...pebbles

My Dad found this book in a charity shop and for some reason it made him think of me...

...maybe it's because there are pebbles everywhere in my house. In jars and bowls, in carefully balanced stacks, in pride of place on the mantlepiece, and even on the windowsill outside...

...there are bucketfuls of 'blank' pebbles in the garage, bought for making little keepsakes to give to friends and family at my wedding five years ago (bottom right) and for place settings at my daughter's best friend's wedding (bottom left)... 

... so every so often I paint a few more - either to give as presents, or just to please myself!

You could be forgiven for thinking that someone as pebble-rich as me wouldn't need to go pebble-hunting ever again, but when it's your younger son's wedding and his bride-to-be wants pebble place settings, and she's letting you do them instead of out-sourcing them to a professional pebble-painter...suffice it to say you are going to hit the garden centres and DIY shops hard - or as hard as lockdown rules permit you to - in search of the perfect pebbles. 

The initial request was for plain grey, but everywhere we looked the cobble-style pebbles were out of stock, or the wrong colour or size, and slate just wasn't giving off that nice, rounded pebbly vibe. So when I came across some pretty "Silver Mist Plant Toppers" (top right below) in the pouring rain on a Sunday morning, at the only remaining garden centre left to try in our local area, there was only one thing for it. Reader, I purchased them.

Last week I channelled my inner Goldilocks and sorted them into 'Too Big', 'Too Small' and "Maybe' piles, chose eighty-six 'Just Right' pebbles from the one hundred and fifty-four 'Maybes'...

...and then put them to soak in a bucket. All that remained was to paint a few, to get the seal of approval from the bride-to-be.

Because white ink was quite difficult to see against the speckled stones I hit upon the idea of putting a wash of acrylic paint in the area where the writing would go. Payne's Grey, with its slightly bluish tinge was perfect - you can still see the speckles through the paint, but the writing is much more legible. I know the calligraphy leaves a little to be desired, but I think they look quite pretty, and more importantly my soon-to-be daughter-in-law loved them. Five down, eighty-one to go!

On my beach there are many pebbles...