Monday 2 December 2013

When life gives you lemons...


When something is ruined, all is not lost! You can view it as a disaster, or as an opportunity to create something new.











Look at it this way: You have been given some 
materials on a platter! Because of what has just happened to it, it's worthless in its present state.  So, close your eyes, breathe deeply, become calm and set aside the anguish, disappointment and all other negative feelings you harbour towards it.

Now, open your eyes and look at all the lovely building blocks in front of you. Dismantle it in your mind and see what you have to play with. Let your imagination run wild! The wonderful thing here is that you can't ruin it. All you need is a little inspiration from sites like Pinterest or magazines like THE WORLD OF INTERIORS, a few basic tools and some homemade paints. You'll be amazed what you can come up with!


This was more or less how we ended up with this large Clock Face.




It started off as a badly water damaged 8-seater table. The top was constructed of some MDF board with a wood veneer and the water caused the MDF to expand in places leaving the top extremely uneven. Sanding it down to an even surface would have taken days and resulted in losing the veneer in places and then what? Another set of problems. It was a disaster. Our table was ruined. Nobody would buy it. Getting it off the property would mean spending a lot of money and for what?



So, we were pretty much stuck with it! Once we made peace with it, we realised we could repurpose it and this is when the creative juices started flowing. After dismantling the whole thing, we could take stock of what we had - a great big oval with a rather nice edging, four heavy turned wooden legs and a few other bits and pieces of wood. And then...PING! We had it. A clock face!






A quick sanding down of the surface and we were ready to apply our first coat of milk paint we mixed using the authentic old recipes from our FARRAGOZ Online Course.  Several other layers followed and then we were ready to draw out and paint the design. We added 60 decorative upholstery nails, drilled a hole in the centre and plugged it with a short piece of tarnished copper pipe. Then followed the distressing process which is always the best part.  The bulges in the surface were a great plus and to emphasise the water damage, we added some "water stains" to the paintwork.  Lastly, we polished it and found the perfect spot for it in the studio where we can enjoy it every day.




And the table legs are patiently waiting outside, behind the shed, where they're completely exposed to the elements for them to age naturally and then be turned into rather large candlesticks. Can't wait to get stuck into them!


You can learn how to make your own smaller version in the online FARRAGOZ Patina PROJECTS Course.


Happy Painting!

Tania
xxx




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