The Stone Skewb is a design variation of the Skewb Cube puzzle. The colour of the plastic has been changed from White, to a Grey stone colour and texture using a type of spray paint. It is still a fully functional puzzle, though it has lost its solving challenge as all the pieces are identical in colour. I don’t consider this a hindrance as I made it with the intention of it becoming a decorative piece or simply an object that can be manipulated in a therapeutic manner.
As mentioned above, the stone effect was achieved by using a stone textured spray paint. Typically spray paint will only sit on the surface of the plastic; therefore over time it would wear and although the piece was mainly intended to be decorative, I did want it to be tolerable to standard play.
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It is a well known fact that the more surface area there is on an object, the stronger the bond will be if another object is adhered to it. I decided to apply this to the puzzle; sanding each face quite roughly so as to provide more area for the paint to ‘hold onto’.
Two thin coats were applied and I left the paint to dry for just over two days. I checked the paint periodically throughout this time and found that the paint was staying on the plastic by the end of the first day, but it still felt a little soft. It wasn’t until a whole week after spraying that the paint had dried properly.
I think sanding the faces and applying the paint in thin layers helped considerably, as the paint has dried and adhered well to all surfaces. However to further strengthen the paint, I will allow a few days drying time after each layer on any future projects.
Before assembling the puzzle, I tidied up the inner facing parts of the piece that had a little paint on them (in hindsight I should have covered those parts with masking tape before the spray painting process).
I think the puzzle looks really nice with the stone effect finish; natural to an extent and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. It also works very well as a decorative piece both indoors and outdoors.
“Awesome! I love the looks of it. Well Done”
“That stone effect looks superb on a puzzle, nice idea.”
“It looks wonderful!”
“Very nice and clean.”
“Wow. Looks really cool.”
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