Thar Be Treasures! Part Deux

Waaaay back in the day, just after we bought the house, John was cabling the upstairs for tv and internet, and came across a lamp base behind the knee wall that surrounds the perimeter of the entire upper level. I had the grandiose idea that I would paint the base and attach some sort of awesome lamp shade and it would be an awesome homage to the origins of the house.

I started out by wielding a can of RustOleum Universal Hammered Spray Paint in Silver. It looked alright, though I wasn't omfg in love with it. So I stripped it with paint thinner (and killed off more than a few brain cells in the process. There goes algebra!) (Hah! as if I knew algebra in the first place!) and applied a new coat of Heirloom white. It looked pretty schnazzy, and I was happy with it.

Oh! I forgot to mention that the cord on the base was insanely old and one of the connectors was haphazardly attached, so I decided to rewire it. Simple task, to be sure. Except I kept blowing the breaker. Boo.

Next, I tackled the shade. I wanted something pretty and graphic, but didn't like the options I found online or in stores. I liked this one a lot, but I have a hard time spending $ on something I think I can do myself. So I went out to JC Penny and scored a big old drum shade at 40% off, and then went to Jo-Ann's to pick up some Jacquard Neopaque fabric paint in white, black, and deep red.

For the next forty hours or so (I *so* wish I was exaggerating), I hand painted the red blossom/black branch/white accent pattern on the shade. The paint was quite easy to work with, but I completely underestimated the total area of the shade that would need to be painted. So while the small/intricate pattern seemed easy peasy when I started, by the end it felt boring and tedious.

After the shade was finally finished, I attached it to base, and was pleased enough. I set it on the Frankenstein Table and moved onto the next project. A few weeks later, something fell behind Frankenstein, and rather than pull the ottomans out from underneath it to retrieve the item, I decided to pull the table over. As Frankenstein's are want to do, he lumbered forward and CRASH BAM BOOM, the legs collapsed and everything on top of it toppled off onto the floor. Pirate Lamp died, as did several small marble vases my mom had found for me. DAMN IT. AND I didn't even get a picture of the damned thing before it shattered.

So I spent several months trying to find a suitable replacement base for my magnificent lamp shade. I was determined the thrift it, because my mom and sister are such talented thrifters and certainly *I* would be able to do it! HAH.

As any sad and pathetic person might do, I was at Ikea on my birthday. I snagged a Jonsbo Barby lamp base in a pale pale pink. The only problem is that the base is designed for a Spider/Harp shade, and my shade is a Slip Uno Fitter. A tube of JB weld and wire cutters fixed the problem. And BAM, I had a gorgeous lamp with a magnificent shade.

Click here for more pictures of the new lamp with its beautiful shade :o)

Puzzling Time

Last fall during the beginning woodworking class John and I were taking through the local CC, we were introduced to the Scroll Saw. I immediately decided that I liked the scroll saw, and that it and I would become best buddies. I liked that I could easily cut circles and waves, that it was relatively safe to use, and didn't take a lot of know how. I also liked that I wasn't confined to a pattern and measurements, as it's a much more free-form type of woodworking. The teacher had an unused scroll saw he had acquired when he purchased a bunch of equipment from a retiring woodworker, and offered to sell the saw at a deeply discounted rate. SOLD. It even looked a little bit like the Starship Enterprise, so it became my new little baby. So cute!

I started doing a little research into scroll saws, and found that many they were a huge fad a number of years ago, so there were TONS of resources available. About this same time, I hatched the HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS PRESENT plan with my siblings. I know my brother Mark really really really enjoys puzzles, so I thought I'd make him a puzzle. I Googled for inspiration, and came across this idea. I was smitten, and decided Mark would love a puzzle like that. Being ballsy and stupid, I didn't bother to read the instructions or print up the pattern; I just free handed it, and this is the result:Not too shabby, and I was awefully proud of it, if I do say so myself. Now that my brother is enjoying his Christmas present (so I shipped it off 5 months late? So what!), I decided to post about it. And then I also decided to make another one, for a Secret "Santa" exchange at an online community. I made a few reasonable changes in my method to accommodate the insane amount of time it took me to complete my brother's puzzle, and documented the procedure for posterity (certainly not for prosperity).

First, I took a 11" x 8" x 3/4" plank of pine, found the center line, and sketched out a rough tree-shape. Trying to keep the pattern centered is important to keep the puzzle balanced when it's standing up.I cut off large chunks of wood using the band saw, to make it easier to cut the pattern on the scroll saw. Also because I like the band saw, and never use it. It looked lonely, shoved off in the corner of the garage.

After I was satisfied with the band saw efforts (damned blade kept angling off to the side!---now I understand why it's shoved off into the corner of the garage!), I took the plank over to the scroll saw and started hacking away at the pattern.

Again, the appeal of the scroll saw to me is that I don't really have to follow the pattern, so I used it as a rough guideline for the basic shape of the puzzle. The only important thing was that the base and the trunk would fit together snugly when assembled. And it did! Next was sanding. First I used the random orbital sander with 80grit and then 150grit sand paper. I did both sides of the tree form.Then I broke out the paper and sanding pads, in 80, 100, and 150 grits to sand the outside edges of the tree, as well as the base.Sanding pads make sanding curves SO much easier. The person who first thought of them is my hero. I only wish I'd had them when I was refurbishing the wood chairs I bought from ReStore. When I was satisfied the plank was nicely sanded, I dusted it off, and used a damp rag to remove any lingering saw dust.

Now this is where my tutorial for this puzzle and the original tutorial (and how I did my brother's puzzle) diverge--rather than cut out the individual puzzle pieces now, I decided to paint the puzzle. The blade on the scroll saw is so fine, that I wasn't too worried about chip out from cutting into the painted surface, and it wouldn't be anything that a quick touch up would be able to handle. I decided to paint now because painting the individual pieces was a HUGE time suck, and painting it as a whole would give me the opportunity to make a more realistic looking puzzle.
I loaded three shades of green onto my paint "palette"--a bright green, a true green, and a ruddy green. I just used standard craft acrylic paint, because that's what I had on hand it and it was suited to the project.

Using a large flat brush, I splotched the paint onto the surface, dragging my brush through all three colours at the same time. I wasn't too worried about pattern, as I was more interested in creating background shading for the final treatment.

After the initial coat was dry, I picked up a smaller flat brush, dipped it in one of the shades, and dappled it onto the splotched surface. when the paint was running dry on the brush, I would dip it into a different shade, and add that colour to the area that was still wet. I added some yellow paint, as well, to work as a highlight colour.

I tried to keep the pattern as loose as possible, to make it look random and more realistic. When the first side was done, I painted the reverse side, using the same technique. I also painted the edge of the tree shape the same way.

Next was painting the trunk and adding some visible branches. For that, I used two colours of brown: a true brown, and a tinted brown. The true brown was the base, and I used the tinted brown to make the highlights/squiggly lines to simulate bark. I did front, back, sides, and the base. I tried as much as possible to mirror the branches near where the trunk met the leaves on both sides of the puzzle.

I waited 24 hours to make sure the paint and wood were bone dry. Then I took the plank out to the scroll saw, and free handed a puzzle pattern. The only trick here was to make sure the outside pieces and the trunk linked together snugly, to ensure that when the puzzle was standing, there was a solid band around the perimeter that would prevent it from falling apart. I also cut out some random negative space within the puzzle, and trashed those pieces--it would make the puzzle even more difficult to assemble.

I took the puzzle back in, and used the true green and true brown paints to paint the inside edges of the newly cut puzzle pieces. I didn't worry too much about sanding, as the scroll saw blade was supa fine. I also didn't worry about making the inside pieces realistic, as I thought it would make the puzzle WAY TOO HARD if you couldn't clearly tell which pieces were the boarder (I had to reassemble the puzzle, after all). Unfortunately, I didn't a picture of this. The only picture I have that shows the painted inside edges is one that incidentally shows them. Albert was being cute.

I didn't want the added heft of lacquer since some of the pieces were VERY snug when put together and I didn't have a whole lot of time to wait for coats to dry, so I decided to use outdoor Mod Podge, since it's waterproof.

Bad idea. The glue-qualities of the Mod Podge made the pieces stick together very uncomfortably. So I decided to use a clear coat spray paint in a matte finish. Worked like a charm. This was the finished product:

Even after making it myself, it takes me about 30 minutes to complete it. It's especially hard because both sides of the puzzle were painted the same way. All in all, I think this is the start of my scroll saw puzzle hobby :o) Click for more pictures of the process.

Coaster Piracy

I like pretty things, and when I see them for sale, I think "I could make that myself SO much cheaper!" so then I take a picture of it and go home with the intention of recreating it. Piracy? Perhaps. But I have no intentions of selling anything and they're all for personal use, so I'm a Private Pirate (not the be confused with a Privates Pirate, which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish). (Where does that phrase come from, anyway???? Bizarro!) So when I was at the Norton Simon Museum, celebrating the day of my birth last month, I saw the CUTEST coaster and wanted to recreate it at home. Isn't it cute?
As a wedding favour, my sister made the cutest hand-stamped coasters for each guest. She used beige ceramic tiles, a custom rubber stamp and enamel/ceramics paint to personalize each coaster with the little birdie motif that earmarked her wedding paraphernalia. They were a brilliant idea, and I use mine every weekday for my coffee mug at work. Jumping off her idea of painting tiles/stones, I made a grave marker for my friend Carrie's kitty that passed away last summer. So when I saw the pretty coaster (which turns out to actually be a paper weight--which I suppose explains the $20 price tag and the fact that there was just one in the package), I thought I could use the same paint to make my own pretty coaster. So I bought some 4"x4" travertine and marble tiles at Lowes for $5 per box of 10, and filled out my Plaid brand FolkArt Outdoor Paint spectrum, Google-Image searched "Flowers" for inspiration and got to work.

First I painted a Rembrandt Tulip with subtle pink/magenta variegations on the petals. The paint, though labeled OPAQUE, is rather thin and transparent, and required several coats to actually be opague.
This calla lily required about 6 coats of stark white before I could fill in the shading. Turned out well, I think.
And finally I painted a poppy, because poppies are pretty and cheerful and lend themselves to quite thin and transparent paint mediums, since they're petals tend to be quite thin and transparents anyway.
The paint is supposed to set in 48 hours. The stamped birdie on the coaster my sister made has held up pretty well for the past two years, so hopefully my coaster set will, as well. I think they make quite a lovely set, all in all.
Click for more/larger.

Those silly brits!

Lipstick on a Pig

Before we moved into our REO house that had sat vacant for over a year, we did a MASSIVE cleaning. John literally vacuumed an entire shop-vac full of dirt and dust off the carpeted floors, and I spent hours scrubbing toilets/showers/sinks/cabinets. We were so happy to be done with the cleaning push and then the move, that we didn't even think about decorating/painting. So for the last year, I've been living with paint colours that hurt my eyes, and no motivation to change things. Notice the GREEN walls.

Last April, I bought some paint when Home Depot was having a sale on Behr, including a mail-in-rebate. And just like to mail-in-rebate, I never got around to painting. Until last week. I taped off the downstairs bathroom, filled cracks/holes in the wall, and painted like a mad woman. Poor Josh had to ask to use the restroom. I decided to just paint the walls and deal with the molding/ceiling later (self-preservation).

I used Behr's Light French Gray (swatch can be found here: # 720E-2) on top of the sagey-green that was in the bathroom when we bought the house. Two coats of paint later, and it looks a bit like a baby-blue, and the cool paint colour is REALLY clashing with the warm undertones of the travertine and slate tiles. So I think I'll be repainting in the future, but not just yet. Maybe next year :o) I want a warmer gray, for sure. Slate blue/gray.

I also put up come of the 6-piece brushed nickle bathroom fixtures that John and I scored at Costco a few weeks ago for $30. I can't find them online, but for the $30, we got a large towel rod, a medium towel rod, a glass shelf, a 2-prong robe hook, a hanging towel loop, and a TP holder. Not too shabby! I bought two sets, so I'm going to mix and match them between the upstairs and downstairs bathroom.

I also got the hang the drawing I completed last week!

Click here for more before/afters of the bathroom.

Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Last April, I bought some paint. I was going to paint the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms, because the SAGEY green in the DS bath and the LEMONY yellow in the US bath were killing me. I'm more of a warm gray/blue kind of a person, and my eyes were telling me they were in pain.
Then, I lost the motivation (because there were other things to do), and the cans of paint sat in the spare bedroom, collecting dust in the corner.
This last weekend, I got off my butt and spackled the holes, filled in the dents and dings, and resolved that this week, after work, I would FINALLY paint the walls in the damned DS bath. It'll be my first painting project as an adult (I remember half-heartedly helping my mom as a kid, though I doubtlessly did more harm than good), and I'm nervous about it (chicken-heart!).
But, I'll give you before and after pictures, so you can ooooh and aaaaah about my madskillz.
In the meantime, this is the drawing I completed the put in the bathroom once it's all painted and purty.
It's based off a photograph I found years ago (and I cannot find the original source of the picture, but here's the image). The original artist took a photo, pushed the contrast up to 11, and then created a negative of the image.
And here's my interpretation:

I think I like the original better--the square orientation is great, and I love how the trees look all wild and yet strangely calm.
Regardless, it's so moooooody, and I think it'll match the lovely french grey I chose for the bathroom, and the sheer size of it will help to fill up the massive blank wall above the tub. I'll post piccies when it's in place.
Click for more flash-tastic pictures of the drawing.