Ornamental paving slabs

There's so many boring paving slabs out there and I thought I'd have a go making my own for my allotment.

This particular slab is actually for aesthetics only,  You can making this for stepping on, you just need to apply a couple of inches more thickness than I did and add a bit of chicken wire.

You will need:

Cement
Sand (I used soft as opposed to sharp sand)
A leaf
Water
Bucket
Trowel
Suitable flat surface - thick cardboard if you're not going to move it, I used the top of an old desk.
Knife for opening bags if you need it
Gloves/other general safety gear as appropriate.
Screwdriver or similar sharp pointy implement for getting in crooks and crannies.
Minions - This time I needed a couple of minions/friends/assistants about to take photos and assist with general jobs.  You'll probably need a hand when doing this.

As usual having researched the project and not finding anything like it on instructables, the robot links it directly to someone who's done exactly this, but with some neat ideas.  You can see it here

Step 1 Picking a leaf

You'll need a fairly big leaf.  I'd avoid leaves such as giant hogweed as the juice will burn you if you're in the sun.

I used a rhubarb leaf as it's in abundance at this time of year, but you could use all sorts.

I'd use a large enough leaf you could step on.

*no minions were injured in the leaf picking process

Comments

[inanobot]

great!!!

[bikerchick13]

Love it!! can't wait til summer to try this!

[maltesergr8]

Very cool looking!! Thanks for the great 'able!

[georgiapeach773]

This looks great. I think you could add a wooden frame around it (mold) and once it had set up a bit, fill in around it (but not on it) with sand, then fill in the square with more cement with some reinforcement in it, to end up with the square thicker slab with the leaf in relief. Then you could add them in randomly with your pavers in your patio.

[afridave]

really nice and very simple, thanks. have no idea where to get such a large leaf though.

[beackmaniax]

really good instructable, five stars really !

[zascecs]

Very cool. 

[TSC]

Nice I'm going to give it 5stars!!!!!!!!!!

[DiannaLynne]

I've made rhubarb leaves for pavers and decorative use as well,  and leave the leaf on during the curing process, which helps keep the cast moist as well.  Eventually it dries up and can be removed easily,  and the remnants can be blasted off with a strong water jet.  Be sure to pack enough material around the large veins to avoid weak spots in the piece.

Also went to a local concrete place and bought some reinforcing fibers - a 1 lb. bag goes a long way and a pinch mixed into the water for each batch of concrete  adds a lot of strength to the batch.

[PippaD]

I need to make pavers for my garden; what a terrific idea!  Ta!

[Longmorn]

Spray some nonstick cooking spray for leaf removal and color with add in concrete color (will never peel off).

[kenbob]

Would love to see the finished product / deployment.   could you used the leaves to "imprint" in a layer of thinset on top of a sidewalk?

[Culturedropout]

Neat!  That's a *huge* leaf!  It might come off better if you dumped some scalding hot water over it to soften it after the concrete is set.  You might be able to just hose it off with a jet of water after that.

[NutandBolt]

Your paving slabs looks amazing, I have to give this a go. When I do i'll post photo. ......... <(•¿•)>

[RadBear]

Cool!