AUTUMN Turtle Stepping Stone Mold, Concrete Cement Mold, Stepping Stones for Garden Walkway, DIY Walkway Stepping Stones, Turtle Statue for Garden, Turtle Garden Decor Mold, Regular, Made in USA

This mold has great detail of turtle and is very durable. Am anxious to start my new garden pathway. Only problem is that I have never done this before, and there are no directions. Such as, (1) do I need to spray it with something like Pam oil, to make the cement stone, come out of the mold easier? (2) How long do I leave the cement in the mold, before I dump it out or let it stay in the mold until it dries? I was wanting to be able to let my family write there names on each stone, in my garden. (3) Is there a limit on how many times the mold can be used? I really need to know these answers, before I can even get startedl. Haven't been able to use yet, so can't answer the rest of your survey such as value for money, sturdiness, and easy to use. Thanks.

I wanted some whimsical and different pavers to mix in with the plain concrete stepping stones in my backyard, but it was cost prohibitive to buy more than a couple at the garden stores. I had some leftover concrete from an old project, so I decided to try this mold.It worked out really well. But be aware that even if you're using quick-set cement, you do need to wait 24 hours to take it out of the mold or it may crack/chip. So if you're making a lot of them, you will only be able to make one per day unless you buy multiple molds. But on the plus side, it's really quick and easy to do when you're only mixing a small enough concrete for one. You can just a 5-gallon bucket and mix it by hand with a small garden trowel.My leftover cement was a type called sand/topping mix. It worked really well in the mold, and I got a nice, smooth turtle with no bubbles. But that kind of cement isn't really meant for structural things, so I don't know if those stones will hold up well to being walked on. Then I went out and bought quick-set cement that has a very high strength. It mixed up with a very different consistency, and my first turtle had a lot of surface holes, even though I vibrated the mold. (It's not what I was going for, but it's actually pretty cool if you want them to look old and worn.) I mixed up the next batches a little wetter and vibrated the mold a lot more vigorously, and the remaining turtles turned out better, although they still had a few holes. I found that I could get 4 1/2 turtles out of a 60 lb bag of the topper mix, and about 3 1/2 out of a 50 lb bag of quick-set. If I make more, I'll probably just buy the regular concrete, as it's cheaper, and there's no real advantage to the quick set. (Still, even with the quick-set, these are cheap to make.)Someone mentioned that these will probably break without any kind of rebar or wire support structure in them. I don't know if that's true, as the plain concrete pavers you buy at the garden center don't have any wire in them. I could see the head and legs being a bit fragile, so you'll definitely want to be careful to put a good layer of sand or paver base under them so they don't wobble. And they might not be the best choice for a super high-traffic walkway. (I'm going to put mine around the edges of the walkway, so they don't get walked on as much.)As for finishing them off... I originally had the idea to coat them with glow-in-the-dark paint. But that doesn't really work for outdoors, because the light charge wears off before it gets dark enough to see the glow. Then I got cooped up indoors during the heat wave, and I went a little crazy getting creative with the paint. The result took forever, and now I'm not sure I want to let people walk on them after so much work. But I'm attaching a picture of a plain one, and photos of some ones I've painted, just to give you an idea of what you can do with them. I'm thinking you might be able to get a really cool effect in a lot less time with some metallic spray paint, but I haven't tried that.If you just want to use these as indoor decorations and not stepping stones, you could also make these with plaster. You could probably even do one of those cool projects where you embed things in epoxy resin (although the resin would be a lot pricier and trickier to mix).

This is a very sturdy mold! I used vegetable oil as a mold release and a reinforced crack-resistant cement mix. (It has extra fibers in it) The first one I made has a few bubbles, but the second is in the mold right now and I tapped it longer. This mold is very affordable, and the stepping stones look great.

This mold is very sturdy and has held up for several uses.

This looks good but a little thin. I will beef it up with some wood to make it a little thicker.

I have never mixed concrete before or used a mold, so after watching some videos and doing some research I finally got brave enough to try this. I was imagining me making a big mess and having a chunk of concrete blob. First, find a bucket that has quarts marked inside. It takes about 3 1/2 quarts of concrete mix. I use about 14 lbs of early high strength concrete mix and add about 2 lbs of quick set concrete. How much water??? No clear answers here, the important thing is to make sure you don't have any dry powder left. Watch some videos and you can see about how thick. I would guess maybe about 1/3- 1/2 a gallon...Before you mix, use some cooking oil and a paintbrush and make sure you oil the mold good, it only takes about 1/2 a tablespoon to oil it good. Don't miss any spots. I also cut some supports out of chicken wire to put in the concrete before I mix. So when you pour the mix, wear a mask and eye protection add about a 1/3, a little water, mix with a little shovel or a drill mixer if you have one and keep mixing until it is all added and wet. Pour about half the mix in and tap tap tap the mold. Then stick the chicken wire on the arms legs and head for extra support. Next scoop some mix over the chicken wire so it doesn't move too much. Add the rest of the mix and tap tap tap the mold again and smooth out the top. (Your work area should be a plastic sheet or cardboard to contain the mess) Make sure you are on a level surface and let it dry at least 12 hours. When dry, release it from the mold, just pull the sides out a bit and carefully flip it. I let it dry overnight before painting. I use diluted acrylic paints starting with brown/ black and then add the greens using a chip brush. After it dries I use a concrete sealer. Now my turtles are ready to use. Hope this helps! I might order another one so I can make them faster!

They are very cute when they come out of the mold and, even though we have only made two, my children are in love with them. We even put glow-in-the-dark stones in the mold on the second turtle. Turned out well but we didn't mix the concrete as well that time. The turtles are easy to take out of the mold and only leave concrete residue in the mold when the concrete isn't mixed well. It is slow going though since we only have one mold, and they are a bit pricey. The kids love to draw on the turtles with chalk and they are fun to decorate. Might try making colored concrete at some point for future turtles. Overall, very pleased with this mold. Will update if the mold cracks/breaks.

So many ways to paint. Shown are just a few. Unlimited ideas. This is one of our first molds. Holds up to many many pours of cement.