of the head of the best. It is tricky going around that curved line, but you just have to take your time.
Once I was sure that I had the cuts made as well as I could, I used a hammer to gently tap the lid that I’d cut. It may come out in pieces, but that’s ok. The edge of the cut can be smoothed with some light sanding. I didn’t find it particularly important to do that step, or to color the edge to match the rest of the statue, because eventually (fingers crossed) the string of pearls will eventually cover the edges and it won’t matter too much.
However, if you are worried about the rough edges and the color difference those two things can be tended to fairly simply in just a few minutes. The next step I took was to drill some drain holes in the bottom of the bust. The bottom can be filled with a layer of pea gravel or other material to allow for drainage. I then filled the planter bust with fresh soil mix and planted my String of Pearls.
The end result is a fun and useful way to use a bust. I think that you could also do something similar with just about any other type of bust. Something like a horse could be used if you cut out the back area where a saddle would sit, or even a bird in a similar manner.
Above all, I love that I was able to repurpose my adorable bust into something useful that I can look at often. As much as is possible, I try to repurpose and reuse things around the house and farm to be frugal and creative. And this is one that isn’t seasonal, so it can be on display year round.
