Have you seen those sets of outdoor tables and chairs in Moroccan style,
made of metal but with a mosaic of stonework on the table-top as well as
in the seats and backs of the chairs?

The attractive mosaic looks as if it has been made by stones being inset
in a tray of some kind of plaster.

We bought such a table, with two chairs, for £80, though we have seen
the same kind of set on offer elsewhere for up to £130.

We feared that the plaster (possibly simply pollyfilla) between the
stones might crack in the frost, but the set looks good sitting outside
from our upstairs windows and we decided to risk it and see how the
plaster it would cope with the winter. We decided we didn't mind if the
black metal-work turns rusty and rustic!

But after just one frost we have observed that the tables and chairs do
not consist of stones or marble pieces inset in plasterwork at all! No,
in fact they consist of very thin shavings of some kind of very brittle
shellac-like material which have simply been laid UPON a bed of plaster!
Just one frost has caused these brittle shavings to crack and fragment,
revealing their thinness and the bed of plaster immediately beneath
them!

So these tables and chairs present fake mosaic-work.

But how does the punter tell the difference before buying? Well, I
guess you could take a hammer into the store with you and hit the
table-top and see if the shavings all jump off or at least fragment!

Anyway, moving on in a positive frame of mind.

Come the summer we expect all these shavings will have lifted and we
will be left with just the beds of three-quarter-inch pink plaster.
Other than several coats of exterior gloss paint, can anyone think of
some clever ways to make good rather than dump the set at the tip?

Thanks.

Eddy.