How to Make a Walkway With Broken Ceramic

Break up the ceramic pottery into a variety of shapes and sizes, using a hammer. Just make sure that each piece is relatively flat, so that you can lay it out on a walkway.

Dig a path for your walkway about 8 to 10 inches deep, using a shovel. Smooth out the dirt at the base of the path with the back of a rake, so it is flat and even. Pour in the gravel, level it out to about 2 inches thick all along the path, and tamp it down with the tamping tool so it is firm.

Build a frame for your path. For a straight path, use 2-by-4 lengths of wood laid upright along the sides of the area you've cleared. For a curved path, use flexible 12-inch hardwood siding that you can bend in the direction you want the path to go. In both cases, use a hammer to pound 8-inch wooden stakes into the ground -- about 1 foot from the end of each 2-by-4. Screw the boards to the stakes using two 1 1/4-inch drywall screws per stake. Anchor the boards every 3 feet with stakes.

Mix the concrete with water according to the package directions, then pour and spread it in the pathway you have created. Smooth out the top of the concrete with a concrete smoother or trowel, so it goes right up to the top of the frame.

Press the bits of broken ceramic into the concrete while it is still wet, fitting the pieces together as if you're putting together a puzzle. The layout of these pieces doesn't have to be perfect, since part of the appeal of such a walkway is its creative arrangement of broken pieces. If you like, you can make a pattern with various colored pieces. Or if you prefer, make the design completely random.

Let the concrete begin to dry and settle for 5 hours. Then cure it by keeping it covered for three to seven days with moist burlap, held down with stones placed along the edges of the path. The curing process will keep the concrete from cracking and help make it last longer. Once it is cured, remove the frame and fill in soil along the edges of the walkway.