Today, Mother, Hubbie, and I made the stepping stones shown above. The top one is mine, the middle one is Mother's, and the bottom one is Hubbie's. Right now, the Quikrete we used to make the stones is still wet, and mine, for example, has concrete residue on the tile pieces I used, but this will wash off easily with a wet paper towel after the stone has set for a few hours.
Here's how we made the stones:
1. Use small or large plastic plant dishes for molds. Once the stones are dry, they will come out of the dish without much trouble.
2. Cut a piece of screening, a little smaller than the mold.
3. Mix Quickrete at the ratio of about 5 cups of the concrete to about 1 cup of water. We use a gallon ice cream bucket to mix the Quickrete. Add the water a little at a time to the Quickrete and mix with a large, old, spoon, until the concrete is a little wetter than cookie dough.
4. Put a layer of the Quickrete into the plastic dish and spread it out. Place the screening on top, and add the rest of the Quickrete. Smooth the concrete out.
5. Tap around the dish to bring air bubbles to the top of the concrete.
6. Add embellishments. In the examples above, we used a whole tile, a broken tile, a broken plate, jewel stones, and seashells from an old necklace. We usually lay out our design on the table before we mix the Quickrete so we'll have some idea of design placement before we begin.
7. Lay the embellishments on top of the Quickrete, and when you are satisfied with your design, push the embellishments down into the Quickrete.
8. Once your design is completed, do not move the stone. Allow it to dry two or three days.
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