colouring and shaping slabs

[rogmacc]

Hello
Im hoping to lay some patio slabs, but will be making them myself 'cos my path is an odd shape. I assume I can get dye/colouring at Wickes etc but dont know how I get the Finish/Tread most patios seem to have.
Thank You in advance.
Roger

 

[WabbitPoo]

doomed to fail, if other posts are anything to go by. What shape is the path, then? You can get all sorts of paving options.

 

[ladylola]

Out of interest what type of finish had you in mind? It may have a bearing on what you can produce and do you have to match up with an exsisting path.
That said I must say Wabbitpoo is probably correct

 

[rogmacc]

I wont be matching up to anything, but the width is about 750 mill so I thought Id try making a few slabs myself the slabs in the diy stores look easy to replicate

 

[ladylola]

Easiest option would be to use a latex mould taking the pattern of another slab. Problem here is that this would be prohibitively expensive.
Alternativly cast your slabs in a shutter face up and attempt to figure the surface by hand. You would produce (hopefully) something unique, but then again there would be problems. You could easierly end up with something that looks cheap and nasty, it would be time consuming, and probably would be an expensive task.
That said if you are willing to try, attempt a couple of slabs first to see if you can replicate the finish you want and to give you an idea of costings etc. It would be a good idea to make more than you will require to allow for future maintance.
One other thing that you may wish to consider is to ask the people who lay the pattern imprinted driveways to give you a quote for the path.