Thanks so much! You can always count on a quick response here! I love your border Adele. That is really cute. I also like the trench method. That's looks very easy. I don't have rocks, though. But, I was thinking along the same line of getting small slate pieces so that the border would be flush with the ground...kinda like a mowing lip so that you could run the mower right along the top of the border. I also love the idea of the jello molds. I was thinking last night about using the cheap foil baking dishes and doing a stepping stone affect...marbles, shells, leaves, small pine cones, nature stuff....etc... I would love to see the fish mold thread if anyone can find it... Thank you all so much! Can't wait to get started....

When I was a kid[many years ago]I used to make mudpies. Loved to play in the dirt,climb rocks,ride wild horses.Was sort of a tomboy,no girls in my neighborhood. In jr. highschool they used to call me witch.Don't know why. Now it seems I'm doing a second childhood, playing in the mud.I like these results much better.My favorite project is, like sarasaid,the one I'm currently working. This one is a water feature.It is a sphere[two bowls,mortared together.with a cut out].Mounted on a pedestal cast from the same bowl mold.The pedestal has 4 semicircles cut out so it has legs, these legs have been fortilied to provide the strength to support the sphere. It will be painted black inside,hold water,with glass 'rocks' at the bottom and a floating candle in it. I have great hopes for it. Don't know if I should paint the outside or not. I'm still trying to learn my son's camera so I can't post pictures, maybe one day I can.

I set the mixture in the evening. The next morning I took them out of the molds, molds being cups and bowls from the dollar store. I then carved them with a utility knife to get rid of the flat bottom bowl shape. I carved the stems as well to give them some curves. Yes it is perlite and peat. I washed them a bit so they have a few pocks.

Hi, Marly! How've you been? Your Birdfeeder is wonderful! That's one of the best looking 'tufa mushrooms I've seen. Your 'birdbath' makes the perfect mushroom cap, and you've worked magic with those colors. I also really like the wet look you got using the epoxy/resin. Was the resin difficult to work with? Could you tell us more about how you made your stem, Marly? Did you form it on the outside of your mold, cast it solid, or do it more like a lantern light box? Curious about how you carved the entrance holes. It's so cool that the birds are already feeding in it! Eva