Hi Jakey here, with a lil project for you, again using a charity shop find to make something pretty - and in my case useful too!
I don’t know about you, but I just love junk jewellery and have loads of cheap necklaces, bracelets and earrings from places like Claire’s and Peacocks where you can get a set to match anything for under £10 or £12 pounds - sometimes much less. The only trouble is, I find I have nowhere to store it without it getting all mixed up.
Recently, I spotted an old pine mug tree when browsing a charity shop and thought it would be perfect for putting my bracelets and bangles on if it was prettied up a bit, so I snapped it up for 50p.
These are the things you’ll need if you need to complete this project and make somewhere for your own stuff to hang:
2 Plasti-kote crackle paints,
Gesso, Sandpaper,
Gold leafing, Zig glue
Clear Varnish – optional
Soft stencil brush
First sand it down, and give it a coat of gesso to prime it.
Then spray it with the first layer of brown paint. It’s always better to do 2 or 3 light coats, and spray at room temp if you can. Allow at least half and hour between coats.
Between one hour and 12 hours later apply the crackle paint over the top. Follow the instruction on the can but keep the passes light shaking the can as you go. The wetter you make the covering the larger the pattern becomes. I varied the spray so I had larger crackles in some places than others because I like that effect, but it’s up to you. Maybe practice on a piece of scrap wood first to judge the effects?
Once the crackles have appeared and your piece is dry, you can add some gold leaf veining, because it really finishes your project off and will reflect the sparkle from your jewels once they go on J
To apply the gold you’ll need a wet glue – I use Zig sail pens as they’re perfect for the job. Working on small areas at a time, apply the glue in haphazard lines and allow to dry for about 5-10 mins, before laying gold leaf over the top. Gently dab and work with a softish stencil brush, collecting the small pieces of leafing which fall off. Store in a tin, as it’s expensive stuff and these bits can be used again!
Continue until you have the effect you want and finally polish with a soft cloth. At this stage you may want to varnish it, however on this occasion I didn’t.
Pop your sparklies on… and go search for some more bargains to do up - to store the matching earrings and necklaces on, lol!
Happy crafting and love from me!
Jakey xx
Lovely project jakey - i want one too LOL!! I am going to drop stuff at the charity shop tomorrow and will see what I can find to recycle!
ove Di
Posted by: Diana | March 24, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Oh Jakey that is a great idea!
Posted by: Joy | March 24, 2008 at 06:13 PM