how to make stepping stones

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Making stepping stones, seaming natural stone together in water features, and creating flat veneer stone for walls, are three very common uses of Rockmolds.com.

With a little practice you’ll find pulling off a clean stamp is fairly simple. By stamping the fingerprint of nature into concrete, this allows you the flexibility of replicating nature in your projects.

How to make concrete “natural rock” stepping stones:

Trim
Mix
Smooth
Wait
Dust
Press
Cure
Spray
Seal
Enjoy

Remove tag, and trim off any excess rubber edge of the stamps. Eliminate all border around natural stamp.

Mix concrete. A rich mix (more cement) and small gravel (1/4" minus)
aggregate is a good mix for stamping. More cement in your mix will catch more detail with the molds, and the aggregate will hold the strength of the stepping stone. Avoid sand-only mixes. Adding color additive to your mix is preferable, so that the color is consistent throughout the concrete stone, and gives you a base color to accent.

Make smooth concrete "pancakes" 3-4 inches thick. Don't worry about making a bigger stepping stone that your stamps. You'll be able to make multiple stamps on one stone, so "go big". Smooth with a trowel to provide an even surface for the stamp to make its impression. Create 4 or 5 stones at a time so you can focus on making a few stones well. Make your layout a nice meandering path with varying size stones and shapes, to give them a more natural, less uniform layout.

Let "pancakes" sit until firm enough to take impression from stamp. This may take varying time based on outdoor temperature and cement mixture. Now give one final troweling to bring the watery loam to the surface.

Your stones may have the final desired color already, but you may now spray an acid etch stain on the dried stones for highlight color. Spray a darker stain in the deeper textured areas and sides of the stones. Spray a lighter stain to give the highlights over the entire stone. You may sponge the colors to blend together with a damp tile sponge to create a mottling effect. Wear protective skin, eye, and breathing gear.

Firmly press the rubber stamp onto surface and sides of "pancake", transferring the natural rock impression into the concrete. You may press lightly for less texture, or heavy for deeper texture. Using multiple stamps in different patterns is preferable to avoid too much symmetry in your layout. Stamp the sides of the stones also.

If the concrete wasn't the right consistency to take the mold impression, trowel the pancake smooth, and try again. After you have completed your stamping with the molds, wash them off thoroughly, dry with a towel, keep the molds out of the sun.

Let the stones cure 24 hours. Then hose off thoroughly and allow to dry.

Use a concrete penetrating sealant to preserve the color of your stones. A gloss sealant allows the colors to really pop in the stone, while a flat sealant gives a natural appearance.

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Enjoy Your Final Product!

As with any project using various materials, always wear safety gloves and goggles! Materials needed: Cement, trowels, mix color, release agent, acid stain, and penetrating sealant may be purchased at any concrete product supply store.

Dust a colored releasing agent onto the concrete surface. Make sure you cover the top and sides of your stones completely. This releasing agent comes in various colors, and will compliment the base color of your concrete. Browns and grays work well together.

Apply a concrete penetrating sealant to preserve the color of your stones.

As with any project using various materials, always wear safety gloves and goggles!