First I sanded the entire surface and sides of the wood using my beloved Ryobi hand sander. Then I dusted it off with a soft brush.
I added a coat of Bleached Sand. I thought about giving it a really good coat of paint, but I was pretty smitten with the way it looked with all the little nooks and crannies. So I just painted until I liked it.
I ran a dry rag over the still damp paint. I wanted to removed any excess paint and dry it off, while giving it a more aged look from the start.
I used a dry brush to randomly add Spa Blue.
Applied the stain…
… and wiped it off, and just kept doing this until I was happy with the results.
… and wiped it off, and just kept doing this until I was happy with the results. I didn’t want it to be dark, just a little aged.
It was easier to show you how I made the dots by using a video…
I let it dry overnight, then dry brushed some cocoa carefully over the starfish to make it a little darker and make it look a bit sandy.