Thursday, February 14, 2013

Another Clock Face Table

Happy Valentines Day to all you good people!  I hope you had a lovely day shared with your loved ones, I know I did.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up the most perfectly round coffee table. It was just what I was looking for to paint yet another clock faced table. If you follow me you already know this is my obsession.  I think it's actually bordering on a mental condition.  Every few months I just have to paint a clock face on something. I know, weird right?  On the positive side,  so far every item I've painted a clock face on has sold.

This was my inspiration:

It's the Heloise Wall Clock from Ballard Designs.  I love the colors & the style of the numbers. I normally do roman numerals, but I liked the big fat numbers on this clock. Here is the before picture of the table:

So perfect for this project! I sanded the whole thing really well as the top is Formica. After giving it a good cleaning, I gave it two coats of Paris Grey on the bottom & Old White on the top. After that was good & dry, I did a Duck Egg Blue wash over the Paris Grey.  I just finished another piece using this same application, you can read about it here.

Now I have a blank canvas.
I created the images on my computer in Publisher. I changed the letters & numbers to my own liking. Then I laid them all out & spaced them accordingly. To transfer the images I just turned the image over & scribbled with a pencil on the backside, then turned it over right side up & traced over the image.  Then I painted it in with a paint pen.


Here it is all painted in, sanded, distressed & waxed.


A close up of the cool details.



Available at Sassy Fabrics in Grand Blanc, MI



 

I added a nice little stencil to the outside edge.


Love these legs with the little black metal tips......


My version of Ballard's Heloise wall clock. 

What is so fun about painting clock faces (for me anyway)is you can add any detail you choose. These letters & numbers have significant meaning to me. There are so many things you can do when painting a clock face. You can do just the 12, 3, 6 & 9, or you could give it a really different background. You could even create a work of art with the clock face floating on a smaller scale off to the side. The possibilities are endless. 

Well, I hope I have inspired you to try painting a clock face on your next project.  If you have an epic fail, you can just paint over it. It's just paint after all.  Leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.  
Thank you for stopping by & have a great weekend! Dee




Friday, February 8, 2013

It's a Wash

Hello everyone, I hope you all have had a wonderful week. I have had two little boys home with the stomach bug most of the week. So, needless to say I didn't accomplish very much this week. To top off the perfect week, today is a snow day. Luckily, I have a few projects going that I can work on to pass the time on this snowy day.
 
Last week the hubby & I went shopping for some inventory. This is one of the best things about what we do, you get to go shopping. I found this cute little side table at the Goodwill.
I love the size of this table. It's perfect for a bedside table or a small end table. I have painted this style table before, so I was excited to get started on this one. I had a plan.
 
 After getting it all sanded & cleaned up, I gave it a coat of Paris Grey. 


After that dried, I gave it a Duck Egg Blue Wash. I have used this method before in my Faux Finish days. It's a great way to give a subtle change to the base coat. You can see how it brightened up the grey. It's super easy, you just water down the paint you want for the "wash" & paint it on. It will be kind of runny so just go slow. I brush it on, then use a softening brush to blend it. Or you could do a Cross Hatch stroke to create some movement. Both look cool.

 After the wash was dry, I painted the top & drawer front Old White.

Then I went to my favorite place for graphics, The Graphics Fairy . I thought this graphic suited this little table perfectly. With the help of my trusty overhead projector, I had this graphic painted on there in no time.
When I sanded/distressed, the layers of color added a very cool dimension. Doing the "wash" is a great way to give you that layered look without having to use a lot of paint. Here are some more pictures....

 I also painted the knobs black & waxed the whole thing in clear wax.

 So, So Cute!

And here it is in my booth at Collette's Vintage & Antique Mall in Burton, MI.

Well I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I know we will be digging out, once this snow stops, before we can enjoy our weekend. Thanks for stopping by, don't be shy, leave me a comment. I love to hear from you. Dee