Texturing

I like this type of texturing, especially if you want the look of rough hewn rock, like I did for my tower.  It is fast and kind of fun.  (My husband calls it tedious and mindless.)  You'll probably have most of the supplies on hand but you may want to try is out on a scrap piece of wood or cardboard, just to make sure you like the effect.  The biggest drawback is that it does use up a fair amount of paint so have extra on hand.

You will need:

 a stack of kleenex- how many depends on how big of a surface you are covering

paint

scissors

paintbrush- I used a 1" brush but a little larger or smaller is ok.
A stiff stencil brush- do not use the sponge type.  If you don't have a stencil brush, use another paint brush.

First, take a piece of kleenex and separate it.  Take one ply and squeeze it, squish it and wad it into a ball.

Then very carefully, unwad it and shake gently.  What you want is a piece of kleenex with lot of wrinkles, small, medium and large.

You may want to have several pieces ready as this goes fast.  Next, paint a section of  your surface with a medium to heavy coat of paint.  I found that a 5x5 inch section worked best but it depends on your project.

Now, very quickly lay the kleenex on top of the painted surface.  Load your stencil bursh up with paint and start tapping on the kleenex.

 

Now, move on to the next section.  It's ok to overlap.  Once it dries, it may need a little touch up just in case the kleenex didn't stick to your base coat.  If you missed a spot or would like a heavier texture, just repeat the process but with a lighter base coat.   Once your are satisfied, take a scissors and trim the edges.  

It is also easy to texture any seams you have when you join two pieces together.  Take two thin strips of kleenex, place along seam and start tapping.  I was able to texture my tower this way in less than 4 hours.

And there you have it.  Some people may not like this kind of texturing, I just offer it as an alternative.

Well, I'm off to finish up some painting and may do some surfing so ,

Til Next time!

My Wizard's Tower

"Home of the Wizard, Nicholas" is named after one of my grandsons and is something I have wanted to build for several years.  What stopped me from making this sooner was the fact that plywood was not an option.  I had no power tools, very little space, and plywood is very heavy.  While I was mulling this over, I came across and joined a Yahoo group called Dream Dwellings.  This is where I found out about Builders Foam.  It was the perfect solution.  Light weight, inexpensive, easy to paint, fairly easy to cut, and it doesn't warp.  Living in hot, humid Florida, warping is a concern.

As far as dimensions go, I knew I wanted at least 2 stories so it is 3 ft tall.  It is hexagon in shape and at its widest point it is 14 ".  The space between floors is 16". Not a lot of room but everything fit.

 

The above pictures aren't the best but they do show a problem I had with cutting Builders Foam.  If I cut on the horizontal, the edge was fairly smooth.  But cutting on the vertical, the edges tore.  At first I thought it may be me or a dull blade.  I changed out the blade and had my husband try and he got the same results.  However, this was a very minor problem.  I intended to texture the walls and trim out the edges with wood anyhow.  If the tears were to big, I just applied glue and squished them back in place.

(Before I continue, I'm sure you will notice a lot of architectural flaws.  But I used a lot of artistic license and in my mind, this is a fantasy dwelling.)

 

The above pictures are the ground floor and the two pictures below are the second floor.

All in all, I would say the tower is about 70% done.  I still have to make shutters, a trap door and change out the base it's sitting on.  I plan to work on all of that today and tomorrow, along with my fishing cabin.  When I return, I'll have a neat tut on how I textured the tower along with pictures of the furnishings.

Til later!