Next time you take a walk, bring home some rocks. You can make all kinds of nifty things. Here are three ideas you might use on a rainy, cold fall day. With Christmas just around the corner, they also make nice gifts!

GREAT GRAVEL MOSAICS

Materials

• Large Cardboard (could be from cereal box, gift box) about 12” x 13”
• Interesting small pieces of gravel (You will need quite a bit)
• String or Yarn
• Pencil
• Simple Coloring Book or personal drawing
• White glue in squeeze bottle
• Scissors
• Crayons (optional)

Procedure

1. Wash and rinse the gravel (a kitchen colander -the kind mom drains spaghetti in- helps). Spread out on towels to dry.

2. On your cardboard, use the pencil to make an outline of a simple drawing. (Try not to be too detailed)

3. With the glue, trace over the outline.

4. Press string or yard onto the glue lines, cutting where necessary to form corners and angles.

5. Glue gravel onto the picture .fillling the spaces. You can use all one color, or use different colors for different areas.

6. If you wish to have a background, use crayons to draw and color one in.

CANCELLED ROCKS
(These make nice paperweights)

Materials

• Cancelled stamps from your mail
• White glue (the kind that dries clear)
• Clear shellac, varnish, or fingernail polish
• Smoothly surfaced rocks
• (Optional: small colorful pictures from seed catalogs or magazines may be used instead of stamps)

Procedure

1. Wash, rinse, and dry rocks.

2. Carefully peel off stamps from envelopes. It’s okay if some tear.

3. On dry rock, spread a thin layer of glue

4. Arrange stamps on rock, overlapping, until all rock sides showing are covered. Let dry.

5. Coat with thin layer of shellac or varnish, or fingernail polish.. NOTE: You can also coat the finished rock with a thin layer of white glue. It will dry clear, but it will not be waterproof!)

ROCK CONCERT
(Another paperweight idea)

Materials

• Self-hardening clay (See home recipe, below)
• Assorted small rocks and one large rock for each paperweight (You may use clay for the large rock)
• White glue Poster or Acrylic Paints (NOT watercolors) and brushes
• (Optional) Small squiggly craft eyes
• Embroidery floss or yarn for hair

Procedure

1. Wash, rinse, and dry rocks.

2. Paint rocks: perhaps each a different color for their clothes, or maybe just a face. Make solid ovals for mouths, as if they are singing! Glue small bits of floss or yard on top for hair. You could glue on the craft eyes instead of painting them on.

3. If desired, paint the large rock green. (If using clay, paint when dry).

4. Glue small rocks closely together onto large rock. They need to be able to stand upright. If your rocks “tip”, you should use clay for the base.)

5. When all is dry, paint the words ROCK CONCERT along the bottom edge of the base.

Clay Recipe

2 cups flour ½ cup of salt water (add in small amounts)

Mix flour and salt well. Add water a little at a time, kneading with your hands until the mix forms a smooth clay. For Rock Concert Base, roll and shape a large piece of the clay into a “rock”. Press the little rocks into the clay. Remove rocks, remembering where you put each one. Paint base when dry. Replace small rocks, using glue to hold them.

Melani Roewe is a former news editor, Girl Scout Leader and Adult Trainer and K-12 educator who enjoys alpine wilderness hiking, birdwatching, fishing, snow- and water-skiing, swimming, and camping. She directs her church's Youth and Adult Choirs and lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two children. She is also owner of the Glass Carver.