Wednesday 9 March 2016

Paving Going In

The square sidewalk tiles I had planned on using for my altered books vignette just didn't look right; I know I've seen old sidewalks in Europe with these little square gray paving stones, but something was off. So I decided to go with granite sets, or bricks; I think these used to be made by prisoners, the real origin of the phrase, time with hard labour!


I used mat board (mount board) for these, some pieces with a slight texture; I decided that if these sets were made by hand, there should be fine tool marks. The sets were cut with scissors, for an uneven, handmade look, from 1/4" (less than 1 cm) strips cut with an Exacto knife; I wore out two or three blades!


With this method, sets are laid lengthwise to create a kerb; then the rows are filled in in a staggered pattern.




As I thought I was done, I realized that I couldn't have a straight edge where the book walls meet the sidewalk, so I peeled the last sets in each row off, and replaced them with custom-fitted ones; and I found a pre-painted kerb I just had to saw to fit, so I could shape the granite stones around it.




Now I have to paint them to look like worn granite brick-shaped stones....








4 comments:

  1. You got a lot accomplished today Marijke! Looking really good!. - Marilyn D., Oromocto, NB

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bricks look great. I made the decision to use mat board last night for bricks....now I know it will (hopefully) look as nice as yours!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks really good. Might have to give it a try.Thanks for sharing
    Diane

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm nervous about grouting - previously I have only done this with DAS/Prang clay, not mat board!

    ReplyDelete