The Matboard Seems to Have Reacted Well....

I decided to bite the bullet and grout my book vignette sidewalk, and I am fairly pleased with the way it turned out. For the grout, I mixed some drywall compound, a dollop of dark burnt umber paint, and an equal dollop of white glue. Then I mixed that to a homogenous mass, and used my fingers to push the grout in between the matboard granite sets. Then I used a damp paper towel to wipe off the excess. And another paper towel to tidy up....


The colour is a bit lighter than I wanted, but I was afraid to add too much paint and have the compound decide not to dry! It looks like old sand/dirt/cement, so it looks like what I wanted it to look like.


If you decide to try this, remember you MUST give your matboard at least 3 coats of outdoor matte sealant (the bottle on its side in the background), letting each coat dry thoroughly. I only had one granite set top peel off, and that can be easily re-glued in place. I allowed the matte sealant to drip in between the individual bricks, so the sides of the matboard would also be waterproofed.


Now I can plant moss and weeds.