Oh Boy now I AM JEALOUS!
Love that shoe I can just see it planted with succulants HOW CUTE!
The swan is great also I also use to have that exact lil yellow teapot! Great new toys ys got to play with!

What a nice haul! Love the swan! And your dwarfs turned out very well! Great job!

Cait- So cool! How tall are they? I was looking on the net last night and saw some 11 inch figures for $60. You have a treasure there!!!!

Did you use that concrete release stuff on the inside of the molds? It is supposed to help them to pop out easier.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Love all your new goodies. Envying that tea pot. Is the plate with the house painted on it tin? Great job on the Snow Gnomes, Dockee & Happy. Will you leave them the grey of the cement or do you have plans to paint them?
Vickie

"Happy and Doc" are going to be super cute in your garden.
I think they are delightful.
And love the shoe, and the swan. You got great buys on things. Have fun playing and CONGRATULATIONS.

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Gosh, I hate you cait! lol! I love your gnomes and that swan. I have a mosaic book by Kaffe Fassett and Candace Bahouth entitled Mosaics: Inspiration and Original Projects for Interiors and Exteriors. In it, Kaffe Fassett mosaiced two swans very similar to yours. One was with black broken dishes or tiles and the other was with white shells and pearls. They were both breathtaking! Love that carnival glass vase too! And you did a great job on the dwarves.

LOL ... about this love/hate/envy/jealous messages!!!

You certainly made a "haul," cait! The 1st pic drew me right in with those mosaic pots as the bkgrd! I love your work! My DH fixed up a pair of nippers for me & I tried it a bit...but don't know if I'll have the hand-strength needed...but I sure enjoy lookin' anyway!!!

The glassware & pottery is awesome & everything to "boot!" Looks like you're going to have a great time! Great saves & thanks for sharing! Jeanne S.

My, did you ever get some great bargains! Very nice stuff. My DM had a hobnail bowl like that, guess they were sold all over the world. And I love your mosaic work.

You did a good job with the concrete dwarfs - will this be a new business for you? Or will you just have several families of gnomes and dwarfs in your garden?

Oh my gosh if that is what you got going later imagine what you would have found earlier! On the other hand they may have just lowered their prices after the first wave.
Love the dwarfs. I think some pitting is normal. You did a great job. Will you paint them?
kathy

The 'gnomes' are about 7 1/2 inches tall. I didn't use any kind of releasing agent - I had been reading a thread on molds and one person said s/he never used anything and made loads of stuff. Also they talked about a particular name-brand release agent and I'm not sure if I could get it here, let alone find any release agent here. Wouldn't even know where to look. And yes, I'll paint them. They need to cure for a further 4 days. Thanks concreteKathy for letting me know that 'pitting' is normal. Now I even know the term for that!

I saw an orange teapot exactly like the yellow one but the lady wanted $5 for it. I passed it buy.

Jeanne, you can always smash the plates! I know my hand tires after awhile from nipping.

Great shopping!! Love the red vase & the plate with pic. Happy & Doc will look right at home with your other xmas dwarfs. I did a mold kit & used a wire to help get rid of bubbles so wouldn't pit so much, you could try that, especially in the face. Sand end of wire to smooth so don't damage mold, with cake batter you can release bubbles by tapping pan hard or dropping it couple of inches. Wonder if it would work for molds & cement?? Looking forward to seeing your new residents in their new homes!! Jan

I have heard of people using "Pam" cooking spray as a releasing agent for cement.

Jeanne, I put plates in a bag and wack 'em with a hammer. Then use the nippers to shape the pieces. It is kind of fun and a lot less work than nipping everything!

I've always used Pam cooking spray in my molds for easy release. (you can use WD-40 too, but I hate the smell of it). And the gal I got molds from told me to gently shake them from side to side and then like Sunny said, lift amd "drop" them an inch or so to make the cement settle better and get rid of air holes. Works for me.

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akup - I forgot to answer yr question.... the plate is ceramic, or whatever else they made plates from. Will use it in a mosaic.

I did tap and shake and kinda drop the mold as I was filling it. Still got pits. HA! Maybe I'll try some kind of tamping tool. AS far as getting the mold off the concrete, there wasn't any sticking, it was just that pulling the mold over their bellies was a bit difficult!

I use Pam, but i use mostly old cake pans and jello molds made out of metal. Cait's molds are silicone which doesn't require a release apparently. I got a silicone cake pan that I'll try as soon as the weathers warmer (with no release). I also mold castles in toy sand castle buckets. Concrete will stick to them as well as to commercial plastic molds so plastic needs a release too.
kathy

Thanks, cait & luna...I'll try smashing first ... and then nippin' a bit!

I also use Pam in the silicone mold to make it easier for the "whimsey rock face" to release...and I have a few bubbles...my DH made a wood box for me to set my mold in & I "rap" it up & down on work table...gets rid of a lot of them...and I use an old toothbrush (DH idea) to brush the bits of crete dust left in mold. Here's a pic I've posted before...had lots of pits & such...one of first ones & learning... Thanks for info. Jeanne S.
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