Mosaic Garden Plaques

The kids had their regular monthly Bunnings Hardware Workshop during the week. This time it was Garden Plaque's and it fitted perfectly into our current Mosaic's Theme.

A pretty straight forward, although messy activity, but if you would like to try it out at home I've included quite a few snapshots below.

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Materials Needed

Mould
Plaster of Paris
Water
Mosaics (stones, rocks, shells, tiles)
Cloth (for spills)
Glove for mixing plaster

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Grab whatever you have chosen to use as a mould. In this case it was a drip tray for a pot plant (or at least I think that's what it was). If I redid this at home I would line the mould first with cling wrap, like I did with our Clay Star Mosaics.

Read the directions on your plaster pack and start adding the plaster and water to your mould.

Mix, mix, mix. Keep on mixing and adding plaster powder until you have the right consistency.

This is where you need to start working quickly. Remember to remind the kids about that part or they will be disappointed towards the end when they can no longer add bits and pieces to their plaque due to the plaster drying out.

You need to have it thick enough so that the mosaic pieces you have chosen will sit on top and not sink to the bottom (as would happen if there was stil too much liquid) but not too thick that the plaster is already starting to dry.

Smooth off the top of the plaster and start adding your mosaic pieces. If you want a design you really need to think about that first. It's a bit late to start planning some kind of design after you have mixed the plaster as you just won't have the time to do it.




Remember this is where you need to work quickly. Get those mosaic pieces in and pressed down so that they will well and truly stick as the plaster drys.

Then all you need to do is sit back and enjoy your masterpiece. Let it dry, at least overnight. We left ours for a couple of days.

You might like to use a damp cloth to clean up any excess plaster from around the edges of the mould.

Remove from the mould and place somewhere in your garden.

Let me know if you try this at home, I'd love to see some other variations.