We recently bought our beardie, Miss-T a bigger home, but didn't have much to fill it with. After reading several topics on here we decided we'd have a go at creating a fake rock for her. We read several tutorials on how to do it, and to be honest the more we read, the more confused we got!!
We used the left over polystyrene from the new viv packaging to create the basic shape of the rock. We wanted some stairs / a ramp going up to the basking area, and a small cave underneath. We used scissors to cut the shapes and a glue gun to stick each of the pieces together. After creating a big mess we ended up with the following:
Please bear in mind my artistic skills are limited at the best of times so I wasn't expecting miracles. Once we had this basic shape, we read a lot tutorials mentioning expanding foam. I had a look in the garage and found a tin of my dads... BUT there was no nozzle to fasten to the top. Whoops. Not wanting to go out and buy another tin, I used a pointed piece of wood to press the valve down. This made it extremely hard to get the foam where we wanted so instead we blathered the whole of the polystyrene in it! After it had dried, we calved it with a bread knife ( :lol: ) and ended up with the following:
A bit of a mess but nevermind... We then used some sandstone coloured grout to add a total of three layers, each getting progressively thicker. Once these had set, we were on to the sealing. This was the part that baffled us the most. There are different sealers mentioned on guides, from pond sealant to boat sealent... and we were restricted by a low budget and... not much of a clue. We ended up going for some waterproof PVA - watered down. It might not be the most ideal sealant but others have commented on their successful fake rocks using PVA, it's safe and easy to get hold of.
We put on one layer of PVA and used a sieve to sprinkle sand on top. Once this had set I used a brush to get rid of the excess sand, and the result is as follows:
I've just put another layer of PVA on, with at least two more to go. I'm in two minds as to putting another layer of sand on before we finish - opinions please?
Thanks for reading
Can't wait to get it in the viv!
We used the left over polystyrene from the new viv packaging to create the basic shape of the rock. We wanted some stairs / a ramp going up to the basking area, and a small cave underneath. We used scissors to cut the shapes and a glue gun to stick each of the pieces together. After creating a big mess we ended up with the following:
Please bear in mind my artistic skills are limited at the best of times so I wasn't expecting miracles. Once we had this basic shape, we read a lot tutorials mentioning expanding foam. I had a look in the garage and found a tin of my dads... BUT there was no nozzle to fasten to the top. Whoops. Not wanting to go out and buy another tin, I used a pointed piece of wood to press the valve down. This made it extremely hard to get the foam where we wanted so instead we blathered the whole of the polystyrene in it! After it had dried, we calved it with a bread knife ( :lol: ) and ended up with the following:
A bit of a mess but nevermind... We then used some sandstone coloured grout to add a total of three layers, each getting progressively thicker. Once these had set, we were on to the sealing. This was the part that baffled us the most. There are different sealers mentioned on guides, from pond sealant to boat sealent... and we were restricted by a low budget and... not much of a clue. We ended up going for some waterproof PVA - watered down. It might not be the most ideal sealant but others have commented on their successful fake rocks using PVA, it's safe and easy to get hold of.
We put on one layer of PVA and used a sieve to sprinkle sand on top. Once this had set I used a brush to get rid of the excess sand, and the result is as follows:
I've just put another layer of PVA on, with at least two more to go. I'm in two minds as to putting another layer of sand on before we finish - opinions please?
Thanks for reading
Can't wait to get it in the viv!
lol )
Nhà Cái Cá Cược Trực Tuyến Đáng Chơi Nhất 2024
