(Project Circa 2011)
If you are one of those people that directly heads for “I can’t
do that, I am just not creative like that” when it comes to anything DIY, it’s
best to start small. It is amazing what a small accomplishment can do for you.
When you finish something and it comes out awesome, you feel like you channeled
Martha Stewart or something. Ok, maybe it isn’t that drastic, but it is a damn
good feeling. So, let’s begin with one of my first little projects. Make sure
to read to the bottom, where I include the lessons I learned during this
project.
My mother in law gave me these strange looking urn/egg things
years ago and my husband decided that up on top of the armoire stand was their new
home. For months, I referred to them as grandpa and grandma because to me they
looked like matching urns. I didn’t want
to hurt anyone’s feelings so I had to do something with them besides throw them
away!
Let me preface all of this by saying, when I decide to do
something, I don’t want to run out and pick stuff up unless it is absolutely
necessary, so you will find in a lot of my projects, I use whatever I have around the house, which
also saves you money in the end.
Materials: Two ugly
urn/egg thingys, painters tape, red spray paint, cream colored spray paint, clear
coat spray (matte or glossy or even GLITTER) and a piece of a kitchen sponge.
After cleaning grandma and grandpa and letting them dry in
the sun for a few minutes, I taped off the top and the base of both because I
wanted to actually keep the gold on there.
Once you are taped off, shake the crap out of the spray can, and
begin to spray your piece. You are going to do more than one coat, so if you
don’t feel like it is covered enough, you will catch it on the next round. Once you have covered the entire piece, let
it fully dry before you try and do round two. It should NOT be sticky at all.
After an hour or two, give it another good shot. I let them dry overnight, just
to make sure we would be good to go by morning. I probably didn’t have to let
them sit this long, but it was my first time with spray paint on something and I
wanted it to look decent.
Next day, remove painters tape.
I decided that I didn’t like them all red and I always wanted
to try the sponge painting technique, so what did I have to lose at this point,
right? After realizing I had no light colors to paint, I sifted through the
spray cans and found an off white. I figured why not, I only needed a little
for the spongey part, so I sprayed the paint on a paper plate, dabbed my piece
of sponge in it and a blotting I went. (TIP:
Paper plates work great for these little detail parts, if you need to touch
something up and all you have is spray paint, it will work, just spray it outside
or you may get more than you bargained for).
After you are done sponging and you have the look you want,
let them dry once again. You won’t need to let it sit very long, as this is a
very light amount of pain on top, so maybe an hour. Your final step is going to
be a clear coat application. You will want to spray your piece with a clear
coat for protection from chipping and well, it just looks better. You can use a
matte or a glossy finish, I chose glossy so it ended up with a Fabergé look. Again,
let that dry and BAM you are done.
See easy! AND the best part was I turned something I may have
thrown out into something I was pretty damn proud of!
Lessons
Learned:
#1: Before
you begin any painting job, first thing you need to do is clean whatever it is
you are about to paint or you will end up making a little project into a huge
mess, luckily I caught myself only half-way through the first one and was able
to wipe off what I had started.
#2: Be sure
that your tape is securely covering the area you don’t want paint on. If you
feel like you need to add more tape to secure it and keep it separate, DO IT.
It is easier to add rather than remove paint.
#3: DO NOT
hold down the sprayer and try and spray something without letting off the
trigger. You want to spray in bursts from side to side or up and down.
#4: If you are
only going to sponge on a small area, cut your sponge into pieces accordingly
or you will not have as much control as you would want making the design.
#5: start
with light dabs of pain on the sponge, DO NO submerge it in a puddle and then
start lathering it on, you will not get the right spongy look, you will get a runny
blobby glob of a mess.
START SMALL
Peace n Love
