Scaling the Playhouse Wall - pt. 2

After letting the "stones" dry a few days the next step was to sand out any sharp edges that might hurt someone. Don't over sand or you will lose the character you tried to hard to create. I ran my hand over everything feeling for snags. I smoothed it most at the window.

I watered down a dark brown with half water (you can use glaze medium) and went over the texture with a paint brush and rubbed with an old t-shirt. I probably could have used even less paint because it covered almost too well.

I concentrated the color on the edges of the stones and made it lighter in the middle. I was trying to pick up all the texture of the wall and have the paint color fall into the cracks. I made little crosshatches of full color on about 4 stones and then went back with the brush almost empty and blended the crosshatches and then I rubbed and tamped with the t-shirt to blend and feather.

After I was happy with that layer, I got some stain with poly and went over the whole thing. I thought it was going to be too dark but I liked it. It filled in most of the white areas left behind from the painting and made the stone more alive.

The last step was adding a bright gold color wherever there was any white left behind. I used a toothbrush and rubbed it off with a t-shirt but I would have used an artist's brush if I'd had one.

One thing I wished I had done is put in the yellow accents first before I did the stain layer because it dulled the stain when I wiped. I ended up doing two stain layers and could have probably done one.

The stain had poly in it and so it made the rocks look smooth and life-like. I also liked the way it shaded the grout lines and made the edges of the stone go almost black.

There will be a part 3 when I figure out the keystones. I've carved one from drywall and it looks pretty good but I may do a whole piece and carve it. I'm thrilled with the stone effect and will probably have to find a place to put it in our house.

Here's King Jeff enjoying the view from his castle window.