Sunday 31 January 2010

Making a part render, part brick wall

Now, I'm not the best at tutorials, so if I don't explain properly, please ask for more info!
Here goes....
Making a part brick and part render wall - our way, may not be the right way!!

  • To start, Hywel played around with the beams to get the 'look' right. The beams are made from 15mm by 7mm pine wood strips and come in long lengths from a local DIY store. When he was happy with their placement, he marked out the areas where the bricks will go. Don't stick the beams down yet, they need shaping!

  • Shape the facing front sides of the beams with a craft knife, careful of those fingers!!! When happy with your beam edge shaping, varnish or stain. We used Jacobean oak woodstain for a nice old, dirty look. Don't worry if the wood filaments look rough, it adds to the aging effect you need for an old building. However, if you don't like it, sand the wood down just enough to take the rough filaments off and then give the beams another coat of stain.


  • You can use brickslips for the brick patches, but we made our own, using Das Airdrying clay.

  • Flatten out  a piece of clay in your hand and place on your wall. Use a comfortable length of dowel as a 'rolling pin' to spread the clay to your required thickness and then with the edge of your craft knife, mark your brick shapes/pattern.

  • When happy with the amount of brick and their look, glue the beams and clay in place. Leave the clamps in place for about an hour for the wood glue to dry.

  • Whilst the glue is drying, mix up your stucco, as it takes an hour to stand before use. We used Art Mache by Artstraws and a 1kg bag goes a verrrry long way!

  • When ready, apply the stucco in rough layers, using a flat craft knife or a normal cutlery knife. Make sure you gently build the layer up around the beams and windows and do thick and thinner patches to create the right look. Don't be afraid to play around with different thicknesses, it is easy to slice a little off or mound up a little if you make a mistake. When the wall is covered and you are happy with it, leave to dry for 30 - 40 minutues, then using your craft knife, gently mark out your plaster wear and cracks in the wall. Leave to dry overnight and then you are ready to paint and age your wall :0)


Wa..la,  we're done! Only took a day!
Got to paint it next!

Julia xx

5 comments:

  1. You are so so celver Julia and Hywel , and YES you can do a tutorial this is great! Now Ill need another project to try out this effect ha ha!! Kate xx

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  2. This is just what I needed! I love how you have made your own bricks too (I thought it was Daz). The stucco you used, did you buy it from HobbyCraft? I was going to use papier mache (the type similar to paperclay) for the outside and for some of the inside. It's a great look all over....and done so quickly too! Thank you to you both!

    I will send you the links for the rats, chair as soon as I can. I need to look through my Ebay favourite sellers to find one of the rat suppliers! lol
    Michelle xxx

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  3. Bloomin Brilliant Julia and Hywel. I think this is great. Looking forward to the next bits.
    Debie xxxxx

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  4. Thank you to both of you for sharing how this is done. I have all the tools and materials apart from the clamps to do the same to a small project i have planned. I was never sure how to go about the bricks and meeting it up with the worn platser before this.
    Your tutorial was great because it was simple and clear unlike some that harp on an on. Actually i tend to harp on and on, lol.
    Thank you loads!
    Nikki xxx

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  5. Hi Michele,
    Yes, the Art Mache was bought in Hobbycraft, it is very similar to paper mache :0)

    Hi Nikki,
    After putting on the first layer of 'plaster' and letting it dry for a while, you can build areas up or smooth them down around the brick. I did ours last night, so no pics yet, but I put a dab of art mache on my finger and blobbed it on between the beams and brick and then eeked it out, it gives the plaster a ragged look as if it is starting to thin and fall off :0)

    Hi Kate and Debie,
    I'm so glad the tutorial was ok and I didn't muck it up! Inspired to do another one now! :0)

    Julia xx

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