The unveiling

I went out into the garage today to unmold my new stepping stones. I was pretty proud of myself for actually giving them over 24 hrs before handling them. Usually I get impatient and remove them too soon, which can damage the stones. But this time I was good, and waited.

I decided to start with my FAMILY stone, and grabbed on to the sides to loosen the mold. Nothing happened, and I almost panicked. I made this one with one of my brick forms, and as I said before I am suffering from a new learning curve since I haven't made bricks or stones in quite a while. When the brick mold didn't budge on this stone, I remembered that I usually pull the molds off of my bricks when they are still wet. I suddenly had visions of having to chisel this stone out of the form. Not a good image! But with a little twisting and rocking, the mold began to release. And I am happy to say I was able to get it off without damaging the stone. And even though I'm still not sure what I think of this stone, I am glad I at least didn't waste my time making it. I think I'm going to grout in the letters on this stone to make the word pop. So I'm still trying not to judge this stone too harshly. I'll let you know when I finish playing with it.

Next was the moment of truth with the Texas stone. I loosened the sides of the mold, flipped it over and lifted it off.

So far, so good.

Now, I must digress a bit. As you look at my pictures you may notices a variety of things in the picture. Some of these things are items I use to make my current craft. But to be perfectly honest a lot of them are things that got put down who knows when and are still sitting where they were left. There is a perfectly good reason for this: I am a disorganized, piler by nature. When I clean I tend to move things from where they are to the room they should be--not the place they should be, but the room they should be. My intention is to finish the room I am currently working on and then move to the next. But more often than not I get the main living areas cleaned and organized and then stop to do something else. So all of those things that were moved from piles in the family room or kitchen and put into piles in my bedroom, office, or in this case my garage end up staying where they are. Indefinitely. Now lately I have been making a conscious effort to put things away instead of simply relocating the pile they live in. And it is going pretty well--with the new and current piles. However, the piles of days gone by still sit neglected, gathering dust (I'm also not a duster, but that's another story). Anyway I am sure I'll get to those old piles next week. Seriously! But until then, you will probably see some of them in my pictures. Take this picture for instance:

Here is my new Texas stone waiting for the next step in its completion, which we'll cover in a moment. In the background you see things I used to make my stepping stones: The Texas mold, the Pam I used to spray the mold, and the scissors I used to cut the contact paper and chicken wire (I know, scissors are not for cutting wire but since I couldn't find the wire cutters it was them or some expensive tool of my husband's and I figured this was the better choice for the sake of my marriage). Also in the picture is a bottle of grout sealer. Yes this is a craft item, but I really can't remember when I used it last. (I wonder if it is even still liquid or if it has dried up and hardened like my concrete coloring) Even more interesting is the canteen (see the white lid?) with the lazy susan sitting on top of it. The lazy susan is a future project--so the fact that it is on my craft table isn't that surprising. But I am not even sure the canteen belongs to us, let alone when it was put on the table. There are other things in the picture, but I think you get my point. I am disorganized. I am a piler. I can't park a car in my garage. I can't remember the last time I parked a car in my garage. At times it's really hard for me to remain focused. I really, really want a house elf! And I'm not sure why I felt the need to tell you all this. So I guess it's time to get back on topic. We'll now go back to where we were before I was compelled to confess my flaws. Thanks for listening. (This is much cheaper than therapy!)

Next step is to remove the contact paper that covers the top of the stone. I found an edge and pulled it up, and slowly peeled it off of the stone.

It doesn't look like I had any real shifting of glass when I put in
the cement. Excellent!

Now its time to clean the stone. I wiped down the entire stone with a wet rag, using it to take off the cement that caught around the edges of the glass.

Looks great!

Now I just need to let it sit for about a week and polish up the glass. We'll see how patient I can be this time! Hopefully it will bring a good price at the fundraising auction next Saturday.