View Gardening .com

I have two small stone fu dog statues I put outside about a month ago. I bought those because I really liked the dark brown color. I meant to put on some wet look sealant but didn't get around to it.

In just a month the paint has come off in most places because of rain or sun. The statues are mostly tan now. What kind of paint would I get to get them back to their original color. Any tips at all would be helpful.

Here's some tips from people who have answered that question on other sites... that you may find helpful:
From Tamra Serroni, Grants Pass, Oregon, who has been painting cement statues for more than 25 years:
"use a cement/masonry primer first--once its dry----you can start painting....
If the paint is flaking from another paint job--you should remove the flakes

I use DecoArt Patio Paints , check at a craft store. (they have a clear coat, which you put on first, then the paint and then the coat again) if you are doing a small statue, this is a great way to go.

I also use acrylics & I will mix them with the patio paints--to get other colors;

I use some masonry paints (but you have to buy in bigger containers) but you can also mix acrylic paints with them & get other colors (Walmart has an exterior paint that is great & you can get great colors); mccloskeys is also a masonry paint base--check your Walmart--this is where I first discovered it for a great price.
I have used Rustoleum once and 18 years later, its never needed painting again--but its in shade and somewhat protected.
I used to use spar varnish--a marine boat varnish--on anything not white--it yellows, but in the past year I have had problems with it flaking.
We now use Cure Coat--which we found at a home improvement center--but also discovered at one of the local paint stores. cure coat is a masonry/cement/brick sealer. cure coat cleans up with warm soapy water.
I also use a cement sealer, that cleans up with lacquer thinner [link is to product info at Amazon] --both seem to work fine.."

From Rebecca Williams, Hartville, OH "I worked for a shop owner in Hartville painting cement statues for people. I cannot remember the name of the primer, but I used a masonry primer. I first cleaned the cement well, let it fully dry and then applied the primer. I did not like working with oil based paints, and used acrylics ... however, I believe oil based paints would serve you better. When I was finished, I sprayed the entire piece with Marine Spar Varnish."
http://www.finishing.com/165/15.shtml

From Gillian Dowell:
"artist acrylic paints may do the trick, there is a better colour selection and as long as you seal it with a weather proof sealant they should be ok.thats what I would use."
http://uktv.co.uk/gardens/thread/threadi d/1194
http://www.rendona.co.uk/categories.php? id=13

Good luck!!! Hope this is helpful.

2009-02-08 12:01:45 by David

gardenarborandtrellis.com Decorate your garden with a dog garden statue check out our large variety of dog breed statues in different sizes and ...

I want to make a lifesize sculpture of my dog that I can have a concrete mould made from for a garden statue. Can someone tell me what materials I should use? Like, what kind of clay, what should I use for the bulk of the sculpture, etc? I've made small clay sculptures, but never anything on such a large scale....I don't think sculpey is what I'm going to need. ;o)
okay, so I would need to use an air drying clay, not one that needs to be baked or fired?

as you want to make a mold of it, you don't have to construct it so it will fire. If you can weld, I would recommend to weld a basic armature together of the correct proportions as the finished piece will be heavy (how big is your dog, dwarf pincher or irish wolfhound?). Then you can use newspaper/straw or whatever other filler you can think of. Chickenwire is useful to keep filler in place. After you modeled approximately what you want with your filler you can put your clay on. If you have a receipe for oil based clay you can make some of that. It's more expensive, but it gives you more time to work on it - which is however not necessarily a good thing. I prefer paper clay as it is easier to fix if it gets to dry, but normal clay will do only you have to be careful so it stays workable.
If you want to have a ceramic piece (which I agree will be nicer than concrete), preferable make your own paper clay. First figure out how big the kiln you have available is. If necessary plan to construct different sections to be put together after firing (look at the work of Viola Frey).
Make slabs. Usually you will have to let them dry over night a bit, so they are not too floppy. Then I would construct the body as a hollow piece. Use pieces of slabs as internal struts to give it stability (obviously never enclosing a space completely, poke a hole through). The key is working slowly but steadily, letting each section dry somewhat (not completely) to stabilize before you build up on it. Then if the body is reasonably firm, I'd build some support to fit (e.g. from bricks) so I could build the legs. Support anything (e.g. head or tail) by pieces of wood or whatever you need until they are hard enough to support their own weight. You can build quite large sculptures (I mananged 5-6 feet high) without any internal metal or wood support structures this way. Which makes firing possible - if you have access to a kiln big enough. Universities can have kilns of the walk in size.

2006-09-22 19:17:45 by Dana

?8 3/4"Square x 2 1/2"H.
Pet Paw Memorial Stone: Honor a faithful and loving friend with a touching tribute to all the joy they've brought you.
?Weatherproof polyresin.

We went to central park this weekend. As we passed "Balto" the dog statue, the fragrance of flowers was beautiful. There was a huge shrub with white dangling flowers nearby. Not sure if it was that... Anyone know what kind of plant/flower it was? I would love to duplicate that in my garden.

Maybe lilac, I'm not really sure. Lilac is in bloom now, so it's possible, and they grow there.

http://www.centralpark.com/pages/conserv atory-garden-flowers/french-lilac.html
This is a site with all kinds of plants growing in the park
http://www.centralpark.com/pages/conserv atory-garden-flowers.html