The Italian Job - Crate or Shelf?

It was an Italian job.  A French wine crate who wanted to be Italian.  What was I to do?

Well, of course, go to The Graphics Fairy and help this crate change its nationality.


I do not have a before photo, but I know you have seen it somewhere in one of my vintage shopping posts.

 
You know these crates - just simple boards nailed together with a paper label on one side and an embossed label on the other.



 
 Yes, it is another post about that turquoise-y paint wash I mixed up.  The crate can be seen under that toolbox.

So you have seen The Charlotte shelf, now the wine crate, and guess what is next?

Toolbox!

I promise I am now out of that particular color wash.

 I went to The Graphics Fairy and decided on three Rome images.

The first a vintage postcard of the Coliseum.

 The second was a map of Rome - loved the red and black graphics.

 The third image was a Roma postmark - again with the red and black.

I took the three of them over to iPiccy and played with overlays and color addition and subtraction.

I created an image to my liking.  Notice I changed the red on the map to turquoise to match the paint wash.

Next I took the image to Block and made a small poster.

I had to fit the poster within the confines of the crate's bottom -

which meant trimming a little here and a little there.

Then I Mod Podged the four sheets into the crate careful that the image edges matched.

I used two coats on top to seal the image.

All of this took a couple of days to make sure it was very dry.

Now for the distressing.  I decided to orient the crate on its side for a shelf.  So one side became the top on which I used a quatre foil stamp in timber brown StazOn ink.
 










 Here is the embossed label.  I made sure there was plenty of turquoise in the lettering.

Using the ink pad I rubbed the timber brown across the surface.

Make sure to use permanent ink for this step.

Also after it has cured for a day, seal it with a craft varnish.

 I used the ink pad for the inside distressing.

Left side distressed.  Right side plain (and sane!)

Completely distressed - just like me!

 Copper hammered handles were added to each side.  

Just in case someone might want to use it as a crate.

I think it wants to be Italian and a shelf.

I'm just saying.

Well, it has gotten its wish.  It may be embossed as being French, but it is dressed in Italian style.

(Yes, I know i gave it Early American handles! It's a piece of wood - it will never notice.)

See, I told you it was a shelf in crate's clothing!












Well I survived all the fluffing and stuffing last week at the antique mall.  I finished this shelf.  It now carries an Italian passport and seems to be happy.  I know you are happy there is only one more post using the turquoise paint wash.  You do know I could mix up some more.  (Scary music playing!)

I am off on a Low Country Crawl looking for a number of things.  I have made a list, but I know I will not stick to it.  I am hoping to find some rusty and crusty little orphans out there to bring home.

See y'all!

 

Funky Junk

 .

Pesky Peter, Piano Bench

 Pesky Peter, the piano bench, started out being my favorite piece I picked in the last several weeks.  However, I have come to revile him for his impish ways.

At first I had planned to just give his blue-gray finish a medium sanding so the details were shown to their best advantage. 

As you can see he is a handsome fellow.  I like a guy with great legs.  He has a nifty lift top.  He is very sturdy.

I am loving that color.





Oh, yeah, those are some beautiful legs.  Just a bit of wax and Peter will be good to go.  I just need a short break to check in with my blogger buddies to see what they are doing.

Well, Suzan at Simply Vintageous has an interesting post on sites to help your blog.  Read here!

If you read my hare bench post, then you know what is coming.

Yep, I was hooked on iPiccy and Block.

I felt Peter would benefit from my afternoon of playing with images.  I did make a special one just for him.

Take these three images from The Graphics Fairy over to iPiccy and combine them.  I used the ticket above as the base and the postmark and Eiffel Tower as overlays.

 This is the result - a beautiful image which I promptly took over to Block to make a four-panel poster.  As with the hare bench I carefully measured more than twice and as with the hare bench the image printed out wider than it was supposed to.  At least that is my story.  I am sticking to it.

The four panels

On the piano bench - too wide!

 First strike against Peter.

Mod Podged a shortened version

Faint overlay of Eiffel Tower

Faint overlay of postmark

 It was dark.  I was working on the hare bench and this bench in the living room.  There is only ambient light - no work lights.  I was also dying cloth in the kitchen.  The cats and dogs were helping.  That is my story and I am sticking to it!

The edges all matched.  Two coats of Mod Podge.  Three coats of satin varnish.  I was rolling and it was only 1 AM!

Something felt wrong.  I checked the hare bench - no, he was all finished.

I checked the cloth in the sink.  No, that was coming along fine and dandy.  

I checked on Peter who was nicely drying his final coat of varnish.

Whoa!  What is that?  N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O !!!!  Yes, I screamed.  I had forgotten many steps ago to wipe off the excess Mod Podge.  Now it was firmly encased in the varnish.

That is two strikes, Peter!

After ignoring Peter for two days I finally got the sander and went to work carefully taking off the layers of varnish and those ugly smears of Mod Podge.

Look!  It worked - a little more distressed than I first wanted, but I can live with it.



Here are three photos of Peter as he stands in the living room.  I might be in love again.  He is so handsome.  Maybe I will forgive those two strikes.  They were partly my errors.

Peter graciously opened his top so I could use him for staging some other projects coming soon.  I thought that he wore those fake hydrangeas well.  Maybe I should have painted a little message inside.  Or maybe a short piece of music.  I think I will move him over near the sofa and see how he looks there.

 N-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!  Do not drop on my broken little toe. No, Peter, I do not believe you would do that!

Three strikes, buddy.  You are out of here!

Chucks and I drove him over to the store this very afternoon.  I hope he behaves for his new owner.  I must go and put some ice on my toe. 

See y'all!







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