ezdays 2010 EOY challenge

[ezdays]

Some more progress. Actually got some work done this past week or so. I put on a second coat of joint compound, added the rock walls, painted on a base coat and painted the bottom of the pond. By today I got the pond water poured and the bridge set in place. The longest time was looking for something to use for the pond water. I had two quart cans of casting resin that I bought a few years ago, but didn't even open. Beware, they have a finite shelf life even if the can is sealed. Both cans were solid and unusable, and after looking all over I found that Hobby Lobby (craft stores) had cans of it on their web site, so I went to their local store to pick some up. They only had casting resin, but kind of like thin dark bondo, even Home Depot had that. Wrong for use as water and I didn't want to wait to order it so I experimented using white glue, and it didn't look bad. It dried clear but the coats were too thin and kind of dull and would take a long time to build up. I finally figured out that I didn't need that much resin and settled for about a 1/8" coat of two-part epoxy glue. I tinted it greenish-blue to give it some depth. With the green paint on the bottom, it turned out OK and now I don't have to waste most of a can of resin... if I could find any...

Here's everything with the first coat of joint compound:

   
I had to test things to be sure everything opened without interference:

   

Next I put on the second coat of compound and added the stone walls:

   

Then I put on a base coat of paint, including the pond:

   

After that, I sealed the pond with a thick coat of white glue and added some rocks and sand:

   

Finally, I poured the pond water and put the bridge in place: