Foolproof Reverse-Cast Stepping Stones

Reader Contribution by Sarah Hart Boone
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You may have seen stepping stone kits at craft stores. They tend to cost around $10-20 each and come with a mold, pretty stones and mosaic pieces to embed in your project, and powdered stepping stone mix. There is nothing wrong with these kits, but they are good for making one stone at a time, at a pretty high cost.Many of you probably already know that you can buy some kind of concrete and a mold and make your own stones.You pour the concrete in and add the mosaic pieces as it dries.

 I used that basic technique for many years with groups of children and adults with very mixed results. I would have the people assemble their mosaic pieces on a table, then I’d have to go mix the cement away from them, like in a hallway or outside, then I would fill the pie pans with wet cement and then panic would set in. Once it starts to harden you have to add the pieces quickly. If
you add them too soon they sink into the mix and disappear. If you wait too long they don’t stick well to the stepping stone. Carefully planned designs would go out the window as kids and their parents tried to jam their tile pieces into the stone in a rush. Also, using wet cement with groups is nerve wracking because they can get it on their clothes, on your clothes, and on classroom or household furniture. So, when we our school received a grant to make stepping stones for our butterfly garden I knew I needed to find a more reliable and simple technique.  We would have to figure out a way to make the designs in advance and pour the concrete away from the kids.

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