Updated 4.24.20
A plastic form
Cooking oil
Concrete in a bag
Something to mix concrete in (5 gal. bucket)
A trowel to mix with
I purchased these organizing containers at the Dollar Tree. I purchased 10 of them. So far, only $10.00 invested.
I looked at using the regular red bricks, but at the time, they were a bit too pricey for the project I was thinking about.
The first step is to oil each form lightly. I also marked each form with a fill line, on the outside, so they would all come out the same size.
We purchased Quickrete Concrete mix to make these bricks. It was a small bag for about $2.50. So, now we are up to $12.50 invested.
Now let's mix up the concrete.
We used an old bucket and trowel. Pour some concrete into the bucket and begin to add water. Add small amounts of water at a time until you reach the correct consistency.
You want the consistency to be kind of like oatmeal, or peanut butter. Not too runny and not too dry. Once you play around with it you'll get it right.
Next we scooped out some concrete and dropped it into the form.
Then we used the trowel to chop, pound and smooth it into the corners and edges.
The top of the brick kind of got a watery film, but not to worry. Hubby assured me that is normal and fine.
They came out terrific!
I figured I could make about 15 or so bricks per bag.
Let's say I want to make about 100 bricks. At 15 pavers per bag of concrete, 7 bags of concrete will make about 105 bricks. $2.50 x 7 = $17.50 + $10 for the forms, for a grand total of $27.50. Divide that by 105, comes out to about $.26 per brick. Not bad, and probably even cheaper if I purchased larger bags of concrete.
Also, there's another savings... these bricks are about 3" longer than standard bricks, so they will cover more distance! Win! Win!
Blessings,
