Family Photo Help

[onb4]

I am making mother's day stepping stones, and I am having a hard time putting the marbles with photos on them into the cement without getting water under the marble and ruining the picture, I have tried many different ways of doing it and I am running out of photos and time!  Please help

[Arthur Schile]

Hi onb4 -

Thanks for taking the time to write us about our Family Photo Stone Kit.  This kit can be tough to make turn out just right, but here are some hints that will hopefully help you as you go.

- make sure you use photocopies of your pictures, not actual pictures. When making the copies, try to print on the thinnest paper you can find.

- Clean the gems thoroughly with alcohol or plain water (detergents and even Windex have oils which will cause the adhesive to fail), and try to choose gems that have the flattest bottoms possible.  Try not to touch the sticky side of the sticker with your fingers.

- make sure that your photos leave at least an 1/8" lip of sticker around them to ensure the sticker really grips onto the gem.

- Allow the gems with stickers to sit for 24 hours before using them in the stone.  This allows the adhesive on the stickers to cure properly, which will increase its ability to resist "moisture creep".

- wait about 15 minutes after you've mixed the cement and poured it into the mold before pushing the gems down into the cement.  The longer you wait, the less water will be left in the mix to cause potential problems.  Just don't wait so long that you can't get the gems in the cement anymore.  (You can test the consistency of your cement with your popsicle stick on the edge of the stone as the cement cures.)

- if all of this doesn't help, you can go the extra mile and spread some silicone glue or sealer over the edges of the sticker to keep out moisture.  Make sure the glue or sealer is dry before insterting the gem into the cement mix.

Sticking to these rules should ensure a successful project.  Good luck!

- Arthur