I've made quite a few stepping stones and I've used both kinds of Quikcrete. I much prefer the type with no stones in it if I'm going to be poking glass, pebbles or whatever into the cement, but if you're doing the kind of rhubarb leaf I know about(where you pour the concrete onto the sand-supported leaf) then the stony kind should work okay. After you've made the stepping stone just be really sure it's totally dry before you handle it. And when you're done, show us photos!

I'm going to try to add a link to my Webshots page of stepping stones. I hope this works.

Ginni

Here is a link that might be useful: My stepping stones

Wow, Ginni, I'm really impressed! The chipmunk is adorable! And your dragonflies, and those irises! Thanks so much for sharing your album - gave me lots of ideas!
OK, Sweets, you got your inspiration, now lets see yours!
Cait

Wow Ginni, those are gorgeous!

I'm sure this has been covered here but can somebody give me a quicky tutorial on how to make these? I've been told, use a pizza box or plastic plant saucer as the form, but how do you get it out after it's set? Do you have to "grease" it somehow or will it pop right out? And for these elaborate designs like Ginni's, do you press the pieces into the top or do a design, then pour the concrete over it?

Thanks in advance for any help, I've REALLY wanted to give these a try.

Ginni77,
Your stepping stones are fantastic! When you say put them in your garden, do you put them on pathways? Can they actually be walked on, or would that ruin them? We are making a patio off our deck and I wanted to put some decorated stones down and wanted to know how durable they were.
Thanks, Sharon

I have made stepping stones from Rhubarb leaves - Do not use "concrete" with the large rocks in it. You want to use a "cement" with fine sand for best results (if you want to use a pre-mix). Visit the hypertufa forum for all kinds of leaf help.

Very pretty ginni, it that stained glass pieces, I would also like to know how durable they are.

Use the quickcrete for the stones you want to put glass or stuff into/on. Do not use the quickcrete for the leaves.

Use cooking oil to grease any mold (pizza box, plastic pan, cake pan, whatever). Cooking oil is fine since it's what most people have on hand. Wipe the mold down just like you would if you're baking a cake and prepping the pan.

Think of mixing up concrete just as making a cake or a jello mold. The rocks in the mix will be suspended and not come to the surface if you trowel off (or use a yard stick) the top of the stone. This pushes the rocks down and lets the fine cement mix rise to the top. This is when you'd put in your glass, etc.

You're better off following the links in the tufa forums for the leaves. DH, who has been making concrete statuary (and stepping stones) for over a decade, had a hard time making the leaves with his normal mix.

I'm going to do a stepping stone primer one day and put it in the FAQ's section.

hi
kinda suprised this is not in the faq. but just doing some searching around on the net. and at the tufa forum ,here will give huge amounts of imfo.
I can say that this idea without getting fancy is one of the cheapest things a person can do in the yd.
while i,m no pro like some of these folks this is an easy thing to do with a 3$ bag of mix and about anything for a mold
I made 3 with shoe boxes and lava rock.
I think I found the ultimate stepping stone mold though in a black rubber farm tray , like a oil drain pan but in tire material , no release agent needed and indestructable.
just love those glass in layed ones WOW.
wished I had a mixer and material.
but here is a few we made Rick{{gwi:147212}}
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Well unless you plan on adding screening or a stablizer in the mortor mix it will break apart under pressure, picking them up, weather etc. Experience speaking here... Cement is fine, I use mortor mix and add window screening between layers and it works great. Thought I would say something else there huh, not sure I wasn't gonna frankly. LOL

I made several last summer using rhubarb leaves as the form and the huge one I made that I put the screen in is holding up wonderful those that I didn't use the screening are now in pieces.

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The broken are resting quietly in a hidden away corner in my garage.

Thanks for all the sweet compliments!

I will try to answer your questions but remember I'm no expert.

My SO made a form out of plywood and boards. He used 2X4 pieces for the sides and the plywood for the bottom. He measured the size of a form we needed to exactly replace 3 bricks in our walkway. We've decided that if I make any more of the stepping stones (and I will..LOL) we need to make a little larger form so they fit a little tighter (you can see the space between the ends and the bricks in the walkway in my photos on Webshots...we usually just fill in with sand if they don't fit perfectly). The small rounds were made by pouring concrete mix in one of those tough flexible black rubber dog bowls. You can get them at your local farm stores. They also have larger round bowls that work, we used to use them as horse feeders or oil pans. The finished stepper just pops out of these bowls. I used colored cut glass I got on eBay in the beginning but I've found out that they aren't as permanent as I would like them to be. I've lost some glass from some of them because they are all in our brick walkway and they get walked on all the time. Most of them were made in 2003 and they are all missing a few (3 or 4) pieces of glass. I don't think the glass weathers all that well either. I think winter takes a toll on them staying stuck. Andy and I collect stones and rocks for our garden, large and small, when we go on trips. I always try to get enough small ones to make a few stepping stones. I've even bought bags of polished stones at Dollar General to make steppers out of.

Here are the steps to making a stepper
1.) Make a form the size you want and nail it together
2.) Fill the form with a mix of Sakrete and water that's a bit thicker than cake batter. Your concrete should be at least 2-3 inches thick in the form.
3.) Push glass or stones into the wet sakrete to create your design.
4.) Let dry at least 2 -3 days.
5.) Using a hammer, take the form apart and pop the stepper out. Let it dry a couple more days on a flat surface before using it or placing it where it will be walked on. If you use a rubber bowl/form, just pop the stepper out by flexing the bowl.

I have added a few more photos to my album on Webshots if you want to go back and see a couple of pix of the steppers in my walkways, a pic of my frames and a couple steppers I hadn't added to my album yet. I ran out after I started writing this to take a few more photos for my album.

Thanks for your interest, if you have anymore questions I'll sure try to answer them. Just be warned that this is very addicting and you won't want to stop making them!!

Ginni

Oh wow,that is beautiful! Just wanted to add that last year I bought a little mosaic stepping stone kit at Michaels for my grandchildrens handprints.My husband bought me 80 or 100 lbs. of kwik-krete,it had small rocks in it(I just asked him,and he sighed and said it's regular kwik-krete!)Well,my sisters grandchildren were visiting,too,and wanted a stepping stone,so I improvised,I ran inside and found a couple dozen foil cake pans I had,and so we made 10 of her kids and grandkids each one,too.They just pressed their hands,and we had a little alphabet stamp,and they each used flat marbles and broken stained glass and wrote their names and birthdays.They came right out of the foil pans,and so far,a year later,they're holding up.She uses hers in her walkway. I should run go take a pic

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the square ones are the mold that came with the kit. Sorry they are not clear,it is raining right now,and my sisters,the round ones,really do look good,you can see the kids glass and stones and names really well. The alphabet stamps came with the kit at Michaels,another reason I bought it. I'll try to post another pic when the sun comes out and we wipe some mud off!!

Thanks Ginni and Rick for the how-to info! Your stones are great, I can't wait to try making some of my own. And I love the ones posted by kudzukween too!

I have only made one and I used a really large plastic pan that you put under a potted plant, I lined it with plastic and it popped right out when dry.

Ginni - as always beautiful! Kudzukeen I bet you and you grandchildren had fun making these! :-) Very nice Rick! Echoes I have always wanted to make them out of leaves - look so pretty!

I too use the quickcrete but I also just recycle molds - some times they are bakery or salad plates from the store. ;-)

Thanks for sharing everyone - my neice will be up this summer and we made some last year and now are going to make it a tradition.

I used the Quickrete in the blue bag, it has 'fibers' in it for strenth. Also, pick up some chicken wire or hardware cloth to 'smoosh' into the leaf castings if making stepping stone. That will give it plenty of strength to walk on them.

Just make sure you use rubber gloves when working with the stuff... it'll peel your hands really bad. Don't breathe in the dust either!

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I've since painted mine green and they look super. I made 3 more from my petesites leaves. Eventually, I'll swap out the tree slab stepping stones for the cast ones.

I'm currently working on a new path to our walkway. I picked up a 'cobblestone' mold from lowes. I'm using the same fiber quickrete as mentioned earlier. Super, super easy!!!! Looks dam good, too!!

I also made a couple bird baths using elephant ears. You'll need some sand. Lay out some plastic, dampen the sand and mound it up and lay your leave on it. This creates a 'bowl shape' to hold water. Don't have a photo yet of those, sorry. So don't be 'skeered'... just go for it! You'll amaze yourself at all the possibilities. DH will eat his heart out see you making mud pies!!! Good luck!!

Nancy

Wow..thanks for all the info! I didn't think I'd see so many pictures! LOL

I decided to give it a shot yesterday and I mixed up what I had. I filled a few fast food cups to make bases for mushrooms and filled a few plastic bowls I had around here after I lined with a plastic grocery bag. I also had an old terra cotta saucer that was just around here when we moved in that I lined with a bag and filled and then put glass in it that I found out in the yard. So far it's okay. The edges are messed up a bit in two spots and some of the concrete could be around a few pieces better. I may mix a tiny bit and patch, don't know!

Thanks for all the info!

did you read my mind??? I was thinking if I was brave enough to make some.. I want to make some .. write over garden quotes with mozaics or paint?? we'll see....and those who already made.. and shared with us.. thanks very informative and motivating..thanks..=))

can anyone give the anount of cement and sand to use on the 14" and 12" black molds that you buy from craft stores.

Sweets98 said: "The edges are messed up a bit in two spots and some of the concrete could be around a few pieces better."

I wish you could show us. I'm sure you shouldn't touch it; they are the imperfections that make them perfect! If everything was smooth and even it would look more like it came off of the assembly line!!
This is a project that I've wanted to try for a long time. I hate sending the boys back to school; maybe I'll work on this to help pass time with something fun!

I make stainglass stepping stones and benches I pour my on concrete. But would also like to use some ready made concrete stepping stones and benches and pots. But i am looking for an adhesive that would glue the glass to the concrete and then grout it. It will be used outdoors.thanks!

anyone that has made stepping stones is very enthusiastic about it and more than willing to share tips. I've made stepping stones and even tried my hand at tufa in the past year.
it's all fun. ;-)

Ah, someone brought my post back to the top!! LOL

I finally took some photos of what I did last summer. I messed with some other stuff but not all of it worked out so well. I did forget one other thing I made....I made another small rectangle stepping stone and then I took a stick and did a star in the center with like berry vine out from it.

Here is the stepping stone that I made using glass pieces that I found while digging the flower bed out back. The center is a bottom to a beer bottle :)

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My Mushrooms. I like them the natural color.
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This is DS creation. We didn't finish it yet. It's a tank! DS is really into Army stuff and he wanted a tank to play with and hide in my flower beds. We used two different sized meat containers. We haven't figured it all out yet though. He wants to use like a dowel and make the gun. We probably should have done that by now! LOL I was thinking we could maybe cover it with patching concrete so it matches? And we were wondering if we could possibly cover plastic Army men with patching concrete or something else and make little men! He also would like to paint it.
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How exciting to see so many different stepping stones!
I've wanted to try making some, but just haven't done it yet. With cool threads like this, I'll have lots of great ideas when I finally get around to it!
Thanks all for sharing.