Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Framing Your Art: The Devil Is In the Details

My mom recently put on a great show at the Sooke Harbour House. I especially loved how she unified her various styles of artwork by framing them all in the same frames; grey stained wood.

I decided to hit up her carpenter (my dad) for some frames of my own. Luckily for me, my carpenter dad works for home made raisin pie! So one rhubarb crisp and a raisin pie later, I had in my possession 4 new raw wood frames. And my inspiration was barnboard!



I wanted to share with you the process of staining raw wood frames to look like faux weathered barn board.


Materials:
matte grey stain (I used Varathane "Sunbleached")
matte white paint (I used primer)
matte grey paint (I used primer)
matte black paint (I used left over house paint)
sandpaper
rags
brush
varnish (I use Minwax Polycrylic)


Step 1:
I began by lightly staining the wood a light grey. I used Varathane "Sun Bleached" stain. Paint a generous layer of the stain on, let sit for 15 minutes, then wipe off.


 
The raw unpainted frame


 
a layer of grey stain

Step 2:
Using the dry brush method, loosely paint a streaky layer of white primer on top of the grey stain.


 
white primer
 
Step 3:
Again using the dry brush method, add another streaky layer of matte grey paint. I just used leftover primers from painting around my house.


 
light grey matte paint
 
Step 4 and 5:
Either use a darker grey matte paint or add some black into your light grey paint for this next layer. Dry brush on a coat of the darker grey. Use the matte black paint to splatter paint the frame. Use a rag to rub black paint into knot holes and any imperfections on the wood.
 
 
dark grey matte paint and black
 
 
Step 5 and 6:
Lightly sand the wood and add a final layer of the original pale grey stain over top of all the other layers. Varnish the wood.
 
 
 
The last layers: grey stain and clear varnish
 
Here is sample board I created for future reference:
 
 
 
Frankie and Echo want to know, "How do we look in our new frames?"
 
Echo incognito as "Sidekick"

 
Frankie is a "Funny Girl".
 

 
 
 


 


No comments:

Post a Comment