Post by peachfront on Aug 12, 2011 20:42:42 GMT -5
This project is too easy to demand a tutorial but I'm
extremely pleased with the reward to effort ratio. If you're looking for an EASY project, and we're all there sometime...here ya go. Sometimes you just need a gift and you need it fast!
When I came back from Vegas, my friend and I were poking around his house looking
for something, and we found this -- a cheap Chinese chipwood box with a metal tile
glued to the top with a misquoted Bible verse on it. My friend got the box as a
gift and never used it because it was, well, let's be honest. It was tacky.
As I've
worked to reawaken my mosaic skills, I've made a several trades with "Snuffy," a
Texas poster who produces a lot of great polished slabettes. In previous episodes, I have made
a petrified wood mosaic
picture frame,
a concrete, petrified wood and bloodstone birdbath, and a
bloodstone
and red jasper/petrified wood TV tray. The box was, to be honest, pretty much
child's play.
The aluminum tile inscribed with the misquoted Bible verse was
glued in place with a cheap glue
that gave way as soon as I shook a screwdriver in its general direction.
Since the box had never been used, it
was pristine on the inside, which meant I didn't have to replace the felt, hubby's
first question about the project.
Do you see the two tiny felt black buttons or discs on the inside of the lid?
There were four more such felt buttons on the bottom, to make the feet, but
two of them had already peeled off, and the other two weren't far behind, since
I easily scratched them off with a fingernail. Hubby provided me with four nice
plump rubber feet from an over-supply given to him by one of his robotics customers.
He thinks if need be, you could get those feet at Radio Shack but if for
some reason you can't find the feet you need to complete your project, please
contact me and I'll try to get more information from his suppliers.
Really not a lot to this project. The only reason it takes a few days is waiting for the
glue and grout to cure, blah de blah. I collected several nice-looking pieces of polished
petrified wood slabs, most of which had small imperfections or pockmarks that would make
them impractical for jewelry. I knew that I wanted the large piece of Arizona paint wood, and
I trimmed the other pieces of assorted petrified woods to fit the box top. I glued them
down with Weldbond, grouted them with a non-sanded grout that I'd colored to a pinky Phoenix, Arizona
colored earthtone. After the project had dried, I decided that I didn't like the pinky
desert-colored grout, so I painted over the grout with a light brown acrylic paint using a
small paintbrush that I cut to fit. Some, but not much, of the pinky shows through, which I think
works fine for this project, since the stones in question are also of variable colors.
After a suitable rest period, I then hit the project with mosaic sealer. Since I plan to use the box
indoors, I suppose you could skip this step, but we have wine drinkers and high humidity down
here in New Orleans, so I don't see the harm in an added boost to the project's ability to
resist water.
Now comes the ethical dilemma. I sort of borrowed the box on the theory that I would use it to
practice my mosaic skills but now I wanna keep it because it came out looking so cool. I happen to know
that my friend is in dire need of a new wastebasket in his guest room, so I'm wondering if I can barter a deal
where I make him a wastebasket and keep the box. Tee hee.
extremely pleased with the reward to effort ratio. If you're looking for an EASY project, and we're all there sometime...here ya go. Sometimes you just need a gift and you need it fast!
When I came back from Vegas, my friend and I were poking around his house looking
for something, and we found this -- a cheap Chinese chipwood box with a metal tile
glued to the top with a misquoted Bible verse on it. My friend got the box as a
gift and never used it because it was, well, let's be honest. It was tacky.
As I've
worked to reawaken my mosaic skills, I've made a several trades with "Snuffy," a
Texas poster who produces a lot of great polished slabettes. In previous episodes, I have made
a petrified wood mosaic
picture frame,
a concrete, petrified wood and bloodstone birdbath, and a
bloodstone
and red jasper/petrified wood TV tray. The box was, to be honest, pretty much
child's play.
The aluminum tile inscribed with the misquoted Bible verse was
glued in place with a cheap glue
that gave way as soon as I shook a screwdriver in its general direction.
Since the box had never been used, it
was pristine on the inside, which meant I didn't have to replace the felt, hubby's
first question about the project.
Do you see the two tiny felt black buttons or discs on the inside of the lid?
There were four more such felt buttons on the bottom, to make the feet, but
two of them had already peeled off, and the other two weren't far behind, since
I easily scratched them off with a fingernail. Hubby provided me with four nice
plump rubber feet from an over-supply given to him by one of his robotics customers.
He thinks if need be, you could get those feet at Radio Shack but if for
some reason you can't find the feet you need to complete your project, please
contact me and I'll try to get more information from his suppliers.
Really not a lot to this project. The only reason it takes a few days is waiting for the
glue and grout to cure, blah de blah. I collected several nice-looking pieces of polished
petrified wood slabs, most of which had small imperfections or pockmarks that would make
them impractical for jewelry. I knew that I wanted the large piece of Arizona paint wood, and
I trimmed the other pieces of assorted petrified woods to fit the box top. I glued them
down with Weldbond, grouted them with a non-sanded grout that I'd colored to a pinky Phoenix, Arizona
colored earthtone. After the project had dried, I decided that I didn't like the pinky
desert-colored grout, so I painted over the grout with a light brown acrylic paint using a
small paintbrush that I cut to fit. Some, but not much, of the pinky shows through, which I think
works fine for this project, since the stones in question are also of variable colors.
After a suitable rest period, I then hit the project with mosaic sealer. Since I plan to use the box
indoors, I suppose you could skip this step, but we have wine drinkers and high humidity down
here in New Orleans, so I don't see the harm in an added boost to the project's ability to
resist water.
Now comes the ethical dilemma. I sort of borrowed the box on the theory that I would use it to
practice my mosaic skills but now I wanna keep it because it came out looking so cool. I happen to know
that my friend is in dire need of a new wastebasket in his guest room, so I'm wondering if I can barter a deal
where I make him a wastebasket and keep the box. Tee hee.
