Simple sculpture

Mark Rayner shows how easy it is to make a 'terracotta tower' for your garden.

You will need:

Four long terracotta pots
One small terracotta or concrete paver
Exterior construction glue, paintbrush, latex glove, paint stirrer and a small piece of bubble wrap
Resene FX Metallic tinted to Resene Scotty Silver
Resene Concrete Clear
Resene Paint Effects Medium
Resene Sandtex Mediterranean effect tinted to Resene Heather
Resene Terracotta Sealer
Two testpots of Resene Midnight Express

To get the look: Mark painted the retaining wall with Resene Lumbersider tinted to Resene Pale Prim and stained the background timber fence with Resene Woodsman Penetrating Oil Stain tinted to Resene Bamboo.

Step one
Glue the first terracotta pot upright to the centre of the paver with a generous blob of construction glue. Apply a generous line of glue around the rim, as shown, and place the second pot on top.

Step two
Repeat with remaining pots until you have a terracotta tower. Leave overnight for the glue to dry before applying a coat of Resene Terracotta Sealer to the tower and base. Leave six hours to dry.

Step three
Paint the terracotta tower and base with one coat of Resene Sandtex, applying the paint in a criss-cross pattern and allow it to dry. This product helps to create an attractive textured effect.

Step four
Apply one coat of Resene Scotty Silver to the tower, again applying the paint in a criss-cross pattern. Leave to dry for two hours and then apply another coat.

Step five
Carefully stir in one of the testpots of Resene Midnight Express into the Resene Paint Effects Medium.

Step six
Scrunch up a small piece of bubble wrap. Use it to carefully apply a coat of coloured Resene Paint Effects Medium to the tower, creating a textured paint effect, as shown. Leave to dry for two hours.

Step seven
Apply one coat of Resene Multishield+ to the terracotta 'tower' and allow to dry for two hours.

Step eight
Apply two coats of Resene Midnight Express to the base, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

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Resene Paints Ltd – www.resene.com