In reply to previous post and how to.

I've had quite a few emails asking how i did the surface for the walls and floors of the potion room room box.
This is an explanation to one of the people and thought it would be easier to post here rather than lots of emails.

I used paperclay on the walls but not a lot.What i did was make the room box out of mdf. I then covered the whole box with papier mache and just used toilet tissue for this because it is cheap. I did a thicker layer of this papier mache on the corners of the outside. Once that was dry i just broke up little bits of paperclay and smeared them on the walls here and there leaving lots of little gaps. I then used a stippling brush and stippled to get a rough texture and smoothed down some bits with my fingers. I then did the same again on the outside of the box and tried to make the edgesot too sharp so it looked rustic.
Once it was dry i painted a creamy colour. I didn't have a suitable paint to mix with the white to get the cream so i mixed coffee into the white paint. In a cup i put three teaspoons of coffee and a tiny bit of hot water to make a really thick coffee. I then spooned it into the white until i was happy with the cream colour.
While i was painting the entire room box i used my stippling brush and stippled here and there while the paint was still wet. This was so i didnt lose too much of the texture. You can use a regular household paint brush if you dont have a stippling brush (large stencil brush), and just cut the bristles a bit shorter.
One it was dry i used coffee again and brushed it over the walls and dabbed here and there with baby wipes to remove quite a lot and leave the dirt in the cracks and crevices. Once this was dry i then used the coffee again and focussed on the corners and the wall where it meets the floor and again dabbed off with baby wipes what was not needed.
But if you want green damp walls around the base, before you do the tea and coffee brush here and there with a green acrylic paint and dab off whats not needed with a wipe. Then do the coffee.
You can use acrylic paints instead of coffee or tea which i sometimes do, but i really like what coffee and tea does.
Because all of this is not waterproof and the coffee stains could be wiped off by accident i sprayed the entire room box with a matt sealent spray. DO IT OUTSIDE AND SPRAY FROM FAR AWAY SO ITS JUST A VERY LIGHT LAYER. You just need to seal the coffee and tea.
For the floor i used paperclay and cut out lots of little floor tiles. While they were still damp i stuck them on the floor with pva glue (white glue)working at around 3 tiles at a time and used a small brush to stipple and get a rough texture. I left the little gaps for grouting.
Once these were dry i used pva (white glue) and brushed it into the grouting lines and dabbed off any glue that got onto the floor tiles. I did this because in my opinion it makes it look more realistic. You can use grout mixes suitable for this purpose, but because i will paint it later it doesnt matter that its not the right thing to use.
Once it was dry i then painted the whole floor a light grey. Once that was dry i then dabbed here and there with a draker grey but the brush was almost dry. Just rub most off onto tissue. I then dabbed here and there with a darker grey again but added a little bit of brown to the final mix.
Once it was dry i painted in the grout line with a dark grey acrylic paint mix and dark brown (equal parts). I used a baby wipe to dab off the paint if it went onto any of the tiles.
Once it was dry i used my coffee again and dabbed here and there and especially into the edges and corner and again dabbed off what was not needed. Then sprayed again with a matt sealent but just a fine mist.
If you dont have a spray you can use a brush on matt sealent/varnish. Rather than brushing and sweeping i would dab on a minimal amount over the entire surface with a brush or fibre fee cloth
I know many perfectionists out there will be in shock at the way i go about building.
But i always like to make good use of the materials i have. Quite often i can't wait for a certain material to arrive in the post and so just experiment.

You can also use polyfila instead of paperclay. A lot of people tell me it cracks, but i find it doesn't as long as you mix pva (white glue) into it. You would apply it in much the same way as the paperclay and then paint and stain exactly the same.
You can also use other types of airdrying clay but i can't advise which makes will crack. But if you do get cracks you can just fill them easily enough for this type of rough wall surface.