Crafting Rebellion: shabby chic

Call me cuckoo, but I wanted to try painting and distressing a cuckoo clock. They are funny little clocks. I like their cuckoo, but I wanted to see how they would look in another color other than their standard red/brown. I found a little antique cuckoo and painted it using two colors of Annie Sloan chalk paint. If you like shabby chic accessories, than why not try painting your own little cuckoo.

For this project you will need:

Cuckoo Clock

Annie Sloan paint in Old White & Duck Egg Blue

Paint brushes- 1 standard, and one small

Sand Paper Block ( med grit) or sand paper

Annie Sloan wax in Clear, and Dark

Remove the weights, pendulum, and back door of clock.

Start by painting your clock with one coat of old white. Use a small brush to get in the cracks and corners. Be careful when lifting the clock to handle it delicately. Do not paint the dial mechanisms, but do paint the hands of the clock.

Paint a second coat of Duck Egg blue.

Take a slightly damp cloth and wipe away some areas of the duck egg blue to expose the old white.

Take a small brush to paint the chains and weights duck egg blue. You will need to paint the rest of the chain hidden in the clock last. Take a paper towel and run it along the chain to make sure there is no paint inside the chain links.

Let Dry.

Take sand paper and rub away on the corners and raised areas to expose the brown wood in small areas. Do the same to the pendulum exposing some brown metal.

Apply clear wax and use cheesecloth to rub. See this post for the how to on waxing: http://craftingrebellion.blogspot.com/2012/03/antiqued-and-distressed-bench.html

Next apply the Dark wax and make sure to get it into all the carved detail. Rub again with cheesecloth.

Here is the top of the clock that came off during painting. You can see where the dark wax got into the crevices.

Let dry 24 hours and buff. Once the clock is running take a small paint brush to paint the chain that was inside the clock after it has dropped down. Again make sure there is no paint inside the links.

I link up at these parties:

http://craftingrebellion.blogspot.com/p/linky-parties_28.html

Check back soon for our next tutorial!

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

Shabby Chic Napkin Rings

I love a fancy table and I love bling so I am excited to share this project with you. I wanted to make unique jewelry inspired napkin rings when I saw an artist transform antique broaches into them. The project proved too involved for me because broaches have so much hardware to remove and they were also soldered onto metal rings. I discovered a much easier, and faster way to create the same look using pendants and small curtain rod rings. Pendants are so much easier to find than broaches, and all you need to do is snip off a bale to prepare them. Start looking for ones you like at garage sales, thrift stores, and Michael's Crafts in the jewelry supplies section (I purchased mine there at 40% off). The recent trend in jewelry is very large pendants so you can easily find ones in excellent shape that are nice sized new or recently used. Think about one thing in common to tie your set together. All the same color metal, all owls, all crosses, or all antiqued for example. I chose all silver metal with bling. A set of these handmade rings combined with cloth napkins would make a brilliant house warming gift. I am still gathering more pendants, and I'm enjoying the search for ones that inspire me. I love that when I am finished each dinner plate on my table will have a unique look.

You will need:

Pendants -Look for nice large ones with a flat back. You can use curved backs but they are trickier to glue.

A pack of Small Wood Curtain Rings with an inner width of 1.25 " (for 3/4" rod) Buy the thicker rings about 1/4"+ thick (mine are about 1/3" wide)

I bought mine at Bed Bath & Beyond in the clearance bin for $3.99 for 7.

Wire cutters or jewelry snips

Emery Board or Sand Paper

Instant Krazy Glue, Gorilla Glue, or Jb Weld. You need instant krazy type glue that bonds metal and wood. Hot glue will not be strong enough.

Start by removing the curtain ring finding. Unscrew it by hand from the ring.

Choose nice sized pendants with smooth backs, or backs that have a flat enough area to glue. Smaller bales are best. Some have bales underneath the design which is even better because they will not need removing.

Remove the pendant bale by snipping it off with wire cutters, or jewelry snips.

File any rough edges left from removing the bale with an emery board or piece of sand paper.

Add a number of drops of Krazy Glue to the curtain ring OVER THE HOLE WHERE THE FINDING WAS REMOVED.

Add some more glue to the back of the pendant and center it onto the ring covering the hole at the same time.

Hold the ring in place while firmly pressing. After a few minutes of firm pressure prop up the ring so it stays straight and the pendant doesn't shift while drying.

Some pendants are OK drying upside down while others will need propping up to dry straight. I found a little plastic container that held mine in place while drying.

Let dry 24 hours. Because of the nature of gluing metal make sure to let dry the full time.

Check back soon for our next tutorial.

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

Cuckoo Redo

Shabby Chic Napkin Rings

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