How to Make a Concrete Heart Phone & Soda Display
Craft a custom heart-shaped cement showcase dock featuring dual smartphone compartments and multi-channel soda eruption ports for dynamic experiment capture.
- Read the tools, materials, safety notes, and steps below for free.
- Tap Start Camera Coach when you want hands-free voice help.
- Allow camera and microphone. Point your phone at the work; the coach watches your progress and tells you the next step.
🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Hot glue gun
- ✓ Utility knife
- ✓ Cement mixing trowel
- ✓ Silicone measuring cups
- ✓ Medium-grit sandpaper
- ✓ Funnel
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Quick-setting cement mix
- ✓ High-density foam board
- ✓ Waterproof smartphone protective cases
- ✓ Bottles of Fanta, 7up, and Coca Cola
- ✓ Mint Mentos candies
- ✓ Mold release spray
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Wear safety goggles and a dust mask when mixing dry cement powder to avoid lung and eye irritation.
- • Ensure phones are strictly enclosed in IP68 waterproof sleeves to prevent liquid ingress during chemical reactions.
- • Do not apply direct cement pressure onto bare phone screens or battery seams to avoid lithium-ion puncture.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Construct the Heart Formwork
Draw a 16-inch symmetrical heart outline onto high-density foam board and cut out the base using a utility knife. Cut 3-inch tall foam strips and bond them vertically along the perimeter using hot glue to establish rigid sidewalls. Seal all internal corner seams with continuous bead lines of hot glue to ensure the mold is completely watertight.
- • Watertight perimeter wall firmly joined to the heart base without gaps.
- • Using intermittent glue dots instead of a continuous bead, causing liquid cement leaks.
Set Device and Bottle Cavity Spacers
Position mock sizing blocks matching the dimensions of the iPhone 16 and unfolded Samsung Z Fold6 into the center lobes of the heart mold. Place three inverted bottle cap holders at the upper heart cleft to serve as anchors for the Fanta, 7up, and Coca-Cola bottles. Coat the entire interior of the mold and all foam spacers thoroughly with mold release spray.
- • Even layer of mold release across all surfaces with phone spacers firmly affixed.
- • Omitting mold release spray, which causes foam to tear and permanently adhere to the cement.
Mix and Pour the Cement Base
Combine fast-setting cement with clean water in silicone measuring cups, stirring thoroughly with a trowel until a smooth, pourable pancake-batter consistency is achieved. Pour the slurry gently around the phone spacers and bottle anchors until the mold is filled to within a half-inch of the rim. Tap the outer foam walls repeatedly with your knuckles to dislodge trapped air bubbles to the surface.
- • Level cement surface with rising micro-bubbles popping at the top.
- • Mixing the cement too dry, resulting in honeycomb voids around the device cavities.
Demold and Finish the Heart Structure
Allow the cement to cure undisturbed for 24 hours until fully hard and cool to the touch. Slice open the outer foam board walls with a utility knife and carefully peel them away, then extract the inner device and bottle spacers. Sand all rough edges and device cavity corners using medium-grit sandpaper to produce smooth docking bevels.
- • Smooth, clean heart-shaped stone casting with dedicated phone slots and bottle chambers.
- • Attempting to pry the casting out before the 24-hour cure period, leading to cracked corners.
Mount Protected Devices into Display Cavities
Fit both the iPhone 16 and Samsung Z Fold6 into certified rugged waterproof cases with screen protectors facing outward. Slide the protected devices into their corresponding molded cavities, verifying flush alignment and clear visibility of the screens. Power on both displays to maximum brightness and launch your tracking or timer interface for the upcoming trial.
- • Both devices securely seated within the recessed heart lobes without loose play.
- • Placing unprotected devices directly into raw cement, risking micro-scratches from grit.
Install Soda Reservoirs and Execute the Reaction
Invert opened bottles of Fanta, 7up, and Coca-Cola firmly into the upper cement mounting channels using a funnel if needed for stability. Load three stacks of mint Mentos candies into delivery tubes aligned directly over the bottle openings. Release the Mentos simultaneously into all three sodas, observing the carbonation eruption cascades framing the dual device displays.
- • Symmetrical geysers of soda erupting from each bottle neck simultaneously.
- • Dropping candies one by one rather than all at once, which diffuses the geyser pressure.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Toys King — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No high-density foam board? cardboard coated with packing tape
- No mock sizing blocks? wood blocks cut to phone size wrapped in plastic wrap
- No silicone measuring cups? cut-down plastic 2-liter bottles or plastic buckets