This week’s column is a kind of part two to last week’s column on sponge painting.
Our projects this time around are metal buckets made into planters, and they are larger and require a little different technique than the glass Fourth of July items featured last week.
Let’s briefly run through the basics of sponge painting:
You can use any type of sponge that gives the effect you desire, including regular kitchen sponges, brush-type craft sponges or natural sponges with a variety of textures.
Squeeze a bit of paint onto a palette or clean plate and dip the sponge into the paint. Dab a bit on the palette or plate to remove excess paint and to see if the dabs are what you are looking for before you apply paint to your object.
If you are using multiple colors, begin with the darkest and move to the lightest, but keep the color you want to be dominant for last.
Of course, you can experiment with colors in a different order if you choose. While some procedures do tend to work better than others in general, it’s always fun to break the rules and see what happens.
To make our small bucket, we chose three colors: light green, yellow and orange.
Instead of using a spiked natural sponge (as we did for last week’s items) to apply all layers of paint, we began with a flatter, less textured sponge to apply the base of green. This is because we needed to coat the entire bucket in order to cover some flaws and writing on the surface.
Once the green base was applied and dried, we used the spiked natural sponge to apply first the yellow, then the orange -orange being last because we wanted it to be the most dominant color.
When the bucket was completely dry, we applied a high-gloss outdoor sealer, as we plant to use the bucket as a deck planter. Decoupage medium will not hold up under outdoor conditions.
And if you plan to use your bucket as a planter, be sure to punch a few drainage holes in the bottom if you’ll be putting soil and plants directly into the bucket. The holes are not necessary if you will be putting an already-potted plant inside the bucket, but in that case, a layer of small rocks, Styrofoam packing peanuts or other drainage-enhancing materials will be useful.
To make our larger bucket, we chose five colors: brown for the base, blue for the second color, green for the third, white for the fourth and metallic gold for the final highlight.
We again used a larger, flatter sponge to cover the bucket with a brown base, then used the spiked natural sponge to add the subsequent colors.
Follow the same procedure as for the smaller bucket to complete the project.
If you make a mistake and get paint on the rim or handles – assuming that you don’t want paint there – use a steel wool pad or X-acto knife to gently scrape away the offending paint spots.
For our third project, we used another red metal treasure chest, like the one shown in last week’s column, to make another candle holder.
This time, we chose to use silver and gold metallic paint to achieve a completely different, more subtle, look from the bold, primary red, white and blue colors used before.
Since the red metal provided a colored base, we used a spiked natural sponge to apply the gold and silver paint, and applied a layer of high-gloss decoupage medium to seal.
We added silver, gold and red candles to the treasure chest, held in place by surrounding them with small grayish pebbles (found in the aquarium section of a pet store).
The treasure chest candle holder makes a nice addition to indoor or outdoor tables, and when the candles are out and the lid shut, the holder becomes a decorative chest. But if you plan to leave the holder outside, it should be sealed with a good outdoor sealer instead of the decoupage medium.
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