A Sneak peek of painting fabric with American Paint Company Clay/Chalk Paint

I will be doing a full post on this project later this week....but for now I wanted to share these pictures with you.......For those who have done this they know this is a long process.....a great project to do while you are working on another piece as each coat must dry completely before adding the next coat....but for now I am loving the results.....and will share my steps with you.....enjoy your Wednesday!

Market on Moss..

Last Spring a group of local DIY'ers got together and discussed the idea of starting a "french style" market in our area....One of the women in our group offered her lawn as the venue...now this is not your typical yard....as you would guess...it can hold over 30 vendors....and hence "Market on Moss" was born....

 

This is our logo-hand painted by Jan Powers-who also happens to own the home where our Market is held.  We use this for our posters that we place around town and on our flyer's......

I cannot believe the response we have had for our little event...and the attendance increases each time.  This was our 4th Market--and we had lines blocks long waiting to get in..We had well over 3,500 visitors at our Fall Market on Moss two weeks ago....We do a Spring and Fall event....

I  will let the pictures do the talking....oh..and yes--our French Chef returned to make his wonderful crepes!

 

 

And now I am picking the pieces I want to do for our Spring event......

How to replace missing trim pieces by making your own mold

I picked up this beauty at a local Goodwill store…If you look at the top large drawer on the left you will notice a strip of the decorative trim is missing….On  most makeovers I would just leave the missing piece and paint over the area—but this trim is part of the outline on the drawers and would really distract from the look if not repaired…..So here we go---step by step process on how to make a trim mold and then a new trim piece to replace the missing trim.  In the past I have used silicone for this process – but this time I decided to try a different product…

1.        First step—I used Das Clay to make the mold…This step is easy…roll out the clay on a cutting board or another smooth surface..

 

2.        Next I cut the clay into a long strip that would fit over the piece of trim that I was using as the mold…

  

 I sprayed WD 40 on the clay prior to pushing it on the trim so it would be easy to remove...Next  I pressed the clay on the trim strip that I was using for the mold and pushed into the detailed crevasses so it would form the detail… .Then I gently peeled the clay off the trim piece as to not stretch it out of shape and placed it in the over for 5 minutes at 350 degrees.  Below is a picture of the clay as soon as I removed it from the trim. 

3.       Once hard and dry all the way through—this is your mold.  It will continue to harden so if you leave it over night that would be the best option....Below are 2 of my molds after being removed from the oven. 

4.       Now to make the actual trim piece....On this step I first tried KwikWood - an epoxy/wood filler type product…I had trouble removing this from the mold in one piece so I decided to try the Das Clay again….(I think I may have pressed to hard on the KwikWood…so that was operator error – not the product….. )

5.       I sprayed the mold with WD 40 and pressed the clay into mold– leaving some clay over the edge giving me a piece to hold on to when I removed it…. I only left it in the mold for a few minutes and pulled it out and let it set overnight..I did a few different pieces so I would have enough for the entire strip and some extra’s .......just in case… I sanded the edges of the new pieces and glued them to the dresser…since I will be dry brushing the area I needed the new trim to match the original trim so I stained the trim and painted it a bit to help match…New trim left--orginal trim on right......

6.   And here is the trim with the first coat of paint.....if you did not know the difference it would be difficult to tell!  Give it a try--any questions send me a message on my face book page (there is a link on the left sidebar) and I will be happy to answer your questions....Good luck!!

       

The waxing stage....

As I was painting the finals areas on the the cupboard I decided I would use dark antiquing wax....it really adds depth to red and gives it a finished look... Here are two pictures that I tried to get at the correct light setting so you could see the difference in a waxed area and an area that has yet to be waxed....

The upper area has been waxed on this side--you can see the darker tint--but my love for this antiquing wax is not just a darker tint  -- the wax gives a finished, polished look....

 

The door on the left has been waxed....The wax deepens the red, but also adds such a finished glaze to the door....Remember when using wax don't over do it....start with a small amount on your brush -- you can always add more........pleased I went with the dark antiquing wax....and i love the hardware on the doors....reminds me of the front door of the house i grew up in....Up next---the final photos of the finished piece...I will get better light on those pics so you can see the depth in this piece..it was just such a bright sunny Midwest day!! 

Vintage Cupboard Make Over Day 2

So..while cleaning this piece yesterday I noticed this...it is a round old piece of tin that has been nailed to the inside back of the cupboard...At first I thought--FINALLY--I found some hidden jewels, lots of hidden cash....but looking at the back of the piece I realized the tin's purpose....

 

It was to cover this knot in the wood that left a hole in the back of the piece...Still pretty cool I thought....

Now back to the loose drawer problem and how I decided to fix it..I wanted to keep the original wood drawer bottom because it looks to vintage...so since it was just a bit to short I decided to reattach the bottom with a nail gun--putting the nails at an angle...still not sure if I love it...but for now it will do...You can see the nails on the left bottom of the drawer-coming through the side....it is sturdy and did straighten out the drawer so it slides in and out better...this is usually most old drawer's problems...they need to be straightened again....and then the runners need to be soaped....

 

Next up--remove the hardware off the drawer....This takes awhile if you have older pieces like this..the screws are sometimes hard to get a good grip on...I stand right over the screw-and push down as hard as I can to turn--sometimes you must clean out the indent where the screwdriver is to go also....either way once the hardware is off you can tell something about your piece....and --isn't this hardware awesome?!

I could tell this piece had been painted once before when the handle was removed....now the drawer is ready to tape off and paint......

 

As I removed the other lower door I realized it was not secure...You can tell there is a piece attached to the back of the door....this was loose....

 

 

 

Both back pieces was very porous from being so old so I deiced to glue them as opposed to nailing...pulled out the glue and clamps again....

 

 

 

Once this was done I decided to try a quick coat before stopping for the night...then I decided to stop and clean up my work area after seeing this picture.....what a mess!!! Tip to remember from today--drawers that are difficult to pull in and out usually need to have the bottom straightened and reattached......then run a bar of soap over the runners and the area where the drawer slides and you should see a difference...more tomorrow!!