Trying Out That Laura Urruti Thing
So, I bumped into this technique online, something called the ‘Laura Urruti’ method. Looked kinda neat, you know? It was supposed to be for making these cool textured patterns on old wooden boxes. Seemed simple enough in the pictures I saw.
First thing, I had to gather the stuff. The list wasn’t crazy long, mostly things I kinda had lying around. Some old paint, a specific kind of varnish I had to hunt down, rags, and this weird putty stuff. Finding that varnish, though, took me half a Saturday, going to three different shops. Already felt like more effort than it should’ve been.
Getting Started
Alright, back home, got my workspace set up in the garage. Found an old wooden tea box, perfect victim for this experiment. Sanded it down a bit, like you usually do. Then I mixed up the paint according to what I thought the instructions meant. They were a bit vague, honestly. Just ‘apply generously’. How generous is generous?
- Mixed the paint (guessed the amount).
- Slapped it onto the box. Looked okay at first.
- Waited for it to get tacky. This part was tricky, the timing felt like guesswork.
Where It Went Sideways
Now came the ‘Laura Urruti’ part, involving the putty and varnish. The idea was to dab this mixture on with a rag to create the texture. Simple, right? Wrong. Total disaster.
The putty was either too thick or too thin. The varnish seemed to make it slide right off instead of sticking and creating peaks. My rag technique? Looked less like intentional texture and more like the box had survived a mudslide. It was just a gloopy mess. I spent maybe two hours just trying different ways – more putty, less varnish, different rags, dabbing harder, dabbing softer. Nothing worked like the pictures showed.
It reminded me of this one time at my old job. We got this new system rolled out, supposed to make everything ‘streamlined’. Came with a fancy manual. Looked great on paper. But when you actually tried to use it for real work? Nightmare. Nothing connected right, steps were missing, just like trying to follow these vague instructions for this box. Everyone ended up doing workarounds, things got messy, and management just scratched their heads wondering why productivity dipped. Same feeling here. Looked easy, but the reality was a pain.
The ‘Finished’ Product
In the end, I scraped most of the gunk off. Let the base paint dry. The box doesn’t have the cool ‘Laura Urruti’ texture. It’s just… a painted box. Maybe slightly lumpy in places I couldn’t smooth out properly. What a waste of an afternoon, really.
So yeah, that was my adventure with the Laura Urruti technique. Maybe she had some secret trick, maybe the instructions I found were bad, or maybe it’s just one of those things that looks way easier online than it is sitting in your garage trying to make it happen. Kinda makes you wonder about a lot of those quick DIY things you see, doesn’t it?
