The couple create and hand-paint a range of concrete pots, planters, and birds.

The pair also create kokedamas – a traditional Japanese art form which uses moss as a container for a plant.

After their popularity grew the two created a business, Y Pots Tasmania, to showcase and sell their work.

“There's such a spotlight on homemade and handmade now,” Karen said.

“It’s now OK to wear handmade clothing, and to learn how to knit, and to crochet, and how to macrame.”

“A lot of really old skills, such as blacksmithing, are coming back that could have been lost.

“For the next generation, watching tutorials and that online, it’s absolutely great that what I learned growing up as a child I can now pass on to my children,” she said. 

Karen said she was crafty growing up and had “always had a creative mind.”

Gary, however, gained his passion for concreting from his father, who worked as a plasterer.

“The concreting varies a bit throughout the year because of the weather,” he said.

“It also depends on what I’m doing – some shapes can be a bit harder than others.

“Also, because you’re trying to get a really smooth finish on it, you can’t just trowel it off because it’s such a small object. 

“So, you might get one that has a lot of gravel in it, and it’s a real pain to get a proper finish on it, so you have to work on it for quite some time,” he said.

Karen said from start to finish, the concrete pots, planters and birds would take about two weeks to complete.

While making concrete birds, the two also had some assistance from their son.

“We had some help from our son with that, with the 3D printer to come up with the actual mould,” she said.

“We tweaked that quite a few times. It was bit hit and miss for a while.”

Karen creates the kokedamas.

“They take me about two hours to make,” she said. “Then we keep them for about two weeks before we will part with them, just to make sure that we ensure [the plants] overcome any shock.

“I find the indoor plants work better for the kokedamas – I’ve found some of the succulents don’t like to have wet feet.”

The duo said their work was “not quite an obsession, but it’s close sometimes”.

“Sometimes dinner is three hours late because we’re painting concrete pots on the dinner table,” Karensaid.

For more information, check out Y Pots Tasmania at www.facebook.com/ypots/.