Vintage French Postmarks and Furniture

So, I was moseying through blog world the other day when I came across this tutorial.  I usually hand draw all my own lettering but was fascinated by the idea of using stuff I already have on hand to reproduce vintage postmarks (or ANYTHING else) on my furniture.  I had already painted this small table (annie sloan chalk paint - ASCP - chateau gray):

and I was pleased with the results (here's where it started):

but I knew it wasn't finished, YET.  When I read the tut I immediately whipped out a postmark I had saved from the Graphics Fairy a while back.  I opened it in photoshop and got it ready to print as a mirror image.  Meanwhile, I went and got my freezer paper ready to go.  When that was all done and printed (I had to set my printer to iron-on transfer - it wouldn't print otherwise) I got to work burnishing the image to the top of the table.

{LOVE}  I think it's fantastic!  (if I do say so myself!)  I do have to say, it took a LONG time to dry.  I was worried then about waxing over the ink (even if it was dry) for fear that it would smear.  It didn't!  YAY!

So, with that all figured out I went to work on this little chest:

It's fairly small.  About a foot and a half wide and 14 inches deep and only 10 inches tall.  I painted it with a mix of ASCP louis blue, chateau gray, and paris gray.  It's a warm gray with just a hint of blue now:

For the image on the top I found the graphic I wanted to use then enlarged it in photoshop and made it so it would print in multiple pages.  Then I put the graphic on the top (don't mind the REALLY blue tint to the image):

It printed on two pages (using the same freezer paper method) and carefully lining up the image so that it would be seamless.  I printed this one in color, because the postmark on the top right is a teal blue.  It's beautiful!  After it dried I waxed it (and the stain came through the ASCP to make it look distressed without having to use any dark wax) so I just went with it.

I'm working on that Mercury Glass tutorial still!  Be patient - it's just me here with two small boys (and all you moms out there know how that can be!)  I'm doing my best - and want my tutorial to be awesome for everyone!

Have a great Sunday!

Before and afters

I'm working hard on a requested faux Mercury Glass tutorial, so in the meantime, I will leave you with a few before and afters:

Yes, that is fabric on top of the black and white dresser.  Very edgy and modern and not my normal style, but it was a custom order for a client and it's fabulous (if I do say so myself :) !

Faux Mercury Glass Bandwagon

I've jumped on the faux mercury glass bandwagon.  Here's what I made - these were made from goodwill finds.  Glass vases and old candlesticks turned into mercury glass candlesticks.  If enough people are interested in how I did my faux glass (I read a bunch of tutorials and did my own thing thang ;) then I'll put one together.  For now, here are pictures:

Have a great day!

UPDATE - foiled sofa table

You might remember a cheapo sofa table I redid a while back. No? Let me refresh your memory:

 After I faux silver leafed it (ie. aluminum foiled it), it looked like this:

One of my wonderful readers commented and asked if I was going to do some cool lettering on it like I had done on other pieces and it got my wheels turning.  I decided to go with a french/postal theme and now we have this:

I used a white chalk ink marker I got from Michael's and I also used my trusty black sharpie.  First I drew out all the postal images (thank you Graphics Fairy!) in the white chalk ink marker.  Then I sanded them all down to almost nothing and added some black to bring out the details.  Sanded it back down again then waxed with light wax.  That was enough to just make the images subtle on the top, but if it hadn't worked I was totally prepared to use dark wax all over the top to tone it down.

 

And, voila! It's finished now.  Going to the shop this weekend.  Simple and sophisticated.

Have a smashing weekend!

Early American dresser

I can't stay long :) I just wanted to share my latest finished dresser. The top of this piece had been almost ruined from something hot being sat on top.  It had actually burned the wood and then something had spilled over on it.  The fantastic chalk paint covered most of it and I distressed it after waxing it to bring out the two toned effect.

Here you go!