Already in this process I wouldn't recommend a thick porous cardboard for room boxes. Ideally if you have a means of cutting it I would definitely go for thin MDF. However the card is working OK for me so far.... read on ....
I knew in advance moisture would be an enemy to my plan and on first painting the ceiling it began to concern me.
I gave the ceiling one coat of an artists acrylic paint - good old Plaid. My thinking was it is less wet than household wall paint which is where I would be going next. I am sure gesso would give it a decent first coat and help seal the surface. I was also recommended to try a spray matt painters' varnish which would certainly work. These two ideas were kicked into touch as the whole reason for choosing card was to keep the cost down to an absolute minimum and use pretty much what I already have.
It went on well and covered the grey. When I looked carefully I could see a bit of bowing on the front edge so I waited for the paint to touch dry and left it overnight under a piece of wood. I wasn't very concerned about the finish if the wood marked it as it was a first coat and there will be at least two more and a light sanding
It dried perfectly and does seem to have made a decent base coat and even strengthened the cards so after step one I am more pleased than I expected to be
Always pleasing when a spirit level says something is OK
We managed a trip to good old B and Q and my favourite counter - Valspar - where I picked up two of their tester pots - Tidy White Matt and Tidy White Silk. I always use these for ceilings and woodwork. Valspar tester pots are all round fabulous. £3 for a useful amount of paint (236 mls), a choice of a gazillion colours and shades and the paint quality is excellent with good pigmentation. Win, win and another win.
I have also discovered, courtesy of my grandson's latest bag of paint brushes, the joy of Sponge Bob brushes.
It picks up just the right amount of paint and covers well and quickly with (of course) no brush stroke lines. It then cleans up easily. this has been used three times and washed under a cold water tap.
The finished result is (so far) working just fine. This is the ceiling after one coat of artists acrylic and two coats of white household paint. It will get a rub over when absolutely bone dry (couple of days plus) with an extra fine sanding pad - more of a buff than a sand.
The box had stayed 'square' with no bowing and the tape is not affected by the paint. The next challenge will be applying wallpaper.
Oh Marilyn I am so excited to hear that the paint and the card played so nicely together and all worked out better than you planned! It's so encouraging to have something go right! I see diorama folks using cereal boxes for everything, so I imagine you'll continue to get great results and show us how an extreme budget build can be done! Great tip on the sponge brush, too! Bet your grandson was excited to have shared something with you!
ReplyDeleteYes, the sponge brush was an eye opener, never occurred to me as I always thought of them as primitive small kid painting but I swear it worked a treat. I have used small rollers in the past but even they leave a sort of texture that needs a bit of a rub down.
DeleteWow, how fabulous that leaving the card under pressure after the first coat stopped all the bowing. Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried the sponge bob foam 'brush' but will certainly keep it in mind.
It did seem to work with the paint problem OK. The foam brush really is just another cheap option that works well but bristle brush or small roller is just as good really.
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