This piece is not intended to be sold as a strippable finish. The grout layer prohibits removal. If you wish to make it removable, skip steps 1 to 4.

Create the Grout Surface:

1. Cover the surface 100% with a hard acrylic beaded plaster tinted with UTC’s to your choice of grout colour. I used Texturline Carolina Sandstone (Spatula base) tinted to a gray colour.
2. Stipple Sandstone with Sponge Float trowel to quickly and easily create gritty texture. You can also use your stainless steel trowel for this, I just find the sponge float trowel easier. These can be obtained at your local Home Depot in the tile or cement section.
3. It will look like this – See attached pic named Step 1 – Grout Dry overnight.

Apply Stencil and surrounding plaster:

4. Adhere stencil to surface with tape. I didn’t use a spray adhesive for two reasons; a) the surface is gritty and uneven so the stencil will not adhere evenly, and, b) it doesn’t matter if some of the material bleeds under the stencil because you will be carving it away later anyway.
5. Use your favourite tool to emboss the stencil onto your surface. I used a very small blue steel spatula. I mixed up three colours of StripFX by adding UTC’s (you can tint StripFX by adding up to 10% UTC). For the turtle I made a greeny/blue colour, an army green colour and a dark ochre colour. I applied the plaster through the stencil intermingling the colours a little. I wasn’t too careful about where the colours went except that I wanted more ochre on the belly of the turtle and more greeny/blue on the top. I also put more ochre on the head and legs where the skin would be exposed. I added the army green colour here and there in such a way as to add camouflage colouring to the shell. Remove the stencil. You do not need to wait until the Turtle is dry – proceed to step 7 immediately.
6. Then I tinted two colours of StripFX to create the surrounding water. I used a deep sky blue and another darker shade of the greeny/blue from the turtle. In order to get the blue plasters close to the turtle, I used an inexpensive 1 ˝ inch paint brush from the Dollar Store. I picked up some StripFX with my paintbrush and simply painted around the shape of the turtle. I used both colours of my plaster on the brush. If the spots were really tight to get into, I used a smaller brush. As I progressed outwardly from the turtle, I switched to my 4 inch spatula. Continue to apply plaster until the surface to be covered is complete. If you wish to obliterate your brush strokes, stipple lightly with plastic. In the example shown, I have used white for the grout layer instead of gray. – See attached pic named Step 2 – Stencil with Plaster
7. Dry overnight or longer. StripFX has a really long open time, that’s one of the benefits of working with it, but it also means that depending on the ambient temperature and humidity of your environment, it could take as long a two days to dry. The dry StripFX will appear much lighter than the wet StripFX. We will bring back the colour in the last step.

Carve the mosaic:

8. Decide on a general mosaic style. There are several patterns of mosaic you can use. I prefer the style that continues to echo the shape of the focal object. This pattern is referred to as opus circulatem.
9. Carve the lateral lines that echo the shape of the turtle. In otherwords, if the turtle were a rock thrown in a pond, carve the ripples around the turtle that would appear. Use a clay carving tool to carve away the StripFX. These can be obtained through www.fauxdepot.com or at your local clay supplier. See pic attached called Carving Tool. Anything similar will work.
10. Carve the mosaic pieces (the tessarae). In order to make it substantially easier to carve the lines, dip a small paintbrush into water and paint the lines first. Only paint a few lines at a time, say perhaps 4 to 6 inches of surface area, as the StripFX will dry in a few moments. Let the water seep into the plaster for a couple of minutes. It will soften it so that it becomes very easy to carve. I used a dental tool to carve these smaller lines. Proceed to the next section using water and a paintbrush, then a dental tool to carve until the entire piece has been carved. After I had finished the whole mosaic, I went back and widened the lines with the clay carving tool in the dry plaster, I did not rewet it at that point.
11. Select a few pieces of tile to remove to enhance the appearance of age, as if these tiles had broken and fallen off through the years. Simply carve them away with the clay carving tool.

Seal and protect your work:

12. You must seal StripFX in order to prevent unintentional removal or damage to your work. You can roll on a water based clear coat of your choice or rub on a wax coat, tinted or untinted. I used Texturline’s Texturtop (wax) in a Satin sheen. It revitalizes the colours of your StripFX and protects the surface at the same time. Put a small amount of wax on a cellulose sponge and rub it onto the surface of the plaster.

Have Fun!