Making a vivarium rock background

[Becky Wheeler]

Hiya guys,

Well I've finally decided to give it a go. I've got loads of Poly, sillicone and Grout.

So I started by place a large poly sheet on the back wall and sides of the viv. And using sillicone to stick the peices of poly together to give a rocky effect.





And then the mucky part! After an hour of letting the sillicone dry i started Applying the grout over the poly.





I'm going to leave it now for 24 hours to dry up and then paint it followed by varnishing.

So watch this space!.

[chondro13]

looking great but id put more than one layer of grout on!

cant wait for finished pics

[Becky Wheeler]

Looking at it now it's drying and yes it needs another layer so i'm going to put another layer of grout on tomorrow.

[Becky Wheeler]

ok it's day 2 and i've just finished putting on the second layer of grout. I think it's looking a lot better. Depending on how it looks once dried I might paint it tomorrow.

[chondro13]

looking really good hun - if you sand it before painting it will have a lovely smooth rock effect

[Becky Wheeler]

Hmmmm now you have me thinking! Thanks hunny my hubby has a small sander in his shed!!!.

I've just got back from Homebase as they have some paint half price, so for a fiver I got a dark terracota to match the tiles on the floor.

[chondro13]

ooh excellent - just use normal hand held sandpaper because im worried a power sander may be a little strong lol!!

its looking really great though, lucky beardie

[Becky Wheeler]

Yeah your right, We've got loads of sandpaper kicking about somewhere.

And you said "Lucky Beardie" Which one?? I have so many PMSL! I don't know which one to put in?? I might put my bloodreds in there?? I dunno??

[coprex]

great !

[Lizardlady]

Looks good I am tempted to have a go myself when mine gets bigger.

What paint, grout and varnish is safe to use?