I have made some little mosaic pavers with quick dry cement before. I put them in ice cream containers. I was now wanting to make some coloured stepping stones by the same method. Has anyone tried this and would conventional cooking dye work do you think? Thanks in advance. (Not sure this is the right board, perhaps I will post on crafts as well).
mm12345,
Feb 11, 7:45pm
You need to use dry oxide pigments - can be bought at hardware stores. They tend to be muted colours, reds, browns, yellows, black. Blue (cobalt) and green (chrome) are also available - but are expensive. Ideally, add the pigment and tumble the mix dry before adding water. You'll need to use a consistent method to get even colour from batch to batch.
zak410,
Feb 11, 7:48pm
not sure if food colouring would work.
traditionally oxides are used to colour concrete, they work best with white cement but can be used with normal cement as well.
Hmm ok. Would it be better to use an outside paint on top of it then do you think. This is just for some fun pavers for my daughter.
jacinda2059,
Feb 12, 12:53am
unless you use proper concrete paint,it wont last very long.
skin1235,
Feb 12, 2:03pm
I've often wondered what would happen if you replaced part of the water in the mix with acrylic paint
cleggyboy,
Feb 12, 3:02pm
I have used oxide in the past, looks great until the concrete has cured and the colour fades, even if you increase the amount of oxide it does not seem to help.
mm12345,
Feb 12, 4:01pm
Some things which might help. Add the oxide with the cement - or even before, and mix for as long as possible before adding water. You want the fine oxide to break down as much as possible before adding the water. There are specific admixtures/plasticisers which reduce efflorescence (deposits of white salts) and improve colour development of oxide coloured concrete. Not sure if there's anything sold at retail level for this purpose, but one of the acrylic plasticisers will probably work, reduce water/cement ratio, improve pigment dispersion etc.
The oxide pigments themselves won't fade, but if they're all concentrated on the surface because of poor dispersion, they'll wear off, and if the concrete itself turns white from efflorescence, it will mask the colour.
ira78,
Feb 12, 7:25pm
And you also generally want to put a concrete sealer on them to protect the pigment. It really isn't that expensive if you're doing just pavers a single bag of pigment and a can of sealer should be good dozens.
viking60,
Feb 12, 7:41pm
I painted some small pavers with acryllic paint. Hosed pavers first so they were damp. Painted whilst still wet and the paint sinks in. Another coat when they were dry and they turned out OK. That was a couple of years ago but they are hardly walked on and still look OK. Don't know how it would turn out on really smooth concrete as the paint may sit on top. These were commercial cobblestone type pavers.
budgel,
Feb 12, 9:32pm
Why not try it and see, we are only talking about 2 litres of mix in an ice cream container. I have used acrylic paint in mortars with great success.
zak410,
Jun 29, 1:53am
#- 11 great idea!
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