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| GREAT GARAGE SALE FINDS Here are some additional ideas for the August 2006 Issue's "Discount Store Divas" summer fun designs! “Discount Store Divas” we may be, but we appreciate a great garage sale find as much as the next person. Self-respecting painters keep their eyes peeled for great surfaces at all times. The search for surfaces can be as much fun as the actual painting, in our opinion, and we stop at garage sales whenever we can. Getting a great surface at a bargain price—oh, yeah! Who can resist a wonderfully unique furniture piece, antique accessory, or one-of-a-kind piece of tin? There’s nothing like the rush of discovery, the creative surge that a painter gets when a surface really “speaks to you!” Of course, it’s really only great for the one who discovered it. The rest of us are left with a vague sense of loss, dissatisfaction, or downright envy. Sometimes you have to go to a lot of garage sales to find something great, and we really hate to be the ones who missed the really incredible piece, so… what about those things that seem to be at nearly every garage sale. You know, the ones that no one seems to want—the ones that are only a dollar, a quarter or even a nickel. How about those things in the box that says, “Free, Take Me Away”? |
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We started with those ordinary items that seemed to be at nearly every garage sale we visited. Clothes! That’s right; we started looking through the piles of clothes. Wait until you see what we did with old jeans, a blanket, the skirt of a dress, and a denim shirt! Next, we looked at the dishes. We found lots of bowls. Wooden bowls, metal bowls, plastic bowls and glass bowls in many sizes and shapes. We found old pots and pans and lonely lids that seemed to have lost their mates. There were salt and pepper shakers, pitchers, vases, and containers of all kinds being overlooked again and again. Remember the “Free, Take Me Away” box we talked about earlier? Well, this one can have a place at our party anytime. We saw lots of buckets and pails so we decided to give one empty plastic laundry soap bucket a more glamorous job than holding soapy water to wash the car.
We hope you have a great time painting these pieces or applying these patterns to your own everyday, ordinary, easy-to-get, great garage sale finds.
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| Once we had a collection of surfaces that we thought would be useful at the party, it was time to develop our designs. Our Bugs & Blooms designs are fun and casual—just the way we want our party to be. In order to fit all of our great surfaces, we needed design elements that could be used in a variety of ways. Creativity and design classes are always our favorite to teach. We love watching our students develop something that is uniquely their own. That’s what you can do with Bugs & Blooms. These design elements can be added to items in a limitless number of ways. We’ve used all-over patterns, border patterns, stripes, and small and large design elements and combinations. With only slight adjustments, you can apply them to any interesting piece you find. Evaluate your surfaces. Look for sections, shapes, and sizes that fit specific parts of the patterns. Don’t be afraid to move things around or add a leaf here or there to make things fit better. We used a limited palette of bright cheery colors that we thought worked well together. Feel free to use your favorites. We’ve made it really easy for you to change colors. Choose a red or pink, a yellow or gold, a green, and a blue or purple that you really like. You can also choose a lighter or darker shade of each for convenience sake or make a tint lighter by adding white or a shade darker by adding black or a favorite brownish color. Shading and highlighting can be achieved successfully with either cornerload floats or drybrushing. (See the Techniques section for specific instructions.) |
| PREP |
| Wood, metal, and plastic. Every painter seems to have his or her own preference for surface prep. With so many great surfaces available, we need a method that will work for anything we find. When creating with “found surfaces,” whether we are painting on wood, metal, or plastic, we first thoroughly clean the piece with soapy water. Sticky stuff can usually be removed with rubbing alcohol or an adhesive remover. Next, rough up the surface slightly with wet/dry sandpaper. Wipe clean and allow to dry well. Spray with one to three light coats of Primer. Allow to dry overnight whenever possible. Mix JoSonja’s All Purpose Sealer with your first basecoat (approximately 50/50 mix). Proceed with painting. Additional coats will not have sealer in them. |
| • | Delta Ceramcoat Acrylics: | ||
| Antique Gold, Bahama Purple, Black, Brown Iron Oxide, Chrome Green Light, Crocus Yellow, Deep Coral, Deep River Green, Hydrangea Pink, Rhythm ‘N Blue, Silver Pine, White |
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| • | Loew-Cornell Brushes: | ||
| La Corneille Golden Taklon 1" wash/glaze (Series 7550) 3, 5, or 6 round (Series 7000), 1" wash/glaze (Series 7150), Nos. 2, 8, and 14 shader (Series 7300), No. 10/0 liner (Series 7350), Nos. 4, 6, 12 or 14 filbert (Series 7500), 3/4" wash/glaze (Series 7550) | |||
| • | Loew-Cornell Painter’s Palette, Stylus | ||
| • | JoSonja’s All Purpose Sealer | ||
| • | Sulky Iron On Transfer Pen, White and/or Red |
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| • | Krylon Spray Primer | ||
| • | Delta Interior/Exterior Varnish, Matte | ||
| • | Sharpie Ultrafine Marker, Black | ||
| • | Miscellaneous: | ||
| soapy water, rubbing alcohol, black and white graphite paper, masking tape, 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper, ribbon, cord or jute, buttons, piece of 1/4" dowel or small rod and end caps for hanging banner, paper towels | |||
Applying patterns on denim. We love the Sulky Iron on Transfer Pen—it’s permanent, so lines must be covered with paint if you do not want them to show. For lightweight fabrics, we simply slide the pattern under and paint on top. For the thinner denim, we were able to use graphite paper and simply transfer the patterns that way. Blending on fabric can be done most easily if you work while the paint is still wet, working the two colors together.
Drybrush. I used a variety of old scruffy brushes for drybrushing on this project. Load background color plus a little shade or highlight color in a mostly dry brush. Blend on palette and wipe/work excess paint off on paper towel. With very light pressure, skiff paint over surface in desired highlight or shade area. Progressively add more highlight or shade color and repeat. We drybrushed the backgrounds of many of the projects to add interest as well.
Cornerload float. Holding the brush perpendicular to the paper, dip just the corner into paint, then blend with the brush flat on palette a few times. This will give a soft effect that gradually fades away.
We applied the colors consistently throughout the projects. Refer to the patterns and Color Worksheet for additional information. Yellow areas. Base with Crocus Yellow, highlight with Crocus + White and shade with Crocus + Antique Gold progressing to straight Antique Gold and for very dark areas, deepen with Rhythm ‘N Blue.
Green areas. Base with Chrome Green Light, highlight with Silver Pine or Chrome Green Light + White. Progressively add more of the lighter color until the desired highlight is achieved. Shade green areas with Deep River Green or Chrome Green Light + Rhythm ‘N Blue.
Dark blue areas. Base with Rhythm ‘N Blue, highlight with Rhythm ‘N Blue + Bahama Purple and then White as needed.
Light blue areas. Base with Bahama Purple, highlight with Bahama Purple + White, and shade with Rhythm ‘N Blue.
White areas. Base with a brush mix of White + Crocus Yellow and highlight with White. Shade with Crocus, then deepen with Antique Gold.
Pink areas. Base with a brush mix of Deep Coral + Hydrangea Pink, progressively highlight by adding White to the dirty brush. Shade with Deep Coral or Deep Coral + Rhythm ‘N Blue.
We used the back of the denim shirt to create a banner welcoming our friends to the party and letting them know how much we appreciate them. The banner is great for hanging on the porch or patio. If you choose to hang it as a flag, you will want to paint the back side as well or add a decorative fabric backing because the paint does soak through in some places. Transfer the pattern for sun and floral design, then transfer the lettering. Save the lettering for last and adjust to fit inside the other pieces of the design. (Feel free to substitute your favorite friendship saying or maybe you would rather have your last name, address, or the word “welcome”.)
Tape off top rod pocket and press the masking tape firmly.
Note: Refer to the color plan to paint design elements.
Sun. Base, shade, and highlight sun following the color plan. Using the liner, apply the diagonal lines of thinned Bahama Purple on rays of sun. Use the No. 14 shader to add checks with thinned Antique Gold. Create the pink flowers following the color plan. Add the ric-rac border with Rhythm ‘N Blue and then highlight with White.
Floral design. The floral design is the floral swag. We have added the floral stripe on each side, then filled in a couple of leaves in the empty spots. Paint according to color plan.
Lettering. Apply lettering with Rhythm ‘N Blue and then highlight with White.
Vertical stripes. Tape off 1/2" stripes down each side of shirt. Brush lightly with a mix of Deep Coral + Hydrangea Pink and then highlight with White. Allow paint to fade away toward the top and bottom. (Of course, the border could be painted any color from the palette.)
Hanger. Insert a 1/4" dowel through the rod pocket. Attach an end cap to each end. We used 1" wood beads that we painted Deep Coral + Hydrangea Pink. Tie one end of 3-foot piece of ribbon to one end of rod and then tie the other end to the opposite side allowing desired length for hanging. With two 12" pieces of ribbon, tie a bow over each knot. Trim all ends to desired lengths.
Chair Cushion / Bucket Cover
This cushion is so fun and decorative. It works for a seat, table, or game surface. Following our pattern, you can design a cushion for any large round bucket or pail. If the lid isn’t available, simply turn the bucket upside down. We cut our padding for our cushion from an old blanket and the fabric for the ruffle was taken from the skirt of a child’s dress. The cushion is tied in place on the bucket with a strip of fabric.
Chair cushion
Follow sun instructions for banner substituting vertical wavy lines in place of the diagonals on the sun’s rays. Do not apply checks. Allow to dry. Using masking tape, mask both sides of the vertical tic-tac-toe markers. Press tape firmly. Create stripes with Bahama Purple, allowing the paint to fade away before reaching outer edge of circle. With White, scuff the ends pulling White out onto the yellow area diffusing the edge and add White to the center of each line. Scuff Rhythm ‘N Blue between the white areas on the line, where the lines will cross to shade. Allow a few minutes to dry and repeat for the horizontal markers.
In addition to being a fun seat, this bucket is great filled with ice and soft drinks. Its handle and washability make it a great picnic basket or a trash can, and my niece even requested one for a diaper pail in her nursery. You don’t see the top of the bucket when the cushion is on, but we wanted the bucket to stand alone as well. Don’t forget the JoSonja’s All Purpose Sealer with the initial basecoat. Base the top section with Crocus Yellow and the remainder of the bucket Bahama Purple. Then shade the bottom and top sections with a drybrush of the appropriate shade color. Add the dots using the handle end of a paintbrush and thinned White paint.
Vertically striped section of bucket. Drybrush highlights between each stripe by pulling thinned White diagonally on the blue sections between the stripes. Apply the vertical pink stripes with Hydrangea Pink and shade top and bottom with Deep Coral. Drybrush White on each stripe to highlight.
Mask off a 2" border along the bottom of the bucket. Apply bottom 2" border with a wash of Rhythm ‘N Blue. Remove tape. Allow to dry. Mask off a 1/2" border above the 2" border and then base with Hydrangea Pink. Remove tape and let dry. Create the ric-rac border above the pink stripe with Crocus Yellow. Randomly transfer the butterfly design as desired. Base each body with Black and then highlight with a float of Black + White slightly inside the top edge. Base wings and add details as desired referring to the Color Worksheet. A nice tall row of dancing flowers would be so sweet on this too.
Individual design elements can be cut from the jeans for game pieces or bottle markers. The large flower or the bugs work great. Paint both sides of the jeans to strengthen and to prevent fraying. Make a variety of each. Attach a loop to hang around the neck of bottles. Your guests will always know which bottle is theirs. Remember to create five pieces of two of the bug designs so you can play tic-tac-toe.
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All Patterns are in PDF format |
| Pattern 4 Click for full size (160 KB) | Pattern 5 Click for full size (72 KB) | |
Pockets. Using scissors, cut cuffs and pockets as close to the edges as possible without cutting into the stitching lines.
Napkin. The size of the napkin is dictated by the size of shirt you find. Using a rotary cutter, cut from side seam across double sewn button section (see diagram). Measure from side to side and record measurement. Take that measurement and measure from the cut down and then mark. Use the rotary cutter and a ruler to cut a parallel line at this mark. Also cut at side seam. Overstitch top, bottom and side. (You will not need to stitch the side that has the buttons on it.) Fold over edges to the back, pin, and stitch with 1/4" seam.
Banner. The top yolk area of the shirt back will be folded over to create the hanging pocket for the pole. The bottom of the shirt will become the bottom circular edge of the flag. Lay shirt flat on table with the back facing up and collar folded away from the yolk. Using a long ruler and rotary cutter, lay ruler from shoulder to shoulder, leaving as much of the yolk area as possible. Cut along this line. Lay ruler along right side of shirt lining up the top line shoulder section next to the arm and down the side (it will not be exactly lined up on the side seams as the sleeves recess in a little). Cut from the bottom to the top edge cutting through the double sewn edges of the sleeve. Overstitch along top yolk area and down both sides to keep from unraveling. Fold over sides 1/2" and pin. Stitch a 1/4" seam. Fold the yolk area in half toward the back, pin in place, and stitch along the bottom edge through the front of the shirt to create the pocket for the rod to slip into.
Cushion. Make a circle pattern 1" larger than lid all around. You will need two from an old blanket for the stuffing and a front and back. Sew all layers with 1/4" seam allowance. Cut or tear strips for ruffle to desired length plus 1/2". Sew strips end to end allowing enough to wrap around bucket twice. Hem bottom edge 1/4" unless you prefer the torn edge. Gather the top edge of the ruffle approximately 1/4" from edge. With right sides together, pin ruffle in place. Sew on ruffle using 3/8" seam allowance. Tie in place on bucket using a 2" strip of fabric.
For questions concerning this project,
send a SASE to: Gisele Pope and Nony Housh, 9931West Skycliffe Avenue, Boise, ID 83704.
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