The mantel piece and hearth were painted flat black, and allowed to dry. I used a mix of ultra fine pearl glitter and gold glitter, mixed together. The surfaces of the painted wooden pieces were brushed with gloss varnish, and then I used the end of a drinking straw to pick up a small amount of the mixed glitter, which I then tapped quite sparingly over the wet varnish. Once that was dry, I put on another coat of varnish to keep the glitter bits trapped. It is fairly subtle, you get the sparkle depending on how the light hits the surfaces. You can see a bit of it in the photo above.
The piece is now glued together, ready to dry overnight. The edges that are not showing are bristling with toothpicks, which hold everything steady, and which I will trim off and push in flush once the glue is dry. The shiny black does not overwhelm the vignette, and will be even more part of the scenery once the other things go into the setting.
We are about to travel, and have visitors as well as be visitors. That means I will not have access to the computer, so I will wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas or Hanukkah season, and a very Happy New Year. I should be back with the blog in 2018, when I will be continuing with the small decorative aspects of the vignette. There will be a shelf in the space above the table, for instance, as well as a wreath, garlands, a Christmas tree, cards, presents, and other seasonal decorative effects.
I wish for you to enjoy time with family and friends, and to come out of the holiday season refreshed and ready to tackle another, hopefully creative, year.
Hi Mom! The faux finish for the mantel and hearth are really cool.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great art store in Edmonton that has all the fine pearly powders you can imagine - I can take you there if they're open while we're both in Edmonton. :)