Make a Garden Stepping Stone

Those Garden Stepping stones are so completely beautiful, but have no noticed how expensive they can be?? well we all have. A stepping stone for your garden can cost anywhere from 10 pounds on up depending on what you purchase, but why buy stepping stones, when you can easily make them, with just a bit of fuss and muss and for a fairly low price.
Material You will need to make a Stepping Stone for your Garden:

Cement (Any home center will have this)
Patio Paints the colors of your choice
Screening mesh, chicken wire or something along these lines.
Molds (there is actually no need to purchase molds. Inexpensive plastic or metal cake pans, pie pans or something else in the shape you want will work just fine. One thing you might like to use is a shaped cake pan, such as  a heart, lady bug or just about anything at all.

You will also need cooking spray  and  craft glue

Garden stepping stones can be made in any shape, depending on the mold you use

DIRECTIONS:
The mold you choose will tell you how much cement you’re going to need.
Probably 8 or 10 pounds is going to do it, more if you make more than one at a time.

Cut a piece of the wire mesh, or screening wire in the shape of your mold by putting the mold on the top of the mesh and cutting it with small wire cutters.

Cement has a tendency to crack and this will support your garden stone, so its a fairly important aspect of the garden stone.

Spray your mold with cooking spray or oil it lightly with household cooking oil.

Mix the cement in a deep bucket, making it rather like thick syrup, adding craft glue at a rateof about a tablespoon to every 2 or 3 cups of cement in your mold.
(what this does is help the  mesh to adhere to the cement.)

Putting a shape into the mold lets you leave openings such as this

Mix it all together and put the mesh on the top of the cement, pushing it down in slightly and then add more cement on top of it.

AFTER THE MOLD IS POURED DO NOT MOVE IT UNTIL IT IS DRY, IT WILL CRACK!!!

When completely dry, usually overnight, remove it and run warm water over it to remove the oil and dust and let it dry for an hour or so.

Paint the finished stone in the colors and designs of your choice.
It can be stenciled with your name, house number, garden designs, insects or freehand painted any way you like..

Solar Lights for the Garden
Think about the lighting that exists in your walkway or garden, and where you might like to have more, in consideration of security, or safety for walking after dusk. The...

Designing Your Garden
 Ask any gardener what is the basic element of design that should be paid the most attention to, and no two answers are going to ever be the same. When I...

Rock Gardening in the UK
Rock gardens in the UK are not common, yet could be, with some of the more famous rock gardens world wide existing here, including Chatsworth Garden. The common person...