Thank you all so much for your help! I used the regular acrylic paint from Walmart- 44c per bottle. I didn't like how it was looking, too streaky, I didn't want it all the same color though. I put dots of cranberry, crimson, orange, and a tiny bit of magenta in the bottom of a margerine cup and then with a kid's watercolor brush and some water, just began fluttering the brush across the leaf, picking up colors here and there, the variations are subtle, and it's hard to see them in the photos. This was so fun, I can't wait to do it next year. I have snow on the ground now, although the burdock is probably still alive out there :) I sealed it with concrete sealer. Here is a link that might be useful: my casting

Syllabus, sorry I took so long to get back to you. I don't know where time goes sometimes. I kept thinking I would show my hubby your e-mail, but he doesn't get in until late at night, and I keep forgetting to ask him. So I will try to answer your questions myself. 1. The leaves are cast from actual leaves, no molds. We used a portland and sand mix to get the fine texture. I think we just put the leaves on a sheet of plastic and put the mix on them. I guess that's why the edges look so fine. The aren't cast on a bed of sand because we wanted them perfectly flat. 2.The leaves on the legs were cast with regular quickcrete 5000 poured into a round concrete tube with the leaves attached to the inside of the tube. You spray the top of the leaf with adhesive, and then stick them on. It's best to use a heavily textured leaf, because you loose a lot of detail with the chunky quickrete. 3. The leaves we used were grape, hosta, burdock, and I don't really remember what else. I know the hosta leaves worked well. The dimensions are: the top: 44" x 18" x 3". The height of the legs I didn't measure, it's raining outside, and I don't want to run back out there! :) My hubby says he thinks we used 10" or 12" molds for the legs, with a smaller tube inside to take up some of the space, (so they wouldn't be so heavy). 4. I don't really remember how much concrete colorant we used. I think we mainly colored the original leaves, but not the bench, but I can't swear to that. 5. The cast leaves were very thin, I would probably make them a little thicker. We made the frame out of 2'x4's and set the cast leaves into the wet cement. Then we sprinkled small rock around the leaves. If I did it again, first and most important, decide where you want it, and make your bench as close to that location as possible. This puppy was heavy, I don't remeber exactly how we got it to that location, but I remember it wasn't easy! I think I would probably skip the little rocks on top, to be honest, they hurt your tush when you sit on it! :( But it would look kind of neat with little marbles or those flat marbles you can buy at craft stores stuck in it here and there. I also think you could put the leaves on the bottom of the seat mold and just pour concrete over it. They would match the legs better, but you would loose the detail. We never did seal it, I know bad me. It did develope a couple of small cracks in the thincast leaves. That really surprised me, but maybe it's because I didn't put sealer on it. Hope that answers the majority of your questions. Let me know if you have anymore. One last thing, you have to make sure that everything is as level as possible, you don't want a bench that is thinner at one end, and you don't want your legs to be uneven, or your bench will wobble.

This cement mix did not have peat moss added to it. Just used the cement/sand mix. I never painted the back side of the leaf so it can still cure. A friend of mine in the concrete business said he saw no reason as to why I couldn't paint it after at least 24 hrs. So I did & it is now ornamental in my garden to do what it needs to do. I sealed it with Industrial clear Spray by Plasti-Kote. I used the paints I normally use on my ceramics.I used the natural leaf as my guide to paint. I applied a base coat of mixing several colors till I got a green that matched the leaf. I then dry brush a yellow(Goldenrod) over the leaf to help bring out detail, then I painted the viening in. Once this was dry. about 2 hrs later. I sprayed with the Clear enamel spray. Thank you all for your compliments. I have several casting right now but won't be able to paint them til later this week. House work must be done.

Katkin - I don't know why it wouldn't work that way. Just press the back of the leaf into your poured cement. A little Pam on the leaf will make sure they won't stick. I admit moving the finished paver isn't for wimps! It takes both Dave and myself to move them. Anyone interested in giving it a try e mail me and I will give more in depth directions. The first one is the hardest one after that it gets much easier. One more hint- I used 2 parts sand to 1 part cement and since I live in Florida, land of sand, I just found some nice white sugar sand, shoveled it into buckets, brought it home, screened it to remove debris, and used FREE sand to make my pavers! Susan