We painted the bark texture with chalk paint dusted with wood ashes from our stove. Yes wood ashes! This solidified the surface and made the bark look even more real. You can use any wood, charcoal, or paper ash. If you don’t have a fireplace, stove, or fire pit, check campgrounds for bonfire and BBQ pits. You’ll only need about 3/4 a cup for 3 boxes.
Here’s the brand of caulk we used. We think any good brown caulk would work including the one in the link below. We found our Dynaflex Ultra Brown at HomeDepot. To apply the caulk, we used a caulk gun and made long wiggly stripes to create a grain. Then we spread it a bit with a putty knife.
We scratched texture into the caulk with an ordinary plastic fork. The video will show you how, and the longer version on our YouTube channel has lots more details too. The link is at the top of this post.
You can layer the bark texture dramatically because the caulk does not tend to slump. We were able to turn a box right away to begin adding texture to the rims. Texture on the rim really adds to the realism of the bark effect.
Once you cut an opening in the caulk tube it will continue to flow even if you are not pulling the trigger. If you want to set it down, place the nozzle on the blade of a putty knife so that you can use every drop that flows later.
We used two tubes of caulk to texture the front, rims, and a few inches of the inside opening of three boxes. We did a little texture on the sides, but none at all on the bottoms and back.
The caulk sets and is dry to the touch very quickly, but we let our caulk cure for 5 days before painting. The texture was spongy, but the paint will make it much firmer. We used brown, light gray, soft black, moss, and pale yellow chalk paint and about 3/4 cup of wood ash. We also used ModPodge in matte finish.
Step 1: Paint the box medium brown and brush with ashes (you can also use ModPodge brushed with ashes to build up the gray texture)
Step 2: When dry, highlight the ridges with light gray and moss
Step 3: Deepen the recesses with soft black (as shown above)
Step 4: Add any accent colors you wish, such as rust or pale yellow
THAT’S IT!
The paint makes the caulk texture very stable. The ash coat will withstand wet weather conditions and doesn’t require a sealant. We will bring our boxes in for winter so that they do not go through freeze/thaw cycles, but in warm weather they will decorate our railings filled with flowers come rain or shine.