In a brief reprise from the fairytale designs we’ve had fling with over the last two weeks, I decided to let my design inspiration’s dreams come true and showcase some stunning wall techniques.
Dixie Belle products played a big part in this project, but I really wanted to showcase the flexibility of WoodUbend mouldings. They really do have quite some range!
Having started off with a base of Dixie Belle’s Putty, treated with Crackle. This was blended into a much darker mix of Stormy Seas and Vintage Duck Egg, I would also paint the new decorative 1520 mouldings in the same alluring dark colour. We’ll get back to our mouldings in a little while first as it was time for raised stencilling! When creating a stencil design, it’s important to do that first and foremost, before any appliques are added; you get a complete pattern and you don’t want anything obstructing you or the stencil.
Design inspiration can be hard to come by, but today I was in the groove and ready to create something spectacular!
Looking to brighten up the piece, but keep the old fashioned style I was going for, I picked a classic lace design and mixed some Dixie Mud in along with Duck Egg and Cotton. This would give me both the contrast in colours and aged looking I was pitching for.
I felt this lighter colour on the much darker Duck Egg/Stormy Seas concoction was a fantastic place to start. Design inspiration in full swing, I was ready to see how the Crackle came out – having not used it too much I was in some murky waters, or should the be stormy seas?
Looking to keep the piece bright yet vintage I plucked for Sawmill Gravy. A bit of pre-planning is essential if you are using Crackle, it’s important to let it dry naturally rather than going over it with a heat gun. So, as the Sawmill Gravy dried the cracks began to appear and really enhanced the antique-y vibe I was going for this week.
Leaving the paint to dry and the Crackle to do its work, I went back to my decorative 1520 mouldings, ready to really demonstrate the versatility of these products. As they were already preheated on the griddle, they were pliable and easily sliced with my Stanley Knife. Cutting the warmed appliques in half meant I could create rail effect across the canvas separating my two colours. Remember, you don’t have to use the mouldings as is, the can – quite literally – be moulded to fit your vision. It’s all about summoning that divine, design inspiration.
After some internal, and a little external, debate about how best to place the mouldings the flexible appliques were ready to stick down. Using, of course, a good quality, flexible wood glue I bent, stretched and finally placed my mouldings. Now we were seriously getting somewhere.
Mouldings down and crackle cracked, it was time for a little more raised stencilling! I wanted some serious texture in this stencil design so I reached for my Sea Spray, a fantastic texture additive by Dixie Belle. Heed my warning though, a little goes a long way, use sparingly! Don’t worry if you get a little too rambunctious when adding the Sea Spray though, a little water can always thin the mixture out a little bit – as I found out. Mixing the texture additive with my Cotton meant the stencil design would be subtle, I didn’t want anything too gaudy.
Now, I know I said earlier to make sure to do your stencilling before the mouldings are placed – which is exactly what I wasn’t doing – but as I was going for an extremely weathered look, it didn’t matter that the mouldings were in the way.
That’s what I told myself anyway. Once the design inspiration takes over, the road is rarely straight!
With the thickened Cotton pushed through the stencil it occurred to me that to add that little bit of extra I needed something…shiny. Moonshiny to be exact. No, not the drink, Dixie Belle’s Moonshine Metallics. Adding in sparse amounts of Wedding Bells and Steel Magnolia would really enhance the weathered, antique style.
Stencil put away, I topped off the design with a little shading around the mouldings – really, just bringing the whole piece together. There it was, done. A vintage interior design inspired piece, crackled, stencilled and WoodUbended!
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