Faux, faux, faux your rocks...

Wow, strong table, isn't it? Those are faux rocks. You see, when you install a waterfall and pond, you need to have certain features, like a bubbler to keep your fishies happy and oxygenated, and an electric outlet to power the pump and bubblers.

These manmade items interrupt the back-to-nature ambiance; thus, they must be covered! Enter: faux rocks!

They cost a small fortune to ship because UPS has funny prices for large things, even if they don't weigh much. And though I knew the large one there on the right, good for covering up electrical messes, would be very phony looking (many people out here in the country use this style for covering up various things), I was surprised at how natural the bubbler rock there on the left was. (It's a bubbler rock because it has some air holes drilled in the back.) That is, until I looked at the other rocks in the landscape. Okay, not so natural.

So I toodled down to Lowe's and bought six bottles of Krylon spray paint. I already had a beige, and I'm not going to count the pink because it was the wrong pink and the more orangey pink turned out to be the right one.

At first I tried dabbing on the paint, because that's how I've always faux finished rocks before. But I didn't take into account that these have texture. What you do is to spray the darker colors first, get a good base going, and then take your various colors and spray a rag, then rub it lightly so the texture picks up what it wants to. You put on about fifty coats, and voila!

They blend in nicely with the other rocks. I've still got to dribble in some small river rock to match what the pond guys did over on the other side of the sidewalk (and to fill in over there what they missed), but this works pretty well.

I need to do any more faux finishing before cold weather sets in. On my to-buy lists: faux rocks to fit the top of the skimmer and filter (yeah, they make rocks specifically to that size), and what the heck, since I can't get anything else to work over there, a big ol' rock to put on top of the septic tank. It's about fifteen feet from the pond, and so a rock there will fit in.

Maybe I can make a business out of this?

I don't think the fishies have even noticed. They're probably mad because I haven't posted a pic of them yet. Here they are:

Leftish to right: Krypto, Streaky, Proty, and that's Comet there on the top.