Mosaic Stepping Stone

I've had this kit hanging around for a couple years now, tried to get Brooke to make it with me last summer but we never got around to it; my plan is to use this at the campground to hold down the rug that keeps flapping around. I've never made a mosaic stepping stone before, I followed the directions closely and it went pretty much according to the instructions although I do have a couple more tips to share.

1. In addition to the supplies they provided in the box - which amounted to the cement mix, a wooden writing tool (I laughed at that one, it's a popsicle stick!), a wooden mixing paddle (basically a paint stir stick), broken bits of colored glass, and the plastic mold - I used a 5 quart bucket, disposable gloves, and wore an apron to protect my shirt in case this project ended up being messy. After reading the warnings to avoid breathing in the cement dust I tied a bandana around my face and wore my glasses just in case. Really, all the warnings were making me a little nervous but this is supposed to be a kid friendly project so I just protected myself the best I could as a precaution. Also, you'll want to put down some paper to protect your surface.

2. The directions say to stir in 2 cups of water, then adjust the water as necessary for the mixture to be the consistency of cookie batter. Well that confused me - like what kind of batter are we talking because there are many different cookie batter consistencies! HA!. Turns out I think I might have went with a drier cookie batter and the cement started setting up before I realized it. But it still turned out so I'm good.

3. Before mixing the cement I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was going to do with the glass bits. First, I traced the shape of the stepping stone mold on some cardboard, then played around with where I wanted the glass mosaic pieces to go. That of course took a long time because I couldn't decide what pattern I wanted to make! Once I had what I thought looked good I mixed the cement and poured it into the mold as directed. So far so good.

4. Didn't really think about how I was going to transfer the pieces from my mock-up to the actual stone. Fortunately I took a picture of the practice piece - that helped give me an idea where I wanted the spirals to go but when moving them to the stone the angles got changed and all the sudden it wasn't like I practiced! That's when I realized the mix was setting up - uh oh!

5. To place the pieces on the cement without getting the mix all over my hands I wore a disposable glove on my left hand, picked up a piece with my left hand and placed in on the mix then using my right hand and the "writing tool" (aka: popsicle stick) I guided the piece in place (having a glove on my right hand was too hard using the stick).

6. Once I had all the pieces transferred from the mock-up cardboard to the stone there were some little spaces where I added small bits of glass to fill in. Once the glass pieces are all in place I put on both gloves and pressed the pieces down into the mix - that released some liquid from the mix but it's ok, once it dries you wipe it off with water.

after drying overnight, use an old toothbrush and water to clean the front surface.
Don't remove from the mold for 24 hours.

after 24 hours, remove from the mold and wash with dish soap

That dog! I'm pretty sure he was going to pee on my new stone,
but at the last minute he lifted his left leg on the grass instead - insert eye roll