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Painting, Staining, Decoupage, Stencils & Wood

 Trompe L'oeil
submitted by PJay Madinky

Remember, if you are using bottled acrylic to paint, black for shadows usually works, but white for hilights doesn't always work because bottled acrylic shades are made up of lots of color combinations you might not expect.  If you are using red and want a highlight on an apple, don't mix white with it as you'll get pink and probably won't want a pink apple.  The more realistic highlight for red is orange (Who'da thunk!)  As for using acrylic with acrylic and oil with oil, there's a "fat and thin" rule, oils being the fat and any water based paint being thin.  You can put fat over thin (can put oils over acrylics) but you can't put
thin over fat (can't put acrylics over oils)?  I think that's right, because gesso (a coating for canvas to oil paint on) is an acrylic.
 

Picture Frame
submitted by Heather

I had an idea for picture frames.  My husband has some extra 1 x 4 wood that we are going to use to make the front of the frame by cutting it up into 4 equal pieces and then nailing them together to form the front of the frame.  We got a thin piece of
bass wood that will cover the entire picture.  We are going to nail this bass wood to the top of the frame to form a backing that you can swing to the left or right to remove pictures.  A simple hole drilled at the bottom and a Dow rod to fit in it will create the stand.  Then the fun part.  The decorating!  I picked up some nice stencils and a sponge brush and some cut out hearts to make a decoration that says "Grandpa's Girl".
 
 

Bird House
submitted by MAZX2@aol.com

Paper mache or wooden bird house (4” x 4” x 7”)
22” dowel
White craft paint
Hunter green bias tape-2 pkgs.
Yellow bias tape-2 pkgs.
1/6” Black satin ribbon-4 yds.
Scroll braid-1/4 yd.
Yellow organdy ribbon-5 yds.
6” x 8” fusible interfacing Grid
Quilter pins

Silk English ivy
Ceramic pot
Styrofoam®
Spanish moss
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Tacky glue
Craft wire
Birds
Silk flowers
8” x 10” foam board
House Preparation:
1. Paint bird house and dowel with white paint. All areas that are not going to be covered with bias tape will need a second coat. (See photo) Let dry.

2. To create claboards on house, begin glueing first row of bias tape at  bottom edge of bird house, starting at back corner. Glue tape around entire perimeter of house. Cut tape.

3. Continue gluing tape row by row until you reach the roof, overlapping tape as you go. (See photo)

4. Measure the corners of your house from the bottom edge to the roof line.  Use this measurement to cut four lengths of bias tape.

5. Glue these to the four corners of your house to hide edge.

6. Cut front door opening of house and small opening for perch.

7. Cut 3 inches from painted dowel.

8. Glue end of dowel and push into perch hole.

9. Glue scroll braid around door opening and perch.

10. Glue a strip of green bias tape around entire perimeter of base of house.

11. Trim around roof line with yellow bias tape to hide raw edges of  claboards. (See photo)

Pinwoven Roof:

Our roof surface area is 6 x 8. Be sure to meaure your roof before cutting materials. The finished weaving should fit on top of the roof only. If the dimensions of your roof are larger than ours, allow for that when purchasing the fusible interfacing and foam board. Also, you may need to make extra copies of grid and tape them together to accomadate your project.

1. Center grid on foam board.

2. Center interfacing, fusible side up, over grid and pin.

3. Cut 17 - 7” pieces of black satin ribbon. These are your warp strips.

4. Lay each warp strip between grid lines and pin ends in place. Use pin dots on grid as your guide and be sure to angle pins outward from fusible interfacing.

5. Thread shuttle with green bias tape and weave through the warp - over, under, over, etc. Once bias tape is woven through all warp strips, cut tape leaving 1/2” on each end. Slide strip down warp to bottom of pattern at pins.

Bird House Assembly:

1. Cut a piece of styrofoam to fit in the bottom of clay pot and hot glue in place.

2. Find center of styrofoam, hot glue one end of dowel and push into styrofoam.

3. Wrap organdy ribbon around top rim of pot. (Approximately 1 yard)

4. Find center of bottom of bird house and make a hole.

5. Insert dowel into hole in bird house and slide house down until dowel hits roof.

6. Insert ivy stem into styrofoam and arrange around dowel and house.

7. Hot glue flowers to ivy. (See photo.)

8. Hide styrofoam with spanish moss.

9. Tie a bow with remaining ribbon and tie off with wire. Attach bow to pot.

10. Decorate house with birds.
 

Love Forever Bird House

This birdhouse will make a beautiful decoration in your home, a fabulous centerpiece for a bridal shower, or a sentimental gift for a new bride and groom.

Supplies:
•Church Birdhouse •Paints: Ceramcoat Ivory •Light Blue •Medium Lavender
•Brushes: 1/2" flat, 1/4" flat, and short liner •Hot glue gun
•Birdnest, bird •Silk flowers •Narrow silk ribbons
 
 

Directions:
1. Apply basecoat as follows: birdhouse and steeple, Ivory; Birdhouse base, Medium Lavender; roof, Light Blue. Let dry.

2. Using a ruler as a guide, draw faint pencil lines horizontally across roof to help you paint straight lines of scalloped shingles. Make them approximately 3/4" apart.

3. With flat 1/2" brush, sideload with Medium Lavender and create a line of small scallops across roof. Wait until this has dried before continuing down the roof. (To sideload, dip clean brush in water, blot off excess, and then dip corner of brush in paint. Work paint slightly into brush on your palette before touching to wood. Practice on paper first, if this is your first sideload project. Sideload brush and create shaded edges on steeple.)

4. Paint door, window frames, and inside hole Light Blue. Shade edges of door and window frames with Medium Lavender.

5.Create lettering on birdhouse: "Love Forever" above door, the date above hole, and the couple's name on base. Embellish further with hearts, curvy lines, etc.

6. With 1/4" flat brush, paint on clusters of bricks using any combination of Light Blue and Medium Lavender. Be sure there are bricks on all sides. Brush Ivory paint onto bird's nest to soften color. When dry, glue leaves, bird, silk ribbons, and silk flowers onto nest. Hot glue nest against base and side of birdhouse. Glue a small bundle of flowers, tied with silk ribbons onto
steeple. Tie small knots at end of each ribbon and trim diagonally.
 
 

Stacked Painted Boxes
Supplies:
For folk tree with stars:
•8 chip wood boxes, 2 of each size: 3'H", 4'H", 5'H" & 6"
•Acrylic Paint in - hunter green - light green - gold - dark brown
•Accent: Crystal Clear Spray Glaze #175
•Design Master Gold Glitter Spray Paint
•Design Master Gold Spray Paint
•Large wash brush - 1" or 2" wide
•Chisel or angular brush
•Sponge
•Pencil •Ruler •Scissors

Directions:
1.Spray paint insides of each box & lid with Design Master Gold Spray Paint.  Apply a base coat on the outside of each box with hunter green paint.
2. Stack boxes, the two largest on the bottom, the next two largest next, etc.  It's helpful to number the boxes on the back so you know which ones you are working on.
3. Hold ruler on its end at the center of the stack in front. With pencil, draw a light line along the ruler. This will provide a guideline for creating the tree.
4. Hold stack of boxes with one hand & with pencil, start at top & draw outline of tree. Leave enough room on the top box for the star.  Alternate the points of the tree on each side as shown in photo. On the bottom box, draw the bottom of the tree & the trunk.
5. Draw a star shape on sponge with pencil & cut out with scissors.
6. Paint tree shapes on each box with light green paint. (NOTE: when the boxes are stacked, they will not sit evenly. As they graduate in size, a portion of the lids will show. Mark the boxes & paint in the tree on the lid also.) Paint trunk with dark brown paint.
7. Brush gold acrylic paint onto star sponge -- make sure tips are covered completely. Sponge paint stars on the top of tree & on the points of the tree.  Decorate around the boxes if desired with more stars.
8. When dry, glaze each of the boxes & lids. Two coats creates a shiny finish.  When glaze is dry, spray entire set with Design Master Gold Glitter Spray.  Then store inside each other.
 
 
 

Batik Box

Batik is a word and method which originated in Indonesia. It refers to applying designs to fabric. When fabric is "Batiked," a design is made on the cloth with melted wax, which prevents absorption of dye into the fabric. After dying, the wax is removed by boiling the cloth, revealing the design.
 
 
 

Supplies:
•Unfinished wooden accents of your choice (a soft wood is recommended, such as basswood or pine). Examples: a box, candlestick, small tabletop, or picture frame.
•White crayon •Transfer paper
•Stylus (to incise wood design)
•1/2" flat brush
•Acrylic paint: white and a background color: blue, brown, or red
•Sandpaper -- coarse and fine
•Tack cloth
•Extra fine metallic gold marker
•Chisel-edged gold metallic marker
•Spray varnish with satin finish
•Wooden balls or cubes (optional)
•Ruler (optional)
•Fruit pattern pieces as seen in photo above

Directions:
1. Choose or draw a design to fit your wooden piece. (Books on Egyptian, African and Eastern art are good resources for ideas.) Do NOT seal your wood first.

2. Transfer design onto surface using transfer paper or draw with a pencil directly onto the wood.

3. Paint the inside of design area only with slightly diluted white paint. Do not paint entire piece white. (By undercoating the design with white paint, the contrast after sanding is enhanced and more closely resembles fabric batik, which is traditionally done on white cloth.)

4. Incise design into the grain of the wood (it isn't necessary to wait for white paint to dry) so the wood is dented enough for paint to settle inside grooves. A ruler will help for straight lines. Apply decorative borders in the same way.

5. With white crayon, "color" the areas that are not to absorb the full intensity of the darker background paint. Keep the crayon primarily on the surface of the designs, so paint will settle into the incised lines for deeper color and better definition.

6. To apply background acrylic paint wash, squeeze a puddle of your color choice onto palette. Fill brush with clear water and create a thin, watery wash by diluting part of the puddle. It is better to start with very watery paint so it can be deepened if needed. Brush onto a small area of your project to see if it is the desired value or whether you want more intensity of color.
Keep pulling more paint pigment into your wash on the palette until you have a deep rich color sinking into the grain of the wood.

7. Color wash entire project in this way and allow to dry thoroughly.

8. Sand project to remove paint from the surface of the box and remove as much crayon wax as possible. Begin with coarse sandpaper and move on to fine. Stop sanding when you are pleased with the "batik" appearance. Wipe with tack cloth.

9. With extra fine point gold marker, outline design and add decorative lines where desired. Pull chisel-edge gold marker along corners and edges which may have been sanded down to raw wood. Allow to dry thoroughly.

10. Attach wooden ball or cube feet (if desired) with wood glue or screws.

11. Paint and decorate interior of project (if desired).

12. Because the project has been sanded well and rubbed with crayon wax, it has a very pleasing feel. However, if desired, protect project further by sealing it with spray satin varnish.

Recipe Box: To adapt the above directions to projects using color underneath, simply paint designs in realistic or appropriate colors rather than white. A transparent wash of acrylic or glaze color works well. Select colors vivid enough to maintain contrast once the brown wash is applied over the design.
 
 
 

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