Concrete Steping Stone With Beach Tile Inlay

In this Instructable I will show you a way of using up treasures found on the seashore. Each time we come home from vacation, we end up bringing a few kilos of pebbles, sea glass and other stuff that usually end up in a box at the back corner of the garage. This is a great way to make use of them.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Materials:

Ready mix concrete or cement, sand, gravel and water
Sea tile aka: pieces of broken tile smooth down by the sea like sea glass
A piece of chicken wire bit smaller than the final product

Mould (an old saucepan works well)

Step 2: Mixing the Concrete

if you use ready mix concrete then using around 15-30% water should be sufficient. You don't want to wet the concrete too much, but you also want to ensure that it flows easily enough to avoid a rough surface. However if you are not using a pre mixed concrete a 1:2:2 mix should be just fine, that is 1 part cement 2 parts fine aggregate (aka: sand) and another 2 parts of coarse aggregate. Make sure that the coarse aggregate does not have too big grains to avoid any surface inconsistencies.

Step 3: Pouring the Concrete

Pour the concrete in two steps: first fill the mold up about halfway and add the chicken wire as reinforcement then pour the remaining concrete on top and vibrate the mold to remove any air bubbles trapped inside the concrete and to evenly distrubute the concrete.

Step 4: Adding the Tiles

When adding the tiles you need to make sure that you don't put them too close together so that to ensure the structure of the final product.is stable. You can easily sink the tiles in place by lightly vibrating them with you fingers.

Step 5: Remove From Mold

You need to let it cure for at least 24 hours but it helps make the removal from the mold easier if you wait more. After removal it will need an additional week to fully cure.