Zentangles and Furniture

Has anyone ever seen Zentangle Art? It is basically art made from simple repeated doodle shapes that we all draw given a pen, paper and some idle time. Usually done in black and white; they can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. 

Lately I have seen these types of patterns everywhere.  In fabrics, tattoos, cards, jewelry, and clay..  There is also a big trend for black and white in interior deign using bold primary colors as accents.  So being me, my mind started to think about applying this type of artwork to furniture.  

I bought a rocking chair on Craigslist that I was going to refinish and as I looked at it I thought I would try my idea out.  I sanded the whole chair, primed it and painted it white.  The armed with black acrylic paint, a small flat brush and  a lot of time I proceeded to draw patterns over the whole chair.  I did a little each night over the course of a week and when I was satisfied I accented some shapes with a silver paint marker pen..
This is the result:

  All the patterns were random so there wasn't an enormous amount of planning and transferring.  You could transfer a drawing though using using transfer paper and you computer printer.  There are plenty of transfer products available. I like the organic nature and the spontaneity of just drawing it.  What's the worst that can happen?  If it doesn't work you just sand it and paint over it. 

Next time i think I will try this with stain pens.  I love the look of multiple types of wood used in one piece of furniture.  I think the look will be something close to inlay when you finish.  I'm thinking a round table top would be a good choice.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/zentangle/


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Updating a Vintage Piece of Furniture

Well I'm almost finished with the nightstand I posted here previously.  I had some decisions to make before I started.

The night stand is a vintage French Provincial night stand.  First I was struck by the feminine lines of it.  Then by the wood grain.  I wanted to update it but in all honesty I am a little bored with all the pieces you see all over now that are updated simply by painting the entire piece one color.  Usually White, black or turquoise.  I wanted to do something different and still maintain the integrity of the piece.  I chose to paint it.  Mostly  because I like to paint, and  because I have had some really good feedback on other projects that I painted before. I already have a dresser to do that I know I will not be painting.

 Anyway, I started by using my computer's paint program to mock up rough pictures with color combinations.

I removed the hardware and sanded the nightstand. Using an electric sander with a medium grit paper I  took the top down to the wood  I did that because it had some fairly deep nicks and watermarks that had to be removed.  The rest of the table I just took off the varnish and smoothed out a few nicks on the curved edges. .I sanded the top again with a fine grit to get it smooth. At that point I chose to paint the curves on the top because I felt any further sanding and I would lose some of the curve itself.

Then I just picked one of the mock up colors and began mixing paint.  You could buy the small cans of you colors at a hardware store.  I have a ton of paint around  so I just began mixing untill I had what I wanted.  I tested it on a small board till I had what I got it right. 

Using a 2" brush ,I painted the drawer fronts, the sided and the narrow leg panels a light cream color.  (This part will be lighter than the end result.) and I let it dry for about two hours.  Longer would be better because the next step is using painter's tape. The longer it dries the less chance there is for the tape to pull paint up later.  Here's is a picture for you to get an idea of where I taped. it off.

 I don't have a picture of it taped off so hopefully you can use your imagination a little on this part.  The white line is the tape.  The drawer was removed for painting.  This is just to give you an idea.
Basically I taped anywhere the cream color and the burgundy would meet.

Using a smaller brush (probably around 1") I painted the legs.  I used an artists brush to paint around the curve at the top, the narrow strip on the drawer and the strips on the nightstand front.  This wasn't as hard as it sounds or looks. Since the drawer was removed at the time, the nightstand front was just the support bars. and the tape protected the cream portions.  When I finished painting the burgundy I removed the tape touched up any imperfections and let that dry for about 2 hours.  With the third color turquoise I again taped the piece off.  This time over the red and the cream leaving a thin line that I painted with the turquoise stripe waited till the paint was a little dry but not fully and removed the tape.

While the turquoise  was fully drying, I took a piece of cardstock and drew a simple Fleur de Lis. You could use a stencil if you want.    Using a pencil and the cardstock Fleur de lis I traced it to each side of the mightstand.  Then I took the small artists brush and filled it in with the burgundy paint.  After about 20 minutes I outlined it with the turquoise.  At this point I let the whole thing dry overnight.

The following day I mixed a thin glaze with some burnt umber, yellow ocre and water,.  The mix should be thin for paint.  Somewhere between water and honey.  Thick enough not to just drip on but not so thick that you get thick brush marks when you apply it.  I brushed it over every cream color painted area with long strokes so as not to leave broken paint edges and brush strokes.  (top to bottom vertically on the sides and horizontally on the drawer.  Let it dry for about 10 to15 minutes and then with a barely damp clean cloth (I used an old sock over my hand)  I rubbed in the same direction that I painted removing and dulling the glaze.

The top of night stand was still bare wood so I used a clear satin Minwax Wipe -On Poly on it.  I just poured some on the top and wiped it in with a clean cloth (Sock) moving in the direction of the grain. This will take several coats to build up since the top was bare wood. but it is fantastic.  It leaves no brush marks that have to be sanded in between coats.  As long as the surface has been well sanded to start a great finish is nearly impossible to mess up.  One note - you shouldn't use oil based poly on painted surfaces.  It tends to yellow with time.  So I finished the painted areas with a water based satin poly.
And here is the final result!  I think it's pretty cool.  It's contemporary in color while still maintaining a French Country feel that is integral to the piece's design.

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