Howsewears: Graphite chalk paint

Showing posts with label Graphite chalk paint. Show all posts

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Cute Little School Chairs

Hey, Froggers! I'm sorry for the delay in posting. I have had my hands in so many projects that my head is spinning. I'm gearing up to get my inventory up and running so I can do a few craft shows this fall. Perhaps I should have started in May! Uh. Oh.

Here's what I've been working on lately.
I started with these four adorable chairs. I found them at a yard sale (actually there were 6, but I'm saving 2 for another project). They came from my small town local elementary school that had been torn down and re-built. I'm just sorry, but I can't imagine any new chairs that would be cuter than this!

Since they were so adorable in and of themselves, I didn't want to change them up much, but of course, I had to paint them a little!

I used my favorite stencil technique. Even though I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite, and you're not supposed to have to sand the wood, this wood was pretty smooth. So, after I painted them, I kept the stencil vinyl on top, mixed some graphite with clear Briwax, kind of slathered it on, waited, pulled off the vinyl, and then lightly buffed the letters. Some of the paint did rub off, but we crafters like to call that "charm". Seriously, I did want some to come off, so it did look naturally worn.

And, I wanted it to look like someone was singing the ABC song, so I painted them accordingly (sing as you're reading them).

I wanted to include an artsy diagonal shot, but Google is telling me that I need to buy more storage space for my pics. I WILL find a way around this, PEEPS! ;)
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed this short little blurb.
Fondly, Tami
I'm linking up to:
Miss Mustard Seed

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Oak Chest

Hey, Froggers. I've been busy getting more stuff ready for my NEW SPACE!!! Yup, I've taken the plunge. I've taken over some space in Lancaster, PA called Building Character. I am uber excited about it. My new business is called Howsewears- Wearable Art for your Home. I'll have pics of my space in a future post. Here's the newest item that will be placed in this funky warehouse:

She started out like this:

All in all, she wasn't bad looking.

She was a little roughed up.

She was missing the top key medallion, but never fear. I had a plan.

She needed some filling and sanding.

I started using some graphite chalk paint, having some idea of what I wanted, but I wasn't quite sure.

After much contemplation, a few sketches, several prayers, and some raw nerve, I started painting, using a dry brush technique and some old white chalk paint.

This was a lot of fun to do.

The key medallion was refashioned. I was going to just leave them off, but they added some character.

When I chipped off the existing 2 medallions, one of them was intact, so I used some mold n pour to make a mold, then I made 2 more out of Fimo clay. You can bake the clay in these molds, so that was incredibly useful. To unmold the clay would have distorted it too much.

Since the top didn't look too bad, I sanded her down, added several coats of mahogany Briwax, and buffed to a lovely luster. The top turned out so gorgeous, if I do say so myself.