irvingdog Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Living in Minnesota, and having a mean streak, I figured I'd make a cache out of PVC, and make it look like birch bark. I've seen bird feeders made to look like birch, and it looks great. I can only imagine how tricky it would be to find it on the ground amidst other birch branches. I could cover it in real birch bark, but I'd love to try to fool people with an artificial finish. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment
Zuckerruebensirup Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 I saw a welcome sign once, where the person had painted the background (of the plain pine board) in faux-birch bark. I thought it was the real thing at first glance! Very well done. I imagine it would be harder to do on plastic, though. (Even so...at a distance, I'll bet it would blend in nicely.) I think it's a clever idea. Quote Link to comment
Zuckerruebensirup Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 I saw a welcome sign once, where the person had painted the background (of the plain pine board) in faux-birch bark. I thought it was the real thing at first glance! Very well done. I imagine it would be harder to do on plastic, though. (Even so...at a distance, I'll bet it would blend in nicely.) I think it's a clever idea. Quote Link to comment
jfitzpat Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 You might check the laminate and vinyl books at Home Depot. There are a fair number of wood finishes. They don't look *that* good, but would probably be pretty convincing on a chunk of PVC laying in a heap with the real thing. -jjf Quote Link to comment
irvingdog Posted May 8, 2002 Author Share Posted May 8, 2002 Forcing me to put my money where my mouth is! I received the piece of maple veneer today, and it's beautiful. I could decide to do the first cache hidden in a tasteful furniture shop with a bit of stain. My wife is a graphic artist by trade, and is a fair illustrator, so she is honing her technique so that when she paints on it, it will be for keeps. When it comes together, I'll post the results on this thread, so "pop it" if you'd like to see it. Thanks again for the veneer, it is quite thoughtful and generous of you to take the time to send it out. Quote Link to comment
+KingBoringAce Posted May 10, 2002 Share Posted May 10, 2002 I have a cache container that I made out of tree bark. I'm almost ready to place it. I was thinking about putting in Mary Hills Nature area in Golden Valley, MN. It turned out pretty well, for a prototype. I'll let ya know when I place it. eroom Quote Link to comment
irvingdog Posted May 10, 2002 Author Share Posted May 10, 2002 Sorry E-room. Gumby deserved better than I did for him, but if it's any consolation, my son played with him daily. I've had 2 deaths and one heart attack in my family since I grabbed him. I'm ermbarrassed that I haven't launched him, but he'll go out this weekend, I promise. Regarding tree bark, it occurred to me that you could just remove some and glue it to PVC, but now that I've started my quest for a convincing synthetic approach, I'm gonna give it a go. Love your caches so far. Quote Link to comment
+15Tango Posted May 10, 2002 Share Posted May 10, 2002 Eroom, is the treebark the cache container is in at Cooke's cache your idea as well, or was that a subsequent finder that put that there? Anyhow, I thought it was great camoflage. I also linked to Irvingdog's profile from this forum and looked at his Neglected Parks 1 cache, and was just wondering if there is a magic portal that will transfer the seeker to the U.K. (becuase that's what the little map at the top of the page shows). Anyhow, I was going through a "didn't find" slump, but I'm over it now, and welcome any well camoflaged caches in this area. There is a forum somewhere on this that shows one how to make an instant stump out of a bucket and some spray insulation and spray paint--i think the birch bark idea is excellent, as well. Happy cachin'!!! 15T www.1800goguard.com Quote Link to comment
+El Diablo Posted May 11, 2002 Share Posted May 11, 2002 You might want to try and take a picture of a actual birch tree. Then transfer it to an iron on paper, then on to clothe. Then all you have to do is wrap it around the PVC. I've done someting close to that and it worked great! El Diablo Quote Link to comment
+El Diablo Posted May 11, 2002 Share Posted May 11, 2002 You might want to try and take a picture of a actual birch tree. Then transfer it to an iron on paper, then on to clothe. Then all you have to do is wrap it around the PVC. I've done someting close to that and it worked great! El Diablo Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted May 12, 2002 Share Posted May 12, 2002 I placed a cache last fall (a rubbermade collectable container with a screw top lid.) I bought some speckle paint (the kind that looks like stone with several different color specks). IT was a white granite with black specks. Once it dried it shrunk and cracked and (even though I wasn't going for this effect) looked a LOT like birch bark. I just checked the cache which has been out in the weather all winter and it held up really well. Jolly R. Blackburn http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/26453_300.jpg Quote Link to comment
+KingBoringAce Posted May 12, 2002 Share Posted May 12, 2002 Originally posted by mwmm15T: Eroom, is the treebark the cache container is in at Cooke's cache your idea as well, or was that a subsequent finder that put that there? Anyhow, I thought it was great camoflage. Originally, the bark wasn't on that cache. I placed it in the summer and the undergrowth hid the cache pretty well. I returned to the cache in the fall and it was more exposed than when I placed it. I found the birch bark sleeve and the cache container fit perfectly. It was dumb luck. eroom Quote Link to comment
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