When I built our koi pool thirty years ago. I decided I wanted a Japanese lantern. I didn't like the ones available in garden centres as they either looked "stylised," of poor quality, or very expensive.
I wanted something that looked like "the real thing."
Like this one at the Katsura Imperial Villa in Japan, many hundreds of years old.
So I decided to make one.
These constructions were made in my garage, of ready mixed fine concrete with an outer layer of sand and cement with added yellow dye to achieve a similar colour to our York stone patio. The cost was ridiculously cheap.
The molds for each section were placed on a large piece of Contiplas so they did not stick. The base of the first lamp was made in a wooden former, (not shown) built up in layers with the mortar forced down the side of the concrete, a steel rod was inserted in the middle to centre the first "table."
I rounded off the corners with a file before it had completely gone off. The apertures in the sides of the windows were made from the plastic tubs shown. An ice cream tub was used to make a recess in the top to hold the lamp. The crown was made in situ as I kept the concrete and mortar only barely damp. (same consistency as you'd use to make a kid's sandcastle).
The second was more adventurous, a steel tube up the centre of the column carries the electric cable. A piece of weldmesh reinforces the front window. Each lamp took only a few hours to cast and mold. The passing years have had an unplanned authentic looking "weathering effect" on the outer mortar skin, simulating centuries of wear on real stone.
Both lamps are illuminated by recycled 12v pool lamps
The 6ft pagoda required seventeen molds, the veranda rails are of hardwood beading. It took me just under two weeks to complete, but only working a couple of hours each evening after work.
Here's a bit more detail. As the outer skin is only mortar, the only way I could get a bit of detail, it has weathered a bit over the last thirty years, but it gets a coat of paint every five yeas which helps protect it.
It's had one since I took this photo.
The simulated pin joints that supported the roofs can only be seen from below, but I was striving for authenticity, if only in concrete.
I made the sorin from assortment of recycled drilled out brass cupboard handles, the top of a shaving foam canister, milk carton tops, a plastic stake, in which I drilled a lot of holes, a long threaded bolt, two nuts and a couple of beads
