Friday 23 August 2013

Mellow Yellow Milk Paint

I have had this little table hanging around for a while now, in fact so long it felt like an 'old friend' sitting in the corner.  It needed a little bit of 'leg tightening' and a couple of  the casters needed some oil and a serious talking to! but they soon gave in and were swivelling nicely.
I decided on Mustard Seed Yellow Milk Paint, for this piece, its a beautiful 'buttery custardy' shade of yellow, and gives a real feel of an old country kitchen, I just painted it straight onto the wood without any bonding agent as I wanted as much chipping as possible, however the wood was dry and old and very absorbent so it did not chip as much as I wanted it to. 
This is what it looked like after one coat.
After giving it 2 coats of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, I gave it a quick coat of Hemp Oil, and the next day I lightly rubbed in some Miss Mustard Seed Antiquing Wax. I love this product, it just gives such a soft aged look, its easy to use, blends in so easily and smells really nice - yes can you believe it? - no smelly fumes that you get with other brands, its such a fabulous product.
Just a quick little makeover, I can't believe I left it so long before getting around to it!
Lots more Milk Paint projects on the way
Bye for now
CJ

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Typography Graphic on Milk Paint

The beauty of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint is it's versatility, although my favourite look is an aged, distressed and 'chippy' look, with this little 3 drawer unit I wanted to create something dramatic out of a very plain piece of furniture.  
It was really solid, all the drawers were 'perfect runners' obviously the knobs had to go!
When searching for inspiration I always leave the piece in a very prominent place where I will see it lots, it works every time, sometimes sooner than others - with this piece it was quite quickly that I honed in on the very flat front and that the drawers fitted so snugly, it was perfect for adding a graphic - so I went straight over to the Graphics Fairy where I found this beauty! I wanted to fill as much of the front of the unit as possible for the biggest impact.
I painted the top and the back rail in 'Typewriter' using the bonding agent as I had decided I wanted a smooth and 'non-distressed' finish. 1st coat with Bonding Agent - 2nd coat without Bonding Agent, once it was dry I used the Hemp Oil to finish it and I gave it a couple more coats of Hemp Oil, leaving it to sink in each time, Hemp Oil is such a wonderful product it really brings a richness to the Milk Paint, and at the same time giving it a lovely durable finish.
The main body of the unit I painted in the colour 'Linen' this is a really lovely creamy white colour, again I used the Bonding Agent, and I gave it 2 top coats after the initial coat using the Bonding Agent. I left it a couple of days before handing over to my daughter Laura to work her magic on the graphic, which she did using the overhead projector method.
I 'ummed and ahhed'  over which knobs to use, trying crystal and pain black, but in the end I plumped for the small 30mm wooden ones which I painted in Linen to match the base colour, this I thought would not detract from the graphic.
I was so pleased with the finished piece, and even more pleased when I sold it on the 1st day of the Antiques Fair!
  
Lots more projects on the way.
Bye for now.
CJ