Stepping Stones (for the garden)

[zippy-kat]

Has anyone made them before? Will you post pics if you have? Just looking for recipes (someone suggested Ready Mix but I don't know what that is or where to buy it) and inspiration. :)

This go 'round, I had the farrier save Summer's shoes and want to use them in the stepping stones.

[Moesha]

I made some with my nieces and nephew last year for their parents anniversary. I think I bought a kit at either Hobby Lobby or on ebay. I think I saw them at the store and then bought it on ebay. It came with little stones and little chips of stuff to decorate them. I don't have pictures on this computer of them though. In the kit was just a plastic form and some sort of concrete mixture. Once you have the form, you can get your own concrete to use and then whatever decorations you want. You can also color the concrete mixture to make different color stones. The kit I had came with letters you could press into the mixture. Then I had the kids paint inside the indentation. They spelled their name and age. They also put their hand print in the wet stuff. Then they each made a picture with the glass and stuff. One made a butterfly, one did a baseball and I forget what the other one did. I wish I knew where I put the kits. Let me look on ebay and see if I see a similiar one. Here is a kit that is similiar. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Make-Your-Own-Stepping-Stones-Kit-Garden-Stones-New_W0QQitemZ130234913683QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 30234913683&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318)

[Glacier]

I make them as memorial stones for my pets. They sit on my deck right now because I haven't made my garden yet!

I use plain ol' concrete mix. You can buy it at any hardware store. I prefer the kind with fewer stones it. Stones can be a pain when writing in the cement. Stuart made the heart mold out of a couple sheets of plywood and his scroll saw.

Mix your concrete, let it set for about 45 minutes. Write whatever you want or stick decorations in. I use bits of glass, stones ect, in colors that match the critter. Let dry for a couple days and then remove from mold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/stuff/preachstone.jpg
This is Preacher's stone before it came out of the mold.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/stuff/1ca75875.jpg
Some of the others' stones.

[Cinder & Smoke]

I make them as memorial stones for my pets.

I use plain ol' concrete mix. You can buy it at any hardware store.
I prefer the kind with fewer stones it.
Stones can be a pain when writing in the cement.
Stuart made the heart mold out of a couple sheets of plywood and his scroll saw.

Mix your concrete, [see NOTE] let it set for about 45 minutes.
Write whatever you want or stick decorations in.
I use bits of glass, stones ect, in colors that match the critter.
Let dry for a couple days and then remove from mold.


That's "plain ol' BAGGED concrete mix".
Called "Quikrete" at Home Depot, "Sakrete" at other places.

It's industrial strength Concrete, pre-mixed with sand and stones, and sold
in HEAVY (50-80 pound) paper bags.

After you have your *FORM* built and dampened with water, you MIX the concrete ...
Cut the bag and dump it into a wheelbarrow or a BIG bucket / tub / trough ...
then add a surprisingly small amount of water (per the instructions on the bag),
then MIX, MIX, mix, mix some more, and mix again - till you have a very thick, soupy mixture.

Pour it into your form as soon as it's mixed;
*FLOAT* the stones down into the mixture - (either ask Dad or the Home Depot guy
about the finishing steps);
THEN WAIT the 45 minutes to do the final decorating.

While you're waiting, clean up all the stuff that has concrete on it ...
Dad will NOT be a Happie Kampur to find hardened concrete on his toys!

Don't try more than one at a time till you get the hang of it ... concrete can easily
'get away from you' and start to set up before you're ready.

PS:
The steel horse shoes *might* cause the stone to crack ... ask the Home Depot guy
about maybe sticking foam insulation around the inner & outer edges of the shoe -
to provide an "expansion joint" between the shoe and the concrete.

Have Phunn!! ;)

[Twisterdog]

I'll get some picture taken of my concrete project. It took two whole summers. LOL

There is an old 1930's dump site a few miles from my house. I walk the dogs out there, and started picking up interesting things ... pieces of depression glass, marbles, broken china dolls, an old miner's head lamp, a 1929 license plate. By the end of the summer, I had buckets and buckets of this stuff. People were starting to think I was odd. (Ok, so they thought that before, but still ... )

So during the winter, I sorted it all out, put it in bags by type, color, etc. Now, people were SURE I was cracked ...

SO the next summer, I thought I had better do something actually functional with it, before I was committed. So I got a concrete mold, and put the the "treasures" I found into each section. I did hundreds of these things, and put them all around the back door.

It actually looks VERY cool. Our local paper came out and took pictures. The only thing that didn't work well over time was buttons. For some reason they wouldn't stay in the concrete. But everything else I experimented with ... ceramic, glass, metal ... all worked well.

[4 Dog Mother]

My mother has a couple that I guess my aunts made for her since one says "Sis" on it. Jasmine has just been quite taken with the marbles and stones in them. My sister and I were at a Michael's Craft Store and they had several different kits to make stones. We bought two - one each for her brother and her but we had not done them yet. Might be something to do this holiday weekend. I've also seen them at Wal-Mart. Obviously if you don't want to use the stuff they put in with them you can chose other things. - I have a lot of colored marbles and stones from when I was making another project. I have a feeling we will be making more than just those two.

Twisterdog - thanks for the idea of using even other things than just marbles, bits of colored glass etc. Might be fun to see what we can come up with!