Well I've finished my latest project. It's a fish fossil wall hanging. I saw one on Journey To The Center Of The Earth and fell in love with it. I did some price checking and found reproductions to start around $100. for fairly small ones. I decided to make my own. LOL I started out by drawing my fossil on some MDF (medium density fiber board). Then using a dremel with a flex shaft, I started carving around the fossil I drew. Using a barrel cutter, I cut gouges to make the slab portion. I used a wire wheel and a flap sander to help round everything over. When it was done I used several colors of sand / stone spray paint for the fish and the slab. I taped off the fish and the slab / each, when I was working on the other. When taping it, I use the torn side of the tape to make the line so it was not a perfect line. It did take several layers on each to get the look I was going for.
For the frame, I used 2 x 3's and a router table to cut the design. I purposely picked the wood with splits in some of the knots to give it a more natural / rustic feel. When the frame was done, I once again used the dremel to put groves in it to make it more rustic looking.
I sprayed the whole frame with brown spray paint and let it dry. Then I watered down some white latex primer and painted the whole thing, immediately wiping it off. I did wind up using some goof off to get whit off. It did however stay in all the groves, texture I added. It looked great as it was but it really beamed in the light so I wound up going over the whole thing once more with some dark brown sand spray paint (very lightly,, I didn't want to cover up all the white,,, just tone it down)
It came out just as I had pictured in my head.
For the frame, I used 2 x 3's and a router table to cut the design. I purposely picked the wood with splits in some of the knots to give it a more natural / rustic feel. When the frame was done, I once again used the dremel to put groves in it to make it more rustic looking.
I sprayed the whole frame with brown spray paint and let it dry. Then I watered down some white latex primer and painted the whole thing, immediately wiping it off. I did wind up using some goof off to get whit off. It did however stay in all the groves, texture I added. It looked great as it was but it really beamed in the light so I wound up going over the whole thing once more with some dark brown sand spray paint (very lightly,, I didn't want to cover up all the white,,, just tone it down)
It came out just as I had pictured in my head.
