Today I'll start a two-part tutorial on a Spring project and follow up in a few days with part two. I've had this metal vase for a few years now -- I picked it up at WalMart on clearance, knowing the shape would be easy to work with altering. It measures 8" tall and is 7" square at the top.
Now, this vase might be great as it is for some decors but I wanted a lighter, springier feel for my project. Upon closer inspection of this metal vase, I discovered it was covered with the printed rooster paper. I peeled off as much of the paper as I could -- but that one piece on the right side just wouldn't budge!
Then I sanded off as much of the rest of the paper as I could and gave the vase a coat of Gesso. Gesso is white and acts as a paint primer for your project, filling in low spots and helping to make your project smoother:
Next, I custom mixed a base coat of tan paint from Claudine Hellmuth's Sable Brown and Blank Canvas Studio Paints.
The shade I ended up with is probably close to her Traditional Tan color, if you wanted to avoid having to custom mix colors. But that's the beauty of these paints -- you CAN custom mix colors very easily, without the fear of muddied colors, so I worked with what I had on hand.
Next, I used Tim Holtz's Flourish Mask and placed it exactly where I wanted the pattern. It is green in the photo below because this was the second side of the vase that I'd painted (and thus, painted over the mask with green paint!). Normally the mask is clear and has a low tack to it, so it will temporarily stick on your project while you paint over it.
Then I painted a coat of Claudine's Landscape Green paint over the mask and tan base coat and ended up with this:
You'll love these paints -- they cover very nicely in just one coat! The silver you see is from a silver paint pen that I used to outline the mask shape, once the paint was dry. I also used it to dab in the crevices of the vase's feet, to highlight them:
I also used the silver pen to finish off the top rim of the vase:
I hope this project helps you see the beauty in some garage sale finds or clearance items OR lets you think about recycling something you already have ... definitely "green" in more ways than one! I hope you'll join me back here on the CLASSroom in a few days to see what I'ved cooked up to put IN this spring vase!
