Hi guys! Wow..the last 2 weeks were a blur. I hope you all had a peaceful, joyous Christmas Holiday. Christmas Eve was not white but it was foggy! I snapped a couple pics out the car window on the way to church. I guess I should say through the car window since the passenger side window in my van is dodge-y.(Hey..it IS a Dodge Caravan..coincidence?) It has gotten sluggish about going back up so I quit lowering it!
I fiddled w/ these a bit in Picasa..how come the ones I snap out of a moving car through a window turn out fine and the ones of my family unwrapping presents or posing for me are all a blur? I really stink at regular photos!
I love taking pics on foggy days..they are so magical!
This is my latest project. I got this stool (unpainted) a week or 2 ago at an estate auction for $2 (!) I am going to share how I do my shabby painted finishes. This method would work with any color. If you are new to my blog let me also share that I am cheap as hell..no Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for me. I use whatever I have on hand. I prefer flat or satin finish instead of gloss though. I have a problem painting everything white or aqua so I decided to go with a brighter blue on this one. I went to Les Mis with my daughters and the scene of Jean Valjean in the bishop's chapel inspired me. It had gorgeous chalky blues with terracotta and cream with faded gold accents..lovely. This stool wasn't big enough for all those colors so I picked the chalky bright blue. I mixed acrylic craft paints until I got the color I wanted and painted away..some areas thicker..some thinner. Sometimes I paint a base color, add a crackling coat of watered down Elmer's wood glue (let dry) and then paint a top color over that. I was lazy here and just went with one color. Then I sanded the edges where wear would naturally occur. This piece had a lot of holes, dents and dings.If your piece is pristine you can beat it up before you start painting..it catches the glaze and adds character.
This bench beat ME up before painting. I was carrying it up to my dining room table from downstairs (because isn't that where everyone refinishes furniture?) and I slipped on the carpet on the stairs and fell on it hard and totally almost gave myself a boob-ectomy. I laid on the steps moaning with a bag of frozen blueberries on my left hooter while my loving children just rolled their eyes and stepped over me (Geez Mom..again?) I maaay be a klutz. I maaay have a bruise. Anyhoo.. here you can see where I sanded off some paint. Sometimes I take off a little..sometimes a lot depending on the piece. I (according to my husband) horribly misused a belt sander sandpaper belt to do this..because that was the first thing I found. A brown paper bag can even do a light sanding job as in taking the raised paint fuzz off.
Here is my magic grunge glaze. White acrylic paint, a dab of black and a dab of brown.If you want it redder add burnt or raw sienna..yellower, ocher. I wanted a concrete greige here. I thin it a bit with water.
My secret weapon and what I cannot glaze without..baby wipes.
Wipe it on and with a clean baby wipe..wipe it off following the grain of the wood. I do a smallish area at a time. Once satisfied, don't touch it until it dries as your fingers will remove glaze.
Blurry..oops. I dab glaze into deep areas and wipe off with the baby wipe. Once the "clean" wipe gets full of paint, you can pretty much just use that to glaze with.
No Annie Sloan wax either..I have been using this for years. It is cheap and readily available in the grocery store, hardware store or probably even Walmart or the like.
I use an old washcloth and scoop a dab of wax and as Mr. Miagi said..wax on..wax off. (I do let it dry a bit before buffing it off with another dry cloth)
If you want to tint your wax..easy peasy..again cheap me uses the above Kiwi wax shoe polish. I usually use the brown but feel free to experiment. I have even tinted small blobs of the paste wax with artist's oil paint (the tube stuff) just add a smidge and mix. Make sure you are mixing up enough for your whole project though so it matches. With the shoe polish, I just rub my waxing cloth across the shoe polish once or twice and then scoop up the wax and go. It mixes right on your piece as you rub it in.
Here I just used the plain wax because I didn't want to go find my shoe polish (lazy).It does have a "petroleum" scent, but it dissipates as it dries. Again..let dry and go back and buff with a dry cloth until smooth and un-sticky.
Ta-dah! (It is raining here and my house is dark so my pics are not good!)
Here you can see where I missed a dimple which I later went back and touched up with glaze. Before you wax you can also add "flyspecks" with thinned dark brown paint..just dip a toothbrush or stiff stencil brush in the thinned paint and drag your thumb over the bristles to create a spray of flecks. If you get some that are too big or you don't like it, just wipe them off with a baby wipe and try again! Let dry thoroughly before you wax or they will create streaks across your piece..gee..wonder how I figured that out!? If you want to add lettering or other painted artwork to your piece , do it BEFORE you wax. Wax is the last step and replaces varnish. Paint will not stick over a waxed surface. Good luck and have fun! Til next time! Julia
