How well they are installed also makes a difference of where the stress is put on the stone. Quikrete SandTopping mix! So it will look like this. Barb, Thank you for the tutorial on concrete leaves.
In the last picture, you show the leaf that seems colored and shiny. Can you explain what you used on the concrete for paint and did you use a sealer? Oh, that picture just shows it wet.
Mine have aged and gotten some patina on them. I like old looking concrete…. Oh dear! If you can find a big plastic saucer for the bottom of planters, that would work.
I like plastic best, especially if it has some flexibility. You can have much fun with the leaf shapes though…. Hi Barb, thank you so much for your great ideas! I made some stepping stone moulds from your silicone and corn starch recipe over some old tree stumps and they turned out perfect! I used the sand topping mix with some drywall tape in the middle for strength as well.
Just wondering how to make sure they will not crumble and how long to wet cure them? I waited 24 hours to take them out of the moulds and one is a bit crumbly around the edge.
Thanks again! Depending on the temperature, 24 hours may have been early. Consistency can also play a role when the water rises to top and edges. I have never used concrete before but I want to make a step stone well like one that stays inside so not to thick if possible. I want to use seashells that we got when my son got married can you help me? I think you want them on the top so using a fast set mix will allow you more control than the SandTopping mix. I would use Rapidset Cementall and find a flat plastic pan as a mold.
Maybe do a small test piece. I have never used that mix. I think it is quite expensive for the large amount usually needed for stepping stones.
Also, check the specs as that will tell you about strength. I used quickcrete sand topping mix for the first time. I did not reinforce the cement with wire or drywall tape…my mistake. It was also rather humid out. Do you have any advice for me? Should I use Portland cement and mix pure white sand in instead? Or try the quickcrete sand topping mix again? The sand in the quickcrete also had pebbles in it which concerned me.
I have stepping stones that are many years old, all from the Quikrete Sand Topping mix. There is no aggregate in it, just sand. I use the drywall mesh as you know and unless I have made one really thin they do not break, especially right away. Concrete likes to cure slowly and not dry out too fast.
Moisture during curing helps it strengthen, that is why new driveways need to be wetted down during the first a few times. Oh, another reason may that the mix is too old…. Planning to soon make the concrete hands. How do you make the fingernails and lifelike creases when they come out smooth from the glove molds? Thank you. You can use the alginate to cast the hands but then you can only do one. Good luck! Barb, I made about 10 of the stepping stones last year and they were great.
This year the first two crumbled like cookies after 24 hours of curing. I sprayed them many times over in the first 6 hours. The cement was a bag that had been in the garage from last summer unopened. The mold can be rotated and sections interlocked to create curves, corners and stone pattern variations. Within half an hour or so after shoveling Quikrete concrete mix into the mold, you simply lift it off and gaze upon a very handsome section of stone paving -- quite an achievement for someone with no experience in concrete or masonry.
You still have to fill in the spaces between the stones with sand, grout or dirt, but the whole process is amazingly simple. These steppingstones must be made in place, preferably in a sunken bed from which one inch of topsoil has been removed. There are several different paving patterns available, including "Country Stone" and "Paving Brick. Compared to decorating premade steppingstones with mortar, however, this is heavy work.
Bags of the quick-setting concrete weigh 60 or 80 pounds each, and it takes five pound bags to make a 9-foot- long, 2-foot-wide garden path. The Anduhas worked, off and on, about four hours per day for two days to create a new front walk. They chose red bricks for edging and filled in between the stones with dry mortar mix, which Jane swept into place with a broom.
Then she misted the grout with a hose. I followed her technique in my own garden, but decided to add a layer of dirt on top of the grout -- when it was still wet -- because I want to encourage moss to grow between the new steppingstones. You can add a mudlike layer of mixed mortar to plain steppingstones, then decorate them with pebbles, tiles, leaves and other materials. Or you can use the Quikrete Walk Maker, a heavy plastic mold that makes "stones" with a quick-setting concrete mix.
Remove its connecting cords and embed it in a round steppingstone. Add as much powdered color as desired. You can continue to add color as you mix the mortar. Add more water as necessary, in small amounts. I started mixing with a stick and ended up squeezing the puddinglike mortar with my fingers in order to remove all of the lumps.
The final mixture should be quite stiff; otherwise, decorative objects will slide out of the mortar and off the steppingstones. Using a wet rag, shape and mold the corners and sides of the mortar layer to conform to the shape of the underlying stone. Hunks of excess mortar will ooze to the sides and must be wiped away. As you do this, you'll probably have to wipe and shape the surface again. This heat-expanded mica will make your stones lighter without sacrificing structural integrity, although they will be a bit grainier than if they had been made with pure concrete.
This is the step that makes or breaks your cement stepping stones——literally. If your cement mixture is too dry, your stepping stones might crack. If it's too wet, it may not set properly. Here are some tricks to getting the right consistency. You may want to add some color to your cement. If so, keep these tips in mind:. This is where your patience pays off. Once you've poured the concrete in the mold, set your mold on top of your washing machine and put the machine through two spin cycles, one right after the other, to get any air bubbles out.
This shakes the air out of the concrete and has a self-leveling effect on the surface. Some people recommend watering down your cement once or twice a day for a month after it has set. The result is a harder concrete that is more resistant to chipping. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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