Getting Crafty…

I have made two projects recently, mostly quick and easy to do, which adds so much to photos, and is cheap and easy to store.

‘Shabby Chic Table Top’. This is a great space saving, as well as money saving idea, as most of the items I had lying around the house, just need to buy the timber sheet, and not being an entire table it does not take up that much room. Mix and Match colours for different effects.

Materials –

600 x 1200 x 3mm Marine Ply
Timber Stain, acrylic (colour of your choice, mine is Merbau)
A clean soft brush
Acrylic paint (I used soft white)
Newspaper
Sandpaper
Paper towel
Raw Umber (or Burnt Umber) acrylic paint
Paint retarder (not essential but rather handy)

Method –

Wipe down board to remove dust and particles, then give one coat of timber stain with soft brush. Leave to dry minimum 2-3 hours. Wash and dry brush.
Give 2-3 coats of white paint, leaving 2-3 hours between coats. Try wrapping brush in Glad Wrap (Cling wrap) between coats and leaving in the fridge, that way you don’t have to keep washing it.
Once completely dry, leave overnight and then sand back the white paint revealing the stain below, sand in some areas more, like normal wear and tear along edges etc. I have a Black & Decker Mouse, electric sander which I have had for years, making a very quick job of this, but it can be done by hand as well.
Then taking the umber acrylic paint, mix with the paint retarder and lightly brush over the table top, then rub in with paper towel, and then rub off excess with wet (with water) paper towel, work in sections and move thoroughly over the entire piece, until you are happy with the result.
Again, leave to dry (overnight if possible) and then sand again until you are happy with the rustic result. Another option is to rub beeswax mixed with a patina like umber to give an aged effect.

‘Dark & Moody Blackboard Backdrop’ So my other project was a blackboard paint back drop, I picked up a piece of pre painted ply, so all I had to do was get it cut in half, but you could easily get some blackboard paint and paint an old canvas or timber. I then ran some black electrical tape (well I think that’s what they called it) and join the two pieces together.

The reason behind this is about the way different colours reflect and absorb light; white reflects and black absorbs, even more so flat matte like blackboard paint seems to suck up all the light.Very cool for dark and moody style of shoots.