Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Wood you?


This project took many days to complete, and I'm glad it is finally completed.

Materials (from back left clockwise):
Acrylic paint (not craft paint)
Glaze (found at my Household Hazardous Waste Swap and Shop)
Wood (found in my neighbor's dumpster and cleaned up)*
Brush (my favorite scruffy brush)

*In addition to cleaning the wood, I also cut the ends straight on my miter saw and sanded them.

The paint is nice and thick, while the glaze is very thin.

Here is the first side and ends painted and still quite wet.  Once dry, I painted the other side and touched up the ends.

This doily was under a cup of soup I was served years ago.  Before it got damaged, I removed it and put it in my purse.  Note how the wood grain can still be seen through the paint.  I resisted painting another coat.

I colored the doily using yellow fluid acrylic.   Note, too I am using the reverse side of the wood from the one shown in the photo above this one.  It had the most flaws and I believed I would be able to hide them, while leaving the "back" side nearly flawless.

Once dry, I adhered the doily to the wood with PVA (white) glue using an old gift card.

I drug out my E-6000 and lots of yellow silk flowers and leaves.

I auditioned the flowers to see which looked best.

Right now, nothing is glued in place.  Although I have no formal training and have never taken lessons on flower arranging, if you decide to make an arrangement similar to mine, I suggest you find large flowers, medium sized flowers, and small filler flowers.  Let the leaves cover any and all stems you don't want seen.

Now that I had an idea of where each flower would be placed, I glued them in place and let them sit for several days under several heavy weights.

This is what my tulips looked like when I first started this project.

This is what they looked like when I finally glued the faux flowers in place on the wood piece.

This is what my tulips looked like outside at the same time.  Note my hyacinths (lower center just to the right of the sign) are now nearly finished for the year.

I have an abundance of tulips and dandelions this spring.

Now that the flowers were finally fully attached to the wood, I auditioned clock faces. 

After several false starts

I tried to center it to the doily.

You can see I rearranged some of the flowers

before I glued them in place. While waiting for glue to dry, I finished my federal and state taxes.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute, although this year, I could have waited three more months due to the virus outbreak.


By this time, my tulips were starting to fade and droop.

Lisca suggested a contest to see who counted the most rocking horses in the photos.  It's really unfair because they are hidden everywhere in my house, including five on top of the cabinet you see in the background.  One I especially love is a music box that sits on this desk.  It's purple and yellow and can be seen in the photo above this one, but the rocking horse is really subtle and hard to see from the photos.

I'm really delighted you stopped by today.  For Day 15 of 22 I cut, cleaned, and sanded a length of heavy wood I found in my neighbor's dumpster.  To that I added some purchased paint and some glaze I got at my Household Hazardous Waste Swap and Shop.  I added a doily I got at a local restaurant that I colored using purchased fluid acrylic.  The blue button was repurposed from a blouse I used in my art, and the clock hands were purchased at a shop that was going out of business a few years ago.  I hope you find something to recycle, repurpose, or reuse today, too. 


23 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

What a fun project, looks very pretty now in blue and yellow, a lovely spring decoration. Your tulips look good, too. Have a great day, stay safe, Valerie

Iris Flavia said...

Oh, this reminds me of a closet I built when I worked at the undertaker, it was that blue, too.
Beautiful work - yours ;-)
And ohh, that vase, beautiful!
And now a clock, clever. Taxes, oh stop with that... I still did not start.
I have a rocking Elk :-) Just one.

aussie aNNie said...

Your tulips are, err, were, gorgeous...love your fabulous clock work and your garden is beautiful...take care and keep crafting.xx

craftytrog said...

Beautiful tulips Elizabeth, and your clock art looks fabulous!
Garden is looking good too.
Alison xox

Karen said...

Great project! Power tools and all ~ that's terrific. Beautiful tulips, I even love when they're about to lose all their petals.

RO said...

How cool is this and such a fun project - yay! It's always wonderful to peek at some of the things in your collection, especially the rocking horses! Some are so unusual. Hope all is well! Hugs, RO

Barbara said...

Very clever project, one I could never consider. I’m a klutz with all tools, power or otherwise. I enjoyed your ironic contrast of the passage of time through your tulips! Very pretty, my favorite spring flower.

Nancy said...

You're at it again with the silk flowers. This is such a great piece! And I love seeing your tulips. Ah.. spring at last.

Barbara said...

PS...meant to add that tour first photo of painted wood immediately begged to me to become a lovely landscape.

Jeanie said...

Very clever! I loved seeing the project but what I thought was so fun here was following your timetable with the progression of the tulips changing! I'm glad you finished before the petals all dropped off the tulips! Love the rocking horses and I spotted a few but I'm sure I didn't see them all!

Divers and Sundry said...

That's a wonderful piece. You need access to a craft fair where you could set up a booth for your work.

That tulip vase is the prettiest thing I've seen in a while. I love that vase! :) Your tulips look so pretty. I don't have tulips, and it's nice to see yours, both in the vase and outside in your yard. Nice!

Halle said...

Lovely clock. I like the color combination and texture.

kathyinozarks said...

I love your newest project, great colors too and I love seeing your tulips. with all the deer at the woods house I gave up growing tulips they love them as do the chipmunks and squirrels that love to dig up and eat the bulbs-
I have a night critter in my veggie pots so I may not be able to grow here-unless I figure out a piece of fencing
Happy wednesday-

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Lovely clock. You are very handy. I like all of your flowers, too.

My name is Erika. said...

That is a cool clock and you could have fooled me with your flower arranging. They look gorgeous. That was a very clever use of a board found in the trash. And your garden tulips are gorgeous. I have planted tulip bulbs but only see to get one year from them, so I haven't replanted any, so it is really nice to see. Hope it was a great day. Hugs-Erika

Cindy McMath said...

You’re the queen of recycling! Another lovely project.

DVArtist said...

I absolutely love this. I have always noticed the rocking horses in your house. Not sure how many but you have a lovely home.

Rita said...

Very pretty and creative! :)

Meggymay said...

This is a beautiful recycling project, loving how you got the wood grain showing through the paint and' wow' to those lovely flowers. It looks super how you fixed the clock as well. I can imagine this if it could, hanging on the wall with a gentle tick to listen to.
Stay safe my friend.
Yvonne xx

Julia Dunnit said...

I love it E, what a great idea, and of course, that sunshine yellow on the doily is absolutely a favourite, smiley colour! I love the tulip-timeline too, what a great way to show how long you spent! Mind you, my greatest love on this post is that vase....what a gorgeous shape and colour. I had to go back and look properly for the purple rocking horse!! Hope that staying safe isn’t driving you crackers...it doesn’t look that way!

Caty said...

What a beauty of painting Elizabeth !! It's wonderful! Congrats! I love the blue colour you have achieved, it contrasts very well with the yellow flowers. The clock is the most!
You have many flowers in your garden, they are beautiful. And, well, I have counted 5 rocking horses haha ​​.. surely there are more.
I hope you are well and safe.
I send you big hugss, Caty

Eileen Bergen said...

Lovely recycled plaque Elizabeth.

Great minds think alike. My hubby just did our taxes. (Notice whose great minds I'm referrirng to - lol.)

Eileen xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow Elizabeth! You have excelled yourself here! What an amazing creation - the colours are perfect for this time of year (Even with Covid-19 around!) Hugs, Chrisx