Step 3. Apply a watered down coat of Acrylic or Matt Emulsion paint (not vinyl) . A light colour to begin with.
Step 4. Apply a second coat of paint, this time choosing a darker colour. If you water a little down to a stain consistency, you can apply this to the crevices between the planks. Continue building up various colours, light and dark. Be careful not to fill in the cracks and crevices that you have already prepared. The paint layers may be applied with a brush or sponge. Again, be bold. You can even use ‘Dust’ and bits mixed in with your paint or on your sponge or paintbrush.
Step 5. Apply a layer of ‘Cracking Paint Solution’.
Step 6. When the ‘Cracking Paint Solution’ is almost dry, apply a top coat of a light coloured acrylic or emulsion paint, which can be watered down using no more than 10% of water. The thicker the coat of paint applied, the larger the cracks will appear. As this begins to dry (takes only a few minutes), it will begin to crack. At this point take a piece of soft rag and moisten it with water and proceed to lightly rub away portions. As you do this it will begin to ‘lift’ and become quite gooey. Now leave it to dry. Try not to over do this stage.
Step 7. Finishing Touches - When dry use a little raw umber acrylic paint mixed with ‘Paint Effects Gel’ very sparingly dab onto the surface making sure you do not ‘over wet’ with this solution or you may land up with a shiny appearance. Then with a dry sponge dab over the surface. When almost dry dust with ‘Ash/Dust’ powder and a little ‘Soot Powder’ around the base etc.
To create a muddy appearance around the base of the shed, add together a little ‘Dust/Ash Powder’ and ‘Creative Texture Gel’ apply to base and while still wet stick twigs, gravel, sand, grass etc. into it and you will create a realistic ‘alive’ look. Leave to dry.
Remember, don’t try to be too fussy, and remember, be bold.
Step 8. The rusty roof is made by firstly applying a sheet of fine sand paper to the wood, this will give an elusion of a felt roof. Then using my Real Rust solution a rusty appearance is achieved. A corrugated iron roof can be made by using pieces of corrugated card glued to the roof and then rusted by using the Real Rust solution. Full instructions on using the Real Rust solution are included in the Real Rust Kit.
My Forgotten Garden project also includes a tree with a few branches – This is created using the same method as the old tree trunk, but by adding a few branches to the main wire stem, a more tree like appearance can be created.
The old path was made by laying bricks, which I made from plaster. These can be made by firstly producing a brick mould from my Silicone Mould Making Solution, and then using Plaster to create as many bricks as you need. These are then glued to the baseboard and given an aged look by firstly sanding them in places to give a worn look and then applying acrylic paints, dust/ash, soot and ‘bits’ to build up the aged look.
Once I had completed the tree trunk, rocks, tree, weathered outhouse/shed and bricks I placed them loosely onto the 9x18 board first so that I could get an idea of the finished scene. When satisfied with the positioning I glued these all into place.
I finished off by covering all the bare baseboard wood with the muddy, grass method used around the tree trunk roots. I added small grasses, flowers, moss etc. These can be acquired usually for free by calling into your local florist and asking for any sweepings from the floor, they may look at you as if mad, but they don’t mind obliging when you tell them what you are doing.
I then poured Imitation Water over the rocks, added a swing made from a small piece of Balsa wood and string. Then to finish it off and give it a ‘living’ feel I made a couple of mice and a bird from Sculpey, I found a chicken and a cat (I had bought them a couple of years ago, those items you see and think I must have that and then they sit in a cupboard for years, as you don’t quite know what to do with them) and glued them into my Forgotten Garden project.
Step 1. Prepare the bare wood by firstly scoring to represent planks. Then proceed to gouge out between the ‘planks’ to represent worn and rotting areas, paying particular attention to some of the obvious areas such as, the bottom of the door, around the base, where it would have come into contact with the ground and where moisture would have collected to rot the wood.
Step 2. Mix a little ‘Creative Texture Gel" with a very small amount of ‘TransparentGel' (this gives it a little flexibility) then with a sponge or brush apply to the bare wood. Try not to fill the ‘plank’ crevices. Before this sets make marks to imitate rough lifted wood, grain and knots, don’t be too fussy. Be bold, this has to look badly neglected. 
