"Spooky Wall Tutorial"

This project is very easy to do. If you stay with it you can get this done in a day. This is a mini tutorial in which you will need to refer to my perfect straight cut tutorial on my Christmas blog link located on this blog.

To make this Spooky Wall you will need two inch styrofoam, one box of the Dept.56 Spooky Wrought Iron Fence, one bottle each of FolkArt Acrylic paint including Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Honeycomb or Tumbleweed, Med. Grey and Black. Also a bottle of Mat or Satin Varnish.

We will start by cutting out the basic shapes of the wall. Short pillar is 1-1/4 x 1-1/4 x 3-1/2 in.. Tall pillar is 1-1/4 x 1-1/4 x 4-1/2 in.. Wall section is 1-1/4 x 1-1/4 x 6 in.. Base is 3/4 x 1-3/4 x 8-3/4 in.. Make sure that when you cut your wall section that you run your hot wire on the outside of your mark. Remember that your wire will melt about a 3/32 of an inch from your styro so you want to make sure your wall section is exactly the same length as your two wrought iron fences put together. At this time DO NOT GLUE your pieces together.

Start carving your detail using your hot wire sculpting knife. Draw a line 1/4 inch down from the tops of your pillars and wall section to create a cement cap. Burn a line on all sides just below your lines using a metal ruler.

After i have carved out my cobblestone i like to randomly remove pieces of my cobblestone giving the wall a worn and battered look. After you finish carving your details you can now glue your pieces together. I usually let my project dry over night to make sure they are bonded well, but you may be able to start painting after you let the glue set for about two to four hours.

Now start applying two coats of black on the entire wall. Once it dries, touch up any white spots that you see. Don't worry if you miss some spots. I have learned that when you apply your varnish it will make your other colors bleed a little which will help fill in those areas.

Next you want to dry brush a coat or two of the Burnt Umber on the entire wall and base. Dry brush your Grey to the pillar and wall caps, base and the removed sections of the cobblestones.

For your final colors dry brush Burnt Sienna and Honeycomb to your cobblestone. Finish it off with a coat of Mat or Satin varnish to bring out all those colors and seal your project.

You may have noticed my finials i added to the pillar tops. These are wood craft items you can get at your local craft store. You will need for one finial, one one inch wood ball knob, two 3/4 in. wood buttons, one 7/8 in. wood button and one 5/8 x 1/2 in. wood spool. Once glued, base coat your finial black. Next dry brush a coat or two of FolkArt Metallic Copper leaving the center part of your spool black. dry brush your last color FolkArt Bayberry. Finish it off with a coat of Mat Varnish.