Friday 19 June 2015

Playing genie with the lamp

Good afternoon friends.
I hope you are well. Last night, after a really busy week at work, I was desperate to get into my craft space. So at around 9pm, having been at work since 5 30am I found myself tackling this lamp which I bought for a couple of quid at a bootfair, I loved the style but that tacky brass effect, eugh! The first thing I did was attach some flat back pearls to the lamp as you can see



 The next step was to give the whole thing a coat of DecoArt Chalk Paint for glass, I chose this because it is designed to cope with heat. (And because I asked Andy Skinner what he would suggest LOL)


Once that was dry I took Media Fluid Acrylic in Prussian Blue Hue, Transparent Red Iron Oxide and Transparent Yellow Iron oxide and applied the colours to the lamp stippling it and blending it on as I went. As you can see, the result of this stage is a pretty shiny mottled mess to say the least. This was left to dry overnight.


This morning is when the magic began to happen...... DecoArt Americana Raw Umber.

This was stippled on sparingly which when dry gives a matte finish yet you can see a great tonal variation underneath. You can see how different the finish is in these photos.


For the next stage I wanted to add more depth to the finish as the Raw Umber, though giving the matte finish I was after, is rather flat. So I used the Raw Umber Americana and the Fluid Acrylic Transparent Red Iron Oxide mixed loosely together to go over everything again.
 It makes a big difference to the lamp.

For the last stage I made a strong wash of Quinacridone Gold

And gave everything a careful covering (I did want to use the lamp after all!)


 When this was dry I used some Iced Expresso Metallic Lustre to bring out the "rivets"




There you have it. I'm really pleased with how it came out. It's a vast improvement in my humble opinion and I look forward to using it. I will leave if for a couple of weeks to really cure and then I'll seal it with the DecoArt Matte Finish Aerosol sealer to protect it.

It was a great project to do and it also shows you how the DecoArt products all work so well together.
Right, I hope you all have a creative weekend ahead.

3 comments:

Robin said...

You did an absolutely fantastic job with this lamp! The end result is stunning! I must admit when I saw the first pic with the pearls stuck on before the painting began, I thought, "he thinks that makes it look BETTER?!" What fun to watch the magic unfold! You have great ideas, and I LOVE some of your stamps, but since I live across the pond shipping can be a little spendy. I do love following your blog and was blown away by your daughter's degree show; you must be soooo proud of her! I, too, have always had a love for deciduous trees, but for me it's the patterns their leaves make against the sky, sort of the opposite of your daughter. Which ever way you view it, it's all beautiful.
Thanks for all your sharing; your directions are always clear, and I love the fact that your lessons are NOT on video. For me, it's much easier to follow the written word. What can I say--I'm old.
Many thanks from the colonies,
Robin

jojo79 said...

I love how the lamp turned out.

Shoshi said...

Oh wow Neil, this is totally stunning! I love it! Amazing how you can transorm something so ordinary and dull into something really worth having, a work of art!

Shoshi