Star Wars Lego Table.

My Son likes to set up the counter of his Lego sets to look like their proper environment. He has used blankets and fabric before. One of his cool ones was when he used Lincoln Logs and glue 
dots to make the Forbidden Forrest for his Hagrid's Hut set. He decided this week that a 
Star Wars set needed it's own location. 
A dessert scene for the Skiff, Jabba's Barge, and Sarlacc Pit.

 So part of being my child is coming up with crazy ideas and asking me to figure out 

how to make it work.  

Yesterday after school child and I went to the local thrift shop and found this table. He liked that it had a raised edge. He also liked the shape until he got home and tried to fit it in his room. 

You can faintly see a red X on the top. I measured from corner to corner to locate the center and pulled out the dremel tool. Using all the wrong attachments, I carved out the center. To get it just a bit deeper I chiseled out some particle board layers with the putty knife and screw driver 

Once I got a decent depth I grabbed this nifty spray paint that has a sandy texture to it. 

After one spray I realized it wasn't going to fully cover the existing wood so I went searching for what paint I had kicking around.

 I found a dark brown and a creamy white. Neither color really worked SO I mixed them. I just needed a better undertone so the color wasn't crucial. 

You can see the base coat is a bit streaky. I did't want a solid, perfect layer. We are going for sandy  and the more texture I could add in, the better. It isn't even the same tone across the top. I added a little more brown half way through and didn't mix thoroughly. 

(breaking All the rules) 

I then sprayed a layer of the gritty paint but still wanted texture. I found some acrylic paint in 2 more shades of brown, diluted the light one with water and flicked it across the top. I then added the darker into the water and flicked some more. 

But I felt like it was a little too speckled so I added one more thick, puddled layer of texture paint. (thick sections are thicker "sand spots")  

When the boy returned from school and saw this he decided that it could be darker and that he wants the pit to sit deeper so I borrowed a scroll saw and am wondering why I didn't do that sooner. I got 2 paint stir sticks (free) and nailed them to the underside of the hole. 

 then one more time I diluted craft paint and flicked it over the top, pounced the color spots to fade out and add depth. Thus making the boy happy.  

And here is his set on the sands of Tatooine.

Just a silly thing that makes a kid happy.

I have been low on posts. I am working on a few projects that aren't really photo friendly. Like family history and sorting through all of my Mom's slides that she doesn't know I stole while she was gone recently (hi Mom) 
A little info on that. Costco slide transfer is usually $17.99 for the first 50 and .29 each after that. This month they are having a $5.00 off deal. Which means I Really need to pull it together.  

Have a good week (or month, who knows)