A Monster

Years ago, I was still a kid, my mother made herself a salad one day.  She kept adding stuff to it -- lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and so forth.  When she was finally finished and sat down to eat it, she saw how big it had gotten and exclaimed, "I've created a monster!" 

I think that's what has happened to these stupid bricks.  I've created a monster. 

I was almost done.  So close I could taste the finish line.  Only, last night, I had an idea.  Whether it was a bright idea or a mistake remains to be seen.

And what was this idea I had?  Well, I'll tell you.  I got the idea that I would get my darker gray spray paint and paint my bricks with it.  Once it was dry, I'd go over the whole thing with my lighter gray brush on paint.  I was thinking this would layer the colors, and give more depth to my paint job.

Before I went to bed, I sprayed the darker gray, so it could dry well.  However, when I got up this morning and started painting with the lighter gray, it started beading up and rolling off.  I got very discouraged for a moment, thinking I had really messed up and would have to start completely over.

After backing away and catching my breath, I thought maybe I could get my belt sander out and just knock the paint off the surface of the bricks, and that would leave the darker paint in the textured parts.  That's kind of the look I was going for anyway.

I ended up having to sand it by hand, because I didn't have coarse enough sanding belts, but it didn't take too long to get it roughed up -- if you don't count the copious breaks I took.  Hey, it's my day off. 

I briefly considered just leaving it like this, but I didn't.  I put a coat of the lighter gray on it.  Oh, and I still have to paint the base.  I haven't even put one coat of the light gray on it.

I'm going to put another coat on it, probably tomorrow.  It's taking a long time to dry, because it's chilly and damp today.  It is turning out a little bit darker than I would have liked, but I think it'll be OK.

It'll have to be, because I'm not re-doing it.  After it dries for a week or so, I'm thinking of taking my sanding sponge and just very lightly scuffing the corners and edges, to give it a little bit of a distressed look.  Then I'm done with it.  No matter how it looks, I'm done.

Although, as I was typing that, I got the idea...what if I got some flat white paint and sponged over it?  Hmmm....That would lighten it up some, but the gray would still show through.  Something to consider...

Let me see what I've got out in the shop.

Remember I told you yesterday I'd gotten into some poison ivy?  Here is just one of about 5 patches of it.

This is the worst one, but not by much.