The Angel Wing Cubby, burning, painting, texture, staining, glazing and more

This project was beyond time consuming, and a 100% trial and error piece experimenting with mediums.

Burning, texture, glazing, shading, staining and painting!

But with a little time, effort, patience and elbow grease ... it can be done!

The before and after to keep you inspired to read on ...

Here is the piece I found. A simple, plain little cupboard.

 It was stripped down fast! The doors were removed and I set to doodling up a design with
a set of wings that I loved!

 The next step was to go over the design with a handy dandy little crafting burning tool that you can get at any craft or hardware store.

Here is the after shot of the total wing.

My plan was to create a very 3 dimensional wing that stood out from the doors. How do you do that you ask? Well, there are a lot of ways! You can purchase 3 dimensional paints from a variety of makers. Just google it. It will come up! Or, think hard about things around your house .... what can you think of that may be there, that can blend with paint, but is thick and dries hard? *cough drywall mud* cough! Just a thought. There are plenty of other options, just open your mind and experiment a little!

 Here is a close up of the texture as it was drying.  Experiment with how you use your brush. You will be amazed at what can come out of it, especially with different mediums and additives!
You never know until you try!

 

While it was drying and curing, I threw a white wash of paint behind the wings. It needed a little more character back there. I knew I was going to be sanding most of it back off, so it was very minimal!

After it dried up, I added some different glazes over it. It added more depth and texture and looked phenomenal in the end!

There she is. Done. I wasn't a fan of the white background after all  and decided to play a bit. It hadn't been sealed yet, sooooo I wonder what would happen if I stained the paint??? I removed a fair bit of the white first but left enough to show through then clear coated it. Choose what you are most comfortable with. Polyurethane, wax, polycyclic ..... talk to your local paint stores and find out about all the benefits from each! Learn learn learn - the free way! Ask the experts at each retail location their opinions on everything, but make sure to keep your open mind, they often try to shoot down ideas as being "crazy". And we all know that - "you are crazy" look right? or is it just me haha!

 

Now here she is after the sanding and staining. But it needs just one little pop of colour. I'm feeling like a touch of love needs to be added. Red.? Hmmmmmm

I chose red glass knobs! WHERE DID YOU FIND THOSE you ask? I didn't. I made them red. I found some clear glass knobs and used some red stained glass window paint and coloured them!

The after shot. All done! Over a week in labour, but it came out fantastic and was in a

new home almost instantly!

And of course - the before and after shot!

There you have - all my secrets dished out!

Have fun experimenting, and if you love ideas like this - come follow us on Facebook and stay up to date on the new inspiration flowing in!

Gypsy Barn on Facebook

and of course .... feel free to pin away! Just please, keep the logo on it and link responsibly. Starving artists rely on that to help fund more inspirational pieces for the future :)

Cheers!

Jasmin

Owner of Gypsy Barn

The Koi Table. Using Stain and Glass Paint for amazing results

Stain .... and Stained Glass Window Paint.
The transformation of a table, into art!

This was a very time consuming project!

Yes, there are many other ways to do this faster, and get beautiful work, however, I wanted to really make this piece stand out in a different way. Adding the stain was brilliant, but then, instead of typical paints and washes etc etc, I thought, maybe some stained glass window paint would give the scales on the Koi a more translucent look and add more depth.

I thought, why not!

And in the end, it truly does look very three dimensional! Well, in person!

Here are the step by step photos of the process.

Step 1. Find your canvas. I chose this table that was passed up by everyone at a local estate auction. Of course I could do something with it!

 Step 2. Doodle on your design. I suggest using charcoal. It doesn't leave pencil grooves on your piece and charcoal comes off very easy when you get to the painting stage. I chose to burn the image into the wood though. I have a passion for depth! 

Step 3. Burn your image in. You can choose to opt out of this step if you would like simply to paint. I used a small burner that you can get at most any craft or hardware store. Here it is, all burned into the table.  I loved the look and almost stopped there! But I didn't!

Step 4. Begin shading. I chose to use Minwax stain for this step. A lot of brushing on, rubbing in, wiping off, re-applying, until the desired look was achieved. After it was dry, I chose to add some highlights to the piece by using sandpaper and removing the stain in certain areas. I loved this look and almost stopped there! But I didn't!

 Step 5. Add colour! This was a very challenging decision to make for me. I though simply using a wash of some sort might work, but thought hmmmm, I really want that shading to stand out! And it needs a super gloss to it. That's when the idea hit. Stained Glass Windows! I need to find some glass paint! And that I did! I loved this look and almost stopped there! But I didn't!

Step 6. It's missing something. I was back and forth between adding blues and whites to the waves. And after a lot of contemplation, I decided, the Koi is what needs to be the focus. I opted out. Instead, I grabbed some more sandpaper and took the wood in the waves down even further.

I then thought it needed more of a pop, so I painted the background black.

Step 7. Check once, check twice clean up any necessary spots and begin sealing. I chose a polyurethane for this step!

 

And finally the finished product! Now, my problem is, do I keep it as a table, or strip the backing off and hang it as art............  a project for another day I think!
I love the look ... do I stop here ......
Table - or Wall art ......

I hope you enjoyed and learned from that! And I do hope you pop over to our Facebook page and follow all of the creations that are non stop in production!

www.facebook.com/gypsybarn

Keep on keeping on and Cheers for now!


Jasmin
Owner
Gypsy Barn
Peterborough Ontario Canada