How to DIY a Fire Bowl for $21

Who doesn’t love a good ambience fire? This is a fun little DIY. All you need is patients, lol. I’ll explain why is a sec. I choose to you white thin set instead of concrete because I wanted this bowl to be white. This thin set is typically used for laying tile so you can find it in the tile section at your local hardware store.

This project cost me $21 but you could probably make 10+ bowls. They don’t make smaller bags of this thin set that I could find.

Supplies:

  • Thin set mortar in white
  • two large bowls (can be plastic too)
  • oil & paper towel
  • large bucket for mixing
  • Drill w/ mixing attachment or paint stick to stir
  • rocks from Dollar Tree
  • Fancy heat from Dollar Tree

We added a few of inches of this thin set and slowly started to add water. You want it to be the consistency of pudding. These come in such big bags you could make a couple for yourself and one for all your family members 🙂

Mix until well combined. Only took a few minutes.

Rub oil all over the inside of the large bowl and the outside of the smaller bowl. When choosing bowls make sure the smaller bowl leaves at least 1″ of space between the two so the thin set does not break.

Add the second bowl right in the middle of the big bowl then add weights of some kind. You can even use rocks.

We ended up using this board with these door stops on top.

This is the most important part. Wait at least 48 hours for this thin set to dry. Even after 48 hours it will not be 100% dry but you can remove it. Ours popped out with no problem.

Next, do a light sand to smooth out any rough edges.

My size bowl took 5 bags of rocks from the Dollar Tree. I bought seven of these Fancy Heat containers from the Dollar Tree as well. They burn for 2 hours each. I added one bag of rocks just enough to make the canister top sit level with the bowl then added the rest of the rocks around it. I did not quite use all 5 bags.

This turned out so good. It has so much character. You could also use this for a planter you would just need to seal it first. Even a pretty bowl on a shelf in your house.

Let me know your thought in the comments below. Would you make one of these?

Jessie Thomas

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