Sunday, February 3, 2013

Wonderful to Worn Wire Baskets

Why in the world would anyone take perfectly wonderful wire baskets and make them worn and aged-looking?  Because I like them like that!





Remember these two black wire baskets I bought when out treasure hunting last week?  They were just too new, too shiny, too black for me.

So I decided to age them.



First I used Rust-Oleum chrome and cinnamon paint and sprayed them.  A heavy coat of chrome and a light coat of cinnamon.
With a foam brush I applied a thick coat of gesso - careful to leave spaces in the cracks with the cinnamon and chrome showing through.

After the gesso dried the underlayer of paint appeared to be rust.  Yay!  BUT  I was not through - this was not aged enough.  I went back and sprayed a light coat of cinnamon and spritzed over it with a very light coat of black.

Another two coats of gesso and then a couple of hit-or-miss coats of turquoise craft paint with a foam brush and perfection was achieved.  We have rusty and we have crusty.  It just took patience to sit and watch the paint dry.  
Well, I did not really sit and watch all those coats of paint drying .  I used the time to make cloth tags.  Ever since Tammy at Homespun Happenings taught us how to send cloth through the printer, I have been printing muslin and using it in several projects.  Read Tammy's here!  This time I prewashed a piece of yellow calico and taped it to some heavy cardstock.  Read what I did with a cloth menu here.

I flew over to the Graphics Fairy to pick up the birds on a branch image. I took the image over to Pic Monkey to monkey around with the pic!  I added a border and a pale aged background.  On one image I typed "Birds of Paris" (a weak pun, I know!) and on the other "Storage Basket" (how utterly obvious!).  I was so caught up with the playing with the overlays and fonts, I forgot that the size would be too big for small tags.  I had to adapt them.  One big HINT here:  Make sure your tape is not over the margins of where the image will be printed.  The image will be printed on the tape.  
See the shiny tape over the brown border?  All of that part of the image was not printed on the cloth.






I could only use the middle section of the tag for the large basket.















Out came the Cropadile.  This tool punches a hole in cloth, paper, and metal.  Then it will set a grommet in the hole.  I use a heavy paper as a backing when punching through cloth.









This is the cloth tag for the smaller basket.  I kept the piece of paper behind the holes and applied the grommets.  I used mini jute to tie the tag to the basket.













A-a-a-h-h-h-h!  So turquoise, so aged, so distressed.
AND I love the aged look of the cloth tag, too.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Let's have a close-up of that tag.  It is almost exactly as I pictured it would be.  If you look closely, I got a little carried away with the fraying of the edges.  So carried away in fact I ripped off the Birds of Paris type!  Sometimes distressing hurts.



For the tag for the large basket I just used one grommet with mini jute as a tie.  You see on this tag I had to lose the ends on both sides.  Therefore it no longer says "Storage Basket".  There is only "Basket"!

Here is the final product.  I think this one is my favorite of the two.  I like the size and the shape.  I like the aged paint and the tag (even if it does not have all of its parts.).  

I have decided it is okay to pick favorites if the projects do not have names.  I have not named any projects so far this year.  I will warn you though there is an Arabella in the back of my truck waiting to be completed.  Come back and meet her soon.  Send some warm temps to South Carolina so I can finish painting her. She has been demanding to be let loose!

See y'all!


NOTE:  Someone just reminded me that I did name the chalkboard Moe Roccan.  So I did not tell the truth above.  How I managed to forget a huge red chalkboard sitting in my breakfast/craft/dog room, I do not know!








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30 comments:

  1. This was worth waiting for. Layered paint treatments are and addiction for me. Love the look and the tags!

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  2. Oh Donna - you're SO good - I just love them - fantastic job!!!

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  3. Hey Donna; The Basket and Tag are absolutely Beautiful!!!! You are one talented Lady!!!
    I Love how crusty and aged that they both look!!!
    Thank-You so much for sharing, as I have some ideas about a few pieces of old metal that I have been wanting to redo here.

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  4. That turquoise aged look is totally amazing. Love these baskets! And the tags are pretty awesome too. Fabulous job!!

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  5. Hi Donna, Well, you have done it again . . . another trash to treasure moment. You Rock!!!
    Your blogging sister, Connie :)

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  6. I love your aged baskets and the fabric tags are so sweet! I'll be pinning this so I can remember all your wonderful tips later. Thanks so much for sharing your fun idea!

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  7. Well, I'll be! I want aged baskets. Now I will just have to pull out my previously tattered baskets that got that way naturally, but not in an attractive way. Mine just look grungy. And the the tags...fabulous. I'm sure that were I to try printing on fabric it would all clog up in the printer (because I have such curses). I'm going to just admire yours for now and obsess over wanting to try it. I'm sure it will get the best of me. Thanks for the link to the tutorial. I'll need it eventually, I'm sure.
    Liz

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  8. Love your baskets and your fabric tags. Thanks for all the tips. Gesso on metal baskets. . .hummmm. Gotta get me some gesso.
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

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  9. I totally understand your need for distressed baskets. Don't they just look so much better when worn and rusty!

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  10. I love metal baskets and I love old ones even more! You have made these look perfectly old and worn! The labels are great as well!

    Jenna @ http://rainonatinroof.com

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  11. Loving the baskets! Just found one that popped up in my laundry room, hubby brought home - and I was thinking the same thing... Paint!

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  12. Wow, what a transformation, it looks much better now. Love that nifty Cropadile tool and your sweet tags.

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  13. Wow I purchase old rusty wire baskets all of the time but never thought of actually making new ones look rusty and distressed! I love this idea and how you did it! Came to you from Knick of time linky and am now a new follower!

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  14. I want them! What a great project and it is so inspiring!

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  15. Oh you're killin me here! Don't know which I love more the cute baskets (totally envious) or the awesome tags! Pants on fire!

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  16. Love the vintage look you gave your metal baskets and the cloth tags look lovely on them. Nice job!
    Have a Wonderful Day,
    Suzanne

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  17. I found your blog on Green Willow Pond. What a great way to give metal baskets the aged look. And here I've been hunting for the real vintage metal baskets and coming up empty. Thanks for sharing!:)I will definitely give this a go!

    I'm following you. I would love for you to follow back. My link on Green Willow is the Farmhouse hutch!

    xx
    Sumaya

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  18. LOVE wire baskets. Yours look so wonderful aged and distressed to perfection.
    Mary Alice

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  19. What a great project! I like the finished product - and tags. Never heard of a Cropadile before. Does it have big teeth and wander the Amazon in its spare time??

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  20. Great tutorial and I found you at Make It Pretty Monday.

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  21. Love the aged baskets!!! Your tags look so homespun!! Love them. Thank you for the shout out too:) Thanks for sharing this at Rustic Restorations Weekend!

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  22. I love the end result of your baskets too! Great job! and thanks for the link over to see how to print on fabric... I'm going to try that too. Little Bit from www.DecorateWithaLittleBit.com

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  23. So very clever! Love the tags as well.
    Thanks for sharing with us.
    Hugs,
    Patti

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  24. Love the color, you really put some work into them. They look awesome & chippy.
    www.minnesotajunker.blogspot.com

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  25. Your baskets look wonderful ~ I love the transformation. The colors you chose worked great too and your tags are adorable!

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  26. I love how you used the cinnamon and how great it looks peaking out through the turquoise. I would never have thought of that!
    - Lora

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  27. Hi, I love the baskets and the tags. I just might go print some of those bird graphics...Connie

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  28. cute~ who knew they could turn out so great! the tag is fabulous!

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