You can mix the parts with a stick in a large bucket, but a right-angle mixer or heavy-duty drill equipped with a stirring paddle is faster and easier. I mixed it in 3-gallon batches (2 gallons of Part A and 1 gallon of Part B) so it wouldn't’t begin to set up in the pail before I was finished using it. Making the five stamps I used on this project took two 5-gallon pails of Part A (resin) and one 5-gallon pail of Part B (hardener). The stamps are made from resin and hardener that you mix, like two-part epoxy, just before you use it. Plan to seal the stones at least one day before you use them so the sealer has time to dry fully. While you will need to seal the rough side of the stones with a transparent penetrating sealer, most people use stones smooth side up, so it shouldn't’t affect their resale. Often, stone yards will let you return materials and charge only a 10% to 15% handling fee. The object is to pour the gooey stamp material so it stops just short of the edges of the stone. It doesn't matter if the stones are straight-cut or random, as long as they are big-2 feet by 3 feet is ideal. Better to tame overly rough stones than to start with bland ones.

Some of the surface changes were a little too extreme, so I eased the edges with a hand sledge and a large cold chisel. I chose New York bluestone and redstone for these stamps. The stones should be large and relatively flat, but with distinctive texture variations. You will also need sealer and aerosol stamp release. Order a 120-pound unit of Poly 75-80 polyurethane rubber from Polytek®. To make concrete look like stone, start with stamps cast from real stone and two part polyurethane rubber. However, you could make your own stamps for about $500 and create a textured surface yourself. I normally would charge about $4,000 for a 200-square-foot entry walk and an 8-by-10-foot stoop like the ones shown here, including demolition and removal of the old paving. My stone look-alike walks, on the other hand, provide the character of stone with the stability, uniformity, and design flexibility of concrete. For instance, it’s difficult to get stones to fit together tightly to form a flat, even surface that will stay that way from season to season. Natural paving is beautiful, but it has drawbacks. The texture comes from the stamps and molds. The color comes from bags of dry pigment I dump into the Redi-Mix truck when it arrives at the job and the powdered release agent I dash on the surface to prevent the stamps from sticking to the wet concrete. One set of stamps, like the ones I made for this project, has been in steady use for more than two years.Ĭreating concrete that looks like natural materials takes two things: color and texture. Today I have homemade polyurethane rubber stamps to create the appearance of New York bluestone, cobblestone, and running bond pavers. The latex proved to be too soft and I made a mess of the floor, but I continued to test new materials and techniques until I got it right. I bought some latex rubber and began to experiment with stamp designs on my basement floor. I got started in the artistic concrete business a few years ago. The stamps themselves do all of the surfacing.

The best part is that you don’t have to be a master with a finishing trowel to make a striking impression. My company, Creative Concrete, is proof that you can make your own stamps and molds for a fraction of the cost and achieve spectacular results. Stamped concrete that looks like stone or pavers usually is installed by contractors using sets of commercial stamps that can cost as much as $12,000. Mike Hancock imprints a stone design into a smooth concrete walk using an inexpensive, easily made texturing tool created from Poly75-80 Liquid Mold Rubber.

Concrete stamps