well it appears that I do not know how to post an attachment.

You pictures showed up fine. I think if you hit "preview" before posting, you get those red x's. But...I can see 'em.

Take good notes on how you did your colors (especially the first set--looks fantastic!) The wood looks old and weathered and appears rather run down. The areas with the deep texture is where the darker color appears--exactly what you want. The reason for taking notes is if you happen to come up a piece or 2 short, you'll want to be able to replicate the color(s). Plus, several years from now you may look at a building and want to match the look on a different structure.

If you don't mind, a quick suggestion for the tan wood. See the 3rd piece in the picture #3? It's got sort of a speckled look to it. I've had that happen after sanding stripwood and then hitting the piece with ink & alcohol. It's almost like tiny bits of sawdust collect and ball up in the grooves after the A/I is added. To get rid of that, let the wood dry completely then go back over those areas with some real fine steel wool. It usually polishes up the wood and knocks down those tiny clumps. Blow it off good, then go back and dry brush if you like. I think you'll find that it helps the texture pop out. You can find fine steel wool in the paint section at Menards or Home Depot in different grades (like 00 all the way down to 0000, I think). Sometimes, I've used a tack cloth to get rid of the "micro sawdust" if I know I'm going to add A/I.

When you get your kits, the manual will have some recipes for staining stripwood. Make sure to try the soaking method as described. It's real easy and gives great results.

I'd say your expriment was a success. Nice work!
Get your work area set up and go wait for the mailman!

You have a great head start... looking really good. I like your texture. One suggestion - the number one problem I find is modelers over think and stall out. Dive in when the box arrives (maybe today?) and don't be timid. You got nothing to worry about by the looks of these samples!

Thanks all...the pics seem to have miraculously appeared.

Bill, I noticed the spots also and was wondering about that. I did keep track of the recipes and steps I took on each board by writing a number on the back of each one and each time I did something I wrote it down. I also liked the first pic. I'm sure it was the drybrushing finish that did it. I wonder how that will work on top of chalk.

Brett, the kits are scheduled to arrive today, but not the chalks. It will give me some time to read over the manual and digest that before trying those techniques out.

Ah the manual. Its like a great book. Difficult to put down once you start reading it. :)

Well the chalks came today and I tried a couple of boards per the instructions in the manual. I must say that they look good--sorry no pics yet. Brett describes the finished look as dusty and that is a good description.

One variation I tried was to put in knot holes on 1 board prior to coloring. I like the way it turned out.

I'm going to try a couple more colors tomorrow as well as the above mentioned drybrushing attempt.

Forgot to ask this. The step that says to light gray chalk after the IA wash. Is this to be worked in while the IA is still wet or should it be brushed away after it dries?

yes.... try it both ways

The final decision was to not try to reinvent the wheel and go with the instructions. Here is the first wall from the Rigging Shed.

I'll still need to darken the knot holes, work on the left edge, and a few other details. If anything pops out that could be done better just chime in.

try shooting your pics against a white or neutral gray background - the black darkens everything up and makes color evaluation difficult. the graining, knots, weathering, splits, etc... are right on... crooked board looks natural too