Free Mosaic Stepping Stone Patterns

A bench for Trenton

Travis Hayden and his wife Juanita recently created a mosaic memorial window dedicated to a student's primary Alkek killed last year.

The bench, 15 inches by 30 inches and about two feet high, is in the garden between Alkek halls of the school.

Floresville artisans exhibit their work regularly in Bandera to celebrate Memorial Day and craft shows Bandera, and other places like Chappell Hill. On the recent show Memorial Day craft Bandera, Brandi Morgan told them about a memorial to Thomas Trenton Friederich, a kindergarten died December 14, 2010.The story "struck a chord with us," said Hayden.

The Haydens create mosaics, stepping stones, benches, name and address of monuments, upright and without a cross and angels.

"The angels standing are becoming very popular," said Hayden.

They have been in business for almost 20 years. They each have different tasks in the construction of mosaics. All their work is done by hand and have a strong customer base in southern Texas. "There are too many items" Made in China ', "said Hayden.

They buy sheets of colored glass and cut the material into designs.They also cut the letters and numbers out of the glass and put the pieces into a mold. They pour concrete and let dry. Then they turn it upside down, then the grout to make it smooth. Sometimes the concrete is stained.

Hayden and his wife were teachers for over 25 years. She has taught high school mathematics and was a teacher and counselor ag school.

If you want to see what all they can do, visit their website at www.rocnarrow.com.

Morgan said traditionally, when a student is lost, nothing is done to honor him or her.

"It meant a lot for teachers to have something special in his memory," said Morgan.

The garden area is where the bench will be used by students to grow vegetables and other plants in the science curriculum of the school.

"It made sense to the bench in the garden," said Morgan.

Friederich was recognized as a student of the month of September 2009 by Alkek Elementary.

Learning to Make Mosaic Stepping Stones

Inspired by the recent garden tours a few of us decided to make mosaic stepping stones to decorate our own gardens.  To begin we researched “How to Make Mosaic Stepping Stones” on the internet where several teaching videos and step-by-step instructions gave us enough confidence to try.  We gathered a bunch of tiles, glass beads, mosaic stone kits, broken stained glass, cement and chicken wire.  Bravely we invited the whole neighborhood to join us in the hangar next door.  Nine showed up.  Excitedly we followed the instructions and created our designs to fit the shape of our chosen molds, then carefully transferred the design to clear contact paper.  The “Inverted Method” instructed us to place the loaded contact paper in the bottom of a mold, cover with cement, let dry, pop it out, turn it over and viola our beautiful mosaic would appear in perfect condition.  All the videos showed this amazing procedure with awesome results.

Everything started to literally fall apart when our beautiful designs of glass, tiles, and colored rocks would not stick to the contact paper.  No matter how carefully we tried to lift the sheet the artfully arranged pieces fell off!  So much for the plan.  No to be deterred, the group decided fill the molds with concrete first, then use a free-form spontaneous “design build” approach placing the colorful tile, glass, and rocks on top.  Using this modified method we each quickly completed our planned stone to find that we had a ton of cement left over.  With the help of an ingenious husband and band saw, discarded plastic buckets were cut into 2″ sections, placed on a clean plastic covered table to become circular molds.  We filled the bucket molds and before we knew it every available space was occupied with amazing creations, and we still had left over concrete!

That’s when someone suggested, let’s go pick some rhubarb leaves and make bird baths.  But, I’m getting ahead of the story, I’ll write about the leaves another day.  We agreed to meet that evening to “Un-mold and Uncork”, releasing the stepping stones with the help of wine.  I’ll show you the results tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

Gail Niebrugge (Knee-brew-ghe) born and raised in California has pursued art since childhood, winning a poster contest on the Johnny Jet television show at the age of twelve.  The Niebrugge family fell in love with Alaska while on vacation in 1976 and never returned home, instead they established a residence in the remote interior settlement of Copper Center.  Since 1995 Palmer has been home to the Niebrugge’s. [Read More...

Garden stone, creative landscaping with plants and stone

Craft Wisdom & Know-How, Everything You Need to Stitch, Sculpt, Bead and Build

The Michaels Book of Arts & Crafts

Making Mosaics, Designs, Techniques & Projects

Mosaics Inside and Out, Patterns and Inspiration for 17 Mosaic Projects