That is the finished project above and I love it. When I first bought it at an online auction among other items, its previous owner(s) had painted it blue then a tobacco gold at some point. It is probably teak as the tag on the back said it was made in Indonesia and the wood looks like it. The poor mirror had been through a bit. There was some damage...dings, cracks and the like. I only paid $3.00 and almost donated it, but I needed a mirror in the studio bathroom and the little mirror kept speaking to me.
I glued the cracks and filled in chipped areas with heavy gel medium. I didn't have wood putty or the like and didn't feel like going out to get any. It worked just fine. I smoothed out with a bit of fine sandpaper some rough areas then coated it with gesso. Gel medium and gesso, don't they work like duct tape and WD-40? Don't they fix most things?
After deliberating different colors, I settled on a warm orangey-red. Actually there are several reds dry-brushed on the petals.
The leaves and stems got some bright green with smatterings of red little dry-brushed as reflections from the petals.
Here's where the risk comes in. I used DecoArt Antiquing cream in black. You have to paint and cover up ALL your painted areas. eeek. Working a section at a time is best, but the antiquing cream is very forgiving. If there's too much antiquing for your liking, you can take a water-damp rag and wipe back until you are happy. The cream doesn't stay put until you seal it with something. I'd recommend a spray sealer first if you want a heavier finish. If you brush something wet on, you will likely reactivate the antiquing cream.
So I'm liking what's happening with it. Not too scary now. *whew*
Cleaned the mirror piece and reinstalled it.
Thought that I had a picture of it on the wall, but anyway, there it is!
It's lovely and has character - perfect!
Posted by: Joanne Thieme Huffman | August 03, 2017 at 11:27 AM