2001: A Space Odyssey Monolith

       
 
 
Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey Monolith with Terra Firma figure

 
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On its face, this was a pretty straightforward project: a slab of MDF, a coat of black paint, done. But the devil's in the details, and I wanted to try to get this right.

First, the MDF itself: I double- triple- and quadruple-checked all my measurements before cutting, making sure to get as near as possible to an exact 1:4:9 ratio. Since the board was ¾" thick, this gave me a final size of ¾" x 3" x 6¾" (19mm x 76mm x 171mm). A light sanding cleaned up any saw marks, and it was ready for paint.

For that, I went with Culture Hustle's Black 3.0. To reflect the curious nature of the monoliths, I wanted something that looked, for lack of a better word, "weird."

I prepped the MDF with a mixture of white glue and water as per instructions, then gave it three coats of Black 3.0. The results were pretty good, especially in photos. Unless there's a strong light pointed directly at the surface, it reads as less of a paint job and more of a hole in the universe.

 

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