The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance

Do you have something that has followed you around your whole life?  Something has kept me coming back to the story of The Dark Crystal.  I saw it in theatres as a little Gelfling, I mean girl ( and yep, I'm THAT old) and I just never tire of it!  One time, many moons ago, I even met conceptual artist Brian Froud and he drew a goblin for me in my Dark Crystal book! 

I have just spent the last 2 days of this Labor Day weekend watching the new Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.  What a fantastical ride that was!!  I'll have to watch it all again more slowly because I'm not sure I caught on to the whole story but what a visual treat, indeed!  

And can we talk about character Brea's journal for a moment?  I fear this has instantly become an obsession.  I. Need. That. Journal.  

Have you watched the show?  If so, what did you think?  Talk Dark Crystal to me!  :)

DIY Mega Chalkboard - Part 1

When we bought our new house, I knew I had to add something to the big blank wall in the kitchen.  A quote wall with vinyl stickers?  Not really my thing.  A piece of art?  That's way too complicated of a decision for me to make.  A mega chalkboard that I can write quotes on, draw silly pictures, decorate for the different seasons, write lists for my sieve-like brain...umm, YES please!!

So I talked about it.  A lot.  I talked about it almost every day.  I drove my husband crazy.  "If you mention the chalkboard thing one more time..." he'd jokingly threaten.  The only problem I saw was that a 4' x 6' chalkboard wasn't going to fit into either of our cars and shipping a ready-made, expensive chalkboard that size would cost a small fortune!  "Let's make one ourselves!" I offered, excitedly.  We would have had to rent a truck from Home Depot for the supplies, or borrow someone's.  I gave up and stopped talking about it for a little while.

Husband sends me a text one day "I'm buying a truck."  My immediate response: "Great!  Now I can get my chalkboard!"

First stop in the new truck - Home Depot!  Here is our supplies list:

4' x 8' MDF board - $25.98 (We cut off 2' to make it a 4' x 6' board.)
White Primer - $3.87 (don't get spray primer)
Chalkboard Paint - FREE because the previous owner left some behind in the new house - thanks!
Molding rails for the frame  - $37.24
High density Foam roller - $5.97
Plastic Miter Box - $4.97
Miter Back Saw - $9.47

The nice Home Depot man cut two feet off the board.  Mini Girl will use the short piece to make a mini chalkboard for her room. Perfect!

We picked out molding for the frame. We just wanted something simple. 

Priming the boards. Just one coat of primer.  We let that dry overnight.

It was raining the next morning and I read somewhere that you shouldn't paint when the humidity is high. We waited until the afternoon when the air dried out.  The benefit of living in the desert - humidity doesn't last!

The little board got two coats, mine got three just because we had a little water droplet incident and it needed another coat after we dried it off.  We painted the edges as well but these pics don't show it.

Next up...attaching to the wall, and prepping for use. Stay tuned for Part 2!

DIY Mega Chalkboard - Part 2

And here it is!  The final results.  Click HERE to see Part 1.

The frame was a little tricky, to be honest.  In hindsight, it might have been better to attach the frame to the chalkboard BEFORE we attached the chalkboard to the wall.  But, well...we tend to figure these things out as we go.  

We used liquid nails around the edges and reinforced with real nails to attach it and seal it to the chalkboard.  We just painted white over the nail heads to hide them.

And now it's ready for use!!  Since I've never written on a chalkboard before, I thought it a good idea to purchase a guide for some tips and tricks.  

This book is bursting with inspiration for lettering, borders, drawings...wonderful stuff!!  You can purchase it on Amazon.

And there you have it...our first chalky session.  We're having lots of fun with our new mega chalkboard and hope to have some cool stuff to share with you in the future.  Hope you enjoyed this little project of ours.  If you've done a mega chalkboard in your house, let us know!  We'd love to see.  

Until next time...